End of Year Review Round-Up

With the end of the year fast approaching, I wanted to take some time to catch up on my latest reads. It’s been a busy month, both with family drama that I hope will sort itself out in the new year and a heavy post-vacation editing/proofreading schedule, so I’ve fallen behind in my reviews. I still want to do justice to those literary worlds where I’ve found solace and moments of peace, though, so I hope you’ll excuse the brevity.

Title: Gigi
Author: Red Haircrow
Publication Date: December 14, 2024 by JMS Books LLC
Genres: Fiction | Erotica
Protagonist Gender: Male

Gigi was a short read but a good one, a story of making connections, discovering one’s self, and making the most of the moment. Darren is an effeminate young man, cast out by his homophobic father, and barely clinging to his job as a convenience store clerk. Rob is the man he’s been secretly admiring, a coworker who proves to be bisexual – and very interested. No commitments, no promises, but he’s happy to help.

Although this is my first literary encounter with Red Haircrow in over a decade, it’s written with the same sophisticated easy I remember. The characters have remarkable depth for such a short tale, and not only is the sex eminently satisfying, but there’s a surprising sense of closure.

Rating:

My sincere thanks to the author for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Title: You Like It Darker
Author: Stephen King
Publication Date: May 21, 2024 by Scribner
Genres: Fiction | Horror
Protagonist Gender: Various

“You like it darker? Fine, so do I,” was the pitch that got me excited for this. I’ve been a Stephen King fan for decades, but have chafed against his turn away from supernatural horror, so the promise of another collection like Night Shift or Skeleton Crew really appealed to me. Sadly, his definition of darker is a far fry from mine, but there were enough gems here to make it worth the read.

The first three stories were solid, with Two Talented Bastids defined by its telling, The Fifth Step having a great twist, and Willie the Weirdo altogether creepy, morbid, and mysterious. But then the collection hits a soft spot with Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream interesting but marred by a flat ending, Finn just stupid and abrupt, and On Slide Inn Road filled with unlikable people and dragged down by an ending that leaves too much unresolved. Red Screen gets the collection going again with a twilight zone type story, and The Turbulence Expert was an interesting read that doesn’t try to explain how or why, but then Laurie was just pointless and maudlin.

Rattlesnakes was the best story in the collection, a creepy tale of dead twins, and even if the Cujo connection was unnecessary, it offers a glimpse into life after a story closes. Sadly, for all its potential, The Dreamers failed to hold my interest, but the finale, The Answer Man, was a vintage King story of wonder and mystery.

Rating: 1/2

Title: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
Author: Grady Hendrix
Publication Date: January 14, 2025 by Berkley
Genres: Fiction | Horror
Protagonist Gender: Female

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is less a book searching for a theme, and more a story wandering around in hopes that a theme will land. Grady Hendrix takes a very long time to get to the witchcraft (30% into the book) and even longer to get to the horror (50% in), and risks losing the reader with a boring tale of flat, uninteresting characters before getting to either of those progress markers.

It feels like he was trying to write a Stephen King style novel about relatable characters in an unfortunate situation with a dose of cultural commentary thrown in, but it just feels awkward and disjointed. Even after we get the first mention of witchcraft, I found myself skimming to get to anything that advanced the story, and let me tell you, that was a fair bit of skimming.

Eventually, we get a villain to go with the witchcraft, but not a very compelling or frightening one. As for the witchcraft, it does lend itself to a small handful of amusing, well-orchestrated scenes, but they are too few and too far between to maintain any sense of drama or pacing. It doesn’t help that Hendrix attempts to establish a time period with nothing more than a bunch of hippy references and an embarrassingly bad (and lazy) reliance on the magical negro trope to save the day.

Rating:

My sincere thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Title: The Dominion and the Sugilite
Episode 11 | Episode 12 | Episode 13
Author: B.J. Frazier
Publication Date: Oct 14 to Nov 15, 2024
Genres: Erotica
Protagonist Gender: Various

The Dominion and the Sugilite is a serialized erotic science-fantasy soap opera by B.J. Frazier, one set on a female-ruled planet where the power exchange is the foundation of a fantasy-themed society fueled by the magic of gems known as sugilite. If you missed my review of the first 10 installments, you can catch up here, here, and here.

There’s so much to explore in these three chapters, so let me stick to the highlights. For one, I loved the deeper exploration of the dom/sub games between Chip and Geo, especially as it leads to a deeper discussion of the hierarchy among men. On the flipside, I loved Pebbles’ first Dominion BDSM class, but the politics around it, especially involving her mother, are pure soap opera! Getting back to Geo, his conversations with Naqqi about the role of sex, gender, and the power exchange are smart, funny, and deeply thoughtful.

With so much established in the first ten stories, it really feels like Miss Frazier has the freedom to open things up in this next sequence, to get deeper into the story without having to hold our hands. The characters, the themes, and the philosophies have been compelling from the start, but it feels like the connecting plots are really coming alive.

Rating:

My sincere thanks to the author for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.