336 p.
Anthology
Edited by Ellen Datlow
Publisher: Tor Books
Source: From publisher for review
Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/2Jkufgf

From master anthologist Ellen Datlow comes an all-original of weird tales inspired by the strangeness of Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass" and "What Alice Found There". 

Between the hallucinogenic, weird, imaginative wordplay and the brilliant mathematical puzzles and social satire, Alice has been read, enjoyed, and savored by every generation since its publication. Datlow asked eighteen of the most brilliant and acclaimed writers working today to dream up stories inspired by all the strange events and surreal characters found in Wonderland. 

Featuring stories and poems from Seanan McGuire, Catherynne M. Valente, Delia Sherman, Genevieve Valentine, Priya Sharma, Stephen Graham Jones, Richard Bowes, Jeffrey Ford, Angela Slatter, Andy Duncan, C.S.E. Cooney, Matthew Kressel, Kris Dikeman, Jane Yolen, Kaaron Warren, Ysbeau Wilce, and Katherine Vaz.

My thoughts:

As with most anthologies this was a mixed bag of captivating stories and some that I skimmed. I do think you will recognize some of the authors like Seanan McGuire (and that story was so good!) and find some new ones to check out. There is also some poetry for those that enjoy it (not too much for those that don't). Some of these stories really transported me into the world and I will warn you that much of it is dark and some ventured into horror. I'm not surprised as the original work really had a darkness to it and some of the authors expounded on it. I really enjoyed how some of these stories were turned on it's ear and you found yourself with logical explanations to the illogical. Most though fully immersed itself into wonderland or just outside of it and all of it will make you mad as a hatter in the end of it. Really that is a good thing... LOL

I give this book 3 1/2 stars. This is a book I do think I'll reread and I do know that there were a couple of stories I wish were expounded into full series. I don't want to say which of those I enjoyed the most as I do think you need to explore this book as I did... knowing it would be fantastical and dark but not knowing which direction it would take.

Standalone
Narrator: Carla Mercer-Meyer
10 hrs. 3 min.
Unabridged
Published 8/11/14
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Source: Hoopla/Library

Clementine DeVore spent ten years trapped in a cellar, pinned down by willow roots, silenced and forgotten. Now she's out and determined to uncover who put her in that cellar and why.  

When Clementine was a child, dangerous and inexplicable things started happening in New South Bend. The townsfolk blamed the fiendish people out in the Willows and burned their homes to the ground. But magic kept Clementine alive, walled up in the cellar for ten years, until a boy named Fisher set her free.  

Back in the world, Clementine sets out to discover what happened all those years ago. But the truth gets muddled in her dangerous attraction to Fisher, the politics of New South Bend, and the Hollow, a fickle and terrifying place that seems increasingly temperamental ever since Clementine reemerged."

Series: ?
288 p.
Published: 9/9/14
Publisher: Egmont
Source: NetGalley and publisher for review

A romantic, historical retelling of classic Gothic horror featuring Edgar Allan Poe and his character Annabel Lee, from a New York Times best-selling author. 

Summoned to her father's home in 1820's Philadelphia, a girl finds herself in the midst of a rash of gruesome murders in which he might be implicated. She is torn romantically between her father's assistants-one kind and proper, one mysterious and brooding-who share a dark secret and may have more to do with the violent events than they're letting on.

My thoughts:
 I'm actually not sure how to rate this one. I have a feeling you will love or hate it but I sort of felt somewhere in the middle with this one. I was looking forward to some gothic piece with Edgar Allan Poe but didn't quite get that. There were aspects of him and his work, but other horror retellings also made their way into the book and I think that is where the book lost me a bit.

First I wasn't too invested in Annabel. I felt distant from her even though I did enjoy her character. The introduction of the other horror tales were not subtle and I thought distracted from what could have been a more interesting story. Either make it an amalgamation of Poe's stories or a total retelling of horror stories. My feelings might be just about unmet expectations and may be quite unfair to the book as a whole.

I give this book 2 1/2 stars. It was quite readable but the elements didn't quite come together for me in the end. I do believe it is a series and I would pick up the next book just to find out what happens. If it isn't a series I believe me rating would go down because of the unanswered questions. Still, if you like a dark gothic atmosphere, you might want to try this one. You may love it so much more than I did.

Series: The Nightbirds #1
272p.
Publisher: Tor Books
Available Now
Source: From publisher for review

Gamin, Maine, is a remote seaside town where everyone seems to know Ellis Harkington better than she knows herself—but she doesn’t remember any of them. 

Unknown events have robbed Ellis of her memory. Concerned individuals, who purport to be her friends and loved ones, insist that she simply needs to recuperate, that her memories may return in time, but refuse to divulge what has brought her to this state. For her own sake, so they say. 

Ellis finds herself adrift in a town of ominous mysteries, cryptic hints, and disturbingly familiar strangers. The Nightbirds, a clique of fashionable young men and women, claim her as one of their own, but who among them can she truly trust? And what of the phantom suitor who visits her in her dreams? Is he a memory, a figment of her imagination, or a living nightmare beyond rational explanation?
Only her lost past hold the answers she seeks—if she can uncover its secrets before she fall prey to an unearthly killer.

My thoughts:
This is book 1 of a trilogy. It is also a book I think people will love or hate. It has horror elements to it, but it really seems more of a twisty dark mystery to me. The main character is sympathetic but you want her to stand up for herself more, but it is understandable why she is that way throughout the book. The secondary characters are quite interesting but you probably won't figure out who is good or evil by the end. It is confusing there is a dark nightmarish quality about it. And just as you start to get some answers...

it ends.

