Blog Archives

Wicked Little Deeds by Kat Ellis – #TheWriteReads #UltimateBlogTour Book Review

About the Book

*THE BRAND NEW TERRIFYING THRILLER FROM KAT ELLIS*

‘Riverdale meets The Haunting of Hill House’ – Amy McCaw, author of Mina and the Undead

‘Kat Ellis wields an oppressive atmosphere like a sharply honed blade‘ – Sera Milano, author of This Can Never Not Be Real

‘Horrifyingly good fun!‘ Kathryn Foxfield, author of Good Girls Die First

From its creepy town mascot to the story of its cursed waterfall, Burden Falls is a small town dripping with superstition. Ava Thorn knows this well – since the horrific accident she witnessed a year ago, she’s been plagued by nightmares.

But when her school nemesis is brutally murdered and Ava is the primary suspect, she starts to wonder if the legends surrounding the town are more fact than fiction.

Whatever secrets Burden Falls is hiding, there’s a killer on the loose, and they have a vendetta against the Thorns…

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55600867-wicked-little-deeds

About the Author

Kat Ellis is a young adult author whose novels include Wicked Little Deeds/Burden Falls (August 2021), Harrow Lake (July 2020), Purge (September 2016), Breaker (May 2016), and Blackfin Sky (May 2014). She is a fan of all things horror and sci-fi, and a keen explorer of ruins, castles and cemeteries – all of which are plentiful in North Wales, where Kat lives with her husband.

You can find out more about Kat at http://www.katelliswrites.com or connect with her on social media.

Email: katelliswrites@gmail.com

Website: katelliswrites.com

Facebook: facebook.com/katelliswrites

Instagram: @katelliswrites

Twitter: @el_kat

(from https://katelliswrites.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html)

What I Thought

This was so good. All gothic and horrifying, a cross between The Ring, The Grudge, Scream and I Know What your family did a few centuries back, with a dash of Romeo and Juliet thrown in.

Kat Ellis has created a truly spooky mystery thriller with lots of twists and turns. I did manage to guess who done it but literally only just before the book’s characters. I was led a merry dance with all the missteps and clever authorly suggestions too.

The Burden Falls legend of Deadeyed Sadie added a spooky layer to this murderous tale and I definitely got that horror movie heart racing vibe whilst reading this. I also loved that the manor and setting became a character in this tale too.

Full of newspaper clippings, family feuds and a hit teen version of Most Haunted this is a book to read with the lights on and 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 A film to watch with the lights off! I just hope I don’t get nightmares like Ava 😱😬😴.

Main character Ava is a intriguing heroine, one who maybe isn’t an innocent as she seems. Is there curse on her family? And will she be the one to survive it?

Wicked Little Deeds is out now so don’t delay, read and scare yourself today!

Thanks to Dave at The WriteReads and the publisher for the gifted ecopy for the purposes of an honest review. Check out the hashtags #WickedLittleDeeds #KatEllis #TheWriteReads to see what everyone else thought.

Posted in Book Reviews

Wonderland Blog Tour – Book Review

Sep 25

Posted by kirstyes

Good morning and welcome to my spot on the blog tour for this anthology of work inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

I think most people are somewhat familiar with the original stories. My first introduction to Alice, I’m fairly sure, was via the Disney animated film, and to be honest I’m not convinced if I’ve even fully read the original stories. I really must rectify that soon (would love a MinaLima to design an edition btw). The genre bending children’s fantasy, has definite horrific aspects and many a joke has been made about what Carroll was on when he wrote these tales. They are a true classic, and have been a springboard for many a spin off or retelling both on film, and on the page.

The majority of the works in this anthology are short stories although these are bookended by two poems by Jane Yolen. The second of which I preferred. Some of the tales may be better appreciated by people who are familiar with the originals but despite this most can stand alone.

I was only familiar with 3 of the 20 names associated and so I had the pleasure of being introduced to other authors, some of whose other work I am now likely to seek out as a result.

