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The Flip Side: A Graphic Novel by Jason Walz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This graphic novel deals with young death (from cancer) and the grief of those left behind. Theo's best friend Evan has died and along with a deep friendship (and the movie they were working on together). Fourteen year olds aren't meant to waste away and die before their friends and family's eyes.

Theo is raw from Evan's death especially as well meaning but unaware family members shunting him out of the house before he can grieve the loss of his friend and his own mother doesn't seem to understand either. Theo wakes up in the Flip side where everything is literally upside down and he is alone.

The Flip side is a hell of isolation and loneliness interrupted only by a nebulous monster whispering all your self doubts and fears to you, making them oh so real. The black and white art very much serves the story, making it even more eerie. Before he can realize the danger he's in Theo gets a strange text message telling him to get out of his house.

This is how he meets Emma a young girl who's been here longer than he has and has some working idea of how to survive in the Flip Side. Emma has issues of her own, growing up in a group home with some obvious neurodivergence and mental health issues. She tries to keep him and her safe even though she's pricklier than a hedgehog and not nearly as cuddly.

Theo clings to her at first out of desperation and then out of true friendship as he doggedly pursues an escape that Emma has given up on. And dogged is a good word choice because one of the way Emma wards off the thought-monsters after them is thinking about/talking about Scooby-Doo fan theories and fanfiction (which is so endearing)

It was written out of the author's own pain of losing his friend to cancer (at a later date than Theo did) and it comes across well. Grief and mourning are never straightforward or easy and they can easily become monsters. I thought this was well done.

I won this in a goodreads giveaway which in no way influenced my review.



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Bodies and Battlements by Elizabeth Penney

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There is a good bit of wish fulfillment in this setting but since I could see myself wishing for this too I didn't mind. Case in point, Nora Asquith's family has been in this Yorkshire seaside castle for centuries, as the guardians of the town. Her family and Ravensea castle are chocked full of history and ghosts (yes, there are interactive ghosts in this) but of course now they have to find new ways of making money to keep this big pile of historic homestead going.

To that end, Nora and her father have turned parts of it into a B&B with just a few rooms at this point, mostly supplementing the renovations and start up with Nora's herbalist career using the castle gardens (see what I mean about wish fulfillment. Who wouldn't want to be able to live in a haunted castle and putter in the herb garden and somehow make enough to survive). It's now opening week and Nora has a few guests filling up all three rooms, Brian the birdwatcher, a wine merchant richie rich couple (installed for free by Nora's mead-making brother trying to get a wine contract) and Finlay Cole, new to town and waiting for his apartment to be ready for him.

At the first social, Hilda, a woman relatively new to town and huge in trying to prevent the B&B from opening, runs from the castle only to turn up dead in Nora's garden with her head stoved in. Naturally fearing being accused of murder (or her father being the same) Nora sets out to solve the case with the help of her tv star sister, Tamsyn.

And her guest Finlay who turns out to be a DI (no spoilers there, it's in the blurb). It does contain some nice twists and I did like that it didn't strain the suspension of disbelief you have to have to read cozy mysteries. I liked the characters and as I've said in many a cozy mystery review, these only work for me if the actual detective isn't hardcore anti-amateur sleuth or too stupid to be a detective. Finlay is neither of these things. He's naturally telling Nora to stay out of it but he's also sweet on her (cue romantic subplot) so it worked for me.

I had fun with this one and I'd gladly read more.

I received the arc for this from publisher which in no way influenced my review.



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Hormones, Hexes, & Exes by J.C. Blake

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I found this one thanks to the Popsugar challenge this year and I was excited to read it. Unfortunately, I came away feeling as if the author knew how to write a cozy mystery but was less sure how to handle the paranormal witchy side of things and that bothered me the entire book. The magical worldbuilding left a lot to be desired.

Liv is having her 50th birthday party (with a lot of internalized ageism and fatphobia) and finds out her husband is having an affair with the sexy next door neighbor Selma Maybrook. This also activates her witchy powers. And this is where it almost immediately goes off the rails for me.

As it turns out the four aunts who raised her are all witches and I guess your powers activate once your ovaries deactivate. The blurb says if you believe women grow more powerful with age then this is for you. I'm fine with it but this is news to Liv and I'm like wait you let her go her entire life and never mention this heritage? What? I would feel so betrayed (Liv doesn't) So they bundle her off with them to tell her all about her heritage and to give her space from her philandering husband.

