Book Review | The Tenant by Katrine Engberg

The Tenant is a Scandinavian mystery novel by Katrine Engberg.

When a young woman is discovered brutally murdered in her own apartment, with an intricate pattern of lines carved into her face, Copenhagen police detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner are assigned to the case. In short order, they establish a link between the victim, Julie Stender, and her landlady, Esther de Laurenti, who’s a bit too fond of drink and the host of raucous dinner parties with her artist friends. Esther also turns out to be a budding novelist—and when Julie turns up as a murder victim in the still-unfinished mystery she’s writing, the link between fiction and real life grows both more urgent and more dangerous.

But Esther’s role in this twisted scenario is not quite as clear as it first seems. Is she the culprit—or just another victim, trapped in a twisted game of vengeance? Anette and Jeppe must dig more deeply into the two women’s pasts to discover the identity of the brutal puppet-master pulling the strings in this electrifying literary thriller.

Many thanks to Scout Press for sending me The Tenant. The Tenant was a bestseller in Denmark, and I always get excited by bestsellers that have been translated into English.

Based on the blurbs and the synopsis, I expected there to be more suspense. I think The Tenant will be a great fit for folks who love mysteries, crime, and police procedurals.

I enjoyed all of the characters in The Tenant and the unfolding mystery. There was an older lady who was writing in her retirement, and I loved her. I also loved that all of the characters were flawed in different ways. It was interesting to experience the book through alternating view points between these different characters.

I enjoyed the writing in The Tenant as well. The English translation was written by Tara Chace, and I thought it was great. I especially loved the opening scene which did a great job of hooking me for the rest of The Tenant. I did find it a little hard to believe the sexy scenes were written by a woman, though.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Tenant. The Tenant is Katrine Engberg's debut novel and the beginning of a new series (which is already three books out in Denmark). I hope we get English translations for the rest of the series because I would happily read more from her.

⭐⭐⭐⭐★

Review copy provided by the publisher

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Book Review | Bitter Falls by Rachel Caine

Bitter Falls is the fourth book in the Stillhouse Lake series by Rachel Caine.

She’s investigating a cold case no one else could—by going places no else would dare.

In spite of a harrowing past still haunting her, Gwen Proctor is trying to move forward. Until a new assignment gives her purpose: the cold-case disappearance of a young man in Tennessee. Three years missing, no clues. Just Ruth Landry, a tortured mother in limbo. Gwen understands what it’s like to worry about your children.

Gwen’s investigation unearths new suspects…and victims. As she follows each sinister lead, the implications of the mystery grow more disturbing. Because the closer Gwen gets, the closer she is to a threat that looms back home.

In a town that’s closed its ranks against Gwen; her partner, Sam; and her kids, there’s no bolder enemy than the Belldene family—paramilitary, criminal, powerful, and vengeful. As personal vendettas collide with Gwen’s investigation, she’s prepared to fight both battles. But is she prepared for the toll it could take on everyone she loves?

I just love the Stillhouse Lake series. In the last book, I was excited to see the direction the series was taking because it meant we could have a lot more books in this series. I mistakenly assumed the series going forward would take the safe route and become more about Gwen Proctor's new life and less about Gina Royal's old life. I'm so glad I was wrong! There is still so much of the original plot and family dynamic happening, and I'm so happy.

If you've read Stillhouse Lake, so much of what I loved about that first book can be found in Bitter Falls as well. It's really a return to the roots of this series while still progressing the family where they are now.

If you haven't read Stillhouse Lake, well... I recommend you get on that some day. I really look forward to each book in this series. Things are not easy for this family, and I'm assuming things are about to get rough all over again in the next one. I'll be there!

⭐⭐⭐⭐★

Review copy provided by the author

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On My Wishlist {27}

On My Wishlist is where I share a few books that have recently made it onto my wishlist. These are the books that have recently caught my eye:

The Long Home by William Gay
Published November 1st 1999 by MacMurray & Beck

In a literary voice that is both original and powerfully unsettling, William Gay tells the story of Nathan Winer, a young and headstrong Tennessee carpenter who lost his father years ago to a human evil that is greater and closer at hand than any the boy can imagine - until he learns of it first-hand. Gay's remarkable debut novel, The Long Home, is also the story of Amber Rose, a beautiful young woman forced to live beneath that evil who recognizes even as a child that Nathan is her first and last chance at escape. And it is the story of William Tell Oliver, a solitary old man who watches the growing evil from the dark woods and adds to his own weathered guilt by failing to do anything about it. Set in rural Tennessee in the 1940s, The Long Home will bring to mind once again the greatest Southern novelists and will haunt the reader with its sense of solitude , longing, and the deliverance that is always just out of reach.

