Happy Tuesday all!
How is life in your corner of the world? Here in California we are starting to shut things down again. It is so frustrating I just wish everyone would cooperate and follow the rules so things can get back to normal sooner than never. Thank goodness for Books!
My Thoughts
Books that make you go hmm… what a uniquely wild ride! OK so this book is marketed as a feminist mash up of The Lost Boys and The Craft. I saw The Lost Boys in 1987 when it came out. In all honesty I don’t remember much other than I really liked the soundtrack and there was some kind of supernatural element going on. In reading other reviews it appears as though a lot of this book has been A little too much like the original for peoples liking, but I can’t remember the original so that was completely lost on me. Never saw The Craft, so I have no idea if it’s anything like that at all. So now on to what I do know… Chloe Cannon narrates the audiobook and does a spectacular job! I’m going to be honest I’m not certain this book would’ve held my attention if it weren’t for the wonderful narration of Chloe. It’s not that I did not like this book, it is that occasionally I was a little lost and confused.It was kind of like reading a book through a bank of fog. Mayhem and her mom flea mom’s abusive boyfriend and return home to California. Mom is not crazy about returning home, but her sister is glad to welcome them back. Mayhem soon befriends her aunt’s foster children, but there are secrets brewing. A necklace with a bird charm, magical water, N soon the teens are attempting to save the town from a serial killer. Mayhem was a likable and unusual character. The other characters were interesting, but I always felt like there was a layer of haze between me and them. An interesting premise that didn’t necessarily work for me, but I think will work for others. Now I’m going to go listen to my Lost Boys soundtrack on cassette, of course I need to go find a cassette player.
This book in emojis 🦇 🌫 💦 🏖
*** Big thank you to Wednesday Books and Macmillan Audio for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***
About the Book
MAYHEM by Estelle Laure; On-sale: July 14th, 2020
Jacket Copy: The Lost Boys meets Wilder Girls in this supernatural feminist YA novel.
It’s 1987 and unfortunately it’s not all Madonna and cherry lip balm. Mayhem Brayburn has always known there was something off about her and her mother, Roxy. Maybe it has to do with Roxy’s constant physical pain, or maybe with Mayhem’s own irresistible pull to water. Either way, she knows they aren’t like everyone else.
But when May’s stepfather finally goes too far, Roxy and Mayhem flee to Santa Maria, California, the coastal beach town that holds the answers to all of Mayhem’s questions about who her mother is, her estranged family, and the mysteries of her own self. There she meets the kids who live with her aunt, and it opens the door to the magic that runs through the female lineage in her family, the very magic Mayhem is next in line to inherit and which will change her life for good.
But when she gets wrapped up in the search for the man who has been kidnapping girls from the beach, her life takes another dangerous turn and she is forced to face the price of vigilante justice and to ask herself whether revenge is worth the cost.
From the acclaimed author of This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back, Estelle Laure offers a riveting and complex story with magical elements about a family of women contending with what appears to be an irreversible destiny, taking control and saying when enough is enough.
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Author’s social handles
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Twitter: @starlaure
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Instagram: @estellelaurebooks
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Link to a buy-this-book page:
https://wednesdaybooks.com/galaxies-and-kingdom/mayhem/
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Short author bio:
Estelle Laure, the author of This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back believes in love, magic, and the power of facing hard truths. She has a BA in Theatre Arts and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and she lives in Taos, New Mexico, with her family. Her work is translated widely around the world.
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