Horror Spotlight discussion

We will be reading The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson for our December 2020 Readalong! Grab your copy/reserve at your library now.

The official chat begins on December 1st!

YASSSSS

i hope everyone loves it! i read it not too long ago so i'll sit this one out.

I will have a copy in time for December. IN the meantime, I plan on finishing November with both Horrid, and Mexican Gothic (which I purchased for the readalongs, and life got in the way of my reading them...). LOL!

Hi everyone! I'm new to this group...how do the read-alongs work? Is there a specific date in December we start discussing? Thank you!

Danielle wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm new to this group...how do the read-alongs work? Is there a specific date in December we start discussing? Thank you!"

We start discussing in this chat thread on December 1st. We ask that people use spoiler tags when needed as well as percentage/pgs read. We're glad you'll be joining us!

Bark | Ladies Of Horror Fiction wrote: "Danielle wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm new to this group...how do the read-alongs work? Is there a specific date in December we start discussing? Thank you!"

We start discussing in this chat thread on ..."

Awesome! Thank you so much! I am looking forward to the discussion. :)

I have the Audible version ready to listen to next :)

Can't wait for this one!

I read this one earlier this year as an ARC for review, but I think I'm going to follow along with the discussions anyway. It was really, really good!

My copy just arrived in the mail. See you next week 😀

Yay I'm starting this one tonight!

I just started this one last night! Already very hyped for it, it already seems really cool!

This reminded me a lot of Agnes at the End of the World except with blood sacrifices and witchcraft instead of end
times with a repressive religious cult.

I started this on audio this morning. I'm loving the writing so far. I feel like I want to step into that life of eating baked goods in the grass with my best friend but I could do without the repressed religious bits.

I just finished it last night and really enjoyed it! This was one of those books that I kept thinking about when I wasn't reading, I think also because I really loved the mythology and weird cultish stuff going on.

3 hrs left on this on audio and really enjoying, quite feminist and dystopian

I’m about 50% in and am adoring everything about it.

60% I have to admit to fearing that (view spoiler)[ a cute boy was going to be the one to help her figure things out but things have gone a different way and I am SO relieved she's headed to the outskirts to figure things out herself! (hide spoiler)]

Bark, yes, I had the fear too!

Still waiting for my copy..... (I think it's a Christmas gift....) LOL!

Noelle wrote: "Bark, yes, I had the fear too!"

I'm so glad (view spoiler)[that we appear to be wrong! I hope that doesn't change. (hide spoiler)]

Kimberly wrote: "Still waiting for my copy..... (I think it's a Christmas gift....) LOL!"

You can join us whenever you can! It's a miracle I'm reading it on time but I was lucky to get the audio.

Bark | Ladies Of Horror Fiction wrote: "Kimberly wrote: "Still waiting for my copy..... (I think it's a Christmas gift....) LOL!"

You can join us whenever you can! It's a miracle I'm reading it on time but I was lucky to get the audio."

I actually plan on reading the last two month's reads (that I bought), as well. Mexican Gothic may be the next, and I also have Horrid. Better late than never!!!

Immanuelle's persistence and resilience even as the information about her role in events changes really made her an interesting character to follow.

Kimberly wrote: "Bark | Ladies Of Horror Fiction wrote: "Kimberly wrote: "Still waiting for my copy..... (I think it's a Christmas gift....) LOL!"

You can join us whenever you can! It's a miracle I'm reading it on..."

Yes, that's one of the things I loved about this book. I'm very much a "pack it in and move on" kind of person when it comes to challenges/issues/adversity so it's nice to have a horror heroine who is the same way! Every challenge she meets she's very willing to go, "let's adjust to this new information and figure out a solution."

I actually read this in November because I sometimes struggle with ya-ish books, but I think this is going to be a book I recommend to ya readers that are wanting to get into more adult horror. I can enjoy the readability, style, and pacing of a young adult novel. (view spoiler)[I was also someone that was a little concerned when the love interest was introduced, but I don't have any complaints about Ezra. I thought that the author did a good job of having him be equally as important as Immanuelle's family and friends. (hide spoiler)]

There is a Q&A with the author of Year of the Witching right here:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...?

Whoops forgot to post a couple days ago - I finished it & I really liked it! Can't wait for book 2

Finished and loved it! I felt she has agency and I liked how everything came together.

It all came together in the best way, didn't it?! I'm so pleased with this book.

I started and finished the book over the weekend, so I didn't post progress. I was not entirely enamored with this book, struggled to want to pick it back up. I don't think it was the book's fault-it was gorgeously written; but I am a bit tired of the "pious" men using religion as an excuse to do bad things BS (sorry is this a spoiler? I never know). It happens too much in real life; I don't want to read about it in my fiction anymore, so I struggled to want to finish the book. I think had I read it at a different time, my feelings might have been different. I saw many parallels to Handmaid's Tale.

Teresa wrote: "I started and finished the book over the weekend, so I didn't post progress. I was not entirely enamored with this book, struggled to want to pick it back up. I don't think it was the book's fault-..."

I totally get that Teresa!

Here's the rest of my thoughts:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I settled on a 4 1/2. It's so good.