#Saint Juniper’s Folly
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2023 reads
Saint Juniper’s Folly
YA paranormal mystery
follows a foster kid returning to the small town he grew up in, who runs from the judgemental townspeople and ends up magically trapped in a mysterious house in the woods
a boy who lives a boring life in the town until he finds him, and wants to figure out how to save him
and the young witch from the town over who’s heard the woods calling since her mother died, and wants to help
m/m, friendship & investigating a mystery
#Saint Juniper’s Folly#aroaessidhe 2023 reads#this is….okay#writing is quite young - it feels like middle grade. would be fine bc i like middle grade but it's a bit at odds with the fact that#they’re 18 and talking about college soon and driving round in cars a lot#There’s very little ghosty or spookiness - it’s more just about the characters and their developing relationships#I felt like there were quite a few pivotal scenes missing? Like it skips from the kid being back in this town for the first time#to suddenly he’s stuck in this house in the woods. We don’t see him go out there; realise he’s stuck; or anything.#(unless libby skipped a chapter in my audiobook again?)#It also felt like it skipped any of them like testing the supernatural stuff? They go straight to researching the house’s history.#Once the end is revealed it makes sense I guess - but it’s like the because the author forgot to make the characters (who Don’t know)#do the first logical things you might do in a situation like that. idk.#the boys hating each other at the start felt manufactured for some hate to love thing instead of for any reason.....I didn't buy it#Also my pet peeve of: having a character call her dad by his first name! …….but it's an indication of their bad relationship. okay then.#(I know that is also a real experience but MAN sometimes people just do that it's not always a sign of emotional neglect!!!!)#Anyway - I didn’t hate it by any means; there’s just a few little things that didn't work for me
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Yknow in books where magic is real it still amazes me characters won’t just talk.
Your dad knows magic is real. He knows the house is haunted by his dead witch wife’s great great grandma. Tell him a living child is trapped in the haunted house he moved up the demolition date on. Tell him he’s killing a child because he’s a fucking tool!
Tell hiiiiiiiiiimmmmm just talk oh my gooooooooood
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This one surprised me! A little witchy ghost story closer to a light fantasy than truly scary told by three lovable characters. Crespo’s new YA novel cast a charm on me! 🏳️🌈
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Fave Five: Queer Novels About Haunted Houses
She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran (YA)
Saint Juniper’s Folly by Alex Crespo (YA)
A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui (YA)
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt
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#Alex Crespo#Alison Rumfitt#Meriam Metoui#Saint Juniper&039;s Folly#She is a Haunting#T. Kingfisher#Tell Me I&039;m Worthless#Trang Thanh Tran#What Moves the Dead
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Haunting Reads for your TBR 👻
It's spooky season where I'm at, which means that the weather is getting crispy and cold, the leaves are changing colors, and I suddenly have a craving for apple cider donuts. What is also means is that my usual readings habits are upended -- I'm a coward! -- and I feel like maybe I should take a gander at a spooky read or two. Is there anything on your TBR that's spooky? Here's what's on my list for this month:
If I Have to Be Haunted by Miranda Sun
Cemetery Boys meets Legendborn in this thrillingly romantic, irresistibly fun YA contemporary fantasy debut following a teenage Chinese American ghost speaker who (reluctantly) makes a deal to raise her nemesis from the dead. Cara Tang doesn’t want to be haunted.
Look, the dead have issues, and Cara has enough of her own. Her overbearing mother insists she be the “perfect” Chinese American daughter—which means suppressing her ghost-speaking powers—and she keeps getting into fights with Zacharias Coleson, the local golden boy whose smirk makes her want to set things on fire. Then she stumbles across Zach’s dead body in the woods. He’s even more infuriating as a ghost, but Cara’s the only one who can see him—and save him.
Agreeing to resurrect him puts her at odds with her mother, draws her into a dangerous liminal world of monsters and magic—and worse, leaves her stuck with Zach. Yet as she and Zach grow closer, forced to depend on each other to survive, Cara finds the most terrifying thing is that she might not hate him so much after all. Maybe this is why her mother warned her about ghosts.
Delightful and compulsively readable, this contemporary fantasy has something for every reader: a snarky voice, a magnetic enemies-to-lovers romance, and a spirited adventure through a magical, unpredictable world hidden within our own.
