Middle Grade Techno-thriller: Hana Hsu and the Ghost Crab Nation by Sylvia Liu + giveaway

Welcome to the tour for Hana Hsu and the Ghost Crab Nation by Sylvia Liu. Read on for more details and don't forget to enter the giveaway!

Hana Hsu and the Ghost Crab Nation
by Sylvia Liu

June 21, 2022
Genre: Middle Grade/ MG Sci-fi/ Techno-thriller ( 8 – 12 years)
Publisher: Razorbill Books/ Penguin Random House
Perfect for fans of Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee, this thrilling, cinematic sci-fi novel follows Hana Hsu’s mission to save herself—and her friends—from a dangerous plot to control their minds.

Hana Hsu can’t wait to be meshed.

If she can beat out half her classmates at Start-Up, a tech school for the city’s most talented twelve-year-olds, she’ll be meshed to the multiweb through a neural implant like her mom and sister. But the competition is fierce, and when her passion for tinkering with bots gets her mixed up with dangerous junkyard rebels, she knows her future in the program is at risk.

Even scarier, she starts to notice that something’s not right at Start-Up—some of her friends are getting sick, and no matter what she does, her tech never seems to work right. With an ominous warning from her grandmother about being meshed, Hana begins to wonder if getting the implant early is really a good idea.

Desperate to figure out what’s going on, Hana and her friends find themselves spying on one of the most powerful corporations in the country—and the answers about the mystery at Start-Up could be closer to home than Hana’s willing to accept. Will she be able to save her friends—and herself— from a conspiracy that threatens everything she knows?

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Sylvia Liu grew up with books and daydreams in Caracas, Venezuela. Once an environmental attorney protecting the oceans, she now spins stories inspired by high tech, cool science, and the intricacies of family and friendship. She’s the author of the middle grade books Hana Hsu and the Ghost Crab Nation (Razorbill 2022) and Manatee’s Best Friend (Scholastic 2021) and the picture book A Morning with Grandpa, illustrated by Christina Forshay (Lee & Low Books 2016). Sylvia lives in Virginia with her family and a very fluffy cat.

Twitter: @artsylliu @RazorbillBooks @penguinrandom @RRBookTours1 #RRBookTours #HanaHsu

IG: @sylliu @razorbillbooks @rrbooktours #rrbthanahsu #hanahsu #mgscifi #middlegrade #kidsbooks

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Cover Reveal: Spells for the Dead (A Soulwood Novel Book 5) by Faith Hunter

Another incredibly beautiful Soulwood series cover!

Spells for the Dead (A Soulwood Novel Book 5)

by Faith Hunter
July 28, 2020
Publisher: Ace
Nell Ingram faces a dark magic with no known origin in the newest pulse-pounding paranormal procedural in the New York Times bestselling Soulwood series.

Nell is a rookie PsyLED agent, using the powers she can channel from deep within the earth to solve paranormal crimes. Together with her team, she's taken on the direst magic and the most twisted foes. But she'll need to tap into every ounce of power she has for her newest case.

Nell is called to the Tennessee mansion of a country music star and finds a disturbing scene—dead bodies rapidly decaying before everyone's eyes. The witch on her team, T. Laine, has never seen magic that can steal life forces like this. PsyLED needs to find this lethal killer fast. But when a paranormal-hating FBI agent tries to derail the investigation, and the dark magics begin to spiral out of control, they find themselves under attack from all sides.

About the Author:

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Yellowrock Securities  

Gwen Hunter
New York Times and USAToday bestselling fantasy author Faith Hunter was born in Louisiana and raised all over the south. Altogether she has 40+ books in print under the names Gary Hunter, Gwen Hunter, and Faith Hunter. As Faith, she writes two contemporary Urban Fantasy series: the Jane Yellowrock series, featuring a Cherokee skinwalker who hunts rogue vampires, and the Soulwood series, featuring earth magic user Nell Ingram. Her Rogue Mage novels are a dark, post-apocalyptic, fantasy series featuring Thorn St. Croix, a stone mage. The role playing game based on the series, is ROGUE MAGE, RPG.

Celebrate 10 years of Jane Yellowrock! Giveaway

Celebrate 10 years of Jane Yellowrock!

Enter for your chance to win the entire New York Times bestselling Jane Yellowrock series (so far), plus cool Jane swag!

