Book Review: VenCo by Cherie Dimaline

By Larissa Page

Cherie Dimaline has made a name for herself writing gritty, genre-bending stories, from the dystopian world in The Marrow Thieves and Hunting by Stars to the modern retelling of traditional Métis story in Empire of Wild. With VenCo, Dimaline tries her hand at something a little different than before: witches.

A coven must be formed, using enchanted spoons found by women who become members. Time is not on their side and an ancient enemy is at their door. When Lucky St. James finds a spoon in a very odd place, she gets pulled into a different world, and has days to complete an important task. She, with the support of the rest of the coven, must find the final witch to complete the circle.

There is no doubt that Cherie Dimaline is a skilled storyteller. Her writing is engaging and accessible, and her characters are both damaged and loveable. The relationships she writes are what kept me going through this book. Lucky and Stella are stars, Meena and Wendy are heart, and the rest of the coven is so important, too. I do wish I had gotten more from the rest of the coven. While we are given peeks into the lives of Freya, Morticia, and Lettie from before they found their spoons, I wanted more. I wanted more of their histories, but I wanted more of them from their place within the coven as well. I felt particularly drawn into the story of Lettie, only to be left wanting to know her better.

I did feel the world of magic in this story was underexplored. I found it so interesting that I wanted more details. I will be happy to have those details in another book (like a sequel, or even more stories on each of the characters), but I felt left wanting to know what each character’s magic did and how it worked. What is this coven, once formed, meant to accomplish in more concrete terms? I also wanted to have a better understanding of VenCo or perhaps other covens from around the world. The world of magic Dimaline has created is potentially very interesting and intricate and I want to know more about it, especially with the secondary levels of magic that support witches.

This story features road trip-style adventure, a really solid grandmother-granddaughter relationship, solid smash-the-patriarchy themes, and a new world of magic to be introduced to. For lovers of witchy reads, this one does provide, with room to speculate. You’ll love it in particular if you love feisty, unconventional, no-nonsense grandmothers.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton

By Larissa Page

This novel opens with Frida making supper for her husband and two stepsons as they prep the house for Hurricane Wanda to hit their small community in Florida. What transpires during the hurricane changes all of their lives irreparably. And so begins the story of Wanda, a girl born and named for the worst hurricane ever to hit, and who lives her subsequent years in a Florida that is quickly being overtaken by the ocean. The Light Pirate gives us an incredibly believable and realistic look at climate change in the growing, and at points terrifying, genre of climate fiction. 

I truly loved this novel. I was hooked from the start and didn’t want to put it down. I fell in love with Frida, and Wanda—and, truly, all the characters. It ripped my heart out then put it back together again, more than once. The characters were well written and well developed right from the start. I instantly felt connected to them; I could feel their grief and sadness, their push and pull. 

I also loved, and hated, how realistic the climate-induced dystopia was. Every part of the story— the increase in hurricanes, the decrease in coastline, the movement into the central US—was believable. The descriptions of the impact on Florida AND the impact on the interior states made sense. I hated this because it is scary; I loved it because it made the story believable and because I hope it will also work to open people’s eyes to the climate crisis. 

I knew nothing about this novel going into it. It hadn’t been all over social media and I hadn’t seen it hyped anywhere. So, I am here to hype it for you! Fall in love with Wanda, and Florida. Be terrified by the very real possibility of losing an entire state to the ocean amid increasingly brutal hurricanes. Enjoy the slight touch of magic this novel brings, a small magic that doesn’t overtake the human story whatsoever but instead helps steer it here and there.

This is a story of human resilience and women’s resilience. A story of determination and grit, survival and love. It’s a bleak look at climate future but a hopeful look at human adaptation to it.

Book Review: Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

By Larissa Page

Content warnings: Emotional abuse, domestic violence (side character)

Sometimes within my series of reading, I feel drawn to more lighthearted, uplifting, or happy reads. When this happens, I always want the book to have some love, some laughs, and maybe a bit of conflict, but I still want it to have some depth and development. This past month I felt drawn to pick up Part of Your World and I simply flew through it, finishing its 400 pages all within one day.

Abby Jimenez absolutely delivered for me. She gave me a book with a main character struggling with a recent break up from a relationship that has been anything but healthy. She is struggling to find her place in her family, pulled between the world they want her in and the one she wants for herself, and we see her learn to shift her priorities to better love and deliver happiness for herself. I loved getting to know Alexis and seeing her struggle against the backdrop of both the big city and the small town.

Daniel, on the other hand, delivers a little less personal growth. I really enjoyed him as a character, particularly a romantic one, and I loved the chemistry between him and Alexis, but I would have loved to have seen a bit more development from him as well.

I was a bit surprised by the conversations centered around emotional abuse and toxic relationships. We see from the beginning that Alexis’s previous relationship was emotionally abusive and thankfully she recognizes it too, but the level of emotional abuse coming from other characters within the book surprised me more. Without spoilers, I will say that I am happy that the main character managed to recognize these behaviours by the end of the book, but I would consider this a potential trigger for people who may have experienced these behaviours in the past.