It was this tweet from Andy Davidson that put The Long Home on my radar:

📚THE LONG HOME by William Gay. Reads like the closest he could bring himself to a popular form and satisfies in all the right ways. Achingly beautiful, as is his way. Easily one of my all time favorite writers — and one the world lost too quickly, relative to his career.📚

— Andy Davidson (@theandydavidson) January 13, 2020

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Girls Save the World in This One by Ash Parsons
Expected publication: April 14th 2020 by Philomel Books

Shaun of the Dead meets Clueless in this hilarious YA horror comedy set at a local zombie convention—featuring a teenage girl gang that has to save the world from a horde of actual zombies. Perfect for fans of Geekerella, Undead Girl Gang, and Anna and the Apocalypse.

June’s whole life has been leading up to this: ZombieCon, the fan convention celebrating all things zombies. She and her two best friends plan on hitting all the panels, photo ops, and meeting the heartthrob lead of their favorite zombie apocalypse show Human Wasteland.

And when they arrive everything seems perfect, though June has to shrug off some weirdness from other fans—people shambling a little too much, and someone actually biting a cast member. Then all hell breaks loose and June and her friends discover the truth: real zombies are taking over the con. Now June must do whatever it takes to survive a horde of actual brain-eating zombies—and save the world. This is a hilarious and heartfelt horror comedy, an ode to zombies, friendship, and girl power that readers are going to love.

This YA horror comedy is 100% what I need this year!

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Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life after Which Everything Was Different by Chuck Palahniuk
Published January 7th 2020 by Grand Central Publishing

Renowned, bestselling novelist Chuck Palahniuk takes us behind the scenes of the writing life, with postcards from decades on the road and incredible examination of the power of fiction and the art of storytelling.

In this spellbinding blend of memoir and insight, bestselling author Chuck Palahniuk shares stories and generous advice on what makes writing powerful and what makes for powerful writing.

With advice grounded in years of careful study and a keenly observed life, Palahniuk combines practical advice and concrete examples from beloved classics, his own books, and a"kitchen-table MFA" culled from an evolving circle of beloved authors and artists, with anecdotes, postcards from the road, and much more.

Clear-eyed, sensitive, illuminating, and knowledgeable, Consider This is Palahniuk's love letter to stories and storytellers, booksellers and books themselves. Consider it a classic in the making.

I love reading about writing, and this sounds like a book I need in a life.

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Have you read or are you planning to read any of these? What books have recently made it onto your wishlist?

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | January 19

Are you joining in Women in Horror Month next month? If you are, the Ladies of Horror Fiction team is hosting several activities if you want to join in.

We are hosting a readathon, and you are welcome to pick a book(s) from one, more, or all prompts next month to celebrate WiHM.

We are also hosting an Instagram challenge if you'd like to join in.

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Posted Last Week

On Monday I posted my ⭐⭐⭐★★ review of Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire.

Wednesday I shared a few books that have recently made it onto my wishlist.

Finished Reading

Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire ⭐⭐⭐★★ - I was a little bit disappointed, and you can check out my review here.

Currently Reading

I'm currently in the middle of both The Tenant by Katrine Engberg and Bitter Falls by Rachel Caine, and I'm loving them both. I hope to get some quality reading time with one of them today.

Recent Acquisitions

The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley - Toni from The Misadventures of a Reader persuaded me to change my mind (again) about wanting to read The Beauty. I decided to order a copy, and I'm excited about it.

Long Bright River by Liz Moore - This is one of my most anticipated books of January. It's solely off of the description and the marketing buzz, but I just have a feeling about it and I really want to read it. Unfortunately, I probably won't get to it until after Women in Horror Month next month.

Watership Down (Watership Down #1) by Richard Adams - I bought Watership Down as part of Audibles member sale they are having right now. I can't believe I've never read it.

So what about you? Let me know what you're reading this week or leave me some links!

