Reading: THE SILENT COMPANIONS - Laura Purcell

It's Victorian England, 1865, and after a rough childhood dealing with the death of her father and her mother's descent into madness, Elsie has finally found happiness and secured her and her brother's futures by marrying the handsome, rich Rupert Bainbridge, who soon after their marriage leaves to set up their estate in the country, The Bridge, for the arrival of his new (and newly-pregnant) bride. Tragedy strikes just weeks after the wedding, however, when Rupert suddenly dies under mysterious circumstances soon after arriving at The Bridge, and a grieving, despondent Elsie soon arrives there herself, discovering quite quickly that the servants have taken an instant dislike to her and the local villagers both hate and fear The Bridge in equal measure. Taking up residence in the decaying old mansion with only Rupert's blander-than-bland spinster cousin for company, from the first night Elsie hears bizarre scratchings coming from somewhere in the house above her, and upon investigating discovers a strange, large piece of wood painted and cut into the very realistic-looking life-size figure of a young girl - a young girl who, oddly. resembles Elsie. This "silent companion" ends up an adornment placed in the downstairs window by the entrance to the house, but as time goes on Elsie comes to find strange things happening; the figure shifts or moves slightly throughout the day, with no one in the house admitting they touched it, or the eyes on the figure don't seem to be in the position Elsie remembered them being in originally. When more silent companions begin popping up around the house, some of the figures taking on a downright sinister appearance, it becomes clear to Elsie that her and her baby are at risk, and what goes bump in the night might actually be wood scraping across the floor, coming for her. The Silent Companions switches from 1865 and 1635 and back again throughout, the earlier segments giving a creepy backstory leading up to what's going on in Elsie's time - the book itself opening at an asylum soon after whatever happens at The Bridge happened, where we learn a present-day, horribly-scarred Elsie, with no memories of what happened, may either be put away or stand trial for murder. For some time I had been looking for a book that would weird me out, and The Silent Companions - though a slow burn at first - soon enough had a line of creepiness crawling up my spine like a caterpillar, every shadow out of the corner of my eye one I'd check to make sure wasn't a life-sized wooden cut-out of a figure with hate-filled eyes. Spooky, well-written, and worth the slightly anti-climactic ending for all that comes before, The Silent Companions will indeed get under your skin a bit ... and try to make a home there.  4/5 stars 

Reading: SERVANT & LORD - Lo (writer), Lorinell Yu (illustrator)

Christian grew up with a love of music, as well as a near-obsession with his piano teacher, the dark and brooding, handsome Daniel. When Daniel - a young adult while Christian is still essentially a kid - is forced to confront a family tragedy, the young pianist moves into the home of his student, at Christian's father's insistence, but as Christian's talent and love for playing grows, Daniel's passion for music seems to all but cease entirely. And as Christian reaches adulthood and for his own dream of having a rock band, he realizes his even bigger dream is to have Daniel by his side. This Japanese manga has some nice, simplistic artwork but the writing feels very amateurish, as if this is an early effort from a newer writer, the romance that may or may not bloom between the two male leads just a straight "will they or won't they?" with no real drama or obstacles thrown in to create conflict. The ending was quirky - in a good way, with a slight twist - but overall this is a disappointing manga that feels more like a first-draft attempt than a finished story. 2.5/5 stars

Note: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Watching: TEEN TITANS GO! TO THE MOVIES

Year: 2018
Rated: PG
Director: Aaron Horvath & Peter Rida Michail
It's 2018 and if you're a superhero you know you've arrived when Hollywood makes a movie telling your story; depicting your greatest battles against the world's worst arch-villains, where after nearly being destroyed you manage to come out victorious. For the Teen Titans however, not so much. Sure, they fight crime often with both sarcasm and a song in their hearts, but have remained largely unnoticed because they are a rag-tag band of sidekicks and second-tier heroes who have no ongoing story fighting an arch-villain of their own. But when Robin, particularly tired of being seen only as Batman's sidekick, learns that even Alfred - Bruce Wayne's butler - Batman's utility belt, and even the Batmobile are all getting their own movies(!), the Teen Titans head for Hollywood with plans to catch the eye of the biggest superhero film director working today. There, they will be challenged by their Deadpool-like nemesis Slade, as well as have their friendships tested in a way that may break up the Titans for good! Based on the snarky, funny animated series, the Teen Titans transfer well to the big screen here, with enough pop culture references/humor for the adults while keeping kids equally entertained. For fans of the series especially.  7/10 stars

Reading: BIG NATE: PAYBACK TIME! - Lincoln Peirce

This collection of Big Nate comics shows off our naughty, narcissistic little hero in his best light - whether trying to get his social studies teacher Mrs. Godfrey fired because he's supposedly become allergic to her, to petitioning for a student lounge because the teachers get one for themselves, dressing up as classmate Gina for Halloween, schooling a newbie in how to make the most out of detention, or trying to break up Jenny and Arthur because he may (or may not) like Jenny. Oh, yeah, and the bully episode, as seen on the book cover; this reader's personal favorite. Nate, as usual, goes through the world from day to day acting like he owns it, and this collection is a funny, varied example of the little menace from PS 38 at his most maddening. Amazing, what this kid can talk or scheme his way out of; I wish I'd had half his skills in school. 4.5/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: THE LOST MAN - Jane Harper

