Here are the second bunch of my October books- another lovely batch, frankly! And some spooky types, for ’tis the season and all that!

A Season of Monstrous Conceptions by Lina Rather
Nestlings by Nat Cassidy
The Space Between Here & Now by Sarah Suk
At the End of the World by Nadia Mikail
People to Follow by Olivia Worley
Earth Retrograde by R.W.W. Greene

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A Season of Monstrous Conceptions by Lina Rather
Published by Tordotcom on October 31, 2023
Pages: 160
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

In 17th-century London, unnatural babies are being born: some with eyes made for the dark, others with webbed fingers and toes better suited to the sea.
Sarah Davis is intimately familiar with such strangeness—she herself was born marked by uncanniness. Having hidden her nature all her life and fled to London under suspicious circumstances, Sarah starts over as a midwife’s apprentice, hoping to carve out for herself an independent life. As a member of the illegal Worshipful Company of Midwives, Sarah learns to reach across the thinning boundary between her world and another, drawing on its power to heal and protect the women she serves.

When the wealthy Lady Wren hires her to see her through her pregnancy, Sarah quickly becomes a favorite of her husband, the famous architect Lord Christopher Wren, whose interest in the uncanny borders on obsession. Sarah soon finds herself caught in a web of magic and intrigue created by those who would use the magic of the Other World to gain power for themselves, and whose pursuits threaten to unmake the earth itself.

Gosh, to spend five minutes in Lina Rather’s head would be an absolute trip! How does she come up with this stuff? Never stop, please never stop. I loved the Space Nuns series, and was so excited to jump into this one- a midwife in the 1600s who has to deliver some… unnatural, shall we say, babies. Full disclosure, I have always been wildly fascinated with genetics and the making of a human being. It’s wild to me that cells can multiply and bam, whole person. Only sometimes it doesn’t go right, because of course it doesn’t. But in this case, it isn’t just your random genetic misstep at play. It’s… something more sinister.

And Sarah is a midwife who happens to know all too well about these mysterious babies, for she was one herself. She’s an apprentice at the moment, but she’s hoping to be the best at baby birthin’ so she can eventually start her own… midwifery practice? Is that a thing? Idk, she wants elite folks to call for her specifically for their pre-hospital birth era needs, basically. As we all know, the hoitier, toitier sort will pay more for a midwife they think is worthy.

But in order to do that, she has to A) keep her own mysteriousness a secret; B) keep her whole past on the downlow; and C) deliver some babies who are actually, you know, breathing. That last one is harder than it sounds, when you combine seventeenth century infant mortality rates and bad magic. It’s an adventure for sure, and I am always impressed by how the author has us caring for these characters so deeply in a mere hundred-or-so pages. But she does, and I did. So between very complex characters and an infinitely entertaining story, I was hooked. My only actual qualm is that I wanted more of the story!

Bottom Line: Lina Rather legit has the coolest book ideas ever: space nuns, wonky old-timey babies… frankly, I cannot wait to see what she has in store for us next!

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Nestlings by Nat Cassidy
Published by Tor Nightfire on October 31, 2023
Pages: 304
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Nat Cassidy is at his razor-sharp best again with his horror novel Nestlings , which harnesses the creeping paranoia of Rosemary's Baby and the urban horror of Salem's Lot , set in an exclusive New York City residential building.

“This is the horror book of the year.”―Erika T. Wurth, author of White Horse
Most Anticipated Horror Books of 2023― Paste Magazine

Ana and Reid needed a lucky break.

The horrifically complicated birth of their first child has left Ana paralyzed, bitter, and struggling: with mobility, with her relationship with Reid, with resentment for her baby. That's about to change with the words any New Yorker would love to hear―affordable housing lottery.

They've won an apartment in the Deptford, one of Manhattan's most revered buildings with beautiful vistas of Central Park and stunning architecture.

Reid dismisses disturbing events and Ana’s deep unease and paranoia as the price of living in New York―people are odd―but he can't explain the needle-like bite marks on the baby.

Other Books by Nat Mary: An Awakening of Terror

TW at start: “A quick heads-up about the content of this book. You’re going to find marriage troubles, parental trauma, child endangerment, talk/images of infanticide, postpartum depression, suicidal ideation, bodily harm, ableism (internalized and externalized), antisemitism (internalized and externalized), claustrophobia, some gaslighting, and a whole lotta bug stuff. There’s also a character who’s a real racist, sexist piece of shit.”

