atipsygiraffe's reviews
218 reviews

After a near death experience in his newly acquired Victorian house, David finds himself haunted by ghosts. The weirdest part? The ghosts don't just stick to his old house and some of the ghosts are people who are still alive. Is he losing his mind or are there really ghosts trying to get an important message to him?

This was a haunted house story, but not as you know it. The premise and how the story unfolds was definitely unique., It was genuinely very creepy and I was definitely scared at some points, which doesn't happen often for me (growing up reading Stephen King, when I was way too young for his books, made me pretty difficult to scare in a book). I enjoyed the nod to King's The Dead Zone without it trying to imitate it.

This book had so much promise and I wanted to love it, but in the end it just didn't deliver. The writing style was not for me, it was written more like statements and didn't flow well, and the dialogue was very clunky and unnatural. I don't need my horror to be written in prose, but I also don't want to be walked through every step - show, don't tell. Despite that, I was enjoying it and it kept me turning pages. Until the end, which felt flat and rushed. I was left thinking "oh, was that it?". I rarely say this, but it could have done with being a little longer to really flesh out the ending.

I'm rating this a 3.5 overall (rounded up), because despite the writing style and the disappointing ending, it was a unique and mostly unpredictable ghost story that did have me scared multiple times. It was a quick read as well, so while it won't go on my favourites list I wouldn't necessarily shy away from recommending it.

Thank you to NetGalley and FlameTree for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"I'm trying to tell you what it means to be in the eye of a moshpit: a small, beautiful world in the midst of chaos, free, amongst flailing limbs and half shouted lyrics"

When I read Open Water last year, I was blown away. So when Small World's was announced I was, of course, very excited but didn't think I would love it as much as Open Water. Well, guess what reader? I was wrong - I somehow loved this even more!

I am in awe of Caleb Azumah Nelson's writing. He approaches characters, stories, and themes with such lyrical beauty that is absorbing yet so easy to read. The characters and stories bloom so naturally, it feels like you genuinely get to know them. At times I forgot I was reading a work of fiction. 

Small Worlds is set over the course of three summers. Stephen is navigating the vast worlds of love, loss, family, and self and the small worlds we build for ourselves, how we create space to live, love, and be free.

He struggles with loss throughout, through death of a loved one but also how we lose ourselves, the people we thought we would be, and the loss felt in the gaps that grow in our relationships.

Stephen finds solace, joy, and hope in music and dancing. This in particular really resonated with me. Music was always my place of comfort when I was a teenager, going to a gig and being surrounded by people singing along, dancing - my own small world where I felt safe and at home.

Caleb approaches difficult, sensitive topics with such care and passion. Showing how communities and families can fracture but find strength in love and the small worlds, and space they create to live in those worlds, with the things that bring them together at the centre, the things that feel like home, especially when home is so far away.

Small Worlds was an incredibly moving, beautiful novel, one I’ll revisit again and again. I can't wait see it brought to life on the screen, and I live in anticipation of Caleb Azumah Nelson's next offering!

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking for the eARC, I can't wait to get my hands on the physical copy (published 11 May)

Set in the small coastal town of Desengaño in Baja California in 1979, Viridiana spends her days watching the fishermen pile dead sharks on the beach. Completely bored of small town life and all that comes with it, she dreams of a life like a Hollywood film. When three rich tourists arrive for the summer, she starts working for them and life becomes a lot less boring. Desengaño means disillusion in English and is the perfect setting for this story.

Untamed Shore is a noir with a little coming of age mixed in. It starts off pretty slow with most of the action happening in the last third, but I enjoyed the slow build and you get drawn into the atmospheric setting very quickly. Viridiana is very naive at times, but extremely smart at the same time and I adored her journey and growth.

There wasn't a lot of mystery surrounding the events and I did guess the twists, but that wasn’t really the point of the novel and I was still on the edge of my seat waiting to see how it all played out. The ending was so satisfying too - especially for Viridiana! The author said this is the only book she’s considered writing a sequel for and I don’t know if she ever actually will, but I’m so ready to find out what happens after the epilogue!

Untamed Shored was originally published in 2020, in a small press with promotion stopped in its tracks by the pandemic. It's being re-released on 16 February, which I'm really glad about or I don't think it would have made it onto my radar otherwise. It's not my favourite by Moreno-Garcia but one I wouldn't hesitate to recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and Quercus Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!