“There is nothing as satisfying as the first time reading a Jane Yellowrock novel.”—Fresh Fiction

Jane Yellowrock is the last of her kind—a skinwalker of Cherokee descent who can turn into any creature she desires and fights vampires, demons, and everything in between in the city of New Orleans. 

Enter today for your chance to win all of Jane's adventures:

Skinwalker

Blood Cross

Mercy Blade

Raven Cursed

Death's Rival

Blood Trade

Black Arts

Broken Soul

Dark Heir

Shadow Rites

Cold Reign

Dark Queen

...and an advanced copy of Shattered Bonds!

Winners will also receive a Shattered Bonds bookmark and an exclusive character card featuring Jane and Beast!

“Jane Yellowrock is smart, sexy, and ruthless.”—#1 New York Times bestselling Kim Harrison

GIVEAWAY LINK

Happy holidays Giveaway from Penguin Random House and I Smell Sheep

Happy holidays from Penguin Random House and I Smell Sheep. Enter to win one of the prizes. The soft sheep socks will be included in one of the prize packs. You won't know if you get them until you open your box!

(the wrapped present in the background is just a prop not part of the prize.)

Prize #1

Archangel's Prophecy (A Guild Hunter Novel Book 11)

by Nalini Singh

Cross Breed (A Novel of the Breeds Book 32)

by Lora Leigh 

Prize pack #2

Rowankind

by Jacey Bedford

The Mortal Word (The Invisible Library Novel Book 5)

by Genevieve Cogman 

Prize pack #3

The Clan Chronicles: Tales from Plexis

by Julie E. Czerneda 

Socks that will be in one of the prize packs!

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Book Review: The Mortal Word (The Invisible Library Novel Book 5) By Genevieve Cogman

The Mortal Word (The Invisible Library Novel Book 5) 
By Genevieve Cogman
November 27, 2018
448 pages
Publisher: Ace
November 27, 2018
ASIN: B07B774YYJ ISBN: 9780399587443
When Irene returns to London after a relatively straightforward book theft in Germany, Bradamant informs her that there is a top secret dragon-Fae peace conference in progress that the Library is mediating, and that the second-in-command dragon has been stabbed to death. Tasked with solving the case, Vale and Irene immediately go to 1890s Paris to start their investigation.

Once they arrive, they find evidence suggesting that the murder victim might have uncovered proof of treachery by one or more Librarians. But to ensure the peace of the conference, some Librarians are being held as hostages in the dragon and Fae courts. To save the captives, including her parents, Irene must get to the bottom of this murder--but was it a dragon, a Fae, or even a Librarian who committed the crime?

Irene returns to London and Bradamant tells her about the peace conference between the dragons and the Fae set in Paris of another alternate world. The Library will mediate it, 

But when a second-in-command dragon to the King dragon is murdered, Irene along with Vale and Kai, must figure out who killed the man and get the peace treaty signed. But the Blood Countess, a Fae known that inspired Dracula, isn’t helping. 

Once again, Genevieve Cogman has drawn me into her fantasy alternate worlds peopled by mortals, Fae, and dragons. There are librarians and books, and a real-life woman infamously known as a vampire because she bathed in virgins’ blood, a Parisian underground, and much more. She has proven again that librarians make the best heroes!Review: The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library Novel)
Review: The Masked City (The Invisible Library #2)
Review: The Burning Page (The Invisible Library Novel)
Review: The Mortal Word (The Invisible Library Novel Book 5)

I give The Mortal Word (The Invisible Library Novel Book 5) 5 sheep.

Reviewed by Pamela K. Kinney

About the author:

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Genevieve Cogman is a freelance author, who has written for several role-playing game companies. Her work includes GURPS Vorkosigan and contributions to the In Nomine role-playing game line for Steve Jackson Games: contributions to Exalted 2nd Edition and other contributions to the Exalted and Orpheuslines for White Wolf Publishing: Hearts, Swords and Flowers: The Art of Shoujo for Magnum Opus: and contributions to the Dresden Files RPG for Evil Hat Productions. She currently works for the NHS in England in the HSCIC as a clinical classifications specialist.

She has had three books of her series about the multidimensional Library accepted by Tor Books, and the first two books, The Invisible Library and The Masked City, are now available. Her novels are represented by Lucienne Diver of the Knight Agency.