The Lost Man, a standalone outside Harper's two bestselling Aaron Falk series of novels, was my introduction to the writer. Set in the Australian Outback that comes across so clearly and real, it's almost it's own character in the book, the story starts with two brothers, Nathan and Bub Bright, who find the body of third brother Cameron lying dead outdoors under the brutal sun. Cameron was the middle son, a rancher like his brothers who was pretty much the golden boy of the area and ran the family ranch, so the question that immediately arises, with Cameron's vehicle nowhere nearby and with no water or provisions on the body, is: accident, or murder? Or, somehow, had Cameron gone mad in the oppressive heat, abandoned his vehicle (found about nine kilometers away) - which had been stocked with bottled water, food, and other supplies, even the car keys left on the front seat - and walked until he'd lost his way and became stranded? Easy enough to happen, roads out there (such as they are) can go days or weeks without a car passing over them. Both vehicle and body show no signs of foul play at all, and Nathan, with his own, smaller farm a good few hours' ride away, hadn't even seen Cameron in some time so feels disconnected period. But when he ends up back at his younger brother's ranch with the rest of the family, and starts trying to piece together Cameron's state of mind in the days leading up to his death, something seems ... off. Cameron seemed ... off. And the deeper he pokes leads eldest brother Nathan to turn over all kinds of rocks, not knowing just what may crawl out. The Lost Man is my favorite read of 2019 so far; it's been ages since a book sucked me in so quickly and just held me there, irritated whenever I was away from it and couldn't read on. All the characters - Nathan, his son Xander, mother Liz and brother Bub, Cameron's widow Ilsa and her two girls - all are as vivid to me as anyone I know in real life. Nathan's anger, shame, joys, fears, hopes, are all so palpable throughout the book, all you can do is hang on for the ride to see if he gets the answers he badly needs ... bu isn't sure he wants. A brilliant piece of mystery fiction, never boring, sometimes as clingy and claustrophobic as the sweltering Outback itself, getting just as under your skin.  5/5 stars 

Watching: THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS

Year: 2018

Rated: R

Director: Brian Henson

In a present-day Los Angeles where humans and puppets exist together (though hardly equally; puppets are, by far, the minority here, put down and knocked around and disrespected by the majority of their human counterparts) former cop/current private eye Phil Philips, a puppet, takes on the case of a woman trying to find out who's blackmailing her, when he stumbles upon a much bigger case of someone who is systematically killing off every member (most of them puppets, including his brother) of a popular 1990's children's TV series. Unfortunately for Philips, the case throws him into direct contact with his old partner from the force, Detective Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy), and both bad memories and old grudges threaten to derail Philips from solving the shocking deaths. The Happytime Murders freaked a lot of people out upon its release, mostly those who saw the puppets as muppets and were shocked by the most-definitely-not-for-kids subject matter. Indeed, this film is one of the raunchiest, most foul-mouthed, sex-addicted smutfests I've seen in years - and, at times, both very funny and wholly entertaining, in a sick way. If you can get past the shocks, yes the mystery is a bit simple and the film's anti-racist/anti-feminist messages are a bit obvious ... but that said, there's something so decidedly bonkers about the film, it shot to the top of my Guilty Favorites list immediately upon viewing, and is one I know I'll watch repeatedly just for laughs. Definitely not for everyone, though, especially those squeamish about explicit puppet sex.  7.5/10 stars

Reading: THE DAUGHTERS OF SALEM HOW WE SENT OUR CHILDREN TO THEIR DEATHS - Gilbert Thomas

A lifelong fascination with the Salem witch trials and how they came to happen in this country led to my easily choosing the graphic novel The Daughters of Salem to read. A brief introduction from author/illustrator Thomas Gilbert assures readers right off this is a work of fiction; that though players from the real-life events played out in colonial Massachusetts appear throughout, the author's main intention was in taking a much lesser-known figure of the village, young Abigail Hobbs, and giving her a backstory connecting her with the real-life Reverend Parris's daughter Elizabeth as a friend. Part One begins when Abigail is offered a gift from a young man in her village, and her stepmother sees it as Abigail reaching womanhood, drawing the young men now. A big no-no in this Puritan community circa 1690, so Abigail pretty much becomes a prisoner in her own home, to both school and "protect" her - until she finds ways to sneak out to gather food or wood, and begins a friendship with a male member of the native Abenaki tribe who plays music and allows her to dance and feel alive again, all as mass hysteria of demons and witchery begin to take hold in the village proper. Part One of The Daughters of Salem is darkly, depressingly illustrated to fit its time and subject matter, and cuts off at a cliffhanger, just as things get really ugly, leading you to want book two ... but overall the bleakness of story and art, along with knowing the story is more fiction than fact, left me cold and feeling oddly disconnected from any of the characters at all. Not bad, but sadly not enough for this reader to continue to Part Two.  3/5 stars 

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.   

February Wrap-Up!

February saw my formerly fleeting enjoyment of manga turn into a full-on obsession, thanks to a few terrific examples (stories from Dark Metro still flit through my mind occasionally, giving me the heebie-jeebies). Reading four more "conventional" novels at the same time, looking forward to posting about them all, meanwhile am enjoying the constant reminders of just how much children's and YA fiction have grown so, not to mention the art of the graphic novel (especially anything as terrific as Bone Parish!).  Only saw four new (to me) films in February, working to up that in March.

Reviews can be found here, or please check back for any you don't see posted yet; am always working on some (also click on any image here to enlarge, if needed)! Meanwhile, catch some good films when you can, and always keep a book or Kindle/Nook on you at all times - the road to happiness!

Hope your Spring has sprung soon, too!