Ultimately this book gave me what I always look for in a romance. It had some depth, some personal conflict, and good character development for Alexis. It features a lovely small town that you can just feel the community vibe. The side characters are mostly lovable, and those who are not meant to be lovable. It had a good amount of steam without being terribly salacious, and it made my heart feel happy.

Book Review: Hold My Girl by Charlene Carr

By Larissa Page

In Hold My Girl, Charlene Carr crafts an incredible moral dilemma impacting two very different but forever-connected mothers. Two eggs, intentionally switched by a nurse during the IVF process, lead to one stillborn and one healthy baby to two separate mothers known to each other but not realizing their connection until the healthy baby is ten months old. The birth mother, Katherine, sees her seemingly perfect life begin to implode while the biological mother, Tess, sees her imploded life begin to look hopeful again.

As with any moral question observed over the course of a story though, we learn there is so much more than meets the eye for both mothers and see them each fight for themselves and their shared daughter in different ways.

This story was so original. A legitimate fear, a completely believable plot (especially since the switch was intentional). I really enjoyed how it presented the conflict, the switch, right at the beginning, then the story followed both mothers as they work through it (via mediation, court, leaning on family and friends, etc.) throughout the following months. I felt like each mother learned an incredible amount about their own lives in the process and became different characters by the end of the book—it was fantastic character development.

I found this to be a quick read, engaging and propulsive. The hints and twists kept the story moving at a great pace while the focus of the story itself was on this moral question: who should “have” Rose (the child), the biological mother or the birth mother? I also liked how more morals other than the main dilemma were called into question.

Ultimately, this book was full of love and healing, even though it was also full of heartbreak and trauma. It drew out a lot of empathy from me, as the reader, and made me question what I felt about different situations. All the feelings expressed by each of the characters were relatable and understandable. I feel like readers from all walks of life will understand where these characters come from, why they make the decisions they do, and why have the feelings they have, even if the reader doesn’t share things in common with the characters.

I think this story brings some really important things to light, not just things about birth mother/bio mother rights even though that is a big question asked. It also shines a spotlight on infertility and IVF and the internal struggles those parents face. It discusses some forms of addiction as well as conflicts of race and interracial families. Hold My Girl gives us not only a learning opportunity and a chance to question some of our own internal biases, but also a compelling story worthy of your time.

Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for this complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review!

Book Review: Anne by Kathleen Gros

By Larissa Page

We all know the story of Anne of Green Gables and of Anne with an E. In Kathleen Gros’s Anne, she gives us a modern-day adaptation (sort of) of our favourite classic.

Anne is a foster kid in and out of houses thanks to her quick temper. Green Gables is an apartment complex where Matthew (the building’s handyman) and Marilla (an accountant) live in their parents’ old apartment. Diana is a kindred spirit that lives on the top floor and Rachel Lynde is the cranky old lady from the first floor. Gilbert is still a bully, and Anne detests her red hair. So, many of the elements of this adaptation are key points of the story that we already love with some that have been changed. Either way, Anne is the lovably precocious main character everyone comes to love.

One of the reasons this caught my eye is because I wanted to give it a pre-read before deciding if it would be good for my young reader. She is a fan of graphic novels (as am I), and this one is of a story and character she’s already familiar with. I was thrilled for this graphic novel to be filled with inclusivity, 2SLGBTQIA characters, themes of unconditional love, standing up to bullies, and building a home with new people. It had some young crush themes that were presented in a way that I felt appropriate for a tween/pre-teen.

It was a quick read, and I expect will be for some children as well, but in being so it makes it accessible (particularly for kids who may not be as quick of readers) and easy to pick up. It also had a feeling of nostalgia because these are characters we already love.

I will be thrilled to hand this off to my middle-grade reader. I can see us having some discussions surrounding handling bullies, sharing our feelings, getting a handle on emotions, and things like that. Plus, she’ll be excited to see the pictures, and experience Anne in her own generation.

Thank you, HarperCollins Canada, for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Junie by Chelene Knight

By Larissa Page

It’s the 1930s in the east end of Vancouver, Hogan’s Alley, and 13-year-old Junie has just moved with her mother Maddie to the alley. She begins to meet friends such as Estelle, her new classmate and soon-to-be best friend, Mr. Andrew, the book shop owner, and Miss Shirley, her new teacher. We follow Junie with snippets from Maddie, Faye (Estelle’s mother), Estelle, and Shirley as she grows and comes of age into a stronger young woman working to get out from under her problematic mother’s thumb.

One of the things I enjoyed about Junie was the emphasis on women working exceptionally hard to follow their dreams, fight for their rights (for a side character), and shirk the expectation that they need a man around to be successful—even in the 1930s. It’s unfortunate that this drive ended up impacting the relationships within the book the way they did, but I appreciate how the author highlighted the struggle and sacrifices for women fighting their way to the top as performers and business owners.

