Trapped

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten was listed in a social media thread about horror stories.

This wasn’t my idea of a horror story. It switches between Now and Then in the abandoned village of Silvertjärn.

In the Now, Alice is researching the place based on her grandmother’s stories. She has a crew of two girls and two guys with her. One of the girls, Tone, also has a connection to the village. Her mother was the only living person recovered from the place as a newborn baby.

In the past, a new minister came to town and slowly turned most of the villagers into his minions, including Alice’s grandmother’s younger sister. A girl with special needs ends up being stoned to death after delivering a baby (Tone’s mom). All of this is slowly revealed through letters and narrative.

Alice’s group begin hearing voices and seeing an unknown person as they start their investigation. Those left alone end up murdered until only three of them remain.

Spoiler-

The mystery of the lost village is finally solved as it turns out the whole village was trapped in the mines underneath after being led there by the pastor.

I may be a little picky with my reading as the last couple of books haven’t been super appealing to me. This one has some good points. I think it would appeal most to a teen/young adult audience interested in mystery.

New Start

Identity by Nora Roberts is a dramatic read following a serial killer’s failed murder attempt.

After a lifetime of moving, Morgan was finally creating a life for herself working two jobs and slowly remodeling her home. This is when a smooth talking stranger entered her life. It turns out that the FBI has been after him for a while. He chooses slim, blonde women with androgynous names. He kills them and steals their identities and money. Morgan’s roommate is home sick and ends up being killed.

Morgan ends up moving in with her mom and grandmother in Vermont. She slowly rebuilds her life by helping her ladies with their shop, and finding a job managing the bar at a high end resort. She also finds romance with one of the owner’s sons.

Meanwhile, her predator is still on the loose and he’s angry. He’s determined to finish the job he started. Snippets of his thoughts and actions are shown throughout. The whole while Morgan is preparing herself for a possible confrontation.

I appreciated Morgan’s character and her relationship with her mom and grandmother. I also liked the business and bartending aspects of the story. However, the book is very detailed and slow moving.

No Way Out

This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer is a horror story.

The book begins by describing a crime scene with a skeleton and two horribly mutated bodies. Investigators are stumped.

Then it backtracks to the events leading up to the grisly scene. A foursome plans a hiking trip into a remote area of Kentucky. Clay and Sylvia are participating to complete grad research in an uncharted area. Dylan is an up and coming rock climber looking to impress her new sponsor by climbing in a new location. Her boyfriend Luke and his dog round out the group.

The trip starts to go terribly wrong. The area is eerily quiet, seemingly devoid of all life. Luke’s dog goes missing. Then he becomes badly injured. The group realizes they are in trouble when they are unable to find their way back to their car.

The place is rampant with the ghosts of previous victims. All subject to the evil of the place which gradually affects every member of their group.

This was a good change of pace with a creepy storyline a bit reminiscent of The Shining in parts.

Family Fortitude

We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes is a family drama with a hint of romance.

Lila is going through a lot: regularly seeing her newly divorced husband’s pregnant mistress at school pickup, her stepdad’s progressive move in after her mother’s death, raising two daughters, her estranged famous actor father suddenly reappearing in their lives along with her own career/financial woes.

Meanwhile, Lila is trying to write a follow up to her recent bestseller (which was ironically about her great marriage). This book is going to be about her sexual escapades as a new divorcee. However, her sexual interests are also a little complicated.

There are sentimental and humorous scenes throughout the story as it’s told mainly from Lila’s point of view (with some chapters from her sixteen-year-old daughter Celie). This book will appeal to aged forty plus women looking for a book about relationships and overcoming tough times.

The Body

Fox by Joyce Carol Oates is a murder mystery. The victim is a serial pedophile named Mr. Fox. He was a middle school teacher at a prep school. His real name was legally changed after allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor at the previous prep school employer.

The book gets into his backstory including his psyche and manipulative methods for hooking young females and for gaining trust from important adults around him.

The story also follows others from town who have some connection to the murder investigation, including the brothers who discovered the body, a couple students and their dads, the chief investigator and a few others.

The scenes with Mr. Fox are deeply disturbing and continuously repeated through the book. I found myself skimming through by the end to be able to finish.

I would not recommend this book. It was dragged out, often repetitive and full of unlikable characters in addition to the detestable Mr Fox.

Up in the Air

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty is a story of unexpected connections.

Cherry is on a flight when she suddenly gets up and begins telling each passenger his or her expected age and cause of death.

Needless to say that this creates a sense of chaos, worry and denial amongst passengers. After the experience, readers follow a selection of passengers: Ethan is expected to die in a brawl, Leo is expected to die from a work-related incident, Paula’s baby son is expected to die in a drowning incident when he turns seven, Eve is a newlywed expected to die from domestic murder, Allegra is one of the flight attendants expected to die from self harm.

When a couple of the predicted deaths occur, people begin trying to find Cherry, dubbed the Death Lady.