I don’t know what I expected from Nestlings, but I don’t think it was what I got, and I mean that in the very best possible way. I suppose I was expecting your run of the mill horror, but this was so much more. It starts with a first time mom who has been through it. Ana has had a horrific birth experience, which resulted in her near death and her current paralysis. She’s also very clearly suffering from some post partum depression, and is having an understandably difficult time adjusting to all the upheaval. She and husband Reid think that maybe their luck is changing when they win the lottery to move into a swanky apartment in downtown Manhattan. It’s the kind of place the rich and famous live, Ana and Reid could barely dream of it.

But when they go to see the place, it feels… off. Ana is sure she’s just worrying needlessly. It isn’t the most accessible place in the world, but she doesn’t want to disqualify it on that alone, even though she’d be well within her rights to do so. Plus, she’d be quite happy to get out from the clutches of their toxic (putting it mildly) landlord, so off they go! Only absolutely nothing in this place is as meets the eye. While Ana and Reid are busy dealing with their own lives and managing an infant (who seems to be behaving all sorts of weird since they’ve moved in), they aren’t quite paying enough attention to their surroundings. Which is obviously fair, because no reasonable person’s mind would automatically go to “welp this place must be possessed and/or haunted by something paranormal”.

I loved that for as wacky as this building and its inhabitants were, the other issues that Reid and Ana were facing were incredibly grounded. I think it was their relatability that made the book even more eerie, since any one of us can understand wanting to have a nicer home to raise your child in, to want to dismiss those nagging thoughts. Who among us hasn’t looked at the cons of something, but wanted it so badly regardless that we acquiesced? It was so interesting to see the human psyche in action, but in a horror novel. I also really appreciated the choices the characters had to make at every turn. There were twists and secrets abound, but it was also a really lovely and heartfelt story at the same time, and I loved that unusual but much appreciated dichotomy.

Bottom Line: It’s definitely horror, but it’s also definitely heartfelt, and that was simply a mashup I never knew how badly I needed!

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The Space Between Here & Now by Sarah Suk
Published by Quill Tree Books on October 31, 2023
Pages: 320
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Perfect for fans of They Both Die at the End and You've Reached Sam, this gripping, atmospheric YA novel follows a teen with a mysterious condition that transports her to the past when she smells certain scents linked to specific memories.

Seventeen-year-old Aimee Roh has Sensory Time Warp Syndrome, a rare condition that causes her to time travel to a moment in her life when she smells something linked to that memory. Her dad is convinced she'll simply grow out of it if she tries hard enough, but Aimee's fear of vanishing at random has kept her from living a normal life.

When Aimee disappears for nine hours into a memory of her estranged mom--a moment Aimee has never remembered before--she becomes distraught. Not only was this her longest disappearance yet, but the memory doesn't match up with the story of how her mom left--at least, not the version she's always heard from her dad.

Desperate for answers, Aimee travels to Korea, where she unravels the mystery of her memories, the truth about her mother, and the reason she keeps returning to certain moments in her life. Along the way, she realizes she'll need to reconcile her past in order to save her present.

From acclaimed author Sarah Suk comes an aching, powerful exploration of memory, grief, and the painful silences we must overcome to discover our truest selves.

The Space Between Here and Now was such a lovely story with a huge focus on family, and a very therapy-positive perspective. Aimee has something called Sensory Time Warp Syndrome, which basically means she loses chunks of her life falling back into memories. She’s not living them again, she’s watching her past self live them. I figured this would be either incredibly hokey or incredibly cool, and luckily, it was the latter. In Aimee’s case, smells trigger her going back into these moments, and they quite often revolve around her absent mother, who left the family quite abruptly. As you can probably imagine, Aimee has a lot of questions about her mom’s disappearance, but her dad simply does not want to talk about it.

One day, Aimee disappears for a long time, longer than she has before, and decides that enough is enough. She’s going to head to Korea and track down traces of her mother, and she even thinks that perhaps her mother left because she suffered from STWS too. I loved that Aimee made this big decision, because it was brave and a thing she just plain needed to do for herself so she could (hopefully) have some closure. Her dad, who very much did not want her to go, acquiesces, and arranges for Aimee to stay with her aunt, his sister.