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This post is being shared as part of Book Date's It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

On My Wishlist {26}

On My Wishlist is where I share a few books that have recently made it onto my wishlist. These are the books that have recently caught my eye:

Violet by S.J.I. Holliday
Published November 14th 2019 by Orenda Books

When two strangers end up sharing a cabin on the Trans-Siberian Express, an intense friendship develops, one that can only have one ending … a nerve-shattering psychological thriller from bestselling author SJI Holliday

Carrie's best friend has an accident and can no longer make the round-the-world trip they'd planned together, so Carrie decides to go it alone.

Violet is also travelling alone, after splitting up with her boyfriend in Thailand. She is also desperate for a ticket on the Trans-Siberian Express, but there is nothing available.

When the two women meet in a Beijing Hotel, Carrie makes the impulsive decision to invite Violet to take her best friend's place.

Thrown together in a strange country, and the cramped cabin of the train, the women soon form a bond. But as the journey continues, through Mongolia and into Russia, things start to unravel – because one of these women is not who she claims to be…

A tense and twisted psychological thriller about obsession, manipulation and toxic friendships, Violet also reminds us that there's a reason why mother told us not to talk to strangers...

I put Violet on my wishlist after seeing it on Barb's 2019 Favorite Reads post. ("Hands down one of the best thrillers I've read all year.")

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Of Sea and Shadow by Will Wight

Published December 30th 2014 by Hidden Gnome Publishing

The Guild of Navigators has ruled the Aion Sea for centuries, using their fleet of mystical ships to collect trade for the Aurelian Empire.

Now the Emperor is dead.

For Calder Marten, Captain of The Testament, the Emperor’s death is not an end, but an opportunity. He and his crew seek the legendary Heart of Nakothi, an artifact that could raise a second Emperor…and earn Calder a fortune.

But they’re not the only ones who want the Heart.

The Consultant’s Guild, an ancient order of spies and assassins, will stop at nothing to keep the world in chaos. They seek to destroy the Heart, and prevent the world from uniting under a single Emperor ever again.

On the seas, a man works to restore the dying Empire.

In the shadows, a woman seeks to destroy it.

Will you explore the seas here with Calder? Or will you walk the shadows with Shera, in the parallel novel "Of Shadow and Sea"?

Of Shadow and Sea by Will Wight

Published December 30th 2014 by Hidden Gnome Publishing

The Consultant’s Guild has served the Aurelian Empire for over a thousand years, working in the darkness to hunt dissension and eliminate traitors.

Now the Emperor is dead.

For Shera, an assassin in the employ of the Consultants, the Emperor’s death is the beginning of a nightmare. Powerful forces hunt the Heart of Nakothi, a cursed artifact that can raise a second Emperor…and corrupt him in the process.

But some desire power at any cost.

The Guild of Navigators, an infamous collection of swindlers and pirates, has been paid a fortune to secure the Heart. Their only lord is greed, their only loyalty to gold, and they would sell the Empire’s freedom for the promise of a quick coin.

In the shadows, a woman works to set the world free.

On the seas, a man seeks to raise a lunatic to lord over mankind.

Will you walk the shadows here with Shera? Or will you explore the seas with Calder, in the parallel novel "Of Sea and Shadow"?

I'm really interested in these books, and I'm having trouble wrapping my head around them well enough to explain. Both of these novels make up the first book in a series. The protagonists in each novel are the antagonists in the other novel. Anyhow, they sound really great, and I want to read them!

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Over the Woodward Wall (Untitled #1) by A. Deborah Baker (Seanan McGuire)
Expected publication: October 6th 2020 by Tor.com

If you trust her you’ll never get home…

Avery is an exceptional child. Everything he does is precise, from the way he washes his face in the morning, to the way he completes his homework – without complaint, without fuss, without prompt.

Zib is also an exceptional child, because all children are, in their own way. But where everything Avery does and is can be measured, nothing Zib does can possibly be predicted, except for the fact that she can always be relied upon to be unpredictable.

They live on the same street.

They live in different worlds.

On an unplanned detour from home to school one morning, Avery and Zib find themselves climbing over a low stone wall into the Up and Under – an impossible land filled with mystery, adventure and the strangest creatures. And they must find themselves and each other if they are to also find their way out and back to their own lives.

There are quotes from this book in Middlegame. Seanan McGuire is just way too fun, and I need this!