The written form of this book is unique. The chapters are short and written in the third person, but at the end of each chapter that focuses on Junie, there is a short blurb written in the first person, like a little look inside her head. The other characters also have these little insights after their chapters (which are not numbered chapters like Junie’s) but remain in the third person. This form was an interesting choice, like nothing I’ve read before, but unfortunately it didn’t really work for me. I found it took away from the story a little rather than added to it.

I enjoyed part of Junie’s growth throughout the novel, her coming of age, and acceptance of herself. I enjoyed her development as an artist. I wish it had been a bit deeper and fuller though. While I liked that she did grow apart from her mother, and I understood those confusing feelings she had, I wish we had seen a little farther into her future and how that continued to play out. Additionally, I found the other characters in the story to be fairly flat.

I wanted to love this one, the cover art is beautiful and intriguing, and I love a story where the setting can grow to be its own character as this one sounded like could have done. Unfortunately, while I believe some readers will love it, it wasn’t quite for me.

Thank you, Book Hug Press, for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

By Larissa Page

Simone St. James has made a name for herself in the supernatural thriller genre. After reading The Sun Down Motel a few years ago and feeling the literal heebie-jeebies, I’ve been quick to pick up her other books. I was so excited to get my hands on The Book of Cold Cases earlier this year.

The Book of Cold Cases follows Shea, a medical receptionist by day with an event from her past that she just can’t leave behind, propelling her need to become a true crime blogger by night. When she meets Beth, the infamously acquitted suspect of the 1977 Lady Killer murders that rocked the small town of Claire Lake, Shea asks for an interview and is pulled into Beth’s life. Beth has been living an isolated life in her parents’ house since her acquittal in 1977. This leads Shea to question whether  Beth ready to move on? What is with her in the house? And can Shea get to the bottom of the crimes committed back in 1977?

This book had all the hallmarks of St. James’ supernatural thrillers. It has hair-raising scenes, possible ghosts, and brutal crimes. It also has mystery with twists and turns. It is written in dual timelines, which can at times get a little confusing. It even has a little potential side romance for the present-day characters. I don’t want to say St. James has gotten cookie-cutter with her thrillers but all of the expected elements are there.

I didn’t find The Book of Cold Cases quite as creepy or eerie as I found The Sun Down Motel, which I was a little disappointed by. I still really liked the supernatural aspects, the story, and the mystery, but it  didn’t make me feel the need to curl under a blanket and hide like some of the scenes in Sun Down did. It was still an easy, engaging, and entertaining read—I just wished I’d been more creeped out and perhaps not gotten confused the few times I did.

While The Book of Cold Cases didn’t dethrone The Sun Down Motel for the top spot on my Simone St. James podium, I am still glad I read it. I did enjoy it and will absolutely, without question, continue to read future books by St. James. They make for the perfect lighter thriller to read when I’m in a reading slump or need a break from the heavier reads.

Thank you, Penguin Random House Canada, for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: The Cloisters by Katy Hays

By Larissa Page

Ann Stilwell desperately wants to get away from her painful small town life in Walla Walla after the death of her father in a hit and run and all of the constant reminders of him. When given the opportunity to intern for a summer at The Met, she hopes to never return. Ann ends up at The Cloisters, working hand in hand with Rachel and Patrick, in a medieval library surrounded by lush though potentially dangerous gardens. Together, they seek to discover the origins and original use of the Tarot and its occult beginnings. As the summer progresses, Ann finds herself being pulled into a different world, discovering different things about herself, and finds herself in sinister situations.

I began my “spooky season” reading with The Cloisters, and while there are things I wish had been done a bit better, or perhaps fuller, the atmosphere was perfect for a pre-halloween read. The settings of the buildings and gardens, tapestries, library, stacks, Rachel’s large and empty “camp”, and more,  all lended themselves to an atmospherically eerie read. I was quick to do an image search of The Cloisters themselves, and I really enjoyed imagining all of the scenes and their settings as they played out.

While I enjoyed the characters to an extent, I found myself wishing I had a bit more understanding of a few of them, Ann included. I found Rachel not to be terribly realistic (and that may be personal opinion), and I wish there had been more development of her and also of Patrick. Additionally, I had a hard time connecting with some of the choices Ann was making and linking them back to her character.

I did, however, enjoy the direction of the plot. I also found myself surprised by some of the twists and turns and reveals. Some of them I suspected (which I think may have been intentional) but a few did genuinely surprise me.

I am not a big reader of dark academia as a genre, which I would classify this as, and therefore I felt a little lost in the development of the tarot history discussed throughout the book. I don’t necessarily think this was a bad thing or took away from the book. I think fans of the genre may really like that, but I found myself skimming those particular pieces. What I did love though was “Ann Stilwell’s guide to tarot” at the back of the book;, it was a very cool addition.

