Recent Updates and Currently Reading | December 19

It's Christmas week! Are you ready?

I'm not! I still have last minute shopping to do. This has been the worst year for getting behind on things, but I'll get it done.

I'm off of work after tomorrow. I hope to get in some reading this week, but honestly, I'm ready for some board games and Christmas movies!

Finished Reading

The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox [DNF] - After I read In a Holidaze last year, I decided I'd pick up a Christmas book each year in December. My pick for this year was The Holiday Swap. Unfortunately it wasn't for me, and I dnf'ed at 51%. Please feel free to share your holiday favorites! I may try a cozy mystery next year.

The In-Between by Rebecca Ansari [⭐⭐⭐⭐★] - I really liked the In-Between. It took a while to pull me in, but I wound up loving it. I'll have a full review out later this week.

The Ash House by Angharad Walker [⭐★★★★] - I didn't like this one. I'm going to put up a full review of this one as well, but it was confusing and not a fun book to read.

Currently Reading

Cackle by Rachel Harrison - I'm really enjoying this one even though there are a lot of spiders in this book!

Ghost in the Headlights by Lindsey Duga - I'm only a few chapters in, but I enjoyed her The Haunting last year so I'm excited to be reading this one.

Added to the TBR

No Beauties or Monsters by Tara Goedjen - No Beauties or Monsters was released last week. It's been a while since I preordered it so I'm going to be going into this one pretty blind.

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

Book Review | Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente

Source: Preordered purchase. This is a review of my personal reading experience.

Comfort Me With Apples is a new horror novella by Catherynne M. Valente.

Sophia was made for him. Her perfect husband. She can feel it in her bones. He is perfect. Their home together in Arcadia Gardens is perfect. Everything is perfect.

It's just that he's away so much. So often. He works so hard. She misses him. And he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband and everything is perfect.

But sometimes Sophia wonders about things. Strange things. Dark things. The look on her husband's face when he comes back from a long business trip. The questions he will not answer. The locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can't quite meet her gaze...

But everything is perfect. Isn't it?

I anticipate this review being a struggle to write. I loved this book but was also underwhelmed by this book. I highly recommend it - and - I don't.

I love Catherynne M. Valente. Her writing is so wonderful and her imagination is perfection. I love entering her worlds and reading her words. Comfort Me with Apples was no exception to this. The reading experience - consuming Valente's words - was a wonderful way to spend my afternoon. 

However - this type of allegorical whimsy is hard for me to fully embrace in an adult book. Overall, I enjoyed the writing very much, but I just never connected to the story.

3/5 stars
⭐⭐⭐★★

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Book Review | Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff

Too Bright to See is a middle grade horror novel by Kyle Lukoff.

I normally post the book blurb here, but based on the author's note, I think it's too spoilery for what he hopes people know going into Bug's story.

I haven't managed to keep up with reviews this year, and Too Bright to See is the book to definitely pull me out of my reviewing funk.

I loved, loved, loved this book.

In the author's note at the end of Too Bright to See, the author helps readers describe the book by providing the description he uses:

It's about a kid being haunted by the ghost of their dead uncle into figuring out something important!

That's perfect.

This is a wonderful coming-of-age book that I highly, highly recommend.

All of the stars. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5/5 stars

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Book Review | The Last Beautiful Girl by Nina Laurin

The Last Beautiful Girl is a young adult horror novel by Nina Laurin.

BLACK MIRROR meets Darcy Coates in this exploration of the dangerous, dark side of beauty in the digital age, with a gothic, haunted-house setting.

When Izzy is dragged from Brooklyn to a tiny town for her parents' new job, she's not thrilled. The silver lining is the gorgeous old mansion she's moved into: the former home of an artist's muse who died tragically in a fire. But the house has its quirks: whole floors are closed off, paintings are covered up, and cell reception is nonexistent.

Izzy throws herself into starting an Instagram fashion account using the gowns and jewelry she finds hidden away in the house. She looks perfect in the photos--almost unnaturally perfect--and they quickly go viral. Soon she's got a new best friend, a potential boyfriend, and is surrounded by a group of girls who want the photoshoots and fame for themselves. But there's a darkness in the house, and a darkness growing in Izzy, too. When girls start dying, it's clear that something--or someone--in the house is growing in power, with deadly intentions.

The beginning of The Last Beautiful Girl reminded me so much of Horrid by Katrina Leno. They had a very similar setup of a girl moving to a new school, everyone knowing the history of her house but not telling her what it is, and the weird dynamic with the mom. Unfortunately, I think the similarities pulled me out of The Last Beautiful Girl. I couldn't help but compare.

The Last Beautiful Girl did eventually stand on it's own, and I loved all of the references to The Picture of Dorian Gray.

I feel like this is one of those books that might work for other people where it didn't quite come together for me. There's supposed to be a change in the main character, but I had a hard time rooting for her because I wasn't really a fan of the character to begin with. This is actually true of all of the characters now that I think about it.

The cover of The Last Beautiful Girl is one of my favorites for the year, but the story sadly didn't make it on to my list.

⭐⭐★★★
2/5 stars

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Book Review | Run Walk Crawl: Getting Fit In My Forties by Tim Lebbon

Run Walk Crawl: Getting Fit In My Forties is a nonfiction book by Tim Lebbon.

At forty-one I was overweight and unfit. As I turned 50 I was thirty pounds lighter, having spent my fifth decade training for, and racing multiple Ironmans, marathons, and other crazy adventures. This account of that fitness journey through my forties includes broken bones, severe chafing, regular cursing, rubber and lycra, an element of masochism ... and cake.

From New York Times-bestselling writer Tim Lebbon comes his first non-fiction book, charting his fitness journey through his forties––funny, hopefully inspiring, brutally honest, this is a book for anyone trying to get and stay fit, at whatever age!

Run Walk Crawl: Getting Fit In My Forties is written by horror author Tim Lebbon. Interestingly, Run Walk Crawl isn't the first running memoir I've read by an author in the horror community. Back in 2014 I read (and enjoyed) Chasing the Dragon: Running to Get High by Mark Matthews. I love reading running books - especially memoir style - so I was excited to curl up and read about Tim Lebbon's fitness journey.

Run Walk Crawl is about more than just running. Since Tim Lebbon is an Ironman - the focus is on swimming, running, and biking. I loved that. I'm not very familiar with triathlon swimming, and I'm certain now I want to keep it that way! The washing machine of kicks and punches sounds pretty terrible to me.

This isn't a training book or a diet book so it's not one to pick up if you are looking for guidance or training plans on how to get fit in your forties (although you may get inspired). It's much more of a memoir style book with Lebbon walking the reader through his journey to get fit through his forties. If you love reading this style of book from athletes (like I do!), this is a great one to pick up. Lebbon is down to earth and perfectly touches on the best way to get fit - finding the thing you love that makes you move.

⭐⭐⭐⭐★
4/5 stars