Spotlight: The Mortal Word (The Invisible Library Novel Book 5) by Genevieve Cogman + giveaway

The Mortal Word (The Invisible Library Novel Book 5)

by Genevieve Cogman

November 27, 2018
446 pages

Ace Trade Paperback
In the latest novel in Genevieve Cogman's historical fantasy series, the fate of worlds lies in the balance. When a dragon is murdered at a peace conference, time-travelling Librarian spy Irene must solve the case to keep the balance between order, chaos...and the Library.

When Irene returns to London after a relatively straightforward book theft in Germany, Bradamant informs her that there is a top secret dragon-Fae peace conference in progress that the Library is mediating, and that the second-in-command dragon has been stabbed to death. Tasked with solving the case, Vale and Irene immediately go to 1890s Paris to start their investigation.

Once they arrive, they find evidence suggesting that the murder victim might have uncovered proof of treachery by one or more Librarians. But to ensure the peace of the conference, some Librarians are being held as hostages in the dragon and Fae courts. To save the captives, including her parents, Irene must get to the bottom of this murder--but was it a dragon, a Fae, or even a Librarian who committed the crime?

I Smell Sheep reviews of The Invisible Library 1-4

About the author:

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Genevieve Cogman is a freelance author, who has written for several role-playing game companies. Her work includes GURPS Vorkosigan and contributions to the In Nomine role-playing game line for Steve Jackson Games: contributions to Exalted 2nd Edition and other contributions to the Exalted and Orpheuslines for White Wolf Publishing: Hearts, Swords and Flowers: The Art of Shoujo for Magnum Opus: and contributions to the Dresden Files RPG for Evil Hat Productions. She currently works for the NHS in England in the HSCIC as a clinical classifications specialist.

She has had three books of her series about the multidimensional Library accepted by Tor Books, and the first two books, The Invisible Library and The Masked City, are now available. Her novels are represented by Lucienne Diver of the Knight Agency.

GIVEAWAY

The giveaway runs from 11/12-11/23: https://sweeps.penguinrandomhouse.com/enter/invisible-library-sweeps

Spotlight: Phoenix Unbound (The Fallen Empire) by Grace Draven + A Special Giveaway

As this is the first book in Grace Draven’s Fallen Empire series, we are celebrating with a giveaway that also features other first-in-series romantic fantasy books (including books by Nalini Singh, Chloe Neill, Ilona Andrews, Anne Bishop, and Patricia Briggs). We are calling it a ‘Romantic Fantasy Starter Kit’

Phoenix Unbound (The Fallen Empire)

by Grace Draven

September 25, 2018
Ace Trade Paperback
A woman with power over fire and illusion and an enslaved son of a chieftain battle a corrupt empire in this powerful and deeply emotional romantic fantasy from the USA Today bestselling author of Radiance.

Every year, each village is required to send a young woman to the Empire's capital--her fate to be burned alive for the entertainment of the masses. For the last five years, one small village's tithe has been the same woman. Gilene's sacrifice protects all the other young women of her village, and her secret to staying alive lies with the magic only she possesses.

But this year is different.

Azarion, the Empire's most famous gladiator, has somehow seen through her illusion--and is set on blackmailing Gilene into using her abilities to help him escape his life of slavery. Unknown to Gilene, he also wants to reclaim the birthright of his clan.

To protect her family and village, she will abandon everything to return to the Empire--and burn once more.

About the Author:

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Grace Draven is a Louisiana native living in Texas with her husband, kids, and a big, doofus dog. She is the winner of the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice for Best Fantasy Romance of 2016 and a USA Today Bestselling author. Find out more about Grace Draven online at gracedraven.com.

GIVEAWAY

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Book Review: The Lost Plot (The Invisible Library #4) By Genevieve Cogman

The Lost Plot (The Invisible Library #4)

By Genevieve Cogman
January 9, 2018
Publisher: Ace
Paperback Pages: 384

eBook Pages: 372.
ASIN: B06XR1NH33 ISBN: 9780399587429
In a 1920s-esque New York, Prohibition is in force; fedoras, flapper dresses, and tommy guns are in fashion: and intrigue is afoot. Intrepid Librarians Irene and Kai find themselves caught in the middle of a dragon political contest. It seems a young Librarian has become tangled in this conflict, and if they can’t extricate him, there could be serious repercussions for the mysterious Library. And, as the balance of power across mighty factions hangs in the balance, this could even trigger war.