Overall, this book was dark and atmospheric. It had a touch of thriller and a touch of dark academia. I felt it was perfect for this time of year where the days are getting shorter and colder, so I could curl up with it and re-enter The Cloisters every time I opened it.

Thank you, Simon and Schuster Canada, for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Scars & Stars by Jesse Thistle

By Larissa Page

Scars & Stars is the follow up to Jesse Thistle’s best- selling memoir From The Ashes. A few years ago From The Ashes took Canada by storm, gaining hordes of readers who loved, resonated, praised, cried over, and shared in Thistle’s story of addiction, homelessness, jail time, recovery, resilience, and ultimately, love. Throughout that memoir, he provided snippets of his poetry, which readers praised and loved and requested for more. And so was born Scars & Stars.

Scars & Stars is a really unique collection of poetry. Throughout the book, Thistle gives us introductions of each section, real talk, and his real voice to explain what each sub-collection/section means, where it came from, and what it’s about. He tells us stories, some of which we already know (if we’ve read From the Ashes) but goes deeper, and some of which are new. Some of the sections and stories include things that have happened since the end of From the Ashes, like the birth of his beautiful daughter, Rose, and the worries and struggles that come with fatherhood.

As already recognized in his previous work, Thistle’s writing is beautiful. It is whole and full of emotion, of struggle, of suffering, and of love. His poems are original, unlike other works of contemporary poetry one might find on bookstore shelves. The poems grow, as he grew, and the poems change, as he changed. They were deep and impactful while still being accessible to those who may have had shared the same experienced he did.

What I think I liked the most was how Thistle framed this collection of poetry as a passing on of the knowledge he had held so close and ultimately served to keep him going in his bleakest moments. He describes what his “shield” was and how up until now he hasn’t shared this information for fear of losing its protectiveness but now feels it is time to share it so others can use it too, to get themselves out, to also rise from the ashes.

Poetry is often hit or miss for me. I do not always connect with the poet as I read a collection. However, this one was an absolute hit, out of the ballpark. An incredible follow up and companion to From the Ashes.

Thank you, Penguin Random House Canada, for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Avenue of Champions by Conor Kerr

By Larissa Page

Daniel is a Métis child, then man, living in Edmonton, on the Avenue of Champions—first in the group home, and later raised by his Granny. We follow him through points of his life as he works his way through the push and pull of what it means to be “from the Avenue” as well as Métis, with significant intergenerational trauma to work through. Working against, and through, people’s expectations of him, this novel explores his life and the lives of those surrounding him.

This book is marketed as a novel, but it reads like a collection of interconnected, chronological short stories. Daniel, Granny, his brother Charlie, and his childhood group home friend Jason, all have voices to varying degrees throughout the telling of Daniel’s life. It starts with a prologue from decades before his birth and continues until he’s well into adulthood. I really liked the span of time in which we get to see Daniel grow, but I especially liked that each chapter was its own story, meaning we got snippets of Daniel’s life (and others’ lives) without needing all the in-between that happens throughout someone’s 40 years of living.

While I did really like the interconnected story feel of this novel, I wish it has been marketed to me that way. Some of the chapters switched narrators or perspective and it took a bit to realize who was speaking or where they were. I found this confusing when it happened until I caught on to who was talking. If I had been told they were stories, I would have known to expect that the person may change from chapter to chapter.

The writing in this novel is very real. It felt like it was likely an authentic view on the type of life someone from the avenue might live. I especially appreciated that Daniel was in a morally grey area, participating in petty crime but still working on improving his life. He wasn’t entirely either stereotype (leading a life of crime or committing completely to “getting out”). As people we are not all good or all bad and I felt that element of humanity was represented in Daniel.

I wouldn’t have sought this one out had it not been longlisted for the Giller Prize this past month, but I am so glad I did. I really enjoyed reading it; I was engaged and wanted to continue reading when I put it down. It was a quick but very meaningful read.

Book Review: Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

By Larissa Page

Ring Shout is a small book that packs a big punch. Coming in at under 200 pages, this novel/novella centers around Maryse and her gang of resistance fighters who are not only pushing back against the Klu Klux Klan as strong Black women, but also against actual Demons called Klu Kluxes (and more otherworldly beings) who thrive and feed on the hate living inside the racist members of the Klan and use it to grow and bring Hell to earth—unless the resistance fighters can stop them.

Before jumping into this one I knew it involved demons but I did not know it fit itself comfortably into the horror genre. Horror is not a typical genre for me but when it’s done well, I do enjoy it. I felt P. Djèlí Clark did it well. The scenes would be considered graphic, with the demons and disguised demons described like the stuff of nightmares, but this all lent itself well to the story and wasn’t over the top or overly gross (that I found).

I really loved the characters, these strong women fighting alongside each other. Even though the book was short in pages, it still gave us little tidbits of each of the women that made me love them. Maryse with her history of pain and loss, Sadie with her badass gun skills, and the former Harlem Hellfighter (WW1 soldier) Chef, together made a team that you could feel the connections in. Even the matriarch of the group leading them in ring shouts and full of knowledge, Nana Jean, was integral to the group.

