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After Darcy Review
It is a truism, frequently invoked by the members of the Meryton Women’s Guild, that one is only ever as happy as one’s unhappiest child. So, with five daughters and four grandchildren, it was a miracle Mrs Hester Bennet ever raised a smile. At best, she was only ever tentatively pleased, and even then understood that her contentment rested on the edge of a gaping precipice into which she would inevitably tumble the second Kitty or Lydia (it was almost always those two) messaged in the clutches of yet another existential crisis…
Lydia, home from Paris on New Year’s Day in a welter of hangover and humiliation, finds herself swearing off drink, drugs and sex for the next 12 months. Through her unfamiliar sobriety, she’ll see a landmark year for all the Bennet sisters, including a disruptive 40th birthday, an engagement and a and, maybe, coming to terms with the results of a run-of-the-mill run-in with a jackknifed lorry on a wet stretch of the M1…
Oof, this one was on my TBR list for awhile, and it did satisfy my desire for my P&P. I love the concept of modern day Bennets after the events of the novel (No surprise to those who read my excerpts) and one set after the untimely death of Darcy and Bingley (in this case, Charley) from a New Years car crash. Sign me up!
Nadin ably captures the humorous dysfunction of the large family with heart as they struggle through their mid-thirties and forties. The humor is particularly British, dry and sort of mocking. They’re always insulting each other and taking a ridiculously long time to learn the lesson. But I suppose it fits with the family’s stubborn natures. However, that does make it the middle part a slog as they each reach their rock bottom of sorts. But that is aided by how each protagonist is so in-character that you want to know how they’ll pull through.
Below I’ll go through each arc by sister since they are the stars of the show, moving the plot forward and coming together in their groupchat for those familial feels.
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Jawbone Review
Fernanda and Annelise are so close they are practically sisters: a double image, inseparable. So how does Fernanda end up bound on the floor of a deserted cabin, held hostage by one of her teachers and estranged from Annelise?
When Fernanda, Annelise, and their friends from the Delta Bilingual Academy convene after school, Annelise leads them in thrilling but increasingly dangerous rituals to a rhinestoned, Dior-scented, drag-queen god of her own invention. Even more perilous is the secret Annelise and Fernanda share, rooted in a dare in which violence meets love. Meanwhile, their literature teacher Miss Clara, who is obsessed with imitating her dead mother, struggles to preserve her deteriorating sanity. Each day she edges nearer to a total break with reality.
With so few prominant Ecuadorian authors, it’s kisment to find one also from Guayaquil but who specializes in the horror genre. Or as she refers to it, Andean gothic.
One can tell Ojeda is a fan of the genre as she draws inspiration from Lovecraft’s Eldritch horrors to bloody pranks via Carrie, body horror, evil dopplegangers, monsterous women, and being haunted by a desceased yet perfect predecessor a la Du Maurier.
In combining these tropes, it makes for a crowded novel although Ojeda starts with a simmering psychological suspense. It helps that she gives minimal description and dialogue, allowing readers to become immersed with each character’s POV until it becomes their own. A perfect way to make one question the reliability of each character as Ojeda jumps from each POV/timeframe, intersplicing it with random vignettes to keep readers guessing the entire team. Much like the cover, they are stitched together scraps that form a perverse, macabre piece of work.
However, this precision loses its power in the third act where Annelise, who’s obsession with stuff like creepypasta, pushes the envelope until things go sideways.
Absolutely insane.
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My Sister the Serial Killer Review
When Korede’s dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what’s expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This’ll be the third boyfriend Ayoola’s dispatched in, quote, self-defence and the third mess that her lethal little sibling has left Korede to clear away. She should probably go to the police for the good of the menfolk of Nigeria, but she loves her sister and, as they say, family always comes first. Until, that is, Ayoola starts dating the doctor where Korede works as a nurse. Korede’s long been in love with him, and isn’t prepared to see him wind up with a knife in his back: but to save one would mean sacrificing the other…
An intriguing novecl about the bonds of sisterhood, love and ethics.
Braithwaite shones with her characterization. She makes it clear that Korede has been second-best to Ayoola all her life, but she isn’t outwardly resentful of it. It’s just a fact that she’s less pretty, less charismatic compared to the lighter-skin, seductive Ayoola. But because of their difference in age, Korede is mature enough to accept it and sees it as her duty to protect her sister and clean up her mistakes.