All These Sunken Souls: A Black Horror Anthology edited by Circe Moskowitz
The stories in All These Sunken Souls explore horror through a blend of genres—from the thoughtful to the terrifying—as the reader wanders farther and farther from reality.
By delivering a multitude of profound nightmares, this YA horror anthology by established and debut authors contains something for every horror fan—and for anyone who dares to open these pages. From haunted Victorian mansions, temporal monster-infested asylums, ravaging zombie apocalypses, to southern gothic hoodoo practitioners, the anthology features stories from Kalynn Bayron, Donyae Coles, Ryan Douglass, Sami Ellis, Brent Lambert, Ashia Monet, Circe Moskowitz, Joel Rochester, Liselle Sambury, and Joelle Wellington.
All These Sunken Souls tackles a genre that historically has tokenized and exploited Black characters and opens discussion on how horror translates into the current time we live in.
Saint Juniper's Folly by Alex Crespo
Cemetery Boys meets The Haunting of Bly Manor in this spellbinding debut! Alex Crespo’s queer haunted house mystery is equal parts spine-tingling thrills, a celebration of found family, and must-read for paranormal romance fans.
For Jaime, returning to the tiny Vermont town of Saint Juniper means returning to a past he’s spent eight years trying to forget. After shuttling between foster homes, he hopes he can make something out of this fresh start. But every gossip in town already knows his business, and with reminders of his past everywhere, he seeks out solitude into the nearby woods, called Saint Juniper’s Folly, and does not return.
For Theo, Saint Juniper means being stuck. He knows there’s more out there, but he’s scared to go find it. His senior year is going to be like all the rest, dull and claustrophobic. That is until he wanders into the Folly and stumbles on a haunted house with an acerbic yet handsome boy stuck—as in physically stuck—inside.
For Taylor, Saint Juniper is a mystery. The surrounding woods speak to her, while she tries—and fails—to practice the magic her dad banned from the house after her mother died. Taylor can’t seem break out of her spiral of grief, until a wide-eyed teenager barges into her life, rambling on about a haunted house, a trapped boy, and ghosts. He needs a witch. The Folly and its ghosts will bring these three teenagers together. But they will each have to face their own internal struggles in order to forge a bond strong enough to escape the Folly’s shadows.
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Every month I've been placing bets with myself about what books on my TBR are going to be 5 star reads. Here's my list for May!
1) More Happy Than Not
2) Stars, Hide Your Fires
3) Saint Juniper's Folly
4) Venom & Vow
5) It's Not Like It's a Secret
6) A Hundred Vicious Turns
#bookblr#booklr#book blog#book rec#ya books#book list#starrlikesbooks#new books#book recs#queer books#diverse books#booklist#tbe#stars hide your fires#more happy than not#it's not like it's a secret#a hundred Vicious turns#st junipers folly#saint Juniper's Folly.#venom & vow#Anna-Marie McLemore
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We would carry it with us no matter where we went, and that was all I needed.
Alex Crespo, from Saint Juniper's Folly
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okay wait here's a mega-spoilery thoughts on saint juniper's folly by alex crespo before i forget
was anyone else who read this book, like, absolutely convinced for a while that jaime was actually a ghost who was haunting blackwood? because i immediately started thinking that when the novel skipped over the actual scene where he goes to the house and gets stuck there. i assumed that he'd died in some accident (it's an old building, after all) and was just in denial about being dead while haunting the house. i know he ate food and stuff, but i figured it would maybe be revealed that it was similar to how in certain cultures people give offerings of food to the dead and he'd just been thinking he ate the food or eating its essence or something and there'd be a reveal that all the food taylor and theo had brought him was just moldering, uneaten, somewhere. also it's compared to cemetery boys in which one of the characters is an actual ghost, so that probably influenced my thinking as as well. obviously, that didn't turn out to be true, but i was so certain that was going to be a plot twist until the actual reveal for why he was stuck there happened near the end of the books. (i also feel like skipping over the scene in which jaime gets stuck in the house if he didn't die then is a weird choice since the whole narrative hinges on that moment, but whatever.)
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Saint Juniper's Folly was surprisingly better than i thought it would be. it was really cute and funny and i liked that ghost story and the witch stuff. the only thing i wish was there'd been more about jaime's powers
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Brand New YA Books [Released May 13th to 19th 2023]
Brand New YA Books is a Saturday feature showcasing all the Young Adult books released in the last week.