Due to its short nature, I sped through this book in just two days and found myself plopped into a fictionalized horror story that related very much to a real time in our collective history. The Birth of a Nation was a silent film released in 1915 that really was highly racist and really did fuel the rebirth of the Klu Klux Klan, all facts I didn’t know before reading Ring Shout. 

Ring Shout is a novella that appealed to both me and my husband, who have very different reading preferences, and once I was finished, I was excited to pass it along to him to read so we could discuss it. I believe it has something for everyone (who can handle a bit of horror and demons from time to time) and has the potential to lead to some great conversations.

In Conversation with Emma Hooper author of We Should Not Be Afraid Of The Sky

With Larissa Page

Photo by Sean Maylon

We Should Not Be Afraid Of The Sky was written from the perspective of five different characters/sisters and each of their voices is incredibly unique. Did you have any challenges in writing the voices of characters who were simultaneously so similar yet so different?

It was certainly a tricky line to tread: how to have the sisters be both notably connected (identical, even!) with all the shared rhythms that come of such a bond, but also remain distinct individuals? But it was also fun. I tried to let each character’s experience and role within the group distinguish them. I had a few methods to help me with this while writing, including having a different playlist of music for each sister that I could listen to before and while writing in their voice…

The setting and timeframe of this novel is not one we hear about often in historical fiction novels. What inspired you to write a story set during the Roman Empire and the beginnings of Christianity? Did you find you needed to research this time in history for information and what were some of your favourite details that you uncovered?

It was actually the character of St Quiteria who led me to this time period. My fascination began with her and, according to one set of legends, anyway, this was where and when she lived.

One of my favourite learned details was that the ancient Romans at this time had alarm clocks… but not domestic cats. More generally, I really enjoyed digging into how the cultures of that time overlapped, mingled and mixed. The movement and blending of peoples and traditions was much more an everyday part of life in the empire than I’d realised…

Who was your favourite character to write about and why? Was it one of the sisters or someone else in the narrative?

That’s tricky! I love all the sisters so much, it doesn’t seem right to choose between them… but I can say that of the non-sister characters I particularly enjoyed writing “don’t call me mother" Julia, the commander’s wife. She represents a certain traditional type of female role that I found quite interesting to play with and juxtapose with the sisters and their adventures. She’s ‘traditional’ but still a unique and interesting person with her own quirks and flaws within that role.

Did you find the process of writing this novel different from the process of writing your previous novels? How would you say this novel differs or is similar to your previous works?

This one definitely took a lot more research…! While the other books definitely contained elements I wanted and needed to learn more about to write convincingly (cod fishing, world-war-two, Canada folk songs…) We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky was so much further away from where and when I’m from. This was also my first novel written in the first person, something that took a little getting used to, but which also opened up new ways to present the character’s thoughts, actions and relationships. I quickly learned that there is so much more to it than just switching “she” to “I”…

If you could go back and live in the setting of one of your novels (all are so unique), which one would you chose and why?

Well, I’d love to go back and visit the ancient Roman Portugal setting of We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky but I wouldn’t want to live there. Women had drastically fewer rights and possibilities open to them then, something the sisters in the book are fighting against a lot of the time. I’m also a big fan of modern medicine! But it would be so so so fascinating to see the architecture, food, clothing, and everything else from so very long ago; so much of what we know is based on so little, really, and I’d love to be able to fill in the many knowledge gaps.

In terms of actually living, it might seem strange, but I’d probably choose the lonely Newfoundland island from Our Homesick Songs. I spent some time in similar places while researching that book (and before, just because I love it there) and there’s something incredible magical about it. One thing is how it’s foggy at some point almost every single day… it sort of blurs the boundary between yourself and the sea. Overall I love how much the sea and weather permeates so much there, from food to songs.

Now that We Should Not Be Afraid Of The Sky is making its way into the world, are you working on your next project? What can you share with us about it?

I am! But I’m still in that fizzy, sparkly early stage where things are very fun and changing every day… ask me that question again in a year’s time and I’ll have a firmer answer for you…

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

If you really love it then just keep trying. There’s no such thing as a failed book or project, as each one teaches you so much that you can use to write a better next one. It took me ten years and three novels to actually get to the stage of publication…!

What is your “must-read” book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

In terms of ‘must-read’: anything and everything. The most important thing, I think, is just to always have a book (or two) on the go…

Some authors that have really impacted and influenced me, however, include Ali Smith, Heather O’Neill, Karen Russel, and Jane Austen…

Book Review: We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky by Emma Hooper

By Larissa Page

In the age of the Roman Empire, in a small Portuguese village, nine identical sisters are born to the Commander’s wife. Nine births, nine sisters. In a possible misunderstanding, or a possible rebellion, the housemaid takes the girls and manages to find the ones who survived homes within the village, all taken in by the working families who harvest the lemons that grow on the lands. The sisters, identical, know they are kin even though they grow up with different adoptive families, and when the secret is revealed and a solider comes to take them back to the big house, their lives are forever changed.

