How many times have we wished that an aspect of our lives were different?  Put a god in our paths—would we pray to it for help, even while knowing the fickle ways of the gods?

Schwab's new gift to readers is absolutely beautiful, heartbreaking and eye-opening as we follow Addie after she makes a pact with a dark devil for a life that she believes she wants, without looking ahead to the consequences.  And her wish is certainly granted.  By that point, it's too late to go back and think things through, and she has to fight through life for three-hundred years without leaving an impression in the mind of a single person that she meets.

Still, she leaves footprints, and presents herself through artistic history to those who are willing to look and notice, to listen and wonder.  

“Live long enough, and you learn how to read a person.  
To ease them open like a book, some passages underlined
and others hidden between the lines.”

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue blooms at a leisurely pace, but it is a rhythm that allows the reader to savor rather than lag.  The language and writing are gorgeous, the magical fantasy is moving.  You have the ability to not just bond with Addie as a character, but to appreciate and commiserate with the path that she chose.  It's often hard to read—because this young woman struggles to find her place in the world—but it tugs deep into the emotional well, and it's so easy to see how tempting it would be to do as she did for the price that she paid.  

As she so often makes a point of telling Luc, despite the rough moments that she has experienced, she has lived life.  It's been a lonely life a lot of the time, but she has nonetheless flourished.  And in the end, she was remembered.

It had been a while since a horror book had dug under my skin.  Until now.

The Hollow Places is inherently creepy and otherworldly.  Told through the very likable voice of Kara—Carrot—alongside her new and Mad-Hatter-styled friend, Simon, the story builds to an unusual crescendo that gives you a lot of food for thought, and now makes me take a second look at the walls around me every time I enter a room.  Because the possibilities behind them are endless!

To enjoy a book that's been written, in part, to scare me, I don't need it to be splashy and outrageous.  This story is the type of story that puts you into a false sense of security while the weird creeps up on you little by little.  It does a really great job of foreshadowing and the tension builds up beautifully 'til you're thrust into a new and strange world that's waiting to either kill you or tear you apart—the second, I assure you, far worse than the first.

The idea behind this, with the willows in such a stark limelight—which Kingfisher appears to have taken as inspiration from Algernon Blackwood's “The Willows,” per the author's note—begins subtly.  The realization of how strong a role they play into the novel hits too late to take cover.  And the multi-dimensional way of seeing things is not just a puzzle sometimes, but it amplifies the horror of the terrible things that something you cannot fully see is capable of doing to a person that steps into this apparently banal new land.

I devoured the book, it's so deliciously readable that putting it down was never a choice.  Kingfisher's imagination splashes through the pages one alien footstep at a time.

The last book that I read by Kerri Maniscalco left me with a sour taste in my mouth.  So, as much as I was intrigued by the synopsis in this novel, I was also incredibly wary.  .

As a reader, I love it when a writer manages to create a world in which it is easy for me to become immersed.  And if there's one thing that this story excels at, it's that.  The setting comes alive from the very beginning, and I became deeply entrenched in this magical world that Emilia, our lead, and her family has.  From their history, to the powers that are part of their familial bond—which, in and of itself, is a lovely thing to see depicted in any tale to such depth—to the the way that they worship, and the enchantments that they create, to the food that they eat...  The Kingdom of the Wicked is a thing full of life waiting to be unleashed.

Which brings me to our male lead, Prince of Hell, Wrath.

I was not a fan of the initial encounter between Emilia and Wrath.  It was a bad first impression.  I found her behavior to be rightfully irrational, considering that her sister had just been murdered and she, of course, has Wrath in her sights as a culprit.  But she goes from acting justifiably irrational, to summoning him, to forgetting the fact that this is a Prince of Hell and some sort of fear would be instilled in anyone knowingly coming face to face with him, to attempting to pummel him with her tiny fists in puerile rage, to folding her arms and sniffly taunting him.  Because as likable as Emilia can be, she sometimes shows hints of being the kind of person who is a little delusional about her abilities.  I can easily picture her facing a horde of demons, most likely about to be ripped apart—I mean, given what he Umbra were able to do to Wrath, how in the world would she survive that—and still be completely confident that she can defeat them all.  It comes off as ridiculous posturing, and instantly put me on edge to think that this would be another vapid disappointment. 

Thank my lucky stars that things evolved and Emilia got her head on straight.

Wrath is, in one word, delectable.  Given his role, this is a male who is supposed to his show his force wherever he goes and not easily bend his will.  What I liked most about him is that while it is obvious that he feels some sort of softness toward Emilia—whatever his reasons may be, I myself am still guessing them even after some truths were exchanged—he does not change his personality and stop being the ruthless being that he has been for so long.   You clearly still see the edge to him, he still has a bite to him, and I like that whatever personal thoughts he has towards this witch who's now in his life, they do not shift his purpose.  

The story itself is entertaining, interesting, and has enough mystery to keep you hooked.  I do feel that certain scenes were slightly rushed and sometimes even skewed (such as the ending of the second to last chapter and the beginning of the last, one segued into the other a bit abruptly), but the book is overall great, and I do not want to miss what's to come.