The Secret Fire by C.J Daugherty & Carina Rozenfeld
Prim pursed-mouth Taylor is told to tutor French violent psycho weirdo loner Sacha over the internet. She falls for his proustian ravishments and dishevelment and vaguely threatening presence. Invariably Taylor’s order and stability and astounding complacency is disrupted ever more by magic, really bad decisions and creepy beings with a menacing air. I like this tale of magic, curses, calculated benevolence and centuries of secrets. This was good and there will be more, I’m there.
Best Lines:
“Your neighbours are really conformist and lookist and they’re all staring.”
“It felt good not being sorry.”
“As if the Bringers might leap out from behind the tired-looking hedge,”
“Awful, horrible words.”
“The front door was gone.”
“It was filed under “No known language.””
“I’ll go.”
“You’d better,”
“Grumbling to himself about the state of French youth.”
~
Threshold by Caitlin R. Kiernan
Chance Matthews has something in her possession - a fossil of a creature that couldn’t possibly have ever existed. But it did. And still does. This tale of a much older reality is a fraught, fractious tale of polemic anthropology that is sadly an absolute bore.