We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky takes place in approximately 180 AD, a time when the Romans were ruling a large empire and fighting against the “barbarians” and the “Christians” who had started to follow the word of Jesus, believing in a new religion and being persecuted. It is told from the perspective of five of the sisters, each with their own personality, beliefs, and experiences of the time and the events. In many cases we experience the same events, actions, and results but through different eyes, each sister having experienced things a different way.

I really enjoyed how each sister we heard from had their own distinct voice. We get almost a whole life story from each of the five, though always in different ways. For identical sisters, each one is very much their own person—some are leaders, others followers; some are loud, others quiet; some change their beliefs, others do not. The character growth as they move from young girls to pre-teens to young adults was interesting to watch, as was the way they move through periods of independence from each other and dependence on each other.

I was not expecting this book to be about the early days of Christianity, and, considering our current world where religion and the church are responsible for so much oppression and heartache, I found this part of the novel fascinating. Hearing the characters talk in secret about the new God, about Jesus, knowing they would face prosecution if they were found out, is not a narrative we often see about Christianity nowadays. For this same reason as well as a few others, I found the choice of timeframe and setting compelling, in addition to enjoying the different characters and their unique voices.

While this story is not what I was expecting when I picked it up, it had voices, characters, setting, and a writing style I found very interesting. It was historically set but in a time that is less common in the literary world; therefore, the concepts and history may be different for readers who are used to picking up historical fiction set in similar times over and over again.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu

By Larissa Page

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century is a unique collection of short stories. These stories are not linked to each other, but as I read through this collection I felt there was a common theme among them all. The synopsis on the back of the book cites this theme as “the strange made familiar and the familiar strange,” which I find vague but also perfectly fitting.

There have been many times that I’ve lost interest in a collection of short stories or have felt the need to push myself to continue reading, but I found Kim Fu’s writing to be engaging, propelling, and descriptive. At the end of each story, I was excited to start a new story with a new world and reality laid out. I found these stories interesting, thought-provoking, and each so different than the last.

Something I noticed was common among several of these stories is one of my favourite, though sometimes frustrating, literary tools: the unfinished ending. Several of the stories in this collection ended without full closure, enough that you are left wondering what happens beyond what is written on the page. I found myself thinking about these stories after the fact, wondering what the outcome actually was, wondering how the characters continued on with their lives. Additionally, a lot of the stories brought up concepts that were interesting and new and really made me think about what life would be like if this happened or that was invented. For short stories to have that sort of impact on someone’s thinking, I believe, is an incredible feat.

This collection was similar to another collection of short stories I read last year, Glorious Frazzled Beings. However, I struggled a lot with my feelings for Glorious Frazzled Beings, finding that I didn’t connect to or understand the element of weird that was woven through the stories. I find myself feeling the complete opposite about this collection. While it certainly has the element of weird, I really enjoyed my experience reading Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century. It didn’t feel “over my head” and I felt like I could connect to most of the stories.

As a comment on the publishing, this book (or my copy at least) is printed on the most luxurious paper! Quoted in the back as being Zephyr Antique Laid paper from second growth forests, the feeling and weight of this book in your hand and the sensation of the thick and textured pages between your fingers is an experience in and of itself. I’ve never commented on the printing quality in a review before, but this warrants a mention.

Thank you to Coach House Books for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

By Larissa Page

It has been a while since I’ve read (or in this case, listened) to a thriller that creeped me out, surprised me, and kept me hooked the whole time. Hidden Pictures did that for me.

Mallory is 18 months clean after her life was upended as a teenager. At the reference of her sponsor, she gets a job as a live-in nanny for a seemingly well-to-do family and their five-year-old son, Teddy. But when Teddy starts giving Mallory strange and disturbing drawings outside of his skill level, Mallory starts to wonder what else might be going on and whether Teddy’s imaginary friend Onya is really imaginary or something more sinister.

This novel started strong for me, dealing with the possible fallout of Mallory’s addiction now that she’s clean. The hook kept going as she moved in with the family she was to nanny for and met the lovely Teddy, who was a sweetly written character I think all readers will come to love. The eerie feelings started fairly early in the novel and continued to get stronger as the story reached the climax. Maybe it was just because I listened to it on audio, but I felt the creep down in my belly—it gave me the heebie-jeebies, which is exactly what I look for in a thriller.

Additionally, I started to guess what the “big twist” might be, but I was only partly right when it happened. As someone who very often guesses the big twist halfway through a thriller, I absolutely love that the author was able to misdirect readers enough to keep me guessing until the end. This is the type of thriller and plot that I would absolutely love to discuss with other people and was close to spoiling in this review, but I don’t want to give away the ending so that is all I will say.