Irene and Kai are locked in a race against time (and dragons) to procure a rare book. They’ll face gangsters, blackmail, and the Library’s own Internal Affairs department. And if it doesn’t end well, it could have dire consequences on Irene’s job. And, incidentally, on her life...

The fourth title in Genevieve Cogman's witty and wonderful The Invisible Library series, this current novel has plenty of action and adventure, and of course, books! After being commissioned to find not only a rare book but a young Librarian connected to the book they also might be helping dragons searching for it. This is not good as the Library has always remained neutral between dragon and Fae politics. Librarian Irene and her assistant, dragon, Kai, land in Prohibition-era Boston, only to find the library there destroyed and neither the Librarian nor the book in sight. After a run-in with a dragon, Hu, they escape and take a train to New York City, where they are thrust into the middle of a political fight with dragons, mobsters, and Fae.

This fantasy mixed with Steampunk has been set in Victorian-like worlds (except the Library—which is a more modern setting), this time we get a world set in the 1920s, which is one of my favorite eras of history. There’s something about gangsters, flappers, and more during this time, that has always fascinated me. The Lost Plot delivers the time well. If like me, you enjoy the Roaring Twenties, adventures concerning libraries, Librarian heroes, and fantasy and traveling between alternate realities, The Lost Plot, will give you what you want.

Review: The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library Novel)
Review: The Masked City (The Invisible Library #2) 
Review: The Burning Page (The Invisible Library Novel)

I give The Lost Plot (The Invisible Library #4) 5 sheep.

Pamela K. Kinney

About the author:

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Genevieve Cogman is a freelance author, who has written for several role-playing game companies. Her work includes GURPS Vorkosigan and contributions to the In Nomine role-playing game line for Steve Jackson Games: contributions to Exalted 2nd Edition and other contributions to the Exalted and Orpheuslines for White Wolf Publishing: Hearts, Swords and Flowers: The Art of Shoujo for Magnum Opus: and contributions to the Dresden Files RPG for Evil Hat Productions. She currently works for the NHS in England in the HSCIC as a clinical classifications specialist.

She has had three books of her series about the multidimensional Library accepted by Tor Books, and the first two books, The Invisible Library and The Masked City, are now available. Her novels are represented by Lucienne Diver of the Knight Agency.

Book Review: Haunted Nights (A Horror Writers Association Anthology)

Haunted Nights

Editors: Lisa Morton, Ellen Datlow
Contributors/Authors: Seanan McGuire, Stephen Graham Jones, Jonathan Maberry, Joanna Parypinski, Garth Nix, Kate Jonez, Jeffrey Ford, Kelley Armstrong, S. P. Miskowski, Brian Evenson, Elise Forier Edie, Eric J. Guignard, Paul Kane, Pat Cadigan, John Langan, John R. LittleOctober 3, 2017

368 Pages

Publisher: Anchor

ASIN: B06XBQ444Q ISBN: 9781101973837
Sixteen never-before-published chilling tales that explore every aspect of our darkest holiday, Halloween, co-edited by Ellen Datlow, one of the most successful and respected genre editors, and Lisa Morton, a leading authority on Halloween.

In addition to stories about scheming jack-o'-lanterns, vengeful ghosts, otherworldly changelings, disturbingly realistic haunted attractions, masks that cover terrifying faces, murderous urban legends, parties gone bad, cult Halloween movies, and trick or treating in the future, Haunted Nights also offers terrifying and mind-bending explorations of related holidays like All Souls' Day, Dia de los Muertos, and Devil's Night.

"With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfbane Seeds" by Seanan McGuire
"Dirtmouth" by Stephen Graham Jones
"A Small Taste of the Old Country" by Jonathan Maberry
"Wick’s End" by Joanna Parypinski
"The Seventeen Year Itch" by Garth Nix
"A Flicker of Light on Devil’s Night" by Kate Jonez
"Witch-Hazel" by Jeffrey Ford
"Nos Galen Gaeaf" by Kelley Armstrong
"We’re Never Inviting Amber Again" by S. P. Miskowski
"Sisters" by Brian Evenson
"All Through the Night" by Elise Forier Edie
"A Kingdom of Sugar Skulls and Marigolds" by Eric J. Guignard
"The Turn" by Paul Kane
"Jack" by Pat Cadigan
"Lost in the Dark" by John Langan
"The First Lunar Halloween" by John R. Little

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There are sixteen horror tales in this anthology, all set on either Halloween, Devil’s Night, All Soul’s Day, and Dia de los Muertos. My favorites of this mixed trick-or-treat bag of stories are “Dirtmouth,” “With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfbane,” “A Taste of the Old Country,” “Nos Galen Gaeaf,” and “The First Lunar Halloween.”