I loved the Korean bits of the book. First of all, the book had me really, really needing to locate my nearest Korean restaurant (just kidding we don’t have good food around here, the closest one I found is like 45 minutes away. Still, when I have the time, I’m there.) because obviously the amazing smells of the Korean cuisine was going to trigger Aimee (and me, to do a deep dive into how far UberEats would actually go, and just the discussion of  the culture in general.  A huge piece of this story is the Korean-Canadian diaspora that Aimee is experiencing, which comes into play in a big way in terms of stigma around mental illness, and even the communication between family members. Aimee’s dad is so reluctant to tell her things, and the cultural piece is extremely relevant in that regard.

I also loved that Aimee got to hang out with her aunt! More of her, please! Aimee needs her in her life, frankly, and she seemed like an awesome influence. I also really enjoyed the character of Junho, who was Aimee’s first crush, who somehow is in Korea at the same time she is. It was really important for her to have some people to trust, and while that was incredibly hard for her (and you can understand why), it was an important part of her journey.

Bottom Line: Ultimately, the focus on family and mental health made this a huge win for me. Bonus points for the cool memory-travel situation.

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At the End of the World by Nadia Mikail
Published by Feiwel & Friends on October 17, 2023
Pages: 192
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

When the world is ending, what matters most to you?

Seventeen-year-old Aisha hasn't seen her sister June for two years. She has no idea where she is, but that hasn't stopped her from thinking about her every day and hoping she's okay.

But now that a calamity is about to end the world in nine months' time, she and her mother decide that it's time to track her down and mend the hurts of the past. They don't have any time to spare - if they don't resolve their issues now, they never will.

Along with Aisha's boyfriend Walter and his parents (and a stray cat named Fleabag), the group embarks on a roadtrip through Malaysia in a wildly decorated campervan to put the past to rest, to come to terms with the present, and to hope for the future, even with the world about to end.

This is a very sweet little book about what matters at the end of the world. Apparently, it was released in the UK as The Cats We Meet Along the Way, with a very… peppy sort of cover. It’s a bit odd, and I can see why some people were confused about what they were getting involved with. There is one cat, leaving the plural titular “cats” puzzling, and the cover, while gorgeous, seems off in tone. To that end, this is marketed much better, and you will know immediately that you’re in for some end of the world rumination, and perhaps one (singular) cat.

But the story itself, marketing aside, is very lovely. It’s melancholy in tone, to an extent, but it is the end of the world, so I didn’t exactly expect anyone to be super optimistic. We meet Aisha, whose sister June left the family home two years ago and hasn’t been heard from since. Aisha has been devastated by June’s absence, especially since their father died when they were young, and their mother has kind of been emotionally unavailable. But with the end of the world nigh, Aisha and her mom decide it’s now or never,  and they simply have to find June. Her boyfriend Walter and his parents are game, and they have an RV, so the group heads out on the search, and hope to maybe get some closure along the way.

I feel like a lot of people have complained about this book being sad but… duh? For me, it was certainly no more depressing than any other book about imminent doom, and was in fact very heartfelt in tone. Yeah, Aisha was sad about what she lost, and what she stood to lose at the end of the world. Of course she was! But there was also a lot of mending of relationships, and trying to enjoy each other’s company, and making peace with the past and the potentially non-existent future. And, there are definitely still funny and quirky moments, so that you don’t feel utterly down after reading. I quite enjoyed the quiet introspection of this story.

Bottom Line: It’s a lovely little book about what means the most to you at the end of the world- and is also maybe a message about not waiting until the end of the world to tell someone you love them.

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People to Follow by Olivia Worley
Published by Wednesday Books on October 31, 2023
Pages: 352
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Ten teen influencers come to a remote island to star in a reality show, but when one of them winds up dead, they realize that this time, the price of being “cancelled” could be their lives.

A reality show on a remote Caribbean island. Ten teen influencers. One dead body.

Welcome to “In Real Life,” the hot new reality show that forces social media’s reigning kings and queens to unplug for three weeks and “go live” without any filters. IRL is supposed to be the opportunity of a lifetime, watched closely by legions of loyal followers. But for these rising stars--including Elody, an Instagram model with an impulsive streak; Kira, a child star turned fitness influencer; Logan, a disgraced TikTok celeb with a secret; and Max, a YouTuber famous for exposés on his fellow creators—it’s about to turn into a nightmare.

When the production crew fails to show up and one of their own meets a violent end, these nine little influencers find themselves stranded with a dead body and no way to reach the outside world. When they start receiving messages from a mysterious Sponsor threatening to expose their darkest secrets, they realize that they’ve been lured into a deadly game…and one of them might be pulling the strings.

