Category: paranormal

ARC Review | Mayhem

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Title: Mayhem

Author: Estelle Laure

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 304

Publication Date: July 14, 2020

Categories: Paranormal, Young Adult

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

It’s 1987 and unfortunately it’s not all Madonna and cherry lip balm. Mayhem Brayburn has always known there was something off about her and her mother, Roxy. Maybe it has to do with Roxy’s constant physical pain, or maybe with Mayhem’s own irresistible pull to water. Either way, she knows they aren’t like everyone else. But when May’s stepfather finally goes too far, Roxy and Mayhem flee to Santa Maria, California, the coastal beach town that holds the answers to all of Mayhem’s questions about who her mother is, her estranged family, and the mysteries of her own self. There she meets the kids who live with her aunt, and it opens the door to the magic that runs through the female lineage in her family, the very magic Mayhem is next in line to inherit and which will change her life for good. But when she gets wrapped up in the search for the man who has been kidnapping girls from the beach, her life takes another dangerous turn and she is forced to face the price of vigilante justice and to ask herself whether revenge is worth the cost.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.

My Reactions:

My Attention: what is this magic water? 🤔

World Building: Late 80’s California coast inspired – think…Lost Boys. The magic system? Vague.

Writing Style: lyrical

Bringing the Heat: 🔥🔥

Crazy in Love: insta-Love

Creativity: magic water gives drinker powers (at times confusing)

Mood: dark 🌑 and a little nostalgic

Triggers: domestic abuse, drug use, death, killing, toxic relationship

My Takeaway: there is magic in the water and it can make you see things

  • The cover and title. Love it.
  • I liked the whole Santa Maria, California beach 80’s vibe in this book. You can definitely tell it is inspired by The Lost Boys. I felt some nostalgia and I haven’t watched that movie in awhile so I can’t compare it side by side, but it definitely got the vibe right.
  • Roxy and Mayhem’s relationship is complex. They confront many issues like suicide, the family’s past, domestic abuse and drug addiction. I’m glad that Mayhem and Roxy come to terms with their “roots” and their family history. Roxy had a lot of secrets she kept from Mayhem but she was drowning in a lot of her own pain and misery.
  • This whole story intrigued me because it’s starts off as an abuse story and then…things just get twisted in a strange way that at times worked and then a lot of times that didn’t.
  • This magical, addictive “water” that was being described in the story was aggravating me a little because of how vague it was. It could make the drinker see who was good and evil and that made the Brayburn bloodline powerful. But at times I was almost hoping this was The Lost Boys remake and vampires were gonna jump out somewhere – that didn’t happen.
  • They use this magic power basically at the end to stop a serial killer. But there is a lot going on already with Roxy and Mayhem, this killer is just not a focus of the book or it didn’t seem urgent enough to me until the second half of the book.
  • The insta-love between Jason and Mayhem felt unnecessary. He became her “great love” in a span of days!

Without the magic elements of this book, I found Mayhem’s story gripping as she and her mother try to start over their lives in Santa Maria. The magic water introduction felt a bit weak to me and confusing but I did like the nostalgia of The Lost Boys. Mayhem standing up to her abuser and learning about her family and the magic they have is a powerful message that everyone can learn from.

Book Review | Sawkill Girls

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Sawkill Girls

Author: Claire Legrand

Format: Hardcover (own)

Pages: 447

Categories: Horror, Romance, Young Adult, Paranormal

Beware of the woods and the dark, dank deep.

He’ll follow you home, and he won’t let you sleep.

Who are the Sawkill Girls?

Marion: the new girl. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find.

Zoey: the pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken—or maybe everyone else is.

Val: the queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives, a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.

Their stories come together on the island of Sawkill Rock, where gleaming horses graze in rolling pastures and cold waves crash against black cliffs. Where kids whisper the legend of an insidious monster at parties and around campfires.

Where girls have been disappearing for decades, stolen away by a ravenous evil no one has dared to fight… until now.

I read this book last night and got halfway through before going to bed. I woke up with a nightmare because of a scene in the book that kinda grossed me out and took on an even more disgusting form in my dreams. 😫 I didn’t think this book would be creepy but the more I read I got sucked into this place called Sawkill Rock and the events happening there.

Girls have gone missing on Sawkill Rock and three girls share an interesting fate there. Marion is new to the island, she and her family are grieving the death of her father so this is a new start. Zoey moved there awhile ago to live with her father but things haven’t going so well there. And Val is queen bee of the island, gorgeous and popular with a hidden agenda.

Surrounding this place is an urban legend about the Collector. Is he real or just an urban legend with no substance to the stories? Will they figure out what is going before more girls disappear?

  • Creepy! The atmosphere of Sawkill was perfect for a chilling story. There things that definitely go bump in the night on Sawkill Rock, especially in the Mortimer household. There is a lot of mystery about Val and her family but we ultimately find out what their purpose is.
  • So much LGBTQIA+ representation! The asexual relationship between Zoey and Grayson was really well done for someone like me who is trying to learn more about people who identify as asexual. I don’t find a lot of books with asexual relationships.
  • This is a superhero story – that was surprising! There was woman power all over this book, mostly at the end. At first the girls are struggling, Val is abused/controlled, Zoey is bullied – Val does the bullying, Marion comes off as strange but they have powers within them and that was cool to see them work together.
  • The Collector was creepy as hell and disgusting. He is a killer, manipulator, abuser, he’s gross and at times I felt uncomfortable about the things he did. Like am I the only who thought it was sketchy that at times he was in the form of a “boy child” and then meet he was a doctor seducing Val…like…what was I reading?! Eww, I mean he was straight evil.
  • It’s quite atmospheric so if you don’t like that type of story, this one might not be for you. I mean at times moths would speak to the girls and I couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad thing haha. The beginning was a bit slow going as we try to figure out what in hell is happening on this crazy island with Marion hearing things, Zoey seeing things and Val…doing things. 😒
  • Though the story starts off like a mysterious paranormal story, the second half is like a superhero movie, maybe more like X-Men. It was an interesting turn and direction that worked for the most part – but it also threw me off at times. I just went with the flow. 🤷🏻‍♀️
  • There is insta-love. More like…insta-lust?
  • Triggers: abuse, murder

This story was atmospheric, creepy and at times strange – the Collector is a vile villain. The message of women empowerment came through hard and the LGBTQIA+ reps were awesome. Overall, this one definitely caught my curiosity, I could’ve done without some of the horror aspects but that’s just me, since I don’t read much horror.