Ghost Girls and Rabbits - Cassondra Windwalker

Flush with the victory of winning the election as Alaska's first Athabaskan Senator, Noni Begay wakes to find herself buried alive. When her coffin lid opens, though, it's not to rescue but to six years of captivity, betrayed by the one person she trusted most. Escape will require not only all her strength but all the strength and stories of the ancestors she had until now imagined were only a useful device, an accessory she wore to win votes and social media followers.

Mary Nelson's only daughter, Ryska, went missing ten years ago, with no one but her mother to search for her. Having used up every favor and chit she has, Mary is willing to risk everything on one last ploy to save her daughter from the monsters-even if she has to become one herself.

A chilling psychological horror novel excoriating the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in North America, Ghost Girls and Rabbits is an unforgettable read perfect for fans of Scandinavian noir and literary horror, told by two fractured minds in the trappings of myths truer than mirrors.

What did I think?

I love reading Cassondra Windwalker's books as you just never know what to expect and Ghost Girls and Rabbits is no exceptions.  It was a bit like falling down the rabbit hole as I didn't know what on earth was going on at first but it all becomes clear as you read on.

Mary Nelson will do anything to keep her missing daughter's face at the front of people's minds and she has a very cunning plan to do just that when Senator Noni Begay goes missing.  It is no surprise that Mary's mental health has taken a beating and I'm surprised she managed to function as well as she did for so long.  

It's a very claustrophobic story that is beautifully written both from the captive and the captor's points of view.  The scenery also plays a part as it's set mainly in an isolated cabin in Alaska and the snow feels very menacing and traitorous as it shows up every footprint.  

Inspired by missing Alaskan native women, Ghost Girls and Rabbits is an incredibly poignant and powerful book.  Cassondra Windwalker's prose is lyrical and poetic as she takes the reader deep into the minds of her main characters.  It's an unforgettable and important book that I highly recommend.

Many thanks to the author for sending me a digital ARC to read and review; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

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BLOG TOUR: The Prisoner - B.A. Paris

THEN

Amelie has always been a survivor, from losing her parents as a child in Paris to making it on her own in London. As she builds a career for herself in the magazine industry, she meets, and agrees to marry, Ned Hawthorne.

NOW

Amelie wakes up in a pitch-black room, not knowing where she is. Why has she been taken? Who are her mysterious captors? And why does she soon feel safer here, imprisoned, than she had begun to feel with her husband Ned?

 

What did I think?

You're always guaranteed a good read with a B.A. Paris book and The Prisoner is no exception.  This is one twisted tale and once I picked it up I couldn't put it down.

In a rags to riches story that would make Cinderella envious, Amelie goes from sleeping on the streets to sleeping in the luxurious bed of the most eligible bachelor in London.  Marriage to Ned Hawthorne should be everything Amelie has ever dreamed of but nothing is as it seems...and then Amelie is kidnapped.

I could almost feel Amelie's anguish and fear as I experienced every moment of her captivity with her.  I loved how she showed amazing strength of character and refused to give up.  The ransom request is ingenious - as a numbers person myself, I thought it was very clever and had never really considered such a thing before.  That's a virtual round of applause right there!

Fast-paced, gripping and completely addictive, The Prisoner is pure escapism (if you'll pardon the pun).  Maybe the characters make questionable decisions and perhaps some things seem unlikely to happen in real life but this is fiction and hugely entertaining fiction at that.  

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

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BLOG TOUR: Underneath - Anne Goodwin

He never intended to be a jailer …

After years of travelling, responsible to no-one but himself, Steve has resolved to settle down. He gets a job, buys a house and persuades Liesel to move in with him.

Life’s perfect, until Liesel delivers her ultimatum: if he won’t agree to start a family, she’ll have to leave. He can’t bear to lose her, but how can he face the prospect of fatherhood when he has no idea what being a father means? If he could somehow make her stay, he wouldn’t have to choose … and it would be a shame not to make use of the cellar.

Will this be the solution to his problems, or the catalyst for his own unravelling?

What did I think?

I really enjoyed Anne Goodwin's amazing debut, Sugar and Snails, so I was eager to see what Anne had written next.  Firstly, I have to say that the cover of Underneath is fabulous - it's so dark with a little glimmer of light under the earth, giving us a little hint of what we can expect inside.  Whereas Sugar and Snails was heartrending and emotional, if I had to describe Underneath in one word it would be DARK.  As different from Sugar and Snails as chalk and cheese, Anne Goodwin turns to the dark side in her new novel, Underneath.

Steve and Liesel have a rather strange meeting in the canteen at work when Liesel mistakes Steve for someone else.  The pair hit it off immediately, and although traditionally men do the chasing I felt like Liesel was firmly in the driving seat from the offset.  We find out quite quickly that Liesel doesn't want children and Steve is more than happy about that...we perhaps understand the reason for this through several flashbacks to Steve's childhood.  When Steve starts house-hunting he is drawn to one with a particular feature: a cellar. Liesel doesn't seem that keen on moving in with Steve and when he reveals his obsession with the cellar the alarm bells weren't just ringing they were playing RUNAWAY!

I've read my fair share of twisty psychological thrillers, so I know things are never what they seem.  When I was reading passages about someone being locked in the cellar, I wondered who it was.  Liesel seemed far too streetwise to find herself in that predicament but then I didn't know what was going on in Steve's mind.  After reading about his younger self it was clear how very damaged and twisted he was from an early age, not helped by all the mind games being played by his twin sisters.  The more I read about Steve, the more I disliked, or rather detested him and it is through the intensity of Anne's writing that these emotions were stirred up in me.

Dark, twisted and compelling, Underneath is filled with tension and intrigue.  I found it so intriguing that I read it in a few days but I feel a little bit on the fence with this one.  I enjoyed most of it and felt like we really got to see inside Steve's head, however uncomfortable that was at times, but I was left feeling slightly unfulfilled and with a bit of a question mark at the end.  I wasn't sure what was real and what was in Steve's head, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, I just have to dust off my imagination and make up my own mind.

I chose to read to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion, and I am releasing my review as part of the blog tour.

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