saltygalreads's reviews
306 reviews

Billed as a US history of prominent women in the occult from 19th century mediums to present day social media witches. The book is broken down into five approaches to the occult: women who first presented occult ideas into mainstream society; women using the occult to introduce political change; women who used occult tools to earn income; the skeptics who challenged the occult; and present day practices and ideas about the occult.

What I enjoyed: the authors talked about the evolution of occult ideas to the present day version inclusive of different races and genders. I appreciated the explanation of how under-represented groups use the occult to influence social and political change, and there was a balanced perspective highlighting positive and negative impacts of occult movements and waves of popularity.

Now for the not-so-good: the book was not organized chronologically so there was a lot of jumping around in time periods, which makes it quite confusing to place notable figures on a timeline. The authors also tried to include too many figures and, while I appreciate the effort to be thorough, there was an overwhelming amount of biographical information about numerous women. The material lacked unifying themes which made the reading experience fragmented and rather dry. Ultimately not one of my favourites about witchcraft.

Dark Corners

Summary: This is the second book in the series about crime podcaster Rachel Krall. Rachel is brought to Daytona by the FBI because of a link between her and convicted criminal Terence Bailey. Bailey is due to get out of prison in a couple of days and the FBI suspects him of being involved in the disappearance of an influencer who visited him in prison. Before incarceration, the FBI strongly suspected Bailey of being a serial killer who abducted a string of young women, but they could never find the proof to link him to the crimes. Now they are hoping to use Rachel to get information out of Bailey that they might be able to use. However, they have exposed Rachel to the attention of a dangerous, obsessive serial killer, and now his thoughts have turned to Rachel.

Thoughts: Many reviewers commented on the differences between Krall’s demeanor from book one to book two. As I didn’t read The Night Swim, I didn’t have anything to compare it to and so this didn’t bother me. Some aspects of the novel were executed well. In particular, I enjoyed the vicious skewering that Goldin unleashes on influencer behaviour and culture, as well as her ability to misdirect the reader. But Rachel Krall is an unbelievably reckless character, given that she knows full well the types of sinister characters she is interacting with and receives ample warnings from FBI agent Martinez. The trick used to entrap her near the conclusion of the book makes her look ridiculously amateur and naïve. It was an eyeroll moment for me. And one thing that bothers me excessively even now is this…

What happened to the kitten!?

Old Babes in the Wood

This is a collection of short stories from our first lady of literature, Margaret Atwood. Part I and III focus on a couple named Tig and Nell, which the reader quickly ascertains is the fictional version of Graeme Gibson and Margaret Atwood. Part II is a fascinating collection of stories about the challenging, exhilarating, frightening, violent and ridiculous experience of going through life as a human.

There are seven stories in total about Tig and Nell, chronicling their joyful misadventures in their younger, more agile years through to Tig’s increasing frailness and eventual death. There are so many beautiful turns of phrase in these stories, as only Atwood can do, and just when you feel a stab of sadness, Atwood impishly pokes fun at her own sentimentality. “Tennyson was very skillful at that kind of thing. Aloneness. Forlornness. Tears from the depths of some divine despair…Sugary woo-woo trash.”

Then there are moments of such poignancy, such as in the “Wooden Box” when Nell is cleaning and organizing and finds old random possessions belonged to Tig. “Similarly the shaving brush. No vestige of Tig remains on it, unlike his hairbrush, which still evokes him. She has tucked the hairbrush away into a little shrine in a night table drawer, surrounded by a small flashlight, a couple of pencils, half a box of cough drops.” This made my breath catch in my throat, remembering after my mother-in-law’s death, when I went up to her room to look for something and found her hairbrush with her hair still in it, along with her favourite well-used red lipstick. In these ordinary items, grief can surprise us.

Part II consists of an eclectic collection of stories written over some years, including a story about a young woman who believes her mother to be a witch, a hilarious interview with George Orwell conducted through a medium, and a dreamy little story of a snail who is reincarnated into the body of a banking service representative, with an alpha-male specimen of a boyfriend named Tyler. “How crude are the sexual procedures of humans compared with those of snails! How precipitous!” And my favourite, “Death by Clamshell” about Hypatia of Alexandria, a philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer who was viciously murdered by a mob in 415 AD.

