Transcription
I don't remember what season it takes place in, but something about rotting flesh makes me think of summer. Friends, this was a much cuter idea when I thought of it indoors. Now that I'm outside, I'm a little like, what? What exactly was the thought process here? Um, hi. Checking in from monsoon season in Seoul. Um, it's actually weirdly chilly. This is the been, sorry, sidetracked, but this is the strangest summer I have ever experienced. I've lived in Korea for 10 years. This is the most bizarre summer. We normally get very heavy summer rain. This, this isn't summer rain. This is something else entirely. So, um, bizarre, but I'm here. Um, I actually am under a little bit of a cover. I don't know how this is going to turn out because there's a little more traffic than I expected on the street in front of me. I don't know why people are out and about in this weather. What's going on? So, I hope you can hear me. Um, we're going to be talking about, I brought my notes doing this mobile. I haven't done this in a really long time. I brought you out here in this little summer storm to talk about books that are perfect for that sticky, kind of scary, kind of gross summer atmosphere. I find that I strangely read a lot of horror in summer. So, a lot of these books are linked to a little bit of horror, a little bit of creepy nature. Um, and this is all going to be within, I tried to keep it within the fantasy genre. If you want to see other just like creepy summer books, I made one a couple years ago that still completely stands. It's got more sci-fi, I think, some lit fic things like that. But this is some fantasy. If you want to get lost in a creepy magical forest, this is the video for you. So, I'm just going to dive right in with the first book that actually inspired this entire video. Thank you to the one person. This is, this literally happened within this week. I posted my, what was it? It had to have been my June wrap-up video and I was saying that, you know, I'm kind of in a slump. Would like some recommendations and someone recommended this book that has been sitting on my shelf. I got a physical arc sent to me by the publisher. It's been sitting on my shelf for 2 years. It was one of those things where the publisher sent me this book and then I think I went on vacation and then I moved. Um, and then by the time I thought about it again, it was winter and I wasn't going to read this book during winter. So, thank you so much to the person who reminded me to pick up Bittersweet in the Hollow. Literally, right after I saw that comment, I went to my bookshelf, picked it up, and I finished it within the day. Perfect creepy summer vibes. Absolutely enjoyed it. I think that the atmosphere was certainly a lot stronger than the plot, but I'll get into it. Let me tell you, let me tell you what it's about. So, Bittersweet in the Hollow takes place in West Virginia in the heart of Appalachia. And we're following a girl whose family is a little bit outcast because they all just are a little strange. They all have some kind of power and they've been living in this town for years. So, it's just been generations of weird rumors and general dislike surrounding the family. But, they do own like the one main diner in town. So, a lot of what makes this atmosphere really great is the food descriptions. Oh my goodness. Talking about what they serve in the diner cuz they make all their own food. Um, I was salivating. But this family of possibly witches isn't the strangest thing about this town. About 20 years ago, a young boy went missing in the woods. And it's grown into this kind of local legend, a little old wives' tale about the Mothman who lives in the woods. And every summer, kids kind of like play around with, you know, as kids do, with a local legend. But last summer, our main girl, Lynden, went missing, similar to this 4-year-old boy from 20 years ago. But she came back, and she came back without any memory of what happened. And as the next summer rolls in, the anniversary of all of these mysterious disappearances come back, it's clear that something is haunting the woods, and Lynden is going to find out. And it was, like I said, the plot wasn't quite as strong as the atmosphere. I think how it ended was good, but just the emotions to get us there, I didn't quite feel it. But just in terms of like a small town, creepy woods, seeing things like just out of the corner of your eye, everyone is hiding something. Um, I thought that it was a really solid story. I literally just got an emergency alert about how much it's raining. Why? Why am I outside? I thought it was great for, not that it's relaxing because it is kind of scary, but if you are looking for something that is just so atmospheric and you can eat it up in one day, I definitely recommend Bittersweet in the Hollow. And then since I waited so long to read this book, the sequel is actually out and it's following a different sister. And I was going to dive immediately into it, but the way that this book is written, it's separated by months. So, Bittersweet in the Hollow follows June, July, and August. And then this next book is September, October, November. And I know that the autumn vibes are going to be incredible. So, I'm actually going to save that for later. As much as I want to continue the story, cuz I did really like, especially the sister that we're going to be following in the next book, I'm going to keep it. And that's saying a lot. So, yeah. Bittersweet in the Hollow. A surprising fave.