Literally.
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Twisted Tale Novellas Review
These novellas are only available in the UK for some reason. I don’ understand why they couldn’t include them in the US anthology book. Feels very arbitrary and obviously forces me to pay extra for shippimg just so I can see what these short stories are about. Nonetheless, I can say I have read almost all the books in the series now and here are my thoughts.
An Expert in Gibberish by Tiffany Schmidt
What if Milo decided not to stay in Atlantis. . . ?
When Kida, the Queen of Atlantis, asks Milo to stay with her in the once-lost city, he instead chooses to return home. But Milo can’t escape a terrible decision: should he try to salvage his grandfather’s legacy, or fight for his own happiness?
A cute novella that allows for further exploration of Milo’s insecurities. The movie arc shows Milo gaining confidence when he saved Atlantis, but Schmidt shows a more realistic aftermath. After the adrenaline wears off and Kida offers Milo the chance to be king by her side, his insecurity of being a laughing stock rears his head. I mean, this guy has been considered a joke for years. That sort of thing doesn’t go away after one adventure. He doesn’t think he is ready for the responsibility.
Schmidt also highlights Milo’s relationship with her grandfather, seeing it as his duty to vindicate his reputation in front of the L.E.A.D. Board now that he has proof of Atlantis. Of course we know this is more about Milo’s ego than his grandfather’s and the rest of the crew and Mr. Whitmore try to guide Milo to that epiphany-love how Schmidt characterizes the crew’s new familial dynamics. Plus she retains the humor of the original.
The arc of Milo recognizing his worth and seeing that his original dreams are no longer what he wants is nicely paced for the short story. And drops real truth bombs about the era’s attitudes as Milo calls them out. Actually I’ll leave it here because it’s so good.
“You run the board of one of the best museums in the world. You have so much power, so much funding at your disposal- and you’re not curious. You don’t vaue knowledge or questioning or exploration. You don’t value the opinion of anyone who doesn’t look like you or share your economic privilege, (37)”.
Their respect isn’t worth it. My favorite story out of the collection.
4 atlantean crystals
Best of Friends by Mari Mancusi
What if the Widow Tweed stood her ground?
When Cooper is faced with being sent to the pound, he decides to brave the dangerous forest alone. Little does he know, a certain fox has followed him, worried for his former friend’s safety.
Most kids were traumatized by Bambi’s mother being shot. I was so traumatized by this movie that I’ve only seen it once. It’s just so sad. However, the novella eases some of that sadness. Taking place after Chief’s injury and Tod and Cooper’s break in friendship, the Widow Tweed stands against Amos’ harassment and calls the cops on him.
Good for her. But leads to a domino effect of the dogs almost being sent to the pound and Cooper running to find their AWOL master in a rainstorm.
This one has the calm atmosphere of the movie’s nature-infused vibes. Slow, slightly bittersweet with moments of terrifying acts of nature. From the animal POV. I enjoyed seeing Tod’s steadfast loyalty to his friend and determination to make things right for Chief. Same with Cooper realizing how he hadn’t helped in the situation by taking his anger out on his friend. Plus an encounter with a coyote pack make him realize that his actions as a hunting dog affect lives other than his own. And for what? So Amos could have a fur pelt on his wall. He may have been following orders but that didn’t make his actions good. Kinda surreal to have that analogy in a animal story but it worked.
Plus the reunion between Tod and Cooper eased my trauma, as I said before. Very cute.
3 baby birds
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The Last Trial of the Flower Bride Review
Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after—and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.
But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage . . . or their lives.
Chokshi’s fairytale gothic takes great inspiration from the Bluebeard tale with a gender-bending twist as the unnamed Bridgegroom is desperately in love with Indigo. So much so, it’s like a dream. A fairytale, but curiosity is a human trait that always spells doom. Indigo’s rule for him not to peek into the locked room obviously sparks suspicion and her mother’s cryptic mutterings and her fascination with the Musuline story doesn’t help.