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Are you planning to read any of these upcoming releases? What books have recently made it onto your wishlist?

Book Review | Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire

Come Tumbling Down is the fifth book in Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series.

The fifth installment in Seanan McGuire's award-winning, bestselling Wayward Children series, Come Tumbling Down picks up the threads left dangling by Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones

When Jack left Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children she was carrying the body of her deliciously deranged sister--whom she had recently murdered in a fit of righteous justice--back to their home on the Moors.

But death in their adopted world isn't always as permanent as it is here, and when Jack is herself carried back into the school, it becomes clear that something has happened to her. Something terrible. Something of which only the maddest of scientists could conceive. Something only her friends are equipped to help her overcome.

Eleanor West's "No Quests" rule is about to be broken.

Again.

It's not that I didn't like Come Tumbling Down, I just didn't particularly care for it, either.

Come Tumbling Down can't stand on its own the way the other books in the series can, yet half of the book is spent explaining the characters and the worlds.

I still wholeheartedly recommend this series and I'm anxiously awaiting the next installment... I just don't feel like Come Tumbling Down really added anything new.

⭐⭐⭐★★

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Recent Updates and Currently Reading | January 12

This week was my first week back to work since before the holidays, and it was also birthday week for my oldest. He turned 13 this week! I officially have a teenager in the house. It was a super busy week for me. I'm hoping to take it easy and do some much needed blog hopping today.

Posted Last Week

On Monday I posted all of the January 2020 Book Releases in Fantasy, Horror, and Thrillers I'm most excited about.

On Tuesday I posted my ⭐⭐⭐★★ review of Middlegame by Seanan McGuire.

Wednesday I shared a few books that have recently made it onto my wishlist.

And then Friday I posted my ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review of A Lush and Seething Hell by John Hornor Jacobs.

Finished Reading

Walking to Aldebaran by Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐⭐⭐⭐★ - This book had the perfect balance of world building and humor.

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire ⭐⭐⭐★★ - I've already posted my review of this one.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - So good. Stay tuned for a review!

Currently Reading

Yay! The new Wayward Children book released this week! I started reading it this weekend because I just couldn't wait any longer.

Recent Acquisitions

Tor.com kindly granted me ecopies of The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo and Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings. I am highly anticipating both of these reads.

I gave into temptation and also grabbed copies of The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones and The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu since these are highly anticipated reads as well.

Many thanks to Gallery Books for sending me copies of Truth Be Told by Kathleen Barber and The Tenant by Katrine Engberg.

I bought a copy of The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher for the January group read in the Ladies of Horror Fiction goodreads group.

I also bought a couple of fantasy back titles that I'm in the mood to read this year: The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons and You Die When You Die by Angus Watson.

So what about you? Let me know what you're reading this week or leave me some links!

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This post is being shared as part of Book Date's It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Book Review | A Lush and Seething Hell by John Hornor Jacobs

A Lush and Seething Hell combines two tales of cosmic horror by John Hornor Jacobs.

The award-winning and critically-acclaimed master of horror returns with a pair of chilling tales—both never-before-published in print—that examine the violence and depravity of the human condition.

Bringing together his acclaimed novella The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky and an all-new short novel My Heart Struck Sorrow, John Hornor Jacobs turns his fertile imagination to the evil that breeds within the human soul.

A brilliant mix of the psychological and supernatural, blending the acute insight of Roberto Bolaño and the eerie imagination of H. P. Lovecraft, The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky examines life in a South American dictatorship. Centered on the journal of a poet-in-exile and his failed attempts at translating a maddening text, it is told by a young woman trying to come to grips with a country that nearly devoured itself.

In My Heart Struck Sorrow, a librarian discovers a recording from the Deep South—which may be the musical stylings of the Devil himself.

Breathtaking and haunting, A Lush and Seething Hell is a terrifying and exhilarating journey into the darkness, an odyssey into the deepest reaches of ourselves that compels us to confront secrets best left hidden.

I just love John Hornor Jacobs' cosmic horror. The two novellas in A Lush and Seething Hell are set in the same world as Southern Gods {my review}, and I really can't get enough of it. You definitely don't need to read Southern Gods before reading A Lush and Seething Hell, but I do recommend you read Southern Gods at some point just because I loved it so.