Next on my list for a creepy summer fantasy is This Poison Heart. I don't know why, but plant magic always feels summery to me. And this is all about plant magic. There's a dilapidated, creepy, potentially cursed house. We're out in upstate New York in the hot, hot summer. There may or may not be a poison garden that is locked and walled off and just family secrets galore. The ingredients are all there. So, we are following Bri who lives with her mom in New York City, but when her aunt passes away and she is left this like sprawling estate in upstate New York, they decide to leave the city for the summer. Particularly because this is a great opportunity for Bri to practice and learn to control her magic in a safe, secluded environment because she does have kind of plant magic where she makes things grow, but when it's uncontrollable and like literally you touch any organic material and it starts to grow, like your life is a little bit difficult. So Bri heads out there. Immediately the town is kind of weird, like they're very far away from things, but then people just start coming to the house asking for things. Like, I think her aunt used to run kind of an apothecary out of this house. And so we follow Bri not only as she learns about her magic and her family, um, but also kind of uncovers secrets of this town. I'm going to be honest, I read it years ago, so it's not fresh in my mind, but I do really remember loving the dynamic of Bri's parents and her, like just how her mom encouraged her and appreciated her and just spoke to her. I just seem to remember really enjoying the kind of family dynamic of it all. And again, just the summer plant magic, upstate New York, sprawling gardens, and this big old empty house. Something about it. And I believe it's a series. I remember wanting to continue it, but for some reason, something, it always happens in summer that something happens where I don't end up finishing a series that I like. So, I'm definitely going to return to it. But This Poison Heart definitely checks all the boxes for a sticky summer fantasy with a lot of just uncontrollable nature and secrets. So, This Poison Heart.
Next up, a book that I've talked about so often and I don't even remember when it takes place, but for some reason, this author is a summer author for me, and that is The Invocations. Yes, I'm talking about it again. This is about three girls who are brought together by magic. If I remember correctly, one of them is cursed, one of them needs to break a curse, and one of them makes curses. I don't know. They just need each other. Okay, that's, that's the important thing. They need each other, but they also don't want anything to do with each other. This takes place in London and when women start showing up dead and they're all part of this web that links them to one of the girls, the girls team up to find the killer. So, one of the girls who I said makes the curses, she in particular is a witch that offers curses to women in need. So, for example, victims of domestic violence or things like that, women who want to disappear. She makes these curses and supports these women. But when all of these women, who again were women in need, show up dead, our girls try to get to the bottom of this. I just remember their dynamic being so fun. It was also very gross. This author throws in kind of borderline body horror. I'm going to say that about a million times in this video. There's a lot of body horror in these books. She writes magic in a way that I love because it's gross. Um, there's this element of it's not like beautiful, simple, clean magic. Like this is very dirty and gross. One girl who is cursed or who attempted some magic that she shouldn't have, literally has a dead leg. Like she has a cut in her leg that is like fermented and dying and falling apart and like she's constantly leaking liquids and pus and all this. Like she stinks. She smells like a corpse. Like she's gross. So, there's so many elements to this that are just like sticky and gross and weird. Um, this is told in three different POVs and all three POVs I really enjoyed. It's quite rare for me to, usually one POV outshines another, but I actually really enjoyed reading each character. Their banter is fun, their relationships, there's a little bit of romance in there. Um, it's just I really, really liked it. Um, one of my favorites of whatever year I read it in. And again, I don't remember what season it takes place in, but something about rotting flesh makes me think of summer. So that is The Invocations.
And then to lead right into a book by the same author, which is House of Hollow. This was the first book that I read by her. I do like Invocations more, but I think that House of Hollow follows a group of girls, but this time we're following sisters. And these sisters are weird. They disappeared for a bit when they were kids. They have like collective amnesia of this event. And ever since then, the community, their parents, like everyone has kind of treated them strangely because to be fair, they're really strange. Um, all in different ways. I believe one of the sisters is like a model or a celebrity of some sort. Like they're so magnetic and odd. Like, you know how some people are weird and you can't look away, and then there's some people who are weird and you're sort of like, "Oh, I don't really want to talk to you." They're kind of a mixture of that. And when one of the sisters goes missing, the other sisters need to get to the bottom of this and they start to uncover a little bit more about what happened during that time that they disappeared. I believe this also takes place in London, if I'm not mistaken. I read this one quite a while ago, but I just remember there were like warehouse parties. Like again, one of the sisters is a celebrity, so I remember it just being like dark strobe lights, sticky, sweaty. At one point, I think they're in a house that's falling apart. They have to climb through an attic. Like I still have a lot of pretty vivid images, like just flashes from the book, but this is another book that has magic that's kind of gross. Like it's even just from the cover, you can see flowers ripping out of a girl's face. Um, it's, yeah, it's kind of groy. It's kind of gross. And I do recommend as well. I'm so, anything she writes, I'm so excited to eat up. But that is House of Hollow.