I really enjoyed all aspects of this thriller. I loved the creep it gave me. I loved the mystery Mallory tries to solve. I loved Mallory’s story as well and all the little clues we get about her life, and her tragedy before she reveals it to us. I thought it was well put together and I’m really glad I picked it up. The audio in particular was great, but I believe the physical book would also be fantastic.

Book Review: The Last Time I Saw Her by Alexandra Harrington

By Larissa Page

It’s been ten months since Charlotte fled her small town of River John, Nova Scotia without telling anyone where she was going, including her best friend Sophie, who has just been in a brutal and debilitating car accident. Upon her return, she discovers Sophie and her other peers have been struggling in her absence and are not pleased to see her back—as she expected—except for Sophie’s ex-boyfriend Max. As Charlotte and Max reconnect, they discover a lot more has been going on in River John, including on that night a year ago that led to the car accident.

This young adult novel was a great small town thriller. In a town where everyone knows everyone and rumours are endless, it’s hard to believe there are nefarious forces at play—maybe it’s easier to believe when the clues don’t line up. I found the plot relatively believable, which I love in a thriller. While this thriller wasn’t flashy or exciting, I was still hooked and sped through once I got to about the halfway mark.

I really enjoyed the development of the relationships within this novel between Charlotte and Max, Sean, and Sophie. I think the author timed the developments well, just as she timed the small plot twists well. The different clues or surprises that built up the mystery part of the thriller were evenly spaced enough to keep me reading.

I do wish this novel had had just that little bit more, that perhaps it was a little bit deeper, but I find I feel this way about many young adult novels so I feel this may be more a reflection of my feelings on the genre versus this particular novel.

I am from Nova Scotia and therefore always love a locally set story. I felt like this one gave that to me. It was a well-described Nova Scotian small town and that gave me a thrill. The local story, believable plot, relationships I wanted to cheer for, and the well-timed hooks made this a perfect light read for leading into my summer reading time.

Thank you to Nimbus Publishing for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: The Rebellious Tide by Eddy Boudel Tan

By Larissa Page

Never quite fitting in to his small hometown in Québec, Sebastian Goh leaves shortly after his mother dies in search of the father who abandoned him. Thirty years after abandoning Sebastian’s pregnant mother in Québec, Kostas is now a Hotel Commander of a luxury liner in the Mediterranean. Sebastian gains a job on board and very quickly discovers the ship is full of class division, oppression, and possibly even worse crimes hidden behind the opulence of the officers’ quarters. Leading a rebellion to give a voice to the powerless staff and crew, Sebastian works through his angry past and determines where his own true choices lie.

The Rebellious Tide was a captivating and transportive read. The settings and descriptions of the different levels of the luxury liner (not cruise ship!), from the lowest levels of “Hades” to the opulent guest quarters, to the dark corners of the crew bar, were well told without being overpowering to the story. The fact that most of the story took place within the confined space of the ship was also fascinating because even as there was movement within the story—both the ship moving around the Mediterranean and the characters moving around the ship—the setting was fairly contained.

I really liked the persistence of the rebellion within the story. The group of characters known as “the powerless” were determined and creative. I love a good story of uprising against oppression and this story delivered that. Additionally, Sebastian and his friends may have been the leaders of the rebellion, but it was clear that the movement reached further and breathed on its own without them as well. This was telling of this type of revolutionary action, and it was well done. 

The one thing I wish had been a bit more flushed out was Sebastian’s character at the beginning. I felt disconnected from him once he started pushing back against the officers simply because the small amount of his character we’re shown at the beginning of the novel didn’t give me enough to understand if this was in character for him or not. As the story progressed we were shown more of his past, which helped. I felt the same about the relationship between Sebastian and Nikos. The feelings of the relationship were pretty clear but the build up to it was lacking for me.

The tie-in of Greek myths, the creativity and determination of the movement/rebellion, and the ability to be transported to the different parts of the ship and story made this a captivating reading journey for me.

Thank you to Dundurn Press for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais

By Larissa Page

The newest novel from Bianca Marais comes out a little later this summer and it has been compared to “Golden Girls meets Hocus Pocus,” which I think is a pretty apt description. It is the story of six geriatric witches who have lived at Moonshyne Manor since childhood. Now in their eighties, they run the risk of losing a home that has become part of their sisterhood itself. In order to save their home, they must work against the clock to find a lost treasure they stole thirty years before. They’ve waited thirty years to have their sixth sister back, to find the treasure, pay off their debts, and save the manor—but it simply won’t be that easy.

This novel is a departure from Marais’s previous works of fiction. She is well loved for her two previous and similar novels and has also recently released an Audible original audiobook that steps into the sci-fi/dystopia genre. This novel, however, is modern and magical while still employing many of Marais’s go-to literary tools. It is rife with red herrings and misdirection, which gives the novel a few small, surprising twists.

This novel was a lot of fun. It wasn’t heavy even though there were aspects and topics that could have been. It was light, but the characters were still well crafted and their relationships still meaningfully described. The cast was large: six witches, a teenage TikTok-er, and a villain. While it did take a little bit of effort not to confuse all the characters and they could have been a little bit more developed, I didn’t feel like anything from the story was lost with how it was told.