If you are an author and want to see your book featured on this list, send me an email to [email protected] will all the details.
PUBLISHED MAY 13th TO 19th 2023
Fake Dates and Mooncakesby Sher LeeGenre: Contemporary | Romance | LGBTPublisher: Underlined
Release date: May 16th…
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#All the Dead Lie Down#As Long As We’re Together#BNYAB 2023#Bound by Sword and Spirit#Brand New YA Books#Court of the Undying Seasons#Don&039;t Ask if I&039;m Okay#Fake Dates and Mooncakes#Hurt You#Julieta and the Romeos#Make the Fireflies Dance#Painted Devils#Rubi Ramos&039;s Recipe for Success#Saint Juniper&039;s Folly#Transmogrify!#We’ll Never Tell
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As a follow up to my favorite books of the first quarter of the year, here are some of my favorites from April, May, June! In no particular order, just in the order I read them.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty is a fun, pirate fantasy adventure featuring one of my recently realized favorite tropes: getting the band back together. A retired female pirate just wants to live a quiet life raising her young daughter, when she is recruited to rescue the child of a former crewmate. She must reunite with her old crew and save the day. Killer cover, fun story.
Chlorine by Jade Song is a coming of age body horror novel about a teenaged girl who will do anything to become a mermaid. Slow burn- you know what will happen from the beginning, but it's a deep dive into the mind of this queer young swimmer to watch her get there.
Malice by Keigo Higashino is a Japanese novel translated by Alexander O. Smith about a detective determined to uncover the motive behind the murder of a famous novelist. Loved this why-done-it.
We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film by Tre'vell Anderson is a nonfiction exploration of Black trans representation in pop culture and history, as well as moments from the author's own life. Looks at everything To Wong Foo to Pose to Survivor.
Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones is the second book in the Indian Lake Trilogy. SGJ is my favorite horror author but his work and ESPECIALLY these books are not for everyone. People either love or hate this series and what can I say? I get it. Graphic here.
VenCo by Cherie Dimaline is about a young Indigenous woman who has to go on an adventure with her unusual and elderly grandmother after she discovers that she's one of seven witches to usher in a new era of power.
Madame Restell by Jennifer Wright is a nonfiction book about a famous abortionist in pre-Gilded Age New York. I found it fascinating, if not incredibly depressing, with how much we recycle the same arguments over and over again. Great read. Trigger warnings for this one, from childbirth to abortion to racism to misogyny.
Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati is a Greek mythology retelling on the titular murderer. As a Clytemnestra apologist, I really liked this. I kind of think so many of Greek retellings these days are all very similar, in writing style & theme so I feel like if you've read one of these recent retellings you've read them all, but I liked it!
Hamra & the Jungle of Memories by Hanna Alkaf is a Little Red Riding Hood retelling set in modern Malaysia, where a girl in a red hijab must help a tiger return to his human form. Really a beautiful story about humanity, grief, and what it means to make mistakes. Also just a fun adventure. Loved it. Graphic here.
You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron is another final girl horror novel. Look, I'm gonna read all of them and I'm gonna love all of them! You give me a final girl and I'm gonna eat it up. You give me a queer Black final girl trying to survive the night at her camp recreating a famous (fictional) horror movie while trying to protect her girlfriend? Yum, yum, yum.
Honorable mentions: Ayoade on Top is Richard Ayoade's definitive tome on the Gwenyth Paltrow film View From the Top. Get the audiobook for this one for sure! The Three Dahlias is a fun cozy mystery, and Saint Juniper's Folly is a fun queer modern fantasy adventure.
