Review: The Children on the Hill

The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jennifer McMahon knocks it out of the park again. This book is a modern take on the story of Mary Shelley's work Frankenstein. As the author likes to do, there are two timelines, 1978, when the children are growing up in the shadow of The Inn, and 2019, when a podcaster, Lizzy Shelley, hunts monsters.
In the early timeline, Gran is a doctor caring for the mentally ill who are institutionalized at The Inn and she comes home to her grandchildren, Eric, Vi and Iris. Iris is the youngest and new member of the little family. She is selectively mute presumably from trauma or head injury and she is mentored by the older children. They spend their days with homeschool and monster hunting. They are curious children and decide to try to figure out who Iris really is and where she came from. Vi creates elaborate ways to obtain more information about her young mentee.
The later timeline follows a podcaster who travels around the country trying to spot and give evidence supporting sightings of various monsters that people have reported seeing. She then gets a notice about a monster in Vermont, home to The Inn, and decides to follow the lead. She sees the pattern of girls going missing from a certain area over the years and tries to find the monster responsible for the disappearances.
This is a fantastic read. Her books are always a joy and this one lives up to the praise. I found the beginning to drag a little for me, I think it was more me being distracted by other things and when the pacing picks up you know it. The story flies from there as you are quickly turning the pages. I enjoyed both timelines which each add very necessary aspects to the overall story. And even if you think you know where this story is going, you probably don't know. I could see this one being made into an onscreen adaptation as well. It was written in such a way that I had no difficulty choosing the atmosphere and characters and envisioning watching it.
Highly recommend to all thriller/suspense and atmospheric readers.

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Review: Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives

Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives by Mary Laura Philpott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC of Mary Laura Philpott’s latest work, Bomb Shelter.
I enjoyed her last book, I Miss You When I Blink, but this one connected with me to perfection. I found a series of stories that told their own individual tales but were also interwoven to create a collection based on themes that we all experience. I completely connected with her stories of anxiety and lessening control in your children’s lives, as well as the medical issues that they have dealt with as a family. An aspect of parenthood that she mentions also struck me on the day of my first child’s birth. I distinctly recall thinking of how beautiful this child was and imagining the next 18 years and instantly coming to the conclusion that someday they will leave me. Intellectually you know as a parent that this is the general idea for shepherding your children into young adulthood, but that doesn’t change the emotional toll attached to these life changes. The other thing that I have been surprised by is that having children leave for university or work is exciting for them but the toll it takes is on the family dynamic as well. It is an odd phenomenon when the makeup of the family changes.
I love how personal these stories were to her family and yet completely relatable to other families. I have so many family things in common with her as a writer, it makes me appreciate the thoughts that she has about the events that she and her family have experienced. She has a strong voice in her work and the stories come across as thoughtful and real as well as humorous at many points. There were times that I genuinely laughed out loud because I have either experienced the same situation or thought the same thing or even simply enjoyed her take on a common situation.
This is a wonderful follow-up collection to her prior book and I can’t recommend it strongly enough! These essays will stick with me and I would say to her, Keep doing you! Highly entertaining and definitely recommend picking this one up!

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Review: The World Cannot Give

The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An engaging dark academia, coming of age story set at an elite prep school in the Northeastern USA. The story centers around an exclusive clique of kids who are part of the school choir that sings in chapel. This is one of the historical aspects of the school and is controlled by a girl who is controlling of others and herself. The leader of the choir is Virginia, and she is untouchable. She holds herself to the highest standards and works ruthlessly to obtain her goals. A new girl, Laura, who is enamored with the founder, Webster, and all that he stood for, becomes entranced by the power of Virginia. She wants to be Virginia and since she cannot, she settles for the next best thing, and that is to become involved in all of the same activities and interests. She essentially becomes the righthand person to Virginia. This works out well in Laura's mind until it doesn't. Virginia is a complicated character and is figuring out what she stands for and who she is as a person, including her sexuality.
This is a story that gives a voice to how teens view their circumstances during those difficult years. As they tend to put an over-emphasis on every event as a life-changing one, it makes navigating this time difficult. The story has interesting relationships and some inevitable consequences.
This is a book for those that enjoy teenage angst and the boarding school setting.
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