One thing I did find to be a bit heavy was the pop culture or cliché references. I attribute this to personal preference, as most of the books I read are not pop culture-related books, but I think other readers will find these really fun (and I did as well, I just found there to be a lot). There was a Harry Potter reference, which in this day and age can be exciting for some people and problematic for others. It wasn’t harped on, though, so I moved past it easily. The thing I think I found most surprising was how balanced the book was between the deeper topics such as sexuality and gender fluidity/transition, and the pop culture references and fun things like a magical heist.

Ultimately this upcoming novel by Bianca Marais might not be what you are expecting if you’ve read her previous work, but it is very fun, it is witchy, it is feminist, and it is worth the read.

Book Review: Son of Elsewhere by Elamin Abdelmahmoud

By Larissa Page

Despite Elamin Abdelmahmoud being a culture journalist for Buzzfeed and part of CBC programming such as the Pop Chat and Party Lines podcasts, I was not familiar with him before receiving this memoir to read. The description pulled me in though, specifically because I love a memoir that gives me an education into a different type of life than I’ve lived, as well as giving me insight into a person’s growth and experiences. Son of Elsewhere gave me all those things and more. I was a little unsure at first whether I’d be as drawn in to the memoir-in-essays style of writing but I absolutely was.

Abdelmahmoud was born and raised in Sudan before immigrating to Canada with his family when he was a preteen. They decided to settle in Kingston, Ontario, which he claims in the opening of this book to be the whitest city in Canada, which means he had to come to terms with his Blackness (skin colour wasn’t something he’d considered about himself before then). This memoir explores how he adapted to Canadian life as a Black person, as an immigrant who initially spoke no English, and as a Muslim, and how he grew into an adult who was both Sudanese and Canadian.

He uses his essays to tell us about different parts of his life, not in chronological order, along with some history and background on different parts of Sudanese culture and the immigrant experience. The stories from his life are funny and also heartbreaking; some involve longing and some love. I felt the full range of emotions while reading this memoir and I didn’t have any trouble picking the book back up and continuing my journey through it.

I personally found I related to the stories much more than I expected to. I am not Black, I am not an immigrant, and English is my only language—but I was a preteen in Canada at the same time as Elamin, which means we shared experiences with the things that were popular at the time. I found this so interesting, seeing the parts of my experiences and his that are similar even though our life stories are so vastly different.

Abdelmahmoud’s writing is funny; I chuckled at his stories multiple times. His writing is also full of emotion. When reading about his mother, his love for his wife, and his longing for his family he left behind in Sudan, I often had tears in my eyes. The stories he writes are real and meaningful and important to share. They are accessible for people who share the same types of experiences, and more importantly, those who don’t.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: The Relatives by Camilla Gibb

By Larissa Page

The Relatives is the newest release from the Giller finalist and award-winning author Camilla Gibb. The Relatives tells three different stories from three different characters whose lives are not at all linked, but whose DNA or the DNA of their loved ones might be. Lila is a social worker dealing with her demons on her way to becoming a mother. Adam is an aid worker who is kidnapped and held captive in Africa and has his own demons to face during and after. And Tess is trying to manage her feelings around her ex Emily using their (biologically Tess’s) embryos to grow her family when Tess never identified with motherhood to begin with.

The Relatives is a short read, capping off at just over 200 pages, something I managed to read in a single (holiday) Monday. The stories of each of the characters and the writing itself move along quickly enough to keep the reader engaged. Each of the three stories is almost completely unrelated (except for the linking genetic material), but each also has its own story arc, and each of the characters is developed to an extent within their own storyline.

Personally, I found there to be a bit too much time given to the initial part of each character’s story and not enough on the end part or resolution. For example, I wanted the whole novel to be about Lila and Robin, or about Tess and her trip to Greece and the relationship she’d built with her son as a child when she didn’t connect with him as a baby or being a mother in that way. These storylines, along with Adam’s captivity, were the bulk of half or over half of the book, but then each story shifted onto a new trajectory that wasn’t unrelated to that initial part but also wasn’t completely linked to it or to the other stories.

Additionally, I do wish the three stories had linked up more at the end. I expected they would as they were so unrelated, and I assumed there would be a coming together, but there was not. Each story also felt unfinished and unresolved. I am someone who loves an open-ended story or an unfinished ending, a messy ending even, but I felt like this story just stopped with no conclusion at all.

All that said, Gibb’s writing is, without a doubt, incredible. Both easy to read and sophisticated with excellent descriptions of settings and feelings as well as relationships. This isn’t surprised considering she is a renowned author, so perhaps this novel requires a step back and a consideration that the important parts may not be the linked storylines but the statements made on what it means to be a family, what motherhood looks like to can look like if it is outside of the norm, and what it means to be linked to another person by genetic material or not.

Thank you, Penguin Random House Canada, for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.