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Tarotoctoberbpc day 30
The emperor - this months favorite
A little different than the one I posted for JOMP on the 28th 😂
I forgot Saint junipers folly on the earlier post & I just finished listening to atlantia today so I got to add it too 😂
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October Reading
audio favourites
Our Hideous Progeny - 4.5
This Delicious Death - 3.75
Saint Juniper's Folly - 3.25
The Siren, the Song, and the Spy - 4.5
This Dark Descent - 4
The Girls Are Never Gone - 3
Before The Devil Knows You're Here - 4.25
What Stalks Among Us - 4.5
Those Pink Mountain Nights - 3.75
Monstrous - 4.5
The Hands of the Emperor - 4
How To Get A Date With The Evil Queen - 4
Small Joys - 4.25
Don't Want To Be Your Monster -
Last Violent Call - 3.75
Cage of Dreams - 4
Foul Heart Huntsman - 3.75
Beholder - 4
A Warning About Swans - 4
Last To Leave The Room - 4 (reviewpost held for SMP boycott)
The Art of Destiny - 4.5
Hollowthorn - 3.75
Skylark in the Fog - 3
Teach The Torches to Burn - 3.5
Ink, Blood, Sister, Scribe - 3.75
Minor Detail
Let The Dead Bury The Dead - 3.75
Something More - 3.75
Caraway of the Sea - 3
You Exist Too Much - 3.5
Graphic Novels
Monstrous (by Sarah Myer) - 4
Artie and the Wolf Moon - 4
Non-fiction
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
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new septembers readathon book recs
i like making lists so i thought it would be fun to make a list of recommendations that fit at least one prompt in case people were struggling to find books!! every book on this list, i have either already read & enjoyed, or it's on my tbr:) books i have not read yet will be marked by an asterisk! and if you're not joining the readathon, this can still help you find some good books to read this autumn :)
The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith (a book about witches)
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna* (a book about witches, a cozy fantasy)
Our Shadows Have Claws: 15 Latin American Monster Stories edited by Yamile Saied Méndez and Amparo Ortiz (a creepy/horror book, a short story collection)
Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang (dark academia, a book that takes place (partially) in september)
Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia (a book about a haunted house, a creepy/horror book, a gothic novel)
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman* (a book about witches, an autumnal romance)
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (dark academia, a book that takes place (partially) in september)
Weyward by Emilia Hart* (a book about witches)
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (a gothic novel, an autumnal classic)
Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper* (a book about witches, an autumnal romance)
Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass (a creepy/horror book, a september 2023 release)
Wild Is the Witch by Rachel Griffin* (a book about witches)
Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones (a creepy/horror book)
The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling* (a book about witches, an autumnal romance)
After Dark with Roxie Clark by Brooke Lauren Davis (a murder mystery, a book with a red cover)
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston* (an autumnal romance)
Saint Juniper's Folly by Alex Crespo (a creepy/horror book, a book about a haunted house)
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow* (a book about witches)
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio (dark academia, a book that takes place (partially) in september)
Legends & Lattes* by Travis Baldree* (a cozy fantasy, an autumnal romance)
Hollow by Shannon Watters, Branden Boyer-White, Berenice Nelle, and more (a graphic novel, a retelling/reimagining)
The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas* (a book about a haunted house, a creepy/horror book)
M Is for Monster by Talia Dutton (a graphic novel, a retelling/reimagining)
Slasher Girls & Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke (a creepy/horror book, a short story collection)
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake* (dark academia)
You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron (a creepy/horror book, a book with a red cover)
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher* (a creepy/horror book, a retelling/reimagining, a gothic novel)
Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie (a murder mystery, a book with an orange cover)
Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill* (a creepy/horror book, a retelling/reimagining)
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Joseph Andrew White (a creepy/horror book, a gothic novel, a september 2023 release)
A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson* (a creepy/horror book, a book about vampires, a retelling/reimagining)
Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie (a murder mystery)
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher* (a gothic novel, a creepy/horror book)
Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie (a book with an orange cover)
House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson* (a book about vampires, a creepy/horror book)
Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson (dark academia, an autumnal classic)
Over My Dead Body by Sweeney Boo* (a graphic novel, a book about witches, a book that takes place at a private/boarding school)
Suddenly a Murder by Lauren Muñoz (a murder mystery, a september 2023 release)
Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu* (a creepy/horror book, a book about vampires, a book with a red cover, an autumnal classic)
Thieves' Gambit by Kayvion Lewis (a book with a red cover, a september 2023 release)
Coven by Jennifer Dugan, Kit Seaton* (a graphic novel, a book about witches)
Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould (a creepy/horror book, a book with an orange cover)
The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes* (a book with a yellow cover)