There is something for everyone in here, but as with most short story collections perhaps not everything will be for everyone. Stories that although are well written, don’t quite make that connection. There’s historical, contemporary and futuristic tales in fantasy, science fiction, horror, historical and more. Topics such as capitalism and child abuse are discovered. Not be shelved in the children’s section next to the original. And most of the characters from Hatter to Cheshire, The Jabberwock, and even the more obscure Walrus, appear in one form or another across these tales. For me there were many more hits than misses and I will mention a few of the hits next.

First up is the author I was most familiar with – MR Carey with There Were No Birds to Fly. The tonal similarity with his other works was apparent. That apocalyptic creepiness. Oddly this was the least recognisable in terms of its connection to the original, until the very end. Carey shows that being inspired by something can still lead to a highly original story.

Next was Genevieve Cogman. I was aware of her and have her Invisible Library series waiting on my TBR. Her tale The White Queen’s Pawn had a wry and dark humour, and a be careful what you wish for moral. I definitely plan to bump her tales up the list.

And the stand out for me was Cavan Scott’s Dream Girl. I won’t mention the genre as that is sort of a spoiler in itself but it was perfection. It reminded me of the Wizard of Oz/Wicked retelling and I would love to be able to read a longer work based on what this becomes at the end of the story.

Thank you to Titan for the gifted review copy and to editors Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane for bringing this together. Do check out the rest of the blog tour stops to see which stories stood out to everyone else.

Posted in Book Reviews

Comments Off on Wonderland Blog Tour – Book Review

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Anthology, Blog Tour, Book Review, Fantasy, gifted, historical, Horror, Poetry, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Titan, Wonderland

New Suns – Speculative Fiction by POC collection – Blog Tour Book Review

Mar 18

Posted by kirstyes

Synopsis

“There’s nothing new under the sun, but there are new Suns,” proclaimed Octavia E. Butler.

New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Colour showcases emerging and seasoned writers of many races telling stories filled with shocking delights, powerful visions of the familiar made strange. Between this book’s covers burn tales of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and their indefinable overlapping. These are authors aware of our many possible pasts and futures, authors freed of stereotypes and clichés, ready to dazzle you with their daring genius.

Unexpected brilliance shines forth from every page.

What I Thought

As with any short story collection there will be stories that you love, many that you like and a couple that just don’t quite hit the spot (at the time of initial reading at least). When the former two outweigh the latter you are onto a winner and that was the case here.

Speculative fiction is always as much about the here and now as it is about visions of the future. A number of the stories provide such good political commentary that Trump will want their authors federally investigated! Three Variations on a Theme of Imperial Attire (E. Lily Yu) – a take on the Emperors New Clothes conjured up scary naked visions I didn’t really want but provided brilliant political satire.

The stories were an eclectic mix which is what you hope to get with mixed representation. Here we also had mixed presentation. From an euthanasia tourist holiday infomercial script to fairytales, ghost stories, gang warfare – there is something to suit everyone. I guess I was expecting a little more straight science fiction but enjoyed the variety of fantasy and slightly more contemporary feeling pieces. Even the couple of stories that didn’t quite hit the spot for me were lyrically written and just because the meaning was not immediately apparent to me doesn’t mean they won’t jump out at someone else. As readers we bring so much to what we read and current preoccupations jump out more readily.

My two favourite stories were:

The Freedom of the Shifting Sea (Jaymee Goh). With echoes The Shape of Water this is a f/f love story with feminist themes.

The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations (Minsoo Kang) is written as an historical paper on a peace treaty orchestrated by two translators who don’t quite translate what is being said by the violent rulers going head to head. I particularly liked the add on commentary about not looking enough at the female perspective and I’d actually really want to read the translators story in real time.

Do you like reading short stories about the macabre and unusual? Then pick up New Suns and step into the unknown.

Check out the rest of the blog tour and see which stories other people highlighted.