E.M. McConnell

I thank the author for kindly giving me an ARC. :)

First off, the cover, IT IS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!!! Like, WOW! Just look at it!!! Who could resist the temptation of giving this book a chance? And yes, the cover fits the book perfectly well.

This is the second horror themed book I have read of this author, only that The black cat bookshop has spookier gothic themes (the bookstore is haunted Ooooohhhh!) and is a bit longer than the other horror story I previously read. Don't feel intimidated by the # of pages, I think the book has at the most 50,000 words. A lot of space is taken using these eye-watering gorgeous little black cats as scene and chapter breaks.

In a nutshell, this book reminds me of an anime called Hell Girl (also known as Jigoku Shoujo), just that the ominous deals can be far more varied. Unlike Hell Girl where someone locates the liason named Ai Enma to send someone they hate to hell in exchange for going to hell someday as well, TBCB offers the visitor something that their heart desires and payment will be variable depending on how they abuse the gift and opt to harm others.

So, if the reader liked Hell Girl, this book will certainly be up their alley, hands down. It is a bummer however that the cats don't engage in a more active role in the story. In Hell Girl, Ai Enma has 3 dolls that can attain a temporary human form. These assistants sometimes disguise as people and entice the target to make decisions that will guarantee they end up in hell. I don't think the 1st season ever explains how these dolls came to be (they could either be magically created or are the souls of prior humans that sold their soul and bartered eternal servitude instead of going to hell). The cats still rock. I also digged the steampunk fashion sense of our mysterious bookshop owner named Meredith Smart.

Now, here is the bad news. Both this book and Hell Girl not only share a similar main premise, they also share the same episodic format. I have only watched the 1st season of Hell Girl (I believe the story does advance in later seasons), but it drove me nuts the 1st season doesn't really advance anything. Ai Enma is the exact same character from beginning to end and you could watch episodes in any order. Up until the 60% point, the same applies to this book. So, readers should be made aware the story doesn't seem to connect for a good chunk of the story (but the ending is so, so, so damn good that slogging to the end is well worth it). Some of the stories in this book are really good (and the last ends in a fabulous note), others are very meh.

I felt the first story is where the book stumbles the most, like it was barely getting the vibe of what it wanted to be. It was hard for me to connect to the first story because it felt like chapters were skipped. The finale just popped out of nowhere and Ta-Da! That was it. Given this is an ARC and perhaps some further editing might be done from now to the official release, it is possible these issues will be fixed.

Another thing I noticed in particular with the stories I didn't like as much is the insane amount of sentences that start with either She or He. I always thought seeing a few sentences starting in the same word being flagged by ProWriting Aid was overkill, but I finally now understand why offering a bit of variability could help keep the reader focused. I did not do a full count, but I wouldn't be surprised if at least 500 sentences start with a She in the entire book. Chances are this can also be edited and improved between now and the official book premiere. The amount of sentences that looked the same made my eyes so dizzy at times that I was skimming entire pages in some stories.

Magali is awesome as the sort of helpful antagonist and I also liked El. Can't spoil more about them! I loved the final story, albeit the beginning needs further paragraph tightening because I was skimming pages at first. It is unusual to have characters in books with hypoacucia, so that was cool. I think the story would become better with a sensitivity reader revision because it seems odd the character can lipread so efficiently (would't someone like Meredith who seems so knowledgeable be fluent in British Sign Language?). There is a scene where Magali makes a brief clapping noise and the character jumps in surprise. I also find it curious Magali doesn't cover the mirrors in his car knowing untrustworthy beings can use them to spy on people.

Despite these qualms that might become fixed by the time the book is released, the story entertains, delivers and the ending is so, so worth reading. For now, I am giving it 3.5 stars. With some minor fixes, I am certain it will become a rock-solid 4.5 read on release day.

:)… (más)

I enjoyed reading this short novella. At aroud 100 pages, it can be enjoyed in just an hour. The premise is quite simple: Dr. Rebecca Carter has been granted permission to visit the archives of an ancient psychiatric hospital and write an article about treatments that were used in the past.

She has 72 hours to read some old charts and get the backbones of an article. And as expected, the hospital has creepy hallways and an odd vibe that hint something is not quite right.

72 Hours follows the classic spooky hospital trope where the ghosts of patients that have been long deceased are lurking in the shadows. Rebecca is quite a level-headed person that seems genuinely interested in the history of the hospital and its long-deceased tenants.

