moonytoast's reviews
272 reviews

A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll

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emotional inspiring fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.25

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An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson

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dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

Thank you to Netgalley and Redhook Books for providing me with a digital ARC of this book! 
 
Do you like: Dark academia? Lesbians? Vampiric debauchery? 
 
An enticing mixture of the gothic and erotic, An Education in Malice breathes new life—a second life, if you will—into the subgenre of dark academia and the classic vampire tale. Heavily inspired by Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, the novel explores the carnal nature of vampirism as well as the blooming complexities of desire, devotion, and love. 
 
Set against the backdrop of Saint Perpetua’s College in Massachusetts, An Education in Malice follows two protagonists—Laura and Carmilla—who find themselves thrown together under the wing of their elusive poetry professor, De Lafontaine. While they begin as rivals, they are quickly pulled inexorably into the orbit of De Lafontaine’s world of dark obsession and ancient, bloody secrets. 
 
The writing style begins with a more pragmatic, diaristic tone and transforms into an obsessive interior focus as Laura and Camilla descend into the depths of their audacious desire and devotion to each other. Combined with lush prose, S.T. Gibson crafts a pulse-pounding, atmospheric novel in its setting and characters that pulls you in for it to sink its teeth into you. While it is more immersive vibes than cohesive plot, that doesn’t necessarily make it a bad piece of fiction and I still enjoyed the story.  
 
Perfect for fans of Carmilla and The Secret History, An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson is brimming with intrigue and insatiable hungers. This book is the incarnation of the vivid imagery of Florence and the Machine’s discography mixed with the unabashed raunchiness of Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. 
 
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Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton

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emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.5

a must read for those interested in psychology, the history of racialized treatment in the pyschology field and its impact on the current relationship of black people to the mental health system, the connection between mental institutions and the carceral system, and the impact of places like crownsville on everyone who moved through that place. EVERY psychology department at PWIs need to have this book on their curriculum for students to read!!!!!
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The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu

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emotional mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff

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informative slow-paced

3.0

this would have been DNFed so quickly had i not been listening to the audiobook and already familiar with the timeline of events in 1692, because this book has moments where it diverges from the story to discuss some minute detail to the point that it makes it so easy to forget where you are in the history of the Salem Witch Trials… wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who hasn’t had the events of 1692 as a hyperfixation or special interest due to its density of prose and meandering pace (a good alternative: the first season of the Unobscured podcast by the creator of Lore, which has interview excerpts from a multitude of historians as well as the author of this book and is still thorough—though much more approachable)
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Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser

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emotional funny reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

Medea by Eilish Quin

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Thank you to the team at Atria Books for  sending me a physical ARC of this book!

My fellow queer Greek mythology and Frankenstein enjoyers.... DO I HAVE A BOOK FOR YOU!!!!!!

Eilish Quin’s Medea follows the titular character from Greek myth from her childhood on the island of Kolchis, where she begins to learn the art of witchcraft, to the high seas alongside Jason and the Argonauts to the city of Corinth. The book seems to ask: Whose narratives are perceived as monstrous and whose are not? What do the monsters we fear—or hate—most say about us? When monsters can take mythic or mortal form, what do we define as monstrosity? Lush with its writing style and character interiority, Medea is an amazing addition to the growing body of feminist Greek myth retellings.
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