"Dirthmouth" by Stephen Graham Jones, is my favorite of the five. The story is told in first person by a widowed father. On Halloween he takes his twin toddlers to stay at his in-laws’ cabin, not far from where his wife, Marion, had died while mountain climbing not long after the birth of her children. His dead wife has come back to meet him at the cabin. He realizes she didn't come for him, but for her children. It is this story he tells, trying to convince the police of the disappearance of his kids.

In “With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfbane,” there is a deserted house in town that always looks well attended for such a place. A group of kids decide to vandalize it instead of trick-or-treating. But they find that maybe the parents in the town know more about why the house has never been torn down when they run into a spirit who still lives there and plays tricks on ‘bad’ children.

“A Taste of the Old Country” is set sometime after World War II, in Argentina. Two former Nazis are hiding, pretending to be Argentinians. They meet baker who says he is from Austria. He invites them to his place for feasting, as it is the second day of Seelenwoche—All Souls Week in Austria. But they find gypsy dead are hungry for revenge.

“Nos Galen Gaeaf” is about a boy, Lance, who thinks the girl he likes, Seanna Walsh, has bewitched him. He decides to rid himself of her by removing her stone from the bonfire on Nos Galan Gaeaf (Spirit Night), which happens on November 1st. The legend goes, that if by the next morning, those who left a rock still find it there, they are safe for another year. Except this year, Lance finds the Welsh story about the black sow hunting the last child is not a fairytale in Cainsville.

“The First Lunar Halloween” is set in the future on the moon, long after aliens had destroyed the Earth. There is not much on Halloween, so a teacher wants to class to learn about how Halloween was done on Earth. She gets permission to take them from their city beneath the lunar surface onto the surface of the moon itself. She is assisted by another adult, for protection since there is a story going around that the aliens may still be hanging around the moon’s surface, waiting to see if anyone is hiding out there. The man disappears from their group while searching for one of her kids. The boy is found, but the man is not, just his empty spacesuit. She learns the true meaning of Halloween: fear. 

Haunted Nights is about the things we humans still fear beneath the costume of Halloween and its spooky cousins, trying to tame it with autumn fests and dressing our kids as super heroes and not monsters for trick-or-treat. So curl up and read this anthology, and be prepared to be haunted by your fears.

I give Haunted Nights 4 ½ Halloween sheep.

Pamela K. Kinney

About the Editors:

Ellen Datlow has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for over thirty-five years. She currently acquires short fiction for Tor.com. In addition, she has edited more than fifty anthologies, including The Best Horror of the Year series, Fearful Symmetries, The Doll Collection, The Monstrous, and Black Feathers.

A multiple award-winner for her work, Datlow is a recipient of the Karl Edward Wagner Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for "outstanding contribution to the genre," and has been honored with Life Achievement Awards by both the Horror Writers Association and the World Fantasy Convention. 

She lives in New York and co-hosts the monthly Fantastic Fiction Reading Series at KGB Bar.

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Lisa Morton is a screenwriter, author of non-fiction books, Bram Stoker Award-winning prose writer, editor, and Halloween expert whose work was described by the American Library Association’s Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror as “consistently dark, unsettling, and frightening.” As a Halloween expert, she has appeared on The History Channel and BBC Radio and in the pages of Real Simple Magazine and The Wall Street Journal, and she served as consultant on the first official U.S. Postal Halloween stamps. Her most recent releases include Ghosts: A Haunted History and Cemetery Dance Select: Lisa Morton. She lives in the San Fernando Valley.

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Book Review: Halloween Carnival, Volume 1 edited by Brian James Freeman

Halloween Carnival, Volume 1
Book 1 of 5 in Halloween Carnival (5 Book Series)

Contributors/Authors: Robert Mccammon, Kevin Lucia, John Little, Lisa Morton, Mark Allen Gunnells
October 3, 2017

149 pages

Publisher: Hydra
ASIN: B01NAR7R4W
Robert McCammon, Kevin Lucia, John R. Little, Lisa Morton, and Mark Allan Gunnells put the horror back in Halloween with a quintet of devilishly delightful tales, curated by acclaimed author and editor Brian James Freeman.