Naturally Selma ends up dead and Liv is the only suspect because the detective seems bad at his job. He was also her high school sweetheart but her aunts are up in arms because his family is cursed and we get an explanation of the witch world including an immortal (?) witch hunter general still out to kill witches (who are also immortal I guess or at least very long lived)

But none of this matters because once Liv decides she has to be the one to clear her name (and in this case I was willing to bend my rule about amateur sleuths needing to work with the detectives vs opposed to them because a cursed detective is an interesting idea) things go further off the rails. The detective and her aunts all but disappear from the story. We see/hear of them a couple times but not again until the end. All the aunts are worried about is if Liv isn't back for the solstice celebration she can never fully come into her powers or into the coven (no real explanation given)

With that in mind, Liv has a time limit on her investigation. You'd think the aunts would help in some manner being witches and all. Nope. I'm like if this solstice celebration is so important why aren't you helping her especially as she can't control her current powers? The only one to step up is her familiar which I won't spoil but it was eye rolling that anyone could miss one important detail about him.

Now the cozy mystery part of it worked well enough and knowing that the witch hunter general is back, it's not hard to guess he has a part in this. I just wish that both the detective (who you know will be the love interest down the road) and the aunts didn't fall out of the plot for much of it. There are several books in this series but I'm on the fence about reading further. It was a good beach read (and I literally read it at the beach) but is also one I'd rather find at the library than buy.



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The Paranormal Ranger: A Navajo Investigator's Search for the Unexplained by Stanley Milford Jr.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was shocked to see see this on the library's new book shelf simply because I had no idea such a delight was in print. Stanley Milford Jr is exactly as the the title suggests, a Navajo Ranger, a member of law enforcement on the Navajo reservation.

This memoir covers the mundane law enforcement experiences and trainings Stanley underwent but as the title says that's not the end all be all or even the most important thing about the book. Yes he's law enforcement but he's also straight up Fox Mulder (with some Scully mixed in). He claims to have a healthy skepticism about UFOs and the paranormal. That said, belief in the witches known as skinwalkers is part of his culture.

Stanley describes his own encounter with what he believed to be a skinwalker as a young man. He also mixes the every day police work of man hunts, drug dealers etc with having to go out to the very remote parts of the reservation because someone's sheep has been eaten by Bigfoot. He talks about how to deal with the public in cases like this. He's seen things he can't discount like the skin walkers, UFO evidence and yes, Bigfoot evidence too.

It's a fun, fascinating read. I would love to hear Stanley talk at one of the paranormal cons as his thoughts on this (and his philosophy of life) aligns well with my own. I'm not a memoir reader but this one was well worth it if you like this sort of topic.



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Lies on the Serpent's Tongue by Kate Pearsall

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was SO close to being a 5 star read, if not with a few pacing issues it would have been. Caveat: you could probably read this book without book one but I don't recommend it as it builds on that foundation.

It opens several weeks past the end of Bittersweet in the Hollow and Rowan, one of the magical James women, learning that their former farmhand, Hadrian is technically a psychopomp they call the Moth-Winged Man (riffing off Point Pleasant's Mothman). This book feels steeped in Appalachian culture and lore (saying this as someone who lives there, very near the Mothman) though this time leans far less heavily on the chapter openers/closers of folk remedies that were in book one.

Rowan can taste lies so when people are lying about things that she knows are true without triggering her lie detector, she's confused. Worse, there's a podcaster/cryptid hunter in town irking her and she's already running on fury over events of last book (such as some towns people turning on them and wrecking the family restaurant). Grandma sends her off into the woods with Vernie, a forest ranger who needs help manning a fire observation station near the mystical (and currently injured) bone tree. Vernie sets her up with a less paranormal issue: wild ginseng poachers who may destroy the fragile ecosystem and cause this plant to go extinct (a real concern).

What Rowan encounters instead are several bizarre things, a young man who won't wake up, animals that don't belong in West Virginia and Hadrian, severely beaten up. She and Hadrian have to team up to figure out what is going on before the veil comes undone between this world and the other side.

