Bayou Bytes Blog

As you might expect, we're starting October off with an eerie novel. The Death of Jane Lawrence is a brand new novel from Caitlin Starling, who you might remember is the author of The Luminous Dead (a novel that I am aggressively recommending to this day). I really enjoy Starling's writing style, as well as the way she builds suspense, so if you're in the mood for a dark thriller, this could be the book for you.  When Jane's foster father accepts a position in another town, she decides the most practical option is to stay behind and marry. She pursues the local physician, Dr. Lawrence. An awkward and introverted man, he accepts Jane's proposition, with the added condition that she must never spend the night at his out of town estate. Though she initially agrees, an unfortunate carriage accident deposits her on his doorstep in the midst of a terrible storm.  The man she finds in the darkened estate is very different from the one she married, haunted and terrified b...

 Evelyn Perdanu owns of of the most powerful shipping companies in the dying city of Delphinium. Once a rich and successful port, war has cut Delphinium off from most of it's resources and the city is slowly fading. While many of the rich party in an attempt to ignore their slow decline, Evelyn leads a solitary and calculating existence. When one of her ships returns to port, she is horrified to find a mysterious illness onboard.  Despite her efforts, the sickness soon spreads beyond her ship. Infected persons, with an undeniable glint in their eye and manic energy, begin turning up in her daily life. And soon it becomes apparent that she is the common factor. Whatever is driving the infected, it's after Evelyn.  She retreats to the safety of her manor, determined to find answers. A cure if she can, before the whole city is overrun. This is a fantasy horror story, brought to you by the author of The Luminous Dead. Which I have praised extensively, and reviewed here . ...

Kappa Rho Nu is the most exclusive sorority at Westerly College. It's also a cover for the most powerful coven of witches in the country. The Ravens  alternates between two different Kappas. Scarlett is a junior from a long line of witches, and in line to be the next Kappa president if everything goes right. Vivi is completely the opposite. She doesn't believe in magic. In fact, Westerly is her chance to get away from her "weird" mother. After joining Kappa kind of by accident, she learns she's actually a powerful witch.  This novel plays into the sorority tropes you'd expect. Scarlett and Vivi make a terrible first impression on each other. And since their relationship is antagonistic, of course they're paired together when Scarlett is assigned to be Vivi's Big. Despite the tropes, it's a fun read, and their relationship does improve throughout the story. Since we're leaning hard into the typical sorority story, of course it needs guys, right?...

 Holly is a young trans vampire, who has recently joined a vast underground colony. Modeling themselves after the honeybee, these vampires dutifully perform their assigned duties and defer only to the Hierophant, their founder. All Holly wants is to be fully accepted, for the Hierophant to give him a new name, which will wipe away the last of his human past and mark him as a true member of the colony.  But the Hierophant seems to be rebuking Holly at every turn, and Holly begins to wonder if this is really where he belongs. The Mellification  was an interesting story. At about two hundred pages, this is a novella rather than a full novel. And though it's a good plot, I think the length counts against it. This story introduces not only Holly, his partner Cain, and the Hierophant, but it also throws in some perspective switches and introduces you to Lila and Claudia -- two vampires locked in an eternal rivalry that dates back to their time as humans. It would have really be...

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett Though this is a dystopian YA story, there are no big revolutions happening in The Grace Year by Kim Liggett. Revolutions realistically begin as small acts over the span of many rebellions, and in puritanical Garner County, the rebellions are happening in girls like 15 year old Tierney Jones.  Raised as a cynical tomboy in a society that believes women are harborers of harmful magic, Tierney is disdainful of the repressive roles women play in their society and dismissive of women and girls in general.  "I'm not like the other girls" is something Tierney never says outright, but it's something that tracks with her thought process. The Grace Year deconstructs this line of thinking, but it's a messy process. She's got to build relationships with other girls that test her preconceptions, but ultimately, Tierney relies mostly on herself. She's a strong heroine who doesn't sway with the wind-- she trusts what she can see-- and a...

This paranormal fantasy follows Marie Winters, who has just died in an unfortunate chair-related incident. After her death, she is greeted by a peculiar looking alien named Xel. As a social worker at the Department of Spectral Affairs, Xel is tasked with helping ghosts reconcile their pasts and happily pass on. The problem is, Marnie has no particular ties to people or places. With no one to haunt and nowhere to go, Xel pulls some strings at the office and hires Marnie as the Department's new intern. Suddenly Marnie is going on missions, decoding alien languages, and squaring off against terrifying department heads. Riesbeck delivers a sweet and whimsical story, with engaging and beautiful illustrations, but she also delves into heavier topics. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that Marine had withdrawn from society because of her depression. And in order to pass on, she'll need to confront it. Though the story stays lighthearted throughout this first volume, Marnie...

There's an urban legend in Briar Glen. When young Lucy Gallows found a road in the woods and followed it, she and the road disappeared. She was never seen again, and now she haunts the forest...   It's 2017, and Sara has been the weird loner at school ever since her sister disappeared one year ago. The official story is that Becca ran off with her boyfriend, but Sara knows the truth. Becca had gone into the woods searching for Lucy's ghost. Unable to give up on her sister, and irritated that the world moved on without her, Sara has become distant from her family and friends.    But on the anniversary of Becca's disappearance, a text message goes out to the entire school, inviting the kids to "play the game" - to go into the woods and find Lucy.    Sara knows this may be her only chance to follow Becca and learn what really happened to her.    Armed with a book of Becca's notes and her previously estranged friends, Sara...

The book that started it all... Very rarely do I pick up books with covers that feature a fetching young woman in 1920's garb, looking resolute, worried, or scared. These always end up being campy, poorly written, and redundant. However, in 2013, I picked up The Haunting of Maddy Clare (2012) by Simone St. James and thought, "What the heck? Let's go for it." I read it in one day. It was full of intrigue, historical accuracy, clever women, fighting the patriarchy, sexual tension (St. James can paint a steamy picture!), and, possibly best of all, ghosts. I made my mother read it, I did an entire display around it at my library job, and then unfortunately for me, forgot about it. Fast forward five years later, when I check out Lost Among the Living (2016). I read the other five St. James novels in a month. And am still obsessing over them. Simone St. James Simone St. James is a Canadian author who worked in television before becoming an author. She has made ...