STRANGE CANDY by Robert McCammon
Chocolate bars and sour suckers are trick-or-treat staples, but beware the odd sweet at the bottom of your bag. You never know who it’s from—or what it might do to you.

THE RAGE OF ACHILLES by Kevin Lucia
Father Ward should have heeded the warnings about hearing confession on All Hallow’s Eve. Because a man is about to tell him a secret more haunting than any he has heard before.

DEMON AIR by John R. Little
Fear of flying is not uncommon. But on this transpacific airline, the real danger isn’t the flight itself. It’s whoever—or whatever—is up in the air with you.

LA HACIENDA DE LOS MUERTOS by Lisa Morton
Trick McGrew, former cowboy star of the silver screen, has never believed in tall tales. But down in Mexico, the land of La Llorona, he’s about to find out just how real urban legends can be.

#MAKEHALLOWEENSCARYAGAIN by Mark Allan Gunnells
Some people will go to any lengths to rack up retweets, likes, and follows on social media, no matter who they end up hurting . . . or even killing.

It’s that time of the year again, Where the weather is cooler, leaves change color, pumpkins lined front porches, and people filled stores to search for that perfect costume for their kid to trick-or-treat in, or for themselves to wear attending parties. Halloween. Where we read stories filled with ghosts, ghouls, demons, and monsters. Like Halloween Carnival, Volume 1. If you’re looking for a quick or short read, then this anthology fits the bill.

The first story, “Strange Candy,” wasn’t scary to me, as much as truly holding the essence of Halloween. Something Ray Bradbury (who is one of my favorite authors) would have written. A man takes a strange piece of candy found at the bottom of his daughter’s trick-or-treat bag, in the shape of a small hand covered in sugar, and suddenly had to theurge to eat it. Which he did. Suddenly, like Scrooge, he is visited by spirits, by hom going to the place they died, asking him to tell those they’d left behind what happened to them and not to blame themselves. It didn’t scare me, instead, I think it did what the author intended when he wrote it and touched my heart. The second tale is about a priest who hears a confession in the confessional on Halloween. The church was normally closed on that night, but the priest felt the need to keep it open for confessions on that particular Halloween. Even though he might not get anyone, he does when a man fills the small room in the other side of the screen. The man confesses to a guilt that he caused his autistic son, Evan’s death crossing a street and not the drunk driver who hit him. By allowing Evan to cross the street by himself. Except it wasn’t a normal confessional, but this being on Halloween, where the Veil is thinnest and spirits return each year…. #Demon Air” has a young woman named Halle (named for Halloween and not the actress), taking a bargain fare for a plane flight to Australia to find her ancestry after learning she was adopted after the death of her mother. But she will learn that sometimes, the cheapest flight becomes something else when it’s Halloween. The story didn’t do much for me and I felt the ending had no closure. “La Hacienda de los Muertos” is set in Mexico, where instead of Halloween, we get what is celebrated down below the border November, American western movie star, Trick McGraw, in 1958, travels to Mexico City, to work not on a western, but a horror film. The movie would be the first film in six years he worked in, since his horse, Blazer, died. This put me in mind of Roy Rogers and his palomino, Trigger. Not happy to do it, still it is a job and he takes it. Ms. Morton took me back with this story to classic Mexican horror films, where sometimes you might get an American playing a lead part. And when they film the movie on an actual hacienda and another Mexican mythical being, La Llorona, a wailing woman who is looking for her drowned children and causes death to those who encounter her, haunts the nights, making a real-life horror flick for the actors and production company. Trick goes out to stop the ghost from haunting and finds out the truth about her haunting. Not as heart breaking to me as the first two stories in the book, still, it took me back to my childhood, watching these films on TV at night. The last story begins for one town’s Halloween to become one of real terror, when a local horror author posted on his Facebook page about making #HalloweenScaryAgain! Only to maybe get new readers or have people comment, instead someone takes it seriously and the first victim is killed four days before Halloween, #makehalloweenscaryagain scrawled in blue marker across his forehead. Soon, there are other victims, leading up to Halloween and the last victim. Not spoiling for potential readers why the killer is killing, I admit the story felt too cliched, using a horror writer. Though Better than “Demon Air,” this too, disappointed me.

Come on, it’s almost Halloween and you want scary fiction to set the mood for you. I think this will be that quick fix you need.