Despite its short duration, I felt the book was well paced and long enough to get to know the hospital without getting bored. I was not spooked by the book, but it certainly felt fun to read from start to finish.… (más)

I loved THE SUNSET SOVERIGN, a gorgeous coming of age fantasy set in a world where some children begin to hear voices at a young age and are taken from their parents and sent to the Capital for “special” chosen futures. Isobel has always heard the voice of “Rusty”, her sovereign and loves the things he teaches her. She is excited to go to the Capitol and go through the different ceremonies and tests as a supplicant of the sunset sovereign, those chosen to hear the memories of those who are at the ends of their lives. I thought the world building in the novel was outstanding. Such amazing descriptions and really interesting and clever set up. When Isobel is tested with a controversial situation, she is put in a difficult position. Will she go through with the trials? I loved how the book showed the pain her parents go through when giving her up, the different choices those who are chosen to serve the sovereigns must make. I loved Yvaine’s character especially. She was so interesting. And I felt my heart break for Poll on every page. Very well written! 5/5 stars.… (más)

The review may contain some mild spoilers!

Whew! This was a quick read! I started reading this book without reading the premise to keep a 100% open mind, which helped me enjoy the book a bit more.

Before I really venture into the meat of the story, the book gave me very vague Hunger Games vibes. Different villages of varying degrees of quality of life present a small group of young teenagers to some selectors. The selected are whisked to the mysterious capital where very few people are ever allowed to visit, most likely never to see their friends and family ever again (and even if they did, they would return so changed that their families would no longer recognize them). These selected candidates would then compete with each other to a certain degree to win a prize where the truth is not as good as it might seem at first sight.

Looking back, the fairytale utopia we are fed at the story's beginning is much more a house of falling cards that seems to collapse as our protagonist Isobel becomes older and wiser. I usually dislike stories where young teenagers huddle together, act very bubbly with seemingly perfect lives, and say their names real fast. I tend to end up not really remembering anyone 5 minutes later. The only character alongside Isobel that stands apart is the sulking Night applicant named Yvaine. She intrigued me from the start, and it felt refreshing to have a few POV chapters where an applicant lived a depressing childhood whose dourness never allays the idealized perfection of the Capital. For some odd reason, I always imagined Yvaine physically resembling Heather from that cartoon Total Drama Island with a perpetual frown.

The book has a bit of an uneven pace with a lot of slow-building the first 40% of the way, a pretty stable middle, and it moves lightning fast for its dramatic finale. And yes, the ending is really good. In some ways, this book felt very reminiscent of the 2011 anime Blood C: Last Blood.

Both stories have a protagonist who spends an insanely long time giggling among her friends with very little going on. And then, the story turns darker, and everyone becomes well aware at the very last minute. The main differences are that the dark revelation in this book was done fabulously, and Isobel exerts tints of a difference in opinion from her peers. Through her blind faith in being chosen, she is actually the only person among her peers rebelling against the system.

I will try not to spoil more about the plot and let readers enjoy it for themselves. There are a few reasons why I sadly could not give it the full 5 stars.

Despite the great finale and little nibbles of the truth we get during the story, some things are never explained, and it just drove me nuts because the first half of the book never answers anything, so I kept on fretting about those little details ad nauseum.

When Isobel stands on the dais in her village to find out if she became chosen, who told her parents to mend a specifically orange dress? Is there some kind of transportation system that is only accessible to the Analysts where they inform families to dress their kids in specific pre-approved colored clothes? Isobel mentions she still remembers the choosing that preceded hers 10 years ago. Yet she never mentions the colored dresses or why every applicant stood next to someone with the same dress color. The choosing also mentioned there were supposed to be 10 applicants. Still, we only know 7 were mentioned (and I suppose Yvaine wasn't there because she got a special automatic permit, perhaps? The book never explains why she ends up in Isobel's portal batch but was never present in the choosing.)

It took us ages to find out Isobel is 16 years old. I spent 52% of the book wondering if she was 6 years old... or 12... or 13... Wondering her age through half of the book was driving me insane. I will give the book the benefit of the doubt that her huge degree of innocence that made her a LOT younger than her true age was because she spent so much of her life interacting with an invisible voice. But not knowing her age made me wonder why a young adult like Caleb would be so romantically interested in her (when I assumed she was 10 or something). I loved her interactions with her Voice named Rusty, only wished the scenes where their connection becomes severed early on had been more traumatic. She seemed very indifferent about no longer having anyone to speak to when she was alone.

Book also never agrees on whether the economic system of the Capital was truly communist or socialist capitalism. One chapter, the candidates talk about how everyone barters goods in the Capital. In another, they use coins to pay for bread. If candidates' bodies start suffering from physical changes, how come every ordinary civilian in the Capital could recognize Isobel as a candidate so early in the story? I would have liked to know why so many candidates from Rowan's birth city are Non-binary. Is it simply because that place is so culturally enlightened?

In essence, the book was great, I liked the writing style and loved the worldbuilding, but these questions just nagged into my head nonstop. Otherwise, this book would have most certainly won 5 stars. Great read, would love to read the sequel someday.… (más)