So, the next one on the list is potentially my least gross one. It is If You Could See the Sun. This takes place at school, so it's not technically summer, but something about it, there's like this intense feeling of not wanting to be where you are. And I feel that way sometimes with, either at the very end of school or even when I'm just bored with summer. Um, kind of feeling stagnant and like I wish I could be anywhere but here. And that's very much encapsulated in this book. We're following a girl who's at a very elite boarding school. I believe this takes place in Beijing and the kids who go there are exclusively children of diplomats, celebrities, people who are mysteriously billionaires. Like these, these just like obscure, insanely rich people. Their children go to this school. And our main girl is the only scholarship student. So, she just kind of hates it, but she's sticking it through because she needs to be at this school. And when she discovers that she has the ability to turn invisible, and she also discovers that she might not have the funds to pay for the last few years of school, she devises a plan to use her invisibility to gather some secrets, gather some intel, because secrets are worth a lot of money in this school. And so, we kind of follow her through this. I remember really liking it. I think I read it in one day. Again, this is like the least creepy book, but I still remember feeling just like my toes kind of curled at a lot of things. Um, but I remember really liking the characters. And I believe there's a sequel if I'm not mistaken. Um, this is one where if you are not quite on board for the scary, but you still want a good fantasy to read over summer, give this one a try. That is If You Could See the Sun. It's still really coming down.
Okay, next on our list is a different kind of sun. Summer Suns. So, full disclaimer, I didn't love this one, but I know a lot of people who did, so I'm still going to recommend it, and you can give it a try. I don't remember. I think I didn't hate it. I just remember it just not being super my style. I didn't connect 100% with the characters, but this takes place right at the end of summer in Nashville. We have a boy who is starting, I believe it's at Vanderbilt. Um, he's starting his freshman year at college. He's supposed to be rooming with his best friend who's basically like a brother. Like, I'm pretty sure they lived together in high school. He was like an adopted brother. They do everything together. They're so excited to start school together. And right before our story starts, our character is delivered the news that his best friend, that his brother, has committed suicide. And that is not right. Something like that happening is always something that you cannot believe. But our main character is like, no, like actually, this is not right. Like, there's no way. Something is very, very wrong about this. And so he goes to school as planned, lives in the house that he and his best friend were supposed to be in. He's got some weird roommates and he's going to get to the bottom of this. So, it's a lot of like southern nature in late summer. There are just like nights that are sticky and gross. There's a lot of, I think my, my one thing that I remember is there was just a lot of hanging out. Like there was a lot of boys sitting on their couch in their shared home smoking weed and just having these long talks. Like it felt so slow, sticky, heavy summer. Okay, that's what I was getting from this. There's a lot of folklore. Like, I think, I think part of the mystery is a little bit linked to the research that his best friend/brother might have been doing. Um, and that kind of ties into some local legends. So, there's this academic thread going through it. I really liked the ingredients. It just, for some reason, upon my first read, didn't hit. But I feel like now that I'm talking about it more, maybe I should return to it. Elias, who I usually agree almost 100% with his recommendations, loves this book. So maybe I just read it wrong. Maybe it just wasn't the time. That happens. So that is Summer Suns. If you want a southern mystery with something, again, always something lurking in the woods and just like dirty, sticky, smelly boys. I don't know if they're smelly, but if they're smoking weed, they're smelly to me. So, yeah, Summer Suns.
Okay. And oh, I don't know if you can hear it. All right. Anyway, next up, also by the author of Summer Suns, is a book that I read, I believe, earlier this year, potentially. Um, I've talked about it before and this is a novella called The Woods All Black. This again, heavy on the atmosphere, loose on the plot, I would say. Um, but again, it takes place in Appalachia in the 1920s. I just really loved this as kind of a work of historical fiction. To be honest, the research that Lee did was really interesting. So, this is the 1920s. A very rural, very hard-to-reach town in Appalachia has just received a nurse, I guess, like a traveling nurse. This is right after World War I. A lot of the nurses and doctors from the armed forces are coming back to the US and they are like continuing their work in the medical field. So, our main character is sent to this town to basically do really simple things like first up, basic physical checkups on everybody. Um, give them vaccinations. Um, if anybody has anything in particular that they need, that kind of thing. Okay. Whoa. Did you see that bird? How are they flying around in this? This is all right. But what's interesting about this book is that our main character is trans. There's a, at the time they used a, like historically accurate word that I'm forgetting. I'm so sorry. But they are presenting as male, assigned female at birth. And this town, of course, cut off from everything, has a pretty weird and strict religious tinge to it. So, our main character is sometimes forced to wear things that they're not comfortable with, forced to present as female, things like that. And generally made to feel as uncomfortable as possible so that they will leave the town. They are not wanted here. And when we figure out why they might not be wanted here, what the town might be hiding, things get a little messy. And so I remember being rather confused. There is one scene in particular that I was like, "What did I just read?" Um, so it's, it's a little bizarre. Like I said, I think that the historical elements were the, the most interesting part, but in the beginning, I think really the first 50% was so interesting and creepy, and I just love a small town in the woods that is clearly hiding something. So, yeah, this was short. I will say the end was bizarre, but give it a try. I think it's only 100 something pages. So, um, that is The Woods All Black.