There are plenty of good twists and turns in this. Grandma's unresolved search for her missing sister Zephyrine is not forgotten for example. The James women are fascinating and I love them. I enjoy Hadrian too though I think some of the interpersonal details with him and Rowan feel a bit rushed (ditto some of the disappearing plot threads, hence that pacing issue I mentioned)

Regardless I loved where this ended and what it hints is to come. I'll be there for it. Thanks to Netgalley for the arc.



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Beyond the Pale Moonlight: A UFO-Mothman Encounter by Linda Sigman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I met the author at this year's Mothman Festival and enjoyed talking to her. Honestly this book is more along the lines of the zines from the 8-s and 90s. very short. It's like listening to Linda talk about her 60s era sighting of not just Mothman but associated UFOS. If you only know the Mothman story about him chasing a carload of teens from the lovers' lane by the TNT plant, there are other stories. This is one of them.

Linda tells about getting picked up for a stargazing date that ends with her and her boyfriend at the time seeing not one but two UFOS and the Mothman being near one of them (One of the theories is he is an alien) It tracks along the typical lost time UFO encounter.

There is a brief chapter about having a regression hypnosis session with the UFO group in Circleville (other people I have met. I have a weird life) but it's not included here (Other its proprietary to their website or she doesn't want to steal their thunder.) We also get a bit on Chief Cornstalk (whom she claims kinship to) and of course, the Silver Bridge collapse (another Mothman link).

It's short and what really makes it a 3.5 read is Mark's artwork. It's a very nice accompaniment and does add length to something that would be a pamphlet otherwise. THere is a host of drawings as well illustrating the encounters at the end.



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怪物事変 3 by Sho Aimoto

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Mihai the vampire has sent Kabane, Shiki and Akira on a mission for him inside a strange factory that is highly productive but its work force is not all that it seems. What should have been a simple mission turns dangerous, far more than the trio was led to expect.

It does, however, lead the trio to find inner strength they didn't know they had. As a small trip (that Akira is convinced is a vacation) is arranged by Inugami for Shiki, a misunderstanding means they all go to this bathhouse retreat owned by Shiki's uncle. They're going to seach for Shiki's parents as he's now emotionally ready for it. However there is some real horror waiting for them there.

I'm enjoying this for the most part but there are a few misses for me like the some what infantile nature of Kon (who wasnt in this much) and the shallow approach to Akira's fem-boy nature that feels to have no understanding of the psychology of it (feels more like awww aint' this cutesy). I do want to keep rolling with this series.



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Once & Future, Vol. 4: Monarchies in the UK by Kieron Gillen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is the muddiest volume so far but that's only because it's gotten so complex. All of Britain has been sucked into the Other World, existing now in The Story. Fairies and dragons are real and present dangers. Worse now every story version of Merlin/Arthur/Lancelot are playing out for control of the story.

Bridgette, always on top of her game, makes an unlikely allegiance with the oldest version of a folktale that likes to foil kings and the rich. Rose, on the other hand, pulls on her heart strings and gets Bridgette to okay going to Bath after her parents (Bridgette has already housed her retirement community friends and their nurse in her ancestral estate which is partially magic proof) and bring them there.

I'm glad they did because it brought up a tale of a male gorgon in Bath which I had to go look up (cool stuff right there). And did I mention dragons? There are dragons.

This story remains fun and the art is outstanding I want to hang it on my wall.



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Once & Future, Vol. 5: The Wasteland by Kieron Gillen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a conclusion worth the having. Yeah it borrows a bit from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them there are the end but it made sense. It's about the only thing they could have done and it worked logically within the confines of the story's folklore roots.

Bridgette, Rose and Duncan have come up with a way to end The Story and get Britain back to the real world. Time, however, is against them. They need to survive nearly a year in the Other World and not only do they have all of the Arthurs working against them, there's Mary.

If I had one gripe about this series it's Mary. We get why she doesn't trust her mother but it doesn't justify why she treats Duncan as she does. In her head (and in her trauma) I suppose she considers him more his grandmother's child than hers but what is really lacking is Duncan's reaction to all of this. I get it. It would slow the frantic pace down, make it uneven but it still felt like more was needed, even if it's a 'I don't see her as my mother' from him.