A wonderful collection and so enjoyable to read. Many thanks to Penguin Random House Canada for my copy.

Edie Green is 84 years old and living in a small village in England. She is a widow with a comfortable home and a devoted son and grand-daughter. Ever since 1951, Edie has kept a secret for her friend Lucy Theddle. Lucy and Edie had been good friends until one day in 1951 Lucy went missing and has never been found. It is now 2018 and out in the village one day, Edie sees Lucy, looking exactly as she did in 1951. Edie desperately wants to figure out the mystery of Lucy’s disappearance, if only she could remember.

This is a fascinating and quick read, with a likeable character in the strong-willed and sensitive Edie. The story unfolds in flashbacks to a young Edie in 1951, growing up with the tragedy of her father’s death overshadowing her life and the embarrassment of her mother’s evening seances being the talk of the village. The author provides a sadly realistic portrayal of a woman trying to cope with her decline in cognitive function and maintain her independence.

The mystery aspect of the storyline could have been fleshed out a little more however. There are compelling motives for both Max Wheaton and his wife, as well as Rupert Mayhew, which could have richly expanded the mystery narrative and turned into a real whodunnit. This didn’t appear to be the author’s intent for the story as she focused on Edie’s internal struggle to overcome the gaping holes in her memory due to trauma, time and illness.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for the copy to read and review.

In a nutshell: Kate Green is a former soccer athlete who now works as a sports reporter in Greenwich, Connecticut. When the story opens we find that Kate’s life is somewhat turbulent at the moment, since she lost her temper after being provoked by NBA player Mason Burke, and has been suspended. She also has to contend with constant interference and aggravation from her ex-husband Tyler, who never hesitates to barge into her home and offer his opinions on how to raise their two teenaged children. On top of all this, a longtime personal friend, NBA athlete Kurt Robbins, is found murdered in his mansion. The prime suspect from the police chief’s perspective is Kate’s best friend and wife of the deceased, Yvette Robbins. Kate feels compelled to defend her best friend, and since she has time on her hands, she sets out to determine who the real murderer is, unwittingly endangering herself and her children.

Thoughts: This is a short and snappy thriller which moves at a lively pace. Kate Green is an interesting character – an independent and tough woman with initiative and a temper. She has put her ill-fated marriage in her rear-view mirror and is moving on with her reporting job and her close relationship with her two children. She is a realistically flawed character, losing control of her temper on the job and perhaps being a little too trusting of the people in her life. I found the rarified air of the uber-privileged, wealthy town a bit irritating, and there don’t seem to be any men in this novel with redeeming qualities. The absentee father is overbearing; the ex-husband is a philanderer and loudmouth; the police chief is a conceited camera hog seeking a promotion; and even the murder victim is a deceitful adulterer. Perhaps one decent man would have been a relief. Overall, this is a solid debut thriller which would appeal to readers who enjoy a good murder and a strong female protagonist.

Asking For a Friend chronicles the evolution of a deep and lasting friendship between two women – Jess and Clara – over the years from meeting during the university years through young adulthood and into marriage and motherhood. Many topics and themes are covered in the novel, including the struggle to figure out one’s path and purpose in early adulthood; relationships and the inevitable stumbles on the road to finding a partner; sexuality, fertility and abortion; the joy and exhaustion of parenting and the challenge of striving for a career while being a mother.

This novel has a genuine and heartfelt appeal and feels like it is close to the author’s heart. Jess and Clara are two quite different personalities, as best friends often are. They support each other through difficult life experiences and ultimately land in very different lives. These differences threaten to tear them apart and in fact they do, for a time. What I enjoyed about this was the fact that the author never offered any easy answers or judgement for the differing choices and values. At times Jess and Clara do judge and criticize each other for their choices, but eventually come to appreciate and accept each other as they are.

As a mother with a career, I felt so seen and appreciated in Asking For a Friend. All the years of bone-aching exhaustion, anxiety, and striving to keep a shred of myself through the redefining experiences of marriage, pregnancy and motherhood were there in the pages. So too were many of the lighter and ridiculous moments: climbing over an endless sea of plastic toys that played inane ditties on an endless loop, and the feeling that I had bared my breasts to every member of my family and friends during the years of breast-feeding.