Indigo is set up as the ultimate cool girl, an unearthly beauty who’s viciousness one excuses because she’s so bewitching. That’s the main impression one gets from the Bridgroom’s POV and that from Azure, Indigo’s ex-best friend who mysteriously disappeared and the Bridgegroom suspects Indigo murdered. This is where the fantasy aspect comes in as Indigo and Azure’s unhealthy romance is overshadowed by Indigo’s obsession with becoming part of the Underworld, and Azure has too many earthly attachments to want to leave. The plot twist at the end of the story was just as predictable as their characters.
While Chokshi’s prose is enthralling, paying homage to the lush fairytale descriptions of the Dream House, Indigo and Azure with a spark of menaching violence like the Grimm fairytales, the characters themselves don’t have much depth. Indigo doesn’t evolve beyond the cool, mean girl archtype. Beautiful, cruel, bewitching with the fantastical addition that this mundane world is too boring for her. Azure’s journey from estranged relationship with her mother, falling in love with Indigo and realizing that her love isn’t enough for her to ignore Indigo’s callous disregard for others was predictable. Their friendship was oviously codependent with lesbian undertones that felt reductive.
The Bridgegroom as a stand-in for the faceless Bride from the original Bluebeard doesn’t have much character either besides hopeless romantic. He’s so much of a plot device, I couldn’t even buy the final love declaration or how it signified being a light in (spoiler’s) damaged self-esteem because I wasn’t invested in any of them.
Chokshi’s writing draws you in, but it feels like a glossy silent film that you admire for its beauty but the themes and arc are too familiar to be entertaining.
2 stars
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Book of the Month: Dragonfly in Amber
For twenty years Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning with her grown daughter to Scotland’s majestic mist-shrouded hills. Here Claire plans to reveal a truth as stunning as the events that gave it birth: about the mystery of an ancient circle of standing stones …about a love that transcends the boundaries of time …and about James Fraser, a Scottish warrior whose gallantry once drew a young Claire from the security of her century to the dangers of his ….
Now a legacy of blood and desire will test her beautiful copper-haired daughter, Brianna, as Claire’s spellbinding journey of self-discovery continues in the intrigue-ridden Paris court of Charles Stuart …in a race to thwart a doomed Highlands uprising …and in a desperate fight to save both the child and the man she loves….
This book club was originally chosen in August. However, clocking at over 900 pages, we ended up finishing it two months later.
The sequel to the very entertaining Outlander epic is full of historical immersion. Perhaps too much as we agreed that the middle part lagged in keeping our attention. I understand the Galbadon wants readers to feel like they are there with Jaimie and Claire, including the mundane daily life. Personally, I could have skipped some of that. Even though it did bring some funny lost in time travel moments like Jaimie’s bafflement of Claire choosing to wax herself or the infamous swan nipple ring. That’s going to be seared in my mind, the aristo French were crazy.
However, the beginning and the climax is where the story really picks up. Galbadon introduces interesting new characters like the rascally Fergus, poor tragic Mary (she has like the worst life) and Jack Randall’s sickly but saintly brother, Alex Randall. We finally learn the true origins of Frank’s ancestors which I guessed pretty quickly. But it did lead to interesting discussion over time travel and the closed loop time travel and how Claire’s plan to change history is bound to fail.
We also got to meet Brianna, Jaimie and Claire’s daughter who is kinda annoying (even though her reasons are understandably because her mother’s story sounds nuts) and stubborn, and Roger, the descendant of Mackenzie and Gillies. The part where they travel to the sixities to see if they can save her was crazy and brought interesting ethical conundrums.
Which lead us to another rabbit hole of discussing men. Basically how Jaimie is so much better than Frank even though they had less progressive values. My friend said it was because they were gentlemen back then. I reminded her that they were gentlemen because they believed women had small brains and were helpless. She countered yes, but Jaimie is so good when he’s all protective and manly. Some things are just destined like time travel.
I’d rate this a solid 3, entertaining and I want to read the next one, but the middle definately wasn’t as well-paced as the first Outlander.
Next on book club is Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians.
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The Possession of Alba Díaz Review
In 1765, plague sweeps through Zacatecas. Alba flees with her wealthy merchant parents and fiancé, Carlos, to his family’s isolated mine for refuge. But safety proves fleeting as other dangers soon bare their Alba begins suffering from strange hallucinations, sleepwalking, and violent convulsions. She senses something cold lurking beneath her skin. Something angry. Something wrong.