Still, over all a solid ending. I adored these characters and I'm glad there's a happy for now open ending on it. I wouldn't mind revisiting them. The art was lush and gorgeous up to the last panel. Kudos. I see there are two hard cover editions. I might need to buy them.



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Ghostbusters: Ghost Busted by Matt Yamashita

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I was thinning out the manga collection to give to The Carolina Manga Library and found this which must have been a gift from a friend knowing I love Ghostbusters as I know I didn't buy it. I'm glad I didn't because this was just...mediocre. Honestly, the Saturday Morning cartoon had better plots and art. Even though this is put out by TokyoPop I classed it as a graphic novel not manga because it's very obviously American artists/art style driven.

Speaking of the art, yeah it's pretty bad. Sorry, it just is. It's often hard to tell Venckman from Ray. Winston is barely used in the storylines and the humor is a bit on the juvenile side (are men in women's clothing really funny any more?)

The storylines aren't memorable either, there was something about a theater production with a producer who insisted on aircraft, a woman's clothing line was strangling the wearer, the rather awful mentor of Egon whose story could almost be touching and then the idea of something coming for all three ghostbusters (but not winston, leaving him to the rescue).

At least I can put it in the donation pile without regret.



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I'm in Love with Mothman by Paige Lavoie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The irony here is I used to live in the Orlando Florida area and now I'm the neighbor of the Mothman just like our protagonist Heather i.e. HoneyLatte. Heather grew up online. Her mother was the original Online Mommy Influencer who has morphed into a different online personality now that Heather is a grown woman. Heather had no choice but to follow in her mom's footsteps but at the opening of the novel she's fed up. She wants to unplug and live a 'normal' life.

The big problem here is Heather has jack in the way of real world skills, nothing but the scads of money she's made. She comes north and buys the first crappy cabin in the woods she finds, honestly believing it'll be just like the cottage core stuff she sees online. I mean she doesn't even check to see if the roof is sound (it's not). In fact, Heather is rather annoying in general.

She goes into town to the general store (why there and not to the Piggly Wiggly, dollar general or family dollars that dotted this area in abundance, I'm chalking it up to author choice and/or hasn't really looked up the setting, more on that in a bit.) and runs into the owners, a lesbian couple whom she bonds with instantly. They own a farm as well and provide a lot of the locally grown stuff in the store. One of them has a brother, Chris, who is a cryptid hunter who is after, naturally, The Mothman.

Of course, The Mothman crashes into her life (quite literally) and as Heather takes care of the injured cryptid what normally happens in a romance novel, happens. Of course, he does have a more human form and since he is one of those legends that doesn't have much going on outside of the initial report and him being a 'harbinger spirit' it's a wide open field for Lavoie to make up some backstory for him.

I had two rather large disappointments with this story. One, Chris. He starts off as a half-assed potential love interest who seems genuinely concerned about Heather being out in the deep woods by herself and having no idea how to handle a house (or a cryptid for that matter) but it was like half way into the book Lavoie decided, oh right I don't have any conflict let's make Chris jealous, bullying and outrightly nasty. (Personally I think he should have been the hapless cryptid hunter and her overbearing mom could have filled that role because half Heather's story is stepping out of Mom's shadow. That would have made sense storytelling wise). The ending for him (and the story in general) just didn't work for me at all.

Secondly it feels obvious that Lavoie loves the legend of The Mothman (even working in his original descriptions as The Owlman) but it felt like she spent no time at all researching Point Pleasant. If this was the 90s, I'd be more forgiving. But you can pull up Google Earth for free and scope out a place. There is so much information on towns online that it seems a shame that to a local the lack of research is so glaring. Could we argue Heather is being melodramatic bemoaning it's a hundred miles to the nearest Wal-Mart? Sure. On the other hand, it's like 5 miles across the Silver Bridge to the one in Gallipolis (and about 30 to the ones in Jackson and Barboursville). There is literally no sense at all we're in Point Pleasant. The setting was wasted and that's a shame. Heck there wasn't even a mention of The Mothman Festival (I'm sitting here typing this wearing a T-shirt from that festival)

I'm side eyeing the twist at the end. There will be a sequel and as much as I like helping my local bookstore (which had this prominently displayed) I don't think I'd buy the next one (maybe if the library had it)



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