pickGod, I love how she tells a story!
Without intending to, I ended up reading back-to-back pandemic books. The other was for library book group and had all the close-quartered sameness of that time. In contrast, ES delivers another of her quiet books and lets its rich and capacious interiority sing out.
pickKate is struggling with self-isolating in November 2020, she breaks and goes for a forbidden walk in the hills of the Peak District. Her 16 year old son Matthew is home alone when he realises she‘s gone and turns to their elderly and vulnerable neighbour Alice. The fourth character is mountain rescue volunteer Rob, helping search for Kate. A third in, I was racing through this desperate to know the outcome. And when it comes, it packs a punch.
Tagged was my first read this year. It's a difficult book, & unlike Blue's other full books, it's not all ages: it's a graphic novel w/ explicit on-page BDSM sex. Blue's author's note is extremely helpful in understanding the comic, which I think is underdeveloped & too fragmentary, but it also makes sense that it is. I wouldn't suggest it to straight people at all because it's very much written for a queer audience. #SundayFunDay @BookMarkTavern
pickThis was such a tense and melancholic read. Moss perfectly captures those first months of Covid and lockdown and all of that uncertainty. I‘m not sure I could have got through it had I read it closer to pandemic times. I really felt these characters thoughts and feelings.
pickThis reads very YA, but the type of YA I actually enjoy. (Plucky female heroine!) However the will they/won‘t they romantic subplot really wore on me by the end.
Sophie is a very sheltered virginal Catholic high schooler. Her parents have been hiding that a deadly disease is spreading across the country that causes victims to viciously attack and rape others. Sophie must find her way out of this hellscape on her own. #aardvark
Trying to get out of an upcoming road trip? No sweat, just lend them your copy of MEMORIALS 😉🚐
#aardvarkbookclub #memorials #thescholarandthelastfaeriedoor #americanrapture #perfectfit #eleanoreofavignon #likemotherlikemother
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Apocalyptic stories aren‘t really my favorite, but this is a timely and challenging take on that genre. Blending with horror, these narrative frameworks serve as a brilliant vehicle to deconstruct religious trauma and purity culture. C.J. Leede creates fantastic characters and intense emotions while incisively skewering the hypocrisy and absurdity of some religious teachings. 🎧
(Trigger warning under a spoiler tag below)
The instant USA Today bestseller from CJ Leede, author of Maeve Fly—a scorching and sweeping new novel about the end of the world as we know it.
A virus is spreading across America, transforming the infected and making them feral with lust.
Sophie, a good Catholic girl, must traverse the hellscape of the midwest to try to find her family while the world around her burns. Along the way she discovers there are far worse fates than dying a virgin…
Well, I filled my #aardvarkbookclub box, I added 2 for #bookofthemonth #botm (bog wife being one I‘d missed last month), and yes, I sucke… er, *subscribed* to botm‘s volume 0 set. Bc. I… had to? 😳
And then I also joined #belletrist 😨🫣 (paired w Tertulia, a book coop)
Good times…. 😁🥰😎
Combat your Halloween hangover with our official November squad 🤺 Don‘t forget to grab a *signed* copy of American Rapture ✍️😉
#aardvarkbookclub #americanrapture #memorials #thescholarandthelastfaeriedoor #likemotherlikemother #perfectfit #eleanoreofavignon
