wow, when I say this is the best book I’ve read in a long time (and maybe even of all time) it is not an understatement…

this book was DEVASTATING in every single way, but it was beautifully written, with so much depth and metaphorical description it rips your heart out 💔

it’s inspired by the chillicothe six - the lives of women in ohio and how they disappeared one by one to the river. and it’s also about abuse and addiction - how it weaves itself amongst family roots, and the pain, hurt and grief it causes everyone around them.

but most of all, this book is about the parts of society and ourselves that we don’t want to acknowledge. the parts that we allow privilege to cause judgement, ignorance to mean unloved, loss to mean never enough. but there is love in all of these places and more, no matter what we see on the surface.

the savage side may look savage, but it is only because sometimes finding the beautiful side is not always so easy - and we don’t always have the tools to make it there.

the characters in this book may be characters but they felt real and are real in many places around the world, and reading this book felt like an exercise in empathy for those who we may not understand, but could be better at accepting and loving.

I loved ‘the summer that melted everything’ and ‘betty’ but this was my favourite of tiffany mcdaniel’s ❤️

and DAMN that ending… 🥲🥲

if you pick up any book next, it has to be this one

Death is only the beginning in Olivia Blacke’s A New Lease on Death, where a ghost and her living roommate team up to solve a murder in a Boston apartment building full of secrets.

Ruby Young is new to Boston and, with little money and no job, can’t resist the setup she finds in Cordelia Graves’s “as-is” apartment. Fully furnished and affordable, it’s a deal too good to pass up—even if the building isn’t exactly in the best part of town. Ruby quickly learns her new home comes with some eerie perks: barely functioning heat, neighbors she can hear through the walls, and a spirit who is very much still in residence.

Cordelia has been stuck in her apartment since her untimely death and is desperate for a distraction from her afterlife boredom. When their neighbor Jake Macintyre is shot in an apparent mugging, Cordelia suspects foul play and ropes Ruby into investigating. With Cordelia’s sharp mind and Ruby’s living status, they make an unexpectedly perfect team, even if they occasionally drive each other nuts. From interviewing suspects to digging through old records, Ruby and Cordelia stumble upon more secrets than they bargained for, bringing them closer not only to the truth, but also to an unexpected friendship.

The dynamic between Cordelia and Ruby is fantastic—Cordelia’s dry wit and frustration with Ruby’s free-spirited ways make for laugh-out-loud moments, and the multi-POV storytelling keeps the pace lively and engaging. I did struggle a bit to get into the story initially, but it quickly redeemed itself around the 25% mark, and I couldn’t put it down from there. Blacke’s writing balances humor and suspense effortlessly, and there are subtle hints that this won’t be the last we see of these two, which has me eagerly awaiting more adventures with them!

If you’re in the mood for a cozy supernatural mystery with a fresh, quirky twist, A New Lease on Death is a must-read.

Thank you @NetGalley and @Minotaur_Books for the eARC. 4.5 stars and excited for the next installment.