I just finished Wonderland by Zoje Stage yesterday. I absolutely adored Baby Teeth, the author’s debut. I felt it ideally combined the scary, thrilling, nerve-wracking tension that you want in a suspense, plus it was extremely well written. So I couldn’t wait to read Wonderland. I was on pins and needles as I began, not knowing what this book had in store.
Orla is a former ballerina, and her husband Shaw is an artist. They have two children, Eleanor Queen (always both names) and Tycho. The family packs up their cramped 600 square foot apartment in New York to move to upstate where they buy an old house on an enormous piece of land. Shaw loves the nature surrounding their home, Orla isn’t so sure. Eleanor Queen is creeped out but can’t explain why.
Soon, it becomes apparent that something spooky is afoot. Bizarre things happen that can’t be explained like sudden wheels of snow form in the yard (like haystacks) and snow comes flying off the trees when there is no wind. And from there an evil entity messes with this family.
I wish the book was categorized more as paranormal or even magical realism because there are elements here that I just couldn’t wrap my head around. It’s not the author or the book, it’s my preference. I love suspense and thrillers that tread into horror territory, but I’m always lost with paranormal stuff.
Here’s the official description:
The Bennett family – artist parents and two precocious children – leave their familiar urban surroundings for a new home in far upstate New York. They’re an hour from the nearest city, a mile from the nearest house, and everyone has their own room for the very first time. Shaw, the father, even gets his own painting studio, now that he and his wife Orla, a retired dancer, have agreed that it’s his turn to pursue his passion.
But none of the Bennetts expect what lies waiting in the lovely woods, where secrets run dark and deep. Orla must finally find a way to communicate with – not just resist – this unknown entity that is coming to her family, calling to them from the land, in the earth, beneath the trees … and in their minds.
If you are a person who likes paranormal horror, this is for you. Zoje is a talented writer, I will read anything she writes. She captures the atmosphere of a cold, desolate farmhouse very well and you will sympathize with Orla as she tries to figure out this new stage of her life which doesn’t include ballet.
This book comes out on June 16th, you can pre-order it here.
Another book I was so excited to read is Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent. If you haven’t read her novels Lying in Wait or Skin Deep, get them immediately! Both were fantastic, which is why I was so eager to read this book.
Little Cruelties begins with a funeral, only we don’t know who died.
“All three of the Drumm brothers were at the funeral, although one of us was in a coffin.”
The book is then divided into three parts which detail the lives and struggles of each of the brothers. William is a successful movie producer who cheats on his wife, Brian is a teacher with low self-esteem, and Luke is a former celebrity, a singer who enjoyed fleeting fame but suffered from addiction. Their mother was in showbiz; a self-obsessed, selfish woman who didn’t know how to parent her kids so it’s easy to blame her for how messed up these boys turn out. Her sons inherited the worst of her personality traits.
Each part of the book shares pieces of the past from various years, this helps form who these men ultimately become. They are not very nice and though I had sympathy for each of them throughout the book; I didn’t feel bonded to any of them, except maybe a little for Luke. This ultimately is a book about secrets, family dysfunction, mental health, and three cruel brothers.
I really like Liz’s writing and can’t wait to see what she writes next.
You can pre-order this book here, it comes out on November 10!
You probably know author Christina Schwarz from her fabulous novel, Drowning Ruth. It came out in the year 2000 and I remember being glued to the pages as I quickly read the story. When I saw that she wrote a book about Bonnie Parker, from the famous duo, Bonnie and Clyde, I knew I had to read it!
Bonnie was a smart, sassy, spitfire of a girl who wrote poetry and had dreams of becoming famous. When she was only sixteen, she married a man named Roy Thornton and got a tattoo on her leg. This was 1926, what a rebel! Roy went to prison for robbery and though the two never divorced, she never saw him again.
When she met Clyde Barrow, it was like she met herself in male form. He was daring and dangerous, and the two struck up a romance. As you probably know, they went on a crime spree that involved multiple car thefts, kidnapping, robberies and ended in a gruesome shoot out. The stolen Ford V-8 sedan was riddled with bullet holes.
Born in a small town in the desolate reaches of western Texas and shaped by her girlhood in an industrial wasteland on the outskirts of Dallas, Bonnie Parker was a natural performer and a star student. She dreamed of being a movie star or a singer or a poet. But her dramatic nature, contorted by her limited opportunities and her overwhelming love for Clyde Barrow, pushed her into a course from which there was no escape but death.
Infusing the psychological acuity of literary fiction with the relentless pacing of a thriller, Bonnie follows Bonnie from her bright, promising youth to her final month of shoot-outs, kidnappings, and desperate car chases through America’s hinterland in the grip of the Great Depression, as the noose of the law tightened around her. Enriched by Christina Schwarz’s extensive research in the footsteps of Bonnie and Clyde and written with her powerful sense of place and time, Bonnie is a plaintive and page-turning account of a woman destroyed by a lethal combination of longing and love.
Bonnie seemed to have a feeling about her future as she wrote this poem and gave it to her mother:
Some day they’ll go down together;
And they’ll bury them side by side,
To a few it’ll be grief—
To the law a relief—
But it’s death for Bonnie and Clyde.
I loved all the details in this book, we really got to know Bonnie. It was a fantastic look at a notorious woman who probably could have used her intelligence and passion for changing the world, instead; she got caught up in crime, and her life was tragically cut short.
You can pre-order the book here. Comes out on July 7!
Like I’ve said before, I think Ruth Ware’s books just get better and better! My favorite trope is one where a group of people are together and there is a killer amongst them. It’s very Agatha Christie! And this plot has so much potential. I was super excited to read One by One, about a group of executives in a mountain retreat snowed in at a chalet in the Alps. What could go wrong?
Getting snowed in at a beautiful, rustic mountain chalet doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world, especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a cozy fire, and company to keep you warm. But what happens when that company is eight of your coworkers…and you can’t trust any of them?
When an off-site company retreat meant to promote mindfulness and collaboration goes utterly wrong when an avalanche hits, the corporate food chain becomes irrelevant and survival trumps togetherness. Come Monday morning, how many members short will the team be?
I enjoyed this so much and know fans of the authors will absolutely love this book! The story alternates between Erin, the host of the chalet whose job it is to cater to those who rent the chalet, and Liz, an outsider who is part of the group only because she helped when the company needed money. When people turn up dead, Erin puts the pieces together, but her knowledge could lead to her own murder. And when she’s stuck inside with no power and no way out, what can she do? Not to mention the dead bodies rotting upstairs…
This is the suspense I like where it’s not too gritty or scary or horrific, it’s just a good, solid, fun, suspenseful read.
One by One will be published on September 8th, you can pre-order it here!
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