All right. Another author I talk about non-stop. This is Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew. So, caveat. Okay. I did not know that I needed to read this. Luckily, I read them in order. Um, but Kelly Andrew reuses her characters. So, she wrote a book called The Whispering Dark, which I enjoyed. Then, she wrote Your Blood, My Bones, and after that, she wrote I Am Made of Death. And all three books rely heavily on the characters from the first book and it's not made clear with the marketing or anything like that. So as I was reading Your Blood, My Bones, the second half of the book, all these characters show up and I'm like, "Wow, that's really weird that she would recycle the names of the characters because I had just read her first book," until I realized they were the same people and the worlds are connected and yeah, so that's just something to keep in mind. For this one in particular, you don't need to know their backstories, I don't think. But just in case you're, you get to the second half and you're kind of like, "Wow, these characters came out of nowhere." Ah, yeah. Well, they're in The Whispering Dark. But Your Blood, My Bones, similar to This Poison Heart, has all the elements I like about a creepy summer book, which is a dilapidated haunted house, a town with secrets, potentially even a secret society. There is this creepy greenhouse. Seems like there's vines everywhere. Like the nature has taken over the house as it's been abandoned. All this stuff. Yes. Delicious. Creepy. Gross. Okay. So, our story starts with our main girl coming back to her childhood home with the intention to burn it to the ground. And luckily for our other character, she goes in to say one last goodbye, do a little checkup, see how the house is doing. House is not doing well. The house has a literal tree growing in the middle of it. It's not doing well. But when she enters the cellar, for whatever reason, she finds one of her childhood best friends chained to the wall and he's still alive. Like her dad, I forget the entire story, but like her parents, her family has not been in this house for years. How could a boy survive chained in the literal dungeon for as long as he must have been there? Like something, no, something's wrong. So, of course, we're going to investigate this because what the hell is going on? It involves a lot of just childhood memories, flashbacks to a creepy yet idyllic childhood in this sprawling countryside estate. We've got a father that is potentially in a secret society. That secret society may or may not be magical. There's a lot of like people turning into animals and again, this like greenhouse that's covered in vines and hiding something scary. Everybody's got a secret. You never know who to trust. And I just love a book with flashbacks, people who were friends and now they aren't. What was so bad that our girl decided to completely leave her home, etc. Yeah, it was just I remember it being creepy good and I really enjoyed it. So again, the second half does include characters from the first book, and you might want to know that, but I feel like you can just go into it without it. But that is Your Blood, My Bones. Mhm.
After that, speaking of creepy big houses, plant magic, and friends that aren't friends anymore, we have Hazel Thorne. I really enjoyed Don't Let the Forest In, as well as this book. So, I'm just so excited for everything that this author writes in the future. Hazel Thorne, in particular, is a mixture of botanical and body horror and a little bit of Knives Out in a weird way. We're following our main character who is a boy living with his guardian who is a bazillionaire, one of the richest men alive kind of vibes, okay? And he lives a very strange life in this manor. He's not really supposed to leave it. He's certainly not supposed to hang out in the gardens. Um, and we gather that he's sick or like there's just something wrong with him. He gets taken care of in a very peculiar way. It kind of reminded me a little bit of The Secret Garden, but our story really starts when his guardian dies. And when they are reading the will, his guardian has left his billions and billions of dollars all to our main character. Yeah. The family's not too happy about that. Because of that, the family decides to stay rather close to the house so that they can come and visit and talk to our main character. Are you okay? What's up, little guy? Okay. Bye. So weird. He just like hovered there for a little bit. Anyway, yeah. So, the family is there to pressure him. He doesn't need the money. Okay. He's just this kid who likes to stay in his room, so he doesn't really know what to do. He also has to choose a guardian because he's not 18 yet. So, it's just really messy. Made even messier by the fact that his guardian's other ward, I believe it's his nephew, he comes back from school. And one of the rules of the house, again, our main character isn't allowed to leave the home. Certainly not allowed to go in the gardens. And he's absolutely not supposed to get anywhere near our guardian's nephew, who's a boy of the same age. And why do they need to keep their distance? Because that nephew may or may not have tried to murder our main character when they were little boys. When they were 7 years old, he may or may not have tried. We don't have the details, but it certainly points to an attempted murder by an elementary school child. But when they decide to work together to figure out what really happened to his guardian because once again all signs point to murder, uh, we start to unravel quite a few mysteries about this house, about this garden, about our main character and what really happened when he was seven. It was just so over the top. Like this was very flowery writing. Okay, it was so overly descriptive, but that just made it feel really heavy and rich. Like I felt, I think I mentioned it in my review, but like there were moments where I felt like I could feel soil under my fingernails. It was a book that really pulled you in. And I personally really liked it. I think there's some people who don't. Like if you can't handle kind of purple or flowery prose, this is not for you. But this was so atmospheric. It just felt green. It felt like I was rolling around on the forest floor. And the relationship with these two boys. Yeah. Hazel Thorne. Really, really enjoyed. It was just dirty. And I mean that like dirt. Like I, I truly smelled, tasted, and felt soil all over my body while I was reading this book. And that's a compliment. So that is Hazel Thorne.