I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman* (a book with an orange cover)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson* (a creepy/horror book, an autumnal classic)
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (autumnal romance, a book with a red cover)
The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie (a murder mystery, a book with a red cover)
She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran* (a creepy/horror book)
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (an autumnal classic)
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (an autumnal classic, a book that (partially) takes place in september)
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland (a creepy/horror book)
She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott, Alyson Derrick* (a book with a yellow cover, a book that (partially) takes place in september)
These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall (a creepy/horror book, a book about a haunted house)
Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall (a creepy/horror book)
The Gathering Dark: An Anthology of Folk Horror edited by Tori Bovalino (a creepy/horror book, a short story collection)
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (an autumnal romance, an autumnal classic, a book with a red cover)
Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand (a creepy/horror book)
Dracula by Bram Stoker (a book about vampires, a creepy/horror book, an autumnal classic)
The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson (a creepy/horror book, a retelling/reimagining)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (a murder mystery)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (a creepy/horror book, an autumnal classic)
The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow, Liz Lawson (a murder mystery)
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (an autumnal classic)
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro (a retelling/reimagining, a murder mystery, a book that takes place at a private/boarding school)
Macbeth by William Shakespeare (an autumnal classic)
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson (a murder mystery, a book that takes place at a private/boarding school, a book that (partially) takes place in september)
The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill (a murdery mystery)
If I Have to Be Haunted by Miranda Sun* (a book with an orange cover, an autumnal romance, september 2023 release)
Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado (short story collection, creepy/horror book)
On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (a book with a yellow cover, a book that takes place at a boarding/private school)
The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould (a creepy/horror book)
Crooked House by Agatha Christie (a murder mystery, a book that (partially) takes place in september, a book with a red cover)
Ace of Spades by Fariday Àbíké-Íyímídé (dark academia)
Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas (retelling/reimagining)
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (a cozy fantasy)
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (an autumnal classic, a creepy/horror book, a book about a haunted house, a book with an orange cover)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (an autumnal classic)
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (an autumnal classic)
Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist* (a creepy/horror book, a gothic novel)
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New Young Adult Releases! (June 6th, 2023)
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Have I missed any new Young Adult releases? Have you added any of these books to your TBR? Let me know!
___
New Standalones/First in a Series:
The Dos & Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar
Always Isn’t Forever by J.C. Cervantes
Love Letters for Joy by Melissa See
The Broken Hearts Club by Susan Bishop Crispell
Ride or Die by Gail-Agnes Musikavanhu
Saint Juniper’s Folly by Alex Crespo
Darkhearts by James L. Sutter
The Chaperone by M. Hendrix
When it All Syncs Up by Maya Ameyaw
Something More by Jackie Khalilieh
Pedro & Daniel by Federico Erebia
The Grimoire of Grave Fates by Various
The Queens of New York by E.L. Shen
At the Speed of Lies by Cindy L. Otis
The Library of the Broken Worlds by Alaya Dawn Johnson
Good as Gold by Candace Buford
Things I’ll Never Say by Cassandra Newbould
A Spark in the Cinders by Jenny Elder Moke
Our Vengeful Souls by Kristi McManus
Secret of the Moon Conch by David Bowles & Guadalupe Garcia McCall
The Secret Summer Promise by Keah Brown
New Sequels:
Some Shall Break (None Shall Sleep #2) by Ellie Marney
War Widow (Blood Scion #2) by Deborah Falaye
Wrath of the Talon (Talon #2) by Sophie Kim
Ruling Destiny (Stolen Beauty #2) by Alyson Noel
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Happy reading!
#New releases#new books#yalit#yareads#young adult#book blog#book blogger#Features#on books#on reading#read#reading#reader#book list#tbr#to-read#june 2023#alyson noel#sophie kim#deborah falaye#ellie marney#keah brown#david bowles#guadalupe garcia mccall#kristi mcmanus#jenny elder moke#cassandra newbould#candace buford#alaya dawn johnson#cindy l. otis
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Hi! No pressure to answer this if you don't want to, but do you have any paranormal YA book recs?
Hi! I don't read many paranormal books, but here are some suggestions:
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve
DeadEndia: The Watcher's Test by Hamish Steele
Night of the Living Queers, edited by Shelly Page and Alex Brown
Damned If You Do by Alex Brown
The Fell of Dark by Caleb Roehrig
Saint Juniper's Folly by Alex Crespo
The Coldest Touch by Isabel Sterling
Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood
Afterlove by Tanya Byrne
The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl
Do any of my followers have more recommendations?
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