It’s scary how relevant this story is in 2025 😭. As someone who doesn’t have or want kids, I did not expect this book to be so compelling. I didn’t enjoy it because of how brutally honest it was, but that’s also why it felt so thoughtful, and I won’t forget it anytime soon. This isn’t horror though; or it is, but only real-life horror like stigmas against women, regulating female choices and bodies, and the harsh reality of pregnancy and childbirth. I’d recommend it for readers wanting historical fiction with symbolic magical realism, detailed character arcs, and literary explorations of tough truths. 

 

Energy: Cheeky. Empathetic. Painful. 

 

🐕 Howls: I loved these characters, but couldn’t get too attached, it would break me. This was so emotionally taxing with (what I assume are) realistically graphic pregnancy and birth things, plus so many injustices. It was giving me helpless doom scroll/depressing headlines feels in the second half (I think that’s the point though). 

 

🐩 Tail Wags: The writing style was almost childlike in tone, which captured how most of the characters are kids that were taken advantage of, and how they need guidance to make the decisions they’re faced with but have no one. How it didn’t dumb things down. How it emphasized there’s no one-solution-fits-all and held empathy for what different women want and need. Captured the 1970s vibe (I wasn’t even alive then but somehow it felt familiar).

 

Scene: 🇺🇸 Near St. Augustine, Florida, USA

Perspective: Mostly our main character, who is 15 years old and pregnant; they were sent by their disappointed parents to a home where they are to hide until they give birth, then must put the baby up for adoption. We also get excerpts from a book about witchcraft that the characters are reading. 

Timeline: Spring and Summer. Early 1970s. Linear. 

🔥 Fuel: What will the home for unwed mothers be like? How will the women and girls navigate their stay? What if they change their minds about their babies and adoption? Will the witchcraft work? How far will they go to try? Will it ultimately help or harm them? 

📖 Cred: Hyper-realistic magical realism

 

Florida pines. Lava lamp. Bookmobile. Pink. Hot, humid air. Blood. Storm clouds. Rocks. Pine-sol. 

 

Content Heads-Up: Abandonment (by parents, by romantic partners). Abortion (unsuccessful, attempted). Adoption (forced). Ageism (against younger gens). Birth (traumatic, descriptive; on page). Blood. Body fluids. Child abuse. Forced gender roles. Medical trauma (painful examinations; dismissal; rushing/forcing patients to undergo exams). Nicotine (cigarettes, cravings; smoking while pregnant). Patriarchy (dismissal of women, body control, societal). Parental rejection (as teen). Pedophilia. Pregnancy (teen; experience, sensations, pain). Pregnancy complications. Religious abuse (shunning, judgement, emotional). Sexual shaming.  Toxic femininity. Toxic masculinity. Vomit. 

 

Rep: American. Cis. Hetero. Dark, midnight, white, black, tan, pale, and freckled skin tones. Non-vocal.

 

📚 Format: Library Hardcover