Macabre by Tabitha Freeman

Eliza Serpan is a bourbon guzzling, machete wielding, antisocial mortician who has an uncanny knack for putting on the best funerals in the U.K. But when she is faced with a sudden series of terrifying events that pit her against the darkest of the occult, Eliza discovers that making death look good isn’t her only talent. Even with all odds stacked against her mortal soul, Eliza is determined to be nothing less than a force to be reckoned with. Because after all—you should never underestimate a woman who can embalm.

3.5

I received a copy of this novel in return for an honest review

"It's a macabre book mobile!" Phineas and Ferb

I was really intrigued with the concept of this novel. You know me, love a good morgue. The first few paragraphs drew me in and then the author gives an info dump before the end of the first page. I know we need to know about Lindley, but it could have waited.

However within that first chapter I found something out that was lovely. Eliza is a beautiful kind of disturbing hard core bitch. So no matter any issues I had with this novel the character was great!! Plus her back story is fairly interesting, especially the part about her dead Grandpa. Her emotions are written in a very real way. She reacted just like you would think a real person would in many of the awful situations, like during a heavy betrayal.

I appreciated that the author did her research about funeral homes and the embalming process. I've worked in a funeral home so this sort of accuracy really made me respect the author's story telling ability.

Trigger Warning: many many MANY suicides.

This book was written pretty well, some formatting issues, a few teeny tiny grammatical errors that were easy to over look.

The characters, asides from Eliza, were hit or miss for me. The evil grandmother spewing family secrets to a grand daughter she barely knows 50 pages in? Eh, didn't care for that. Marcus and Lindley? AWESOME. I would LOVE to have seen more of both of them. Wolf was a pretty bland character, not quite great as a love interest and mainly used for purpose and bringing together all the plot lines.

Several of the plot twists were pretty obvious and I wish the murder mystery hadn't been solved so quickly or with so many easy coincidences.

I'm not sure what category to put this book in: horror, ghost story, murder mystery... Probably Urban Paranormal Fantasy. I wish the author had really committed to just one genre.

I loved how the author wrote the ghostly and otherworldly stuff. She managed to make the writing creepy and cool. Makes me wonder if she has ever had an experience herself.

Not sure I cared for the last plot twist and the diabolic turn the novel takes, but it kept me intrigued and over all I enjoyed this novel and would read more by this author.

I do have one question however:

How'd she get a machete through customs?

The Lonely Ones By Kelsey Sutton: A Review Blog Tour

The Lonely Ones by Kelsey Sutton
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Published by Philomel
Published on April 26th, 2016
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26025987-the-lonely-ones

Purchase Links:

Penguin Random House

Indiebound

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

With parents too busy to pay her attention, an older brother and sister who would rather spend their time with friends, and peers who oscillate between picking on her and simply ignoring her, it’s no wonder that Fain spends most of her time in a world of her own making. During the day, Fain takes solace in crafting her own fantastical adventures in writing, but in the darkness of night, these adventures come to life as Fain lives and breathes alongside a legion of imaginary creatures. Whether floating through space or under the sea, climbing mountains or traipsing through forests, Fain becomes queen beyond – and in spite of – the walls of her bedroom.

In time, Fain begins to see possibilities and friendships emerge in her day-to-day reality. . . yet when she is let down by the one relationship she thought she could trust, Fain must decide: remain queen of the imaginary creatures, or risk the pain that comes with opening herself up to the fragile connections that exist only in the real world? Told in breathless and visual verse, THE LONELY ONES takes readers through the intricate inner workings of a girl who struggles to navigate isolation and finds friendship where she least expects it.

About the Author:



Kelsey Sutton is the author of teen novels SOME QUIET PLACE and GARDENIA. She is also the author of two novels for middle grade readers, THE LONELY ONES and BENJAMIN. She lives in Minnesota, where she received a dual bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing from Bemidji State University. She is currently working on a master’s degree from Hamline University. Her work has received an Independent Publisher Book Award, an IndieFab Award, and was selected as a Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of 2013. When not writing, Kelsey can be found watching too much Netflix, ordering a mocha at the nearest coffee shop, or browsing a bookstore. You can like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @KelseyJSutton.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6425045.Kelsey_Sutton

Twitter: @KelseyJSutton

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kelsey-Sutton-139415419471775/

Website: http://www.kelseysuttonbooks.com/

Read below for an excerpt from The Lonely Ones

THE CALL



Claws scrape

against my window sill.



Then, a voice,

raspy, childlike, familiar.



It calls my name

and becomes a symphony.



“Fain, are you coming?”

“Come with us, Fain!”

“Wake up!”

“Open your eyes, Fain!”



I try to be firm,

I try to say no.



There’s a voice in my head

that whispers I’m getting too old

for these games and adventures.



The ground is so thick with mud

that someone could notice

my tracks.



But my little friends persist

again and again.



Their pleas batter

against my resolve,

until debris crashes down

and I am too weak to resist.



The unbearable truth is

no one will notice my tracks



because no one notices anything.



I take one of their scaly hands,

a feather tickles against my cheek.



Then I climb outside

and disappear into the night.

The Giveaway:

2 signed copies of The Lonely Ones by Kelsey Sutton, open to US and Canada

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received an ARC of this novel in return for an honest review

I fell in love with Kelsey Sutton's first novel Some Quiet Place  and quite enjoyed her second book as well. So I had pretty high hopes for The Lonely Ones. It's hard to get character development and a decent story line, I feel, from a book written in verse, but Ms. Sutton does a good job of it. It's obviously middle grade fiction, but written quite beautifully. However there are a few adult themes, like drinking. This wasn't a very long read, or even overly complicated. Just a simple story about a girl who plays with monsters because her home life sucks. Fain is a sympathetic character full of anger and life. It's never quite clear if the monsters she plays with are real or in her imagination. 

While I enjoyed this very much I would have liked it more had it been a proper novel. However, that's just my personal taste. I am not fond of stories told in verse.