Review: Other Words For Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin | #Gifted

Other Words for Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin
Genre: Fantasy | Horror | New Adult
Length: 336 pages
Published on 2nd April 2019 by Titan Books
Purchase*: Amazon | Wordery | Blackwells
_{*these are affiliate links}
Sarah Maria Griffin: Instagram | Twitter | Goodreads
Received for free from publisher in exchange for an honest review + bought 2 copies myself

Synopsis:
The house at the end of the lane burned down, and Rita Frost and her teenage ward, Bevan, were never seen again. The townspeople never learned what happened. Only Mae and her brother Rossa know the truth; they spent two summers with Rita and Bevan, two of the strangest summers of their lives… Because nothing in that house was as it seemed: a cat who was more than a cat, and a dark power called Sweet James that lurked behind the wallpaper, enthralling Bevan with whispers of neon magic and escape. And in the summer heat, Mae became equally as enthralled with Bevan. Desperately in the grips of first love, she’d give the other girl anything. A dangerous offer when all that Sweet James desired was a taste of new flesh…

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Review: The Near Witch by V. E. Schwab | #Gifted

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
Genre: Fantasy | Young Adult
Length: 354 pages
Published on 12th March 2019 by Titan Books
Purchase*: Amazon | Wordery
_{*these are affiliate links}
Victoria Schwab: Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Received for free from Titan in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis: Brand new edition of Victoria Schwab’s long out-of-print, stunning debut

All-new deluxe edition of an out-of-print gem, containing in-universe short story “The Ash-Born Boy” and a never-before-seen introduction from V.E. Schwab.

The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.

There are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.

But when an actual stranger, a boy who seems to fade like smoke, appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy

Review: The Migration by Helen Marshall – #Gifted

The Migration by Helen Marshall
Genre: Horror | Science Fiction
Length: 288 pages
Published on 5th March 2019 by Titan Books
Purchase*: Amazon | Wordery
_{*these are affiliate links}
Helen Marshall: Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Received for free from publishers in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis: Creepy and atmospheric, evocative of Stephen King’s classic Pet Sematary , The Migration is a story of sisterhood, transformation, and the limitations of love, from a thrilling new voice in Canadian fiction.

When I was younger I didn’t know a thing about death. I thought it meant stillness, a body gone limp. A marionette with its strings cut. Death was like a long vacation–a going away.

Storms and flooding are worsening around the world, and a mysterious immune disorder has begun to afflict the young. Sophie Perella is about to begin her senior year of high school in Toronto when her little sister, Kira, is diagnosed. Their parents’ marriage falters under the strain, and Sophie’s mother takes the girls to Oxford, England, to live with their Aunt Irene. An Oxford University professor and historical epidemiologist obsessed with relics of the Black Death, Irene works with a centre that specializes in treating people with the illness. She is a friend to Sophie, and offers a window into a strange and ancient history of human plague and recovery. Sophie just wants to understand what’s happening now; but as mortality rates climb, and reports emerge of bodily tremors in the deceased, it becomes clear there is nothing normal about this condition–and that the dead aren’t staying dead. When Kira succumbs, Sophie faces an unimaginable choice: let go of the sister she knows, or take action to embrace something terrifying and new.

Tender and chilling, unsettling and hopeful, The Migration is a story of a young woman’s dawning awareness of mortality and the power of the human heart to thrive in cataclysmic circumstances.

Series Review: Alice & Red Queen by Christina Henry

Alice by Christina Henry
Series: The Chronicles of Alice Series
Genre: Fantasy | Horror | Adult
Length: 325 + 313 pages
Published on 28th June 2016 by Titan Books
Purchase Alice: Amazon | TBD
Purchase Red Queen: Amazon | TBD
Christina Henry: Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Purchased for myself from Waterstones

Synopsis:
In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinderblock walls which echo with the screams of the poor souls inside. In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blonde, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn’t remember why she’s in such a terrible place-just a tea party long ago, and long ears, and blood… Then, one night, a fire at the hospital gives the woman a chance to escape, tumbling out of the hole that imprisoned her, leaving her free to uncover the truth about what happened to her all those years ago. Only something else has escaped with her. Something dark. Something powerful. And to find the truth, she will have to track this beast to the very heart of the Old City, where the rabbit waits for his Alice.

Anthology Review: New Fears 2 edited by Mark Morris

New Fears 2: More New Horror Stories by Masters of the Macabre edited by Mark Morris
Series: New Fears #2
Genre: Horror | Short Stories
Length: 383 pages
Published on 18th September 2018 by Titan Books
Purchase: Amazon
Mark Morris: Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Early copy received from publishers in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis:
An electrifying anthology of new horror stories by award-winning masters of the genre.

The horror genre’s greatest living practitioners drag our darkest fears kicking and screaming into the light in this second collection of brand-new tales of terror. Numinous, surreal and gut wrenching, New Fears II is a vibrant collection showcasing the very best fiction modern horror has to offer.