The ending felt so right – just two friends floating in the water and living in the present moment, accepting it and each other as is.

Summary: A Flicker in the Dark is told from the perspective of Chloe Davis, a woman traumatized by her family history. When we meet Chloe, she is an adult – a psychologist in Baton Rouge who is soon to be married. Chloe is doing her best to keep it together, but she struggles with anxiety and disturbing memories of the past when her father was arrested and convicted of abducting and killing young women from her small Louisiana town. Now it appears that the past is coming back to haunt Chloe. Two young girls, with distant links to Chloe, have disappeared. Who is behind this and who can be trusted?

Thoughts: It is quite impressive that this novel is a debut for author Stacy Willingham. I was pulled into this one and quickly developed “one more chapter” syndrome! Chloe is a well-developed character who struggles to appear “normal”, polished and professional in her work, but the reader can sense her fatigue at trying to keep all the plates spinning in her personal and professional life. The concept of carefully presenting a public narrative to cover a much darker truth runs throughout the book and is represented in multiple characters. The novel is well-crafted and all the threads come together in the final, tense chapters. I am not at all inclined to sing the praises of “popular” books but I have to admit – this is great thriller reading. Definitely recommended.

The Stowaway tells the story of Maria Fontana, a juror on a high-profile serial killer case, who cannot vote to convict the accused, Wyatt Butler, based on the evidence presented at trial. Vilified and pursued by the media, the families and the public, Maria decides to take a much-needed cruise vacation with her two children and fiance Steve for some rest. But this cruise offers Maria much more than she bargained for. A brutal murder is discovered on-board and then young passengers start to go missing. Has Butler followed Maria and her family onto the ship? Or is it a copycat at work? And will the ship's authorities even believe her?

The Stowaway has an intriguing storyline which really captures the reader's imagination. It takes a joyful setting on board a holiday cruise ship and turns it upside down into a journey of fear and darkness. However the novel was much more grim and disturbing than I expected. The murders were quite violent and sometimes described in graphic detail, all the more disturbing when some of the victims were children. Some aspects of the plot didn't make sense to me and were not believable. I won't go into details in order to avoid spoilers, but I think other readers will know what I mean. Events in the book unfolded at a quick and steady pace, ramping up to a tense and brutal conclusion, and so held the reader's interest. A tense and thrilling book, but not necessarily a comfortable read or a solid plot.

Summary: A car accident results in a young man’s convalescence at a convent where the unconventional nuns heal his injuries with miraculous speed. But this is a most unusual order of nuns, who wear their hair loose and flowing, go barefoot and excel at wine-making. The young traveller wavers between fascination and fear as he suspects the Crimson Convent nuns of hiding dark secrets.

Thoughts: This is a compelling and dark read for spooky season! It holds all the hallmarks of a sexy gothic story - a convent with a tragic past, a group of nuns holding mysterious rituals late at night, and a sinister scarecrow standing watch over the vines. I couldn’t stop reading. You can almost imagine a breathless Victorian-era maiden reading this by secret candlelight. A fun read.

Alana Shropshire has been estranged from her step-family for years. She lives her own modest life as a single working mother of a daughter with a serious medical condition. Her estranged father, Ed Shropshire, and his two sons are billionaires who live on the other side of the country. Out of the blue, one of the brothers contacts Alana and asks for her help in ridding them of an unwelcome interloper in their midst, a young nurse who has captivated their 76 year-old father and become his fiancee. In return, the brothers will provide a significant amount of money to Alana's daughter Lily, which would ensure the quality of her life and comfort for many years to come. Alana hates her step-brothers and doesn't want to do it, but she would do anything for Lily and this is a wonderful opportunity. So she flies to BC and reunites with her family to enact her part of the plan.


What a page-turner! I read way past my bedtime since I was hooked and couldn't put this one down. It would be difficult to find a more despicable family than the Shropshires, who represent toxic masculinity at its finest. It seems that no one can be trusted in the circle of family, friends and staff; and many of the characters are working multiple angles and schemes. Even Alana hasn't been open and honest about her reasons for agreeing to her brothers' plan. There are great twists here and a satisfying revenge served cold. Recommended!