Up next, very quickly, because I don't want to give too much away, this is going to be my quickest review and pitch for you. Um, a book that I mention a lot. This is The Unmaking of June Pharaoh. I love Adrienne Young. I started reading Adrienne Young with Fable, which is also really great if you're looking for more of like a pirate kind, like if you liked Pirates of the Caribbean, you would love Fable and Namesake. But for the sake of this video, I will be recommending The Unmaking of June Pharaoh. Again, without giving too much away, this is about a girl named June Pharaoh. And she lives in this small town that her family has lived in their whole lives. And her family legacy is that all of the women in her line tend to go insane. Like they start to have hallucinations, they start to act really just off. And so June has been kind of expecting this her whole life. And she believes it's starting to happen. She starts to see things. She starts to feel a little off. She starts to hear things. But when she gets a mysterious letter, we end up embarking on this journey with her that I do not want to say any more about because it's better if you don't know. But this was, I think this is a little bit more autumnal maybe, if I'm remembering correctly, but I still want to recommend it. Um, this was heartbreaking. This was really a feat. Like I, I think that Adrienne Young has so many incredible ideas for books and a lot of times she's like almost there. Especially with her adult books, I think that she is so great at atmosphere and sometimes the plot is just like almost there. This is a case where everything worked. Everything worked. The character, you will walk out of that book changed and I don't want to tell you anymore. So, I'm sorry that this is really quick, but The Unmaking of June Pharaoh, have at it, please.
Oh my gosh, the sun is trying so hard to peek out from behind that cloud. You've got it. You've got it. Come on. Next up is a book that likely needs no introduction, and it is the Stolen Air duology. This comes right after The Cruel Prince. Um, I do believe you should read The Cruel Prince beforehand. Technically, you don't have to, but all of these characters had been introduced to us already through The Cruel Prince series. And you know that my memory is horrible. So, I just went directly into Stolen Air. And I felt like I could feel there were pieces missing in my mind like in the construction of the characters because I didn't remember who these people were. So, The Stolen Air takes place, I believe it starts in a sticky New Jersey summer. Holly Black is from New Jersey and she writes Jersey, the, the New Jersey that I know. She does it so well. And so she doesn't, I think in this book she doesn't explicitly say it. In her other books she does, but I don't think in this book she explicitly says where this takes place, but it is so clearly New Jersey. There's a map in the beginning of the book. It's obviously taking place on the Jersey Shore. We are following Oak, who is a fairy prince who has some business. He's got a mission that he needs to go on, and he needs some backup. And the one particular person who can help with this is a fairy girl who has run away from the Fey. She was trying to live the life of a normal Jersey girl. Uh, when she gets found out, runs away. So, she's been living in the forests of central Jersey, uh, for an unknown amount of time. She's like feral. She gets wrapped up in this adventure. I can't really say much more. I think I love the way that Holly Black writes Fey. That's what she was born to do. Um, so, really just the atmosphere of this was great. I think it works best as a duology. I remember it being a little slow-moving. I remember feeling a little bit detached from the characters, but as a whole, I think it really works. And if you just want, Oh, damn it. No, I should have recommended the other one. Ah, well, I also want to recommend, okay, hold on, hold on, hold on. Oh my gosh, where did all these cars come from?