Meanwhile, Cherry shares her story. She grew up with a fortune telling mother, Madame Mae. She experienced different loves in her life, all important in shaping her into the person she becomes.

Cherry’s narration is quirky and fun (despite the topic). As any book centered around death, it certainly makes one think about how precious life can be and about how little changes can potentially alter one’s fate.

Praying for Survival

Isola by Allegra Goodman is historical fiction set in France during the 1500s.

Marguerite lost both parents at a young age, and was left with a chateau and land. She stays there long enough to build a friendship with her teacher and her daughter. However, when her guardian/uncle Roberval sells her property, she is forced to live at his residence. The only familiar she has is her nursemaid/caregiver who vows to stay with her no matter what.

Roberval is a cruel guardian. He gives lessons as a way to seem caring, but is also prone to violence as a means of control. His desire for money and favor with the king prompts him to voyage to new land in Canada. Marguerite is forced to go with him.

During the journey, Marguerite falls in love with Roberval’s secretary. Their punishment is to be banished to a remote island. The three of them must learn to survive the harsh elements, lack of food and wild animals. Not all will survive. During this time, Marguerite must get through her darkest days to figure out her place in the world.

Spoiler – After two years, Marguerite is able to return home to share her story. She is forever changed and hopes to use her experience as a means of educating females of all classes.

While this story started a bit slowly for me, I became intensely interested in the fate of Marguerite and her companions. I didn’t realize the story was based on an actual person until reading the author’s note at the end. This really made it so much more impactful. It’s a story of survival, grit, love/loss, nature’s power, religion and learning about oneself.

Skating for Gold

The Favorites by Layne Fargo is about the competitive world of ice dance.

Katarina has longed to win Olympic gold for ice dance ever since seeing her idol, the fierce Sheila Lin, win two gold medals. Kat’s focus on winning becomes all consuming.

Kat and her true love Heath have bonded through many setbacks growing up which also gives their skating a unique chemistry. While competing, none other than Sheila Lin takes notice of them. She offers to train them at her academy in California alongside her twins- budding stars Bella and Garrett Lin.

The story follows Kat and Heath through the years- competitions, wins, losses, jealousy, partner changes and tumultuous relationships. Katarina shares her side of each event alongside snippets of the documentary about Kat and Heath’s quest for Olympic gold.

All told, this was a slow burning and entertaining read. I wanted them to win that gold!! While I read it on my kindle, I heard that the audiobook was really good. This makes sense for the documentary script format throughout.

Breaking Bonds

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White is not for the faint of heart (hence the author’s note which provides a disclaimer including the following statement: “You can get off the operating table and walk away at any time”). This is a 2026 high school Nutmeg nominee.

The book is set during the late 1800s in London and is considered a Gothic horror story.

Gloria is a beautiful young lady who identifies as a male named Silas with a passion for all things surgical. She learned as much as possible from her older medical brother. Her violet eyes mark her as special with an ability to split the veil between reality and the spirit world. Silas is also autistic.

With so many differences stacked against her, she has spent her life being forced to control herself and to be ladylike. Through her adolescence she tried to avoid the attention of the Speaker society (creepy men who wish to procreate with violet-eyed girls).

Silas is caught impersonating a male at a public event, and is sent to a boarding school to fix problematic girls just like her. It is while in this school that she meets the twisted Headmaster whose sole purpose is to torture the inmates.

Silas is able to connect to ghosts of his previous victims and to forge connections with some of the other girls in the home. He finds a kindred spirit in Edward, a suitor who identifies as Daphne.

They work together to expose the horrors in the home. But lives will be lost and unspeakable events will occur throughout.

As mentioned, there is graphic medical gore (which was definitely unsettling at certain points). There is also the creepy feeling from ghosts trying to share their experiences. I definitely enjoyed the book despite some moments of discomfort.

Too Happy

All Better Now by Neal Shusterman tracks the consequences of a new pandemic (post COVID). This one is called Crown Royale and its effects are either death or intense well being and care for humanity.

The book follows multiple characters. One group is completely against the virus and will do anything to eradicate it. They feel that those who recover are mindlessly happy.

One of these characters is Morgan. She is a savvy girl who is given an entire estate in order to accomplish this mission. People are expendable in her drive to avoid exposure and to accomplish notoriety. Glynis Havilland is the formerly wealthy tyrant who left her entire fortune to Morgan. Now as a recoveree, she is trying to figure out how to stop her.

Meanwhile, the wealthy son of another one of Morgan’s donators recovers from the virus as a super spreader. He teams up with Mariel. It turns out that she has natural immunity. They are on the run together to avoid Tiburon’s dad and the authorities. As they travel, Ron feels pulled to spread Crown Royale to as many people as possible while Mariel attempts to control how it’s spread.

All the events and characters cross paths once Mariel is taken to create a cure. However the cure may be worse than the virus itself.

Overall this book kept my interest. Shusterman pulls many characters and subplots together with great writing. It raises the question of whether a virus akin to a happy pill could make the world a better place or not.