Monday, 24 March 2025

NetGalley Review - Hungerstone

I bet you saw the word hunger and thought this was going to be a Hunger Games post, didn’t ya? 

Ok, backstory time. Book blogger pal Luna’s Little Library has been pestering me to read the vampire novella, Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu for YEARS! YEARS! And though I wanted to, I’ve always held off or put it further down my reading list for a mix of reasons: vampire burnout, it’s a classic and I never feel smart enough to read classics, you get the idea. I think they’ve given up on me ever reading it. 

Why is that important, I hear you ask? Well, this book is inspired by Carmilla. Look, Luna, I’m one step closer to actually reading/audiobooking it!

Title and Author:
Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
Publisher: Manilla Press/Bonnier
Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: eProof gifted by UK publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, though listen to audiobook via library’s audiobook app. 
Buy From (Affiliate): https://uk.bookshop.org/

Lenore has been married to steel magnate Henry for ten years, but the marriage was a marriage of convenience, not love and with no child. Henry decides to move to Sheffield and host a hunt to celebrate his steelworks and its future. But Lenore remembers what happened the last time Henry attended a hunt and is shocked that he would consider hosting one. 

On the way to their Sheffield estate, they discover carriage accident and bring the injured party to their estate to rest and recover. But Carmilla isn’t who anyone expects. She is weak during the day, but vibrant at night. She doesn’t eat meals with her hosts and is unsettled by churches. She unnerves Lenore, but stirs things up with Lenore. A hunger, a desire that Lenore has ignored for so long but now refuses to be ignored any more…

Saturday, 22 March 2025

NetGalley Review - The Decagon House Murders

I’m not sure, at the time of writing this, if this is going to be a post for one eProof I got from publishers via NetGalley or two. So, excuse me while I ramble and I can figure out. 

Let’s start with this Japanese crime classic, shall we? 

Title and Author: The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji (Translated by Ho-Ling Wong)
Publisher: Pushkin Veritago
Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: eProof gifted by UK publisher in exchange for honest review/reaction, though listened to audiobook via Audible Plus
Buy From (Affiliate): https://uk.bookshop.org

In this Japanese cult classic (a loving nod to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None), the island of Tsunojima is the setting for strange, unsolved murders. So when a group of students from K-University Mystery Club go there for their annual trip, they think it will be great inspiration for the crime fiction magazine.

But when one of their member is murdered, the others realise that they are trapped on the island with no way to escape or call for help. And the murderer has made it clear to them that all of them won’t survive by the end of the trap. 

At the same time, back on the main land, poison pen letters have been sent, accusing the receivers of the tragic death of a young woman who died of alcohol poisoning. But how is that connected to the terror that’s unfolding on the island?