Yes, that I why I think people will love or hate the book. I enjoyed it and really did like the writing. The ending however was another story. I think that it being only 272p. it could have added the next book onto this one. Make it a duology. :) But then I hate being left hanging in any way in a book. The ending isn't quite a cliffie nor is it too abrupt, but it keeps your answers just out of reach.

I give this one 3 1/2 stars. I am looking forward to the next book and I really do already want to read the third book as well. I hope that the next 2 covers rock as much as this one does. I recommend it to those that like a very dark twisty tale!

standalone
405p.
 Publisher: Harper
Available Now
Source: ARC from publisher for review

Neglected by her parents, nineteen-year-old Maya Nidal grows up in a rambling old house in Berkeley with her grandparents. Her grandmother, Nidia, affectionately known as Nini, is a force of nature--a woman whose formidable strength helped her build a new life after emigrating from Chile in 1973. Popo, Maya's grandfather, is an African American astronomer and professor--a gentle man whose solid, comforting presence helps calm the turbulence of Maya's adolescence. 

When Popo dies of cancer, Maya goes completely off the rails. With her girlfriends Maya turns to drugs, alcohol, and petty crime, eventually bottoming out in Las Vegas. Lost in a dangerous underworld, she is caught in the crosshairs of warring forces--a gang of assassins, the police, the FBI, and Interpol. Her one chance for survival is Nini, who helps her escape to a -remote island off the coast of Chile. Here Maya tries to make sense of the past, unravels mysterious truths about life and her family, and embarks on her greatest adventure: the journey into her own soul.

This book is written as if you were reading her notebook. Almost as if you were listening to Maya telling her story as you sat with her drinking tea on the island she has been banished. She goes back and forth from what happened in the past and what was happening in the present as you might while in a deep conversation. As the reader you are gaining her trust and she slowly opens up to you and you find out what has brought her to the island. In other words, what choices she made to bring her to exile.

As she explores her new circumstances her life, which was spinning out of control, gains some silence and peace. Through this peace she finally starts to find out what is important to her and starts to heal from the death of her Popo, her grandfather who was her world. She finds that she is finally able to let go of the past slowly and how freeing it is by speaking of it out loud. She truly finds peace.

There is also a mystery and danger that you only really find out toward the end of the book. So, it is not just an exploration of Maya and her family and friends, but also a bit of adventure twisted in the end. Although not all ills are solved by the end of the book, but the danger does come to a conclusion. With that conclusion comes hope for a future in Maya's life.

I give this book 4 stars. Even though it has a young teen as the main protagonist, I would not say this is YA but adult. The themes in the book are quite dark and the violence is graphic. I recommend it to those that like a contemporary book with historical aspects about Chilé running in the background.

The first of three Repairman Jack prequels, revealing the past of one of the most popular characters in contemporary dark fantasy: a self-styled “fix-it” man who is no stranger to the macabre or the supernatural, hired by victimized people who have no one else to turn to. 

We join Jack a few months after his arrival in New York City. He doesn’t own a gun yet, though he’s already connected with Abe. Soon he’ll meet Julio and the Mikulski brothers. He runs afoul of some Dominicans, winds up at the East Side Marriott the night Meir Kahane is shot, gets on the bad side of some Arabs, starts a hot affair, and disrupts the smuggling of preteen sex slaves. And that’s just Book One.

 I actually haven't heard of this series although it is popular. I don't often read "contemporary dark fantasy" so it makes sense that I might have missed these, but the premise sounded interesting so I gave it a go. Plus, this is the first book of 3 prequels and the book guaranteed me that I need not read the other books to get into this one. It's true. I didn't need to read the others. This book is also set in 1990s.

I will say I had a problem with Jack at first. I didn't connect to him. He was cold and a bit of a jerk. When he started making friends, some you could tell would become his self-made family, I really started to connect to the character. He started to show real compassion to the "innocent" and I believed he wanted to help. He was also young and just starting to feel his way through his life and his coldness made sense since he had a hard time trusting others. When that trust started to appear, it made his character much warmer.

I also had a personal problem with the racial slurs and prejudices within the book. I want to make this clear... I'm not saying that about the author at all. It fits his "bad" characters to say those things, and wouldn't have made the bad guys as bad without them. It's a personal thing and it seemed worse before I really got to know Jack. Perhaps because if that, it seemed more pronounced but it also seemed to lessen in frequency once Jack became more interesting. However, I will say that it did make sense for the characters. Again, it's just a personal problem many others may not have.

Even with these problems, and as I said above, once Jack got involved with his new friends I found myself rooting for him and much more interested in the chaos surrounding him. The adventure did have a feel to keep you wanting to know what happened next.

The ending is odd for me. I get that this is a trilogy of prequels, but it didn't give you closure on everything that was going on. There were many (almost too many) things going on, but yet they all seemed to fit together in one way or another. I say the ending is odd because in one way it does feel complete even without the conclusions to events currently going on. It also gave me a taste of what Jack becomes and I have to say that I am curious enough to pick up one of the other Repairman Jack books. This is odd for me because I crave closure in my books but didn't seem to hate this ending.

I give this book 3 stars. I think this is perfect especially for men who enjoy dark urban books with a lot of action. It is also great for those already into the Repairman Jack series. Even if you haven't read them, I think you'll start to get a feel for the character Jack and like his growth in this book.