Okay, I also want to recommend The Darkest Part of the Forest. H, I should have recommended that instead of Stolen Air. Okay, I still love Stolen Air. I'm still recommending that, but if you want a sticky summer read, you should read The Darkest Part of the Forest. There's like a sleeping fairy prince. This takes place in New Jersey. Once again, um, we're following a group of teenagers that their town mysteriously has a fairy prince in a glass coffin that sleeps in the woods and there's no way to open the coffin. He's just this kind of local legend. People come into the woods and like throw parties with him, all this stuff. Like he's just this mysterious, beautiful sleeping prince. When one day, I'm pretty sure over summer, the coffin is empty and the prince has escaped and we go on this little adventure following our little fa prince around. And yeah, I honestly, I remember it not knocking me off of my feet, but it had all of those elements of, Okay, what the heck? I said the sun was going to come out. The rain is even harder now. It had all the elements I wanted. Um, something about the way that not only how Holly Black writes for her fa characters, but how she writes her teenagers. I think I would just love to know who Holly Black was as a teen. They're all, it feels very like a call back to the early 2000s. It's a lot of like hair dye and house parties and, you know, everybody wears Converse, like very, yeah, there's just a certain atmosphere to that book that screams summer. And hello, little bird. My little bird friend is back. Um, yeah. I would also recommend The Darkest Part of the Forest.
The rain is currently going sideways, so I'm gonna be really fast with this one. This is one that I want to return to because I remember it making me feel quite uncomfy. So, just know that going in. The ending is a little bizarre and it might upset you. I don't know. This was, this was just a weird call, honestly. Um, the more I read of this author, the more I'm like, that's my warning for this book. But, it does have excellent summer vibes and a very specific summer vibe. It's particularly a Pacific Northwest sticky, wet summer. As I was reading it, it felt like twilight, like everything was kind of tinged in this blue filter and very much a lot of ties to Practical Magic, specifically the house. Okay. And that is The Wicked Deep. This follows a small town in Oregon, Oregon, Washington. Anyway, the Pacific Northwest. And this particular town is cursed because way back in the day during the witch hunts, they drowned the Swan sisters and these sisters put a curse on the town that every summer somebody drowns. And so you'd think, why don't they just stay out of the water? It's deeper than that. So, The Wicked Deep. Um, a little bizarre, but definitely got the creepy summer magical vibes. Um, but yeah, the ending, the more that I think about it, the more that I'm like, hmm, hmm, okay. So, The Wicked Deep.
Oh my god, this is why did I come out here? Next up, you know, I love a book that reminds me of The Village by M. Night Shyamalan, and that is Small Favors. Uh, this is by Erin A. Craig, who I will also recommend House of Root and Ruin. That's another, um, kind of gothic plant horror story. I really liked House of Roots and Ruin, but I feel like that's a tinge more autumnal. Small Favors is also technically autumnal, but something about it screams summer to me. Um, Small Favors follows a very tiny town in what feels like it could be Appalachia, like just in the woods, very secluded from everything else. Similar to The Village by M. Night Shyamalan, there are these local legends of like monsters outside of the barrier of town. So, people stay in the town. You do not leave. You do not go into the woods. Very occasionally, there are people who go out to get supplies, but they are taking their lives into their own hands, kind of thing. We follow one particular family who is just trying to get by when a mysterious boy wanders out of the woods and I feel like that's all I can tell you. I remember this being a very slow-moving plot. Like this wasn't a very exciting book, but the atmosphere was perfect. There's a lot of like honeybees and doing all these weird kind of cultish things to appease the spirits that live in the woods and are there actually spirits in the woods or what? You know, very like if M. Night Shyamalan was written for like a young adult fantasy book. Small Favors, again with the body horror because that, for some reason, gross body stuff reminds me of summer. I think because my body feels gross during this season. Also a little bit culty.
All right. I would like to recommend Hell Followed With Us. I know that I talk about this book all the time. Gonna talk about it again. Hell Followed With Us is this kind of post-apocalyptic religious and body horror masterpiece. Um, it is about a cult or like a sect of Christianity. Either way, um, a cult that has let loose a virus onto the world in order to like cleanse it. Um, but they're not only doing that, they're also using the virus to create an angel or to create a monster. What's the difference between an angel and a monster, etc. And that creation is our main character. Our main character was raised in this cult, has been used for experiments. Their body is just like mutilated. It's, it's gross. Okay. I believe there's a scene in which a rib cage fully comes out of a body. So, like nasty, icky stuff. But when our main character is able to escape and he finds a group of kids who have survived the apocalypse and planning on taking down this cult, um, the adventure goes on from there. I don't want to go into it too much, but Hell Followed With Us was so yucky, but had so many great elements. The way that religion is talked about, um, also this kind of found family, all of the kids, the way that gender and sexuality is talked about. Um, really just, I believe this was actually this author's debut. Incredible work. Um, I think about it often, weirdly enough, like specifically the rib cage scene, I think about often. So, um, that is Hell Followed with Us.