With the body count rising and cameras tracking their every move, the creators must figure out who is trying to get them canceled—like, literally—before their #1 follower strikes again.

Can I start this review by getting something off my chest? I’m gonna, because I can do what I want, so here it is: People rating this low because they’re “too old” for it…  You can’t read something for teens and then get mad that it appeals to teens. Are we really still doing this in 2023? I guess so. And it makes me mad because this is a book about the social media generation, about influencers, about some spoiled TikTok kids, in isolation with other spoiled TikTok kids so I feel like you kind of knew what you were getting into? I digress. Just please stop it.

This book was a lot of fun! Obviously, it had its grittier moments, since it’s a murder mystery situation, but it was still very entertaining. The characters , some of whom are absolutely The Worst™, and some of whom are probably just misunderstood, are from various social media genres. Most of them have some deeper issues, but they all have that sudden internet fame in common. We get to hear from most of the group in chapters of their points of view, which is fun. I was afraid it would be overwhelming, but for the most part it was done really well. I think it worked too, because the POVs all offered something different: seriousness, acerbic wit, denial, etc. So it changed things up, kept it fresh.

Anyway, I won’t say too much because hello, mystery. But this book was incredibly entertaining, and I quite enjoyed it. I may have wanted a wee bit more from the end, but overall the story kept me guessing and turning the pages, and I consider that a win!

Bottom Line: Very fun take on the “influencer” culture, and entertaining to boot!

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Earth Retrograde by R.W.W. Greene
Series: First Planets #2
Published by Angry Robot Pages: 368
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Becoming the planet's most (in)famous human has not changed Brooklyn Lamontagne one bit, but the time has come for him to choose where his allegiances really lie.

The United Nations is working to get everyone off Earth by the deadline – set by the planet’s true owners, the aliens known as the First. It’s a task made somewhat easier by a mysterious virus that rendered at least fifty percent of humanity unable to have children. Meanwhile, the USA and the USSR have set their sights on Mars, claiming half a planet each.

Brooklyn Lamontagne doesn’t remember saving the world eight years ago, but he’s been paying for it ever since. The conquered Earth governments don’t trust him, the Average Joe can’t make up their mind, but they all agree that Brooklyn should stay in space. Now, he’s just about covering his bills with junk-food runs to Venus and transporting horny honeymooners to Tycho aboard his aging spaceship, the Victory.

When a pal asks for a ride to Mars, Brooklyn lands in a solar system’s worth of espionage, backroom alliances, ancient treasures and secret plots while encountering a navigation system that just wants to be loved…

Earth Retrograde had one of the coolest endings I have ever read. Full stop, I was blown away by the absolute genius of how this series ended. I daresay it is one of my all-time best endings ever, if that is a thing (I’m absolutely going to make that a thing, tbh). And that is sad, because I want to shout about it to everyone, and discuss all the stuff, but I cannot. Because spoilers are rude, and I aim to be non-rude. So here’s what I am going to do: I am going to implore you to start/finish this series, so that we can discuss it. Here are some reasons why that would be a good life choice:

• The aforementioned amazing ending. I did all the work for you, so you don’t have to wonder “hmm will the ending be satisfying?” because you know it will. Saves you any worry, which is very nice of me.
• This is a duology, we love those! In fairness, I am a wee bit sad, because I didn’t want it to end. However, I think the series ended up being the perfect length and this was a very good life choice (the author mentions that it had been intended to be a trilogy, and while I am sad to leave the world, I think it was done perfectly).
• The characters are wonderful. They are flawed messes, but in the most enjoyable way! They’re like you and me, right? We’re all messes, and in this series, some of those messes have to try to save humanity and stuff. Love love love it.
• Alt-history is becoming such a fave for me. In this book, for example (and this is told early on so not a spoiler, really) the Oppenheimer Nuclear Engine allows for earlier space exploration. JFK lives. And like all good alt-history, you can’t help but wonder, what leads to what? The butterfly effect is full force, leaving the reader with a million thought-provoking questions of “what-if?”.
• The story is very entertaining. It’s exciting, because of that whole “saving humanity” thing, but it’s also just written in a way that makes it fun while also being high stakes and full of adventure.

Bottom Line: Have I convinced you yet? Read this, read this now. And then message me so we can talk about it please and thank you!

Have you read any of these books? Plan to? Let us chat about them!