I read the two novellas in A Lush and Seething Hell separately (a month apart), and even though I really enjoyed The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky, I think I missed something. I was probably my own worst enemy with all of my preconceived Lovecraftian notions and expectations. I want to read this one again.

The second novella - My Heart Struck Sorrow - was my favorite of the two stories. Not only was I in Jacobs' world of cosmic horror, but it turned out to be music horror which is something I always love. My Heart Struck Sorrow was dark and unsettling, and I love when reading a book becomes an experience. I will probably want to reread this novella, too, just because I liked it so much.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

*according to the book description, My Heart Struck Sorrow is actually a short novel and not a novella.

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On My Wishlist {25}

On My Wishlist is where I share a few books that have recently made it onto my wishlist. These are the books that have recently caught my eye:

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
Expected publication: March 24th 2020 by Tor.com

With the heart of an Atwood tale and the visuals of a classic Asian period drama The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a tightly and lushly written narrative about empire, storytelling, and the anger of women.

A young royal from the far north is sent south for a political marriage. Alone and sometimes reviled, she has only her servants on her side. This evocative debut chronicles her rise to power through the eyes of her handmaiden, at once feminist high fantasy and a thrilling indictment of monarchy.

This upcoming Tor.com novella was highly recommended to me by Toni at Misadventures of a Reader. I can't wait to read this one.

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The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
Expected publication: April 7th 2020 by Quirk Books

Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula in this Southern-flavored supernatural thriller set in the '90s about a women's book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious and handsome stranger who turns out to be a blood-sucking fiend.

Patricia Campbell had always planned for a big life, but after giving up her career as a nurse to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother, Patricia's life has never felt smaller. The days are long, her kids are ungrateful, her husband is distant, and her to-do list is never really done. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a group of Charleston mothers united only by their love for true-crime and suspenseful fiction. In these meetings, they're more likely to discuss the FBI's recent siege of Waco as much as the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood.

But when an artistic and sensitive stranger moves into the neighborhood, the book club's meetings turn into speculation about the newcomer. Patricia is initially attracted to him, but when some local children go missing, she starts to suspect the newcomer is involved. She begins her own investigation, assuming that he's a Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy. What she uncovers is far more terrifying, and soon she--and her book club--are the only people standing between the monster they've invited into their homes and their unsuspecting community.

I plan to read everything Grady Hendrix writes. That is all.

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The Book of Koli (Rampart Trilogy #1) by M.R. Carey
Expected publication: April 14th 2020 by Orbit

The first in a gripping new trilogy, The Book of Koli charts the journey of one unforgettable young boy struggling to find his place in a chilling post-apocalyptic world. Perfect for readers of Station Eleven and Annihilation.

Beyond the walls of the small village of Mythen Rood lies an unrecognizable world. A world where overgrown forests are filled with choker trees and deadly vines and seeds that will kill you where you stand. And if they don't get you, one of the dangerous shunned men will.

Koli has lived in Mythen Rood his entire life. He knows the first rule of survival is that you don't venture beyond the walls.

What he doesn't know is -- what happens when you aren't given a choice?

This new trilogy sounds like something I would love to get hooked on.

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Are you planning to read any of these upcoming releases? What books have recently made it onto your wishlist?

Book Review | Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

Middlegame is a fantasy novel by Seanan McGuire.

Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story.

Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math.

Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.

Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.

Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.

I am such a fan of Seanan McGuire. Her imagination and her characters are amazing. Middlegame is no exception to this. The first time I picked up Middlegame (at the beginning of last year), I was spoiled by early reviews and I decided to put it away until those reviews would not affect my reading experience. Now that I've gone back and reread/finished Middlegame, I see why there were so many spoilers. This book is really hard to discuss otherwise, so I'll skip any actual plot points.

My favorite scenes are in the beginning of Middlegame when we are getting to know the characters of Roger and Dodger and the connection between them. Seanan McGuire's stories are so brilliant and so fun. I'm here for her story ideas for life.

There are a lot of time jumps in Middlegame, though. It's necessary to the story, but as a reader I rarely enjoy jumps in time. They pull me out of the story and away from the characters, and there's just no way my preference could overcome the amount of shifts in Middlegame. The story got progressively slower as the book went on, and as much as I loved the premise and the characters and the writing, it still managed to be difficult to get through.

⭐⭐⭐★★

Review copy provided by publisher

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