Elías, haunted by a troubled past, came to the New World to make his fortune and escape his family’s legacy of greed. Alba, as his cousin’s betrothed, is none of his business. Which is of course why he can’t help but notice the growing tension between them every time she enters the room…and why he notices her deteriorate when the demon’s thirst for blood gets stronger.
In the fight for her life, Alba and Elías become entangled with the occult, the Church, long-kept secrets, and each other… not knowing that one of these things will spell their doom.
Cañas writes a riveting Romeo and Juliet-esque tale set in a 1700s version of The Exorcist that will chill your blood while commenting on colonialism and patriarchial oppression via the Church.
Plus lots of gore.
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Sabrina the Teenage Witch (2026) Review
With Oni Press taking license from Archie Cmics, we are gifted to a new reboot.
It’s going to be hard to follow up on Kelly Thompson’s delightful blend of mystic and hijinks but Corinna Bechko gives her best shot. Bechko starts the series post-Sabrina’s discovery of her witchy heritage, leaving a unspecified portal incident that left Sabrina off-balanced about her new status. I assume it will be revealed in later issues, leaving it to be an intriguing mystery for readers to ponder. Same with the classic questions of Sabrina’s parents.
Salem is the real star of the comic as the narrator, sarcastic and droll as ever. Sabrina is relatable in her jumpiness, eagerness to learn and blend in with her normal friends. Like a teenager. Aunt Hilda and Zelda have little to distinguish them from each other or previous incarnations. Hopefully that will be rectified as the series goes on. Sabrina’s friends are pretty one-note. In fact, only Harvey is given a name, the others have none. On the other hand, Bechko’s choice to jump readers right into the story means that there’s little exposition so they have to figure out who’s who on their own.
As for the magic involved in the story, it wa fine. Sabrina saves the day while hiding the fact that magic is real. Predictable stuff. What saves it is Kano’s art in depicting Sabrina’s powers outside of generic energy blasts and making very disgusting rat demons. Ugh, I could feel the bristly fur.
Salem and Sabrina are set up to have a very interesting teacher-student dynamic that is usually given to Zelda/Hilda which should be fun. I wonder if his backstory will be enfolded into it.
There’s also some cute bits of a witch magazine showcasing how to care for a familiar, and a familiar magazine talking about how to treat their humans.
Initial impressions-Cute with hints of cosmic horror that plays safe with Sabrina’s prominant theme of juggling humanness with witchiness. New readers will get into it, but older readers may want to wait till later issues to see how Bechko will expand the mythos and make it her own.
3 stars
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That Which Feeds Us Review
For the world’s wealthiest, Kōpaʻa Island Resort is more than a destination. It’s the ultimate escape. With no cell service or Wi-Fi, the Hawaiian island is a coveted wellness retreat renowned for its persimmon orchard and promises of rejuvenation.
But their dream vacation is Lehua’s nightmare. When her twin sister, Ohia, goes missing, Lehua follows her trail to Kōpaʻa to find her. Instead, Lehua is cut off from civilization—and help—after the island’s boat leaves without her, stranding her with the resort’s lavish guests and enigmatic staff.
As Lehua investigates Ohia’s disappearance, she discovers her missing sister isn’t the island’s only mystery. Kōpaʻa’s rich exterior and sweet persimmons hide its dark plantation past. And Lehua can’t ignore the dreams haunting her each night—nor the warning telling her to leave the island at once. To uncover what happened to Ohia, Lehua will have to unearth the island’s bloody history and face the horrors that lurk within its sugarcane fields—or risk being consumed by them.
Sharply observed and gorgeously written, That Which Feeds Us explores the true cost of paradise as Lehua must fight to reclaim the land, the stories, and the very souls of her people.A blend of Hawai’ian superstition and historical atrocities, Kendall weaves an eerie tale of twins struggling to find each other while uncovering the uncovered, tragic history of their homeland’s past.
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Excerpt #5
It’s been awhile since I dropped a chapter. Here’s to what I’m sure many enjoy in P&P stories- the Bennet family. Mrs. Bennet and Mary take the spotlight in this chapter as Kitty goes to her morning classes.
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