I give Halloween Carnival, Volume 1 4 spooky sheep.

Pamela K. Kinney

Be sure to check out all five volumes

Book Review: The Address by Fiona Davis

The Address 

by Fiona Davis
Aug 1, 2017
Pages: 367

Dutton
Penguin Random House
After a failed apprenticeship, working her way up to head housekeeper of a posh London hotel is more than Sara Smythe ever thought she’d make of herself. But when a chance encounter with Theodore Camden, one of the architects of the grand New York apartment house The Dakota, leads to a job offer, her world is suddenly awash in possibility—no mean feat for a servant in 1884. The opportunity to move to America, where a person can rise above one’s station. The opportunity to be the female manager of The Dakota, which promises to be the greatest apartment house in the world. And the opportunity to see more of Theo, who understands Sara like no one else...and is living in The Dakota with his wife and three young children.

In 1985, Bailey Camden is desperate for new opportunities. Fresh out of rehab, the former party girl and interior designer is homeless, jobless, and penniless. Two generations ago, Bailey’s grandfather was the ward of famed architect Theodore Camden. But the absence of a genetic connection means Bailey won’t see a dime of the Camden family’s substantial estate. Instead, her “cousin” Melinda—Camden’s biological great-granddaughter—will inherit almost everything. So when Melinda offers to let Bailey oversee the renovation of her lavish Dakota apartment, Bailey jumps at the chance, despite her dislike of Melinda’s vision. The renovation will take away all the character and history of the apartment Theodore Camden himself lived in...and died in, after suffering multiple stab wounds by a madwoman named Sara Smythe, a former Dakota employee who had previously spent seven months in an insane asylum on Blackwell’s Island.

One hundred years apart, Sara and Bailey are both tempted by and struggle against the golden excess of their respective ages—for Sara, the opulence of a world ruled by the Astors and Vanderbilts; for Bailey, the free-flowing drinks and cocaine in the nightclubs of New York City—and take refuge and solace in the Upper West Side’s gilded fortress. But a building with a history as rich—and often tragic—as The Dakota’s can’t hold its secrets forever, and what Bailey discovers in its basement could turn everything she thought she knew about Theodore Camden—and the woman who killed him—on its head.

With rich historical detail, nuanced characters, and gorgeous prose, Fiona Davis once again delivers a compulsively readable novel that peels back the layers of not only a famed institution, but the lives—and lies—of the beating hearts within.

The Address was a fantastic book surrounding the history and life of the first apartment house in New York City, The Dakota. This historical fiction story is expertly written and paints a very vivid picture of what The Dakota and its occupants looked like in 1885. The book goes back and forth between 1885 and 1985 as Bailey, an interior designer that is working on the Dakota, researches the history of Theodore Camdem and Sara Smyth, former occupants of the building.

In 1884, Sara was the head housekeeper in London when she met Theo Camdem and his family. After saving the life of one of his children, he wanted to repay her kindness by offering her a job in America at this new apartment house that he is an architect on. Sara kindly refuses, but when the ticket and money show up to allow her to travel to America she decides that she’s ready for a new adventure and heads to New York. Sara has no idea what awaits her at The Dakota and how her destiny will be forever changed.

In 1985, after Bailey returns from rehab, her “cousin” Melinda offers for her to stay at The Dakota and gives her a job to design and remodel the apartment building to something newer. Bailey has no place to go and no money so decides that the job will give her the opportunity she needs to establish herself on her own as an interior designer. Bailey does not want to throw away all the history of the apartment building and with the help of the Super, Renzo, they decide to place the old building materials and pieces in the basement storage. As they search the storage, clues start to turn up that not all the stories regarding The Dakota are as they seem. Bailey is determined to find the truth about the building and her family as well.

This is the first book I have read of Fiona Davis’s and to say I am impressed is to say the least. Not my usual type of book, but I do have a fondness for historical fiction and decided a change was in order. The book was full of twists and turns which made it easy reading. Be prepared for many surprises all the way to the end!

Getting 5 sheep

Denise B

About the Author:
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Fiona Davis was born in Canada and raised in New Jersey, Utah, and Texas. She began her career in New York City as an actress, where she worked on Broadway, off-Broadway, and in regional theater. After ten years, she changed careers, working as an editor and writer, and her historical fiction debut, THE DOLLHOUSE, was published in 2016. She's a graduate of the College of William & Mary and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and is based in New York City.