I adored Hungerstone when I read that at the end of 2024 and I think if you also enjoyed that book then this will hit for you. Spoiled Milk is a slow paced lesbian horror set at a crumbling all girls boarding school in the British countryside. Our protagonist, Emily, is perfectly terrible and moody which makes her a really interesting character to read from. You get to watch her parse through a former toxic friendship and finally come to terms with her sexuality. The scenes of self actualizing are then paired with some really well done horror moments. Everything that the author did with Sophie in the latter half the book spooked me out in the best way.

What made this book more of a four star read was the slow pacing. It's definitely an intentional choice to reflect the encroachment of the supernatural horror that's picking off our girls. There was just a point where we kept going from spooky school scene to seance, where it felt slow and repetitive. Otherwise, this was a really fun read that I would definitely recommend if you're looking for a slow paced horror that utilizes suspense in a really nice way.

CW: murder, gore, implied past CSA, past teacher/student relationship, cannibalism

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Vicious is a sci-fi/fantasy thriller that had me on the edge of my seat from the very beginning. It is fast-paced, exciting, and easy to digest. It reminded me a lot of a comic book or action movie in that, it was fun and entertaining to read, but doesn’t have a ton of depth or complexity.

The two main protagonists are unequivocally evil in a way that felt one-note. They are both defined by the motivating force behind their evil, and while each of them has their own unique flavor, this is about as far as their character development goes. While they were fun characters to follow and initially interesting to try to understand, once I understood them, it felt like there was nothing more to dissect or think about. They didn’t feel like real people, which again, reminds me of supervillains in movies and comics.

There is also quite a lot of suspension of disbelief that a reader has to do in order to buy in, that is unrelated to the fantasy/sci-fi elements. Plot events happened in a way that felt very convenient for the story to progress. Characters showed up coincidentally in the same town, the same locations, knew the same people, etc. This aspect also reminded me of superhero movies. Everything happened to fall into place perfectly so that the story could progress in the way that Schwab needed it to.

While the characters and believability were not strengths, the plot was engaging. I enjoyed the fast pace and timeline switches that slowly reveal information from the past to catch the reader up to the present. It built up the anticipation in a satisfying way that led to a satisfying conclusion. It was pretty hard to put down at times, because I kept wanting to know what happened next.

I think this would be great for someone who is looking for a book that is easy but still engaging. It was a nice change of pace from the denser works that I typically read, but it didn’t blow me away.

Shoutout to @beezus for buddy-reading this with me!