Next up is a book I finished actually just a couple weeks ago. Um, and it is called The Scholar and the Last Fairy Door. I do think that the pacing on, like, just to put it out there, I do think the pacing on this is a little weird. It's not a perfect book, but I feel like I still really enjoyed my time reading it. Our book starts with very autumnal, dark academia vibes. We're following a girl who goes to a magical school called Camford, I believe, because it is a mixture of Cambridge and Oxford because there's a fairy door that connects them. So, yeah, she's going to this school. Um, there used to be fairy doors. This is taking place, I believe, right after World War II. And there used to be fairy doors. There used to be a connection to the magical world. But there was an incident during the war where the fairies actually came through and attacked. And as a result, all of the fairy doors were closed. But when our main character's brother comes home from war with a fairy curse that is only getting worse with time, um, she decides that she's going to devote her life to studying fairies and the curses and how to get answers. And answers she might only be able to find if she can open a damn fairy door. So, like I said, the beginning of the book is very autumnal, very like dark academia, this found family that like these students are connected only because of academia. Um, it's a lot of studying, things like that. And then we get to summer where it's just these long lazy days at this one guy's like sprawling estate in northern England. Yeah, I think this encapsulated because it, it actually covers a lot of time. There's a big time jump. So, um, it technically encapsulates every season, but something about this was just a really wonderful summer read. Again, I think the ending was a little odd. Like the pacing was strange. Um, but I ended up really liking it and I would recommend if you are looking for a kind of academic fairy book. That is The Scholar and the Last Fairy Door.
Okay, we're almost done. I'm losing my voice and I'm trying to like yell over the rain. Next up is a short story called The Night and the Butcher Bird. I feel like I talk about Alex Harrow in every video that I make, and that's not going to stop anytime soon. This is a short story that is so bizarre. The atmosphere is so strange. This takes place in a post-apocalyptic America where we're not really sure what happened. It might have been nuclear war that decimated everything, but our story takes place again in Appalachia. That is a creepy summer setting for me. Anything that takes place in Appalachia. So, something about this post-apocalyptic world, humans are turning into demons. I don't know if it's because there's radiation in the water. Like, I don't know what's going on, but sometimes people will slowly turn into demons. And again, with the body horror, it's pretty gross what they turn into. And when that happens, the community has to call a knight, and a knight will come and vanquish the demon. But what happens when the demon he's been summoned to vanquish is someone our main character loves very much and doesn't want the knight to kill. Um, so this one wasn't my favorite of Galaxy Hero, but I think that the atmosphere fits exactly what I'm trying to get across in this video. So if you're looking for something short, I would recommend The Night and the Butcher Bird. But if you're looking for something a little bit longer, also by Alex Harrow, I would recommend Starling House. Starling House has a sentient, potentially haunted house. It's about an author and illustrator who wrote this very creepy series of fairy tales or just like a very eerie fantasy book that our main character is in love with. It takes place in Cole country, Kentucky. Very small town. I think that our main character at one point is like living out of a motel. It's a town with a lot of history and a lot of secrets and a lot of grudges. And our main character, since she can remember, has been kind of called to the Starling House, to this place where this author and illustrator used to live. And this kind of summoning gets so strong that she ends up going to the door, knocking on it, and asking if she can be a housekeeper. So, and this is a house that no one ever comes in. No one ever comes out. Yeah. I can't even tell you much more, but it just, I really liked it. I think that the relationships could have been stronger. I think the relationship our main character had with the house. Like the chemistry our character had with a sentient haunted house was stronger than the chemistry she had with who is supposed to be her romantic interest. So, um, it definitely was kind of lacking again with a, a bit of the plot, but I thought that the atmosphere was so spot-on. And I love Alex Harrow to death. So, Starling House. If you're looking for books about books and a sentient house and a small town with a lot of history and a lot of secrets, Starling House.
