A Harvest of Hearts
by Andrea Eames
Out now is the newly published novel, A Harvest of Hearts by Andrea Eames. Foss is the butcher’s daughter. In her mind she is oversized and unattractive. Nothing compared to the beautiful sorceresses from the city whose infrequent visits fill the town with envy, lust, and fear. The sorceresses are said to gain power by stealing bits of people’s hearts. When one day a male sorcerer turns up, Foss believes he has stolen part of her heart. In trying to get it back she journey’s far away to an moody black castle made of magic where a talking cat and the sorcerer who fills her dreams live. In order to restore her heart she takes up working there as a housekeeper and must unravel the mystery of the magic makers, who she learns are as much victims as the people’s whose hearts they steal. This story very much had the feel of a modern take on a classic fairy tale. It had the magic of the stories I read as a child, but Foss is able to save herself and her love. I also liked the closeness between her and her father since so often is classic stories the fathers become distant when the mother of the heroine has passed away.
Installment Immortality
by Seanan McGuire
I am a long time fan of McGuire’s InCryptid series that follows an extended family of conservationist who focus on animals of myth and legends, which in the universe of this Urban Fantasy, are real. In general I would recommend like with most series reading the books in order, but I feel that Installment Immortality which will be available starting next Tuesday, would make a decent jumping in point even if you aren’t familiar with the previous books. Perhaps it is the move to a new publisher or it might just be the nature of this story but there is quite of bit of recaping of past events as well as moving the larger story forward. This like the previous novel focuses on one of the more interesting adopted or found family members of the clan, Mary, who is a ghost and has acted as a baby sitter since early in the family’s history. This gives her a unique perspective which is both motherly towards even the more senior members of the clan and yet still retaining some snark as a perennial teen. Also most of the novels in the series have love stories attached, but Mary’s ghostly nature leaves her seeming both asexual and aromantic; she feels love towards her friends and family in a caregiving way, but seems uninterested in having a romantic relationship, at least not with anyone she has encountered so far in her many years of unlife. I can see this be appealing for those who are looking for a story where a character can have a life filled with significant close bonds without having “one true love” as so many stories do. Also it allows McGuire to focus more on the variety of ghosts including the white ladies, faceless ghosts from Japan, and many others as well as some new InCryptids such as Hockomock Swamp Beasties and Clurichaun. Complimentary to this tale of the adopted mom of the clan is an included novella of another very pregnant family member in a spin on the blob horror story.
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Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager
Hoboken Public Library Blog 