Last two really fast and then I've got to get home because this is just insane. A book that I talked about really recently. I read the arc of it, but I believe it's out now. This is The Starving Saints. This is again with body horror, but this time particularly cannibalism. Um, it's also just like it felt like a hallucination. Like this whole book felt like a fever dream. It just reminds me of summer in that like sometimes you find yourself so bored and so hot that you start to just like see things. That's how this book felt. Um, it is about a city that is under siege. Nobody can go in. They're running out of food. They almost ran out of water. But luckily, our scientific genius/nun figured out a way to clean their water supply. Okay, so now they have water. So we have a nun, we have a girl with a grudge and a death wish. Uh, and we have a knight with a big chip on her shoulder. And they all come together during this time where a city is under siege. They are likely going to die in a few months. And then all of a sudden, their prayers are answered. Literally, the saints that they pray to show up. Is it mass hysteria? Is it the answer to their prayers? What happens when something that you worship shows up and you realize it's not what you wanted? Again, there's a lot of cannibalism. There's a lot of like, is this a dream? Is everybody already dead? And this is like a weird hell that they're living in. It felt very claustrophobic. It felt very confusing. You don't really know what's going on. Yeah. This was just like a gross, weird book. I really liked the characters, but you also couldn't trust the characters because I'm like, are you on drugs? Like, was the water actually poisoned? And everybody is just like they've got like a brain-eating bacteria or something. I don't know. Um, it was a really bizarre book, but I think really great if you're looking for a weird medieval fantasy with a lot of religious undertone overtones. Um, in fact, The Starving Saints.
Okay. And last but certainly not least, and I'm so jealous of all of my friends who are doing this at this very moment in time. I have three friends who are doing an annual reread of this series over summer. This is something that so many people do and I get it and I wish it were me, but I have too many books out from the library and I can't join you. And that is, can you guess? Shout it out. The Raven Cycle. Oh, yeah. So, The Raven Cycle is so hit or miss for people because and it was hit or miss for me. The first time I read The Raven Cycle, I read the first book and I was like, "Okay, okay." Um, and I didn't continue. And I have one friend who is like, "The Raven Cycle is her religion actually." Um, and hearing her talk about it, I was like, "You know what? Let me give it another try." And I actually filmed it and I'm glad that I did. Um, wrecked me. I do recommend. I understand if people don't like The Raven Cycle, but maybe give it another try someday. You never know. Um, The Raven Cycle is indescribable. How do I talk about it? This takes place in rural Virginia. We follow a group of four boys and our main girl, Blue, she comes from a line of witches or like magical women and she has this prophecy that she's known since she was very young. The prophecy is that she will find her true love and she will kill them. So, she also is able to see the dead or the soon-to-be dead. And when she sees a boy that she recognizes from the school down the street, she decides to investigate and see what she can do to stop this innocent teenage boy from dying. She quickly gets wrapped up in this friendship, which is the best part, by the way. The friendship of these boys and Blue is so good. Um, and they are on the hunt for magic. I don't want to go too into it, but there's there's a lot of like Welsh folklore, a lot of secrets buried in these Virginia hills. It's there's so much going on that I literally can't explain it. But if you're interested in like a kind of urban fantasy group of friends that feels doomed, um, and if you're okay with honestly not understanding the plot for a lot of it, um, it's just such a journey and it's such a vibe. And I think about the characters often and I, I constantly want to be rereading this series, which is rare for me. I'm not really a rereader. I need like years in between a reread. I am deeply envious of my friends who have the time to do a reread this summer. I'm living vicariously through them and their Instagram stories. The Raven Cycle. What a series. What a series.
So, anyway, my voice is gone. It's still raining. Ironically, I think the rain is actually slowing down now that I've stopped this video. Um, thank you. Thank you, clouds. Um, but yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna end the video here because I physically cannot talk anymore and I think that school is going to get out any second and this park is going to be filled with children and I do not want to be here for that. So, I'm going to log off. Leave any recommendations down below for kind of sticky, creepy summer reads. I would love to hear more. Again, I have another video from a couple years ago that I'll link. Um, thank you for the recommendation to read Bittersweet in the Hollow. That was great. Got me out of my reading slump. I've read some really weird books this month so far. So, um, my July wrap-up will be quite strange and I'm excited to talk to you about it. But, um, hope you guys are having a great summer or winter for my Southern Hemisphere folk. And yeah, stay dry, stay safe. Um, the one positive thing about summer is that it gives me really, it awakens the curls. But yeah, I will catch you guys next time. Sorry if this was super noisy. I have no idea until I get home and I edit. I don't know what this is going to sound like, but um, love to you all. And speaking of losing my voice and using a microphone, I just need to print the pictures and put them on my wall. But The Mortal Instruments is being filmed potentially next week. It will likely come out at the end of August, early September. But just know that the script has been written. The 800 pages has been summarized. Years have been taken off my life. My sanity is hanging on by a thread, but it is done. It is done. So, um, so I'll see you then. Okay. But thank you for sticking around through this. And, um, I'm going to go get somewhere dry. But love you always. Catch you next time. Bye.