mackattack
mack 🦇🌿⚢ • 30 • she/her• lover of horror and all things sapphic
2848 points
mackattack is interested in reading...
1h
The Rapture
Claire McGlasson
Dilys is a devoted member of a terribly English cult: The Panacea Society, populated almost entirely by virtuous single ladies. When she strikes up a friendship with Grace, a new recruit, God finally seems to be smiling upon her. The friends become closer as they wait for the Lord to return to their very own Garden of Eden, and Dilys feels she has found the right path at last. But Dilys is wary of their leader's zealotry and suspicious of those who would seem to influence her for their own ends. As her feelings for Grace bud and bloom, the Society around her begins to crumble. Faith is supplanted by doubt as both women come to question what is true and fear what is real.
mackattack finished a book
1h
Mother of Pearl: A Sapphic Sugar Baby Romance
A.A. Fairview
The summer has never been so sweet. Lydia hadn’t planned to spend the summer poolside. She was supposed to get an internship in the city and spend nights with her girlfriend. Instead she’s single and making minimum wage as a country club lifeguard. Chlorine might dry out her scales, but it’s not all bad. At least she can flirt on company time. Stephanie is a bombshell mom with a fortune five-hundred job but without a wedding ring. She might have baggage, but it’s designer–and she’s happy to share the wealth with Lydia in exchange for some lessons in fishfolk biology. Lydia isn’t sure she’s ready to navigate exes, kids, or even a proper relationship. But summers never last forever. Will this situationship be any different?“Sweet and seductive, MOTHER OF PEARL is a nice, breezy read for fans of fishfolk. A.A. Fairview has packed a ton of heart into this sapphic novella.” –Morgan Dante, author of PROVIDENCE GIRLS"MOTHER OF PEARL is a delightful sweet and spicy novella, perfect for thirsty readers seeking a sapphic, monster-normative treat." - Elle Porter author of HEIR TO THE AUTUMN COURT
mackattack started reading...
11h
Mother of Pearl: A Sapphic Sugar Baby Romance
A.A. Fairview
The summer has never been so sweet. Lydia hadn’t planned to spend the summer poolside. She was supposed to get an internship in the city and spend nights with her girlfriend. Instead she’s single and making minimum wage as a country club lifeguard. Chlorine might dry out her scales, but it’s not all bad. At least she can flirt on company time. Stephanie is a bombshell mom with a fortune five-hundred job but without a wedding ring. She might have baggage, but it’s designer–and she’s happy to share the wealth with Lydia in exchange for some lessons in fishfolk biology. Lydia isn’t sure she’s ready to navigate exes, kids, or even a proper relationship. But summers never last forever. Will this situationship be any different?“Sweet and seductive, MOTHER OF PEARL is a nice, breezy read for fans of fishfolk. A.A. Fairview has packed a ton of heart into this sapphic novella.” –Morgan Dante, author of PROVIDENCE GIRLS"MOTHER OF PEARL is a delightful sweet and spicy novella, perfect for thirsty readers seeking a sapphic, monster-normative treat." - Elle Porter author of HEIR TO THE AUTUMN COURT
A Mouth Full of Fins is about a young woman who inherits her uncle’s pet shop and discovers a mermaid living in his basement. The woman, Seonhyung, nurses the mermaid, named Finnie, back to health and realizes that the mermaid is missing her tongue. Seonhyung becomes determined to figure out how restore her mermaid’s tongue.
I really enjoyed this short translated story about obsession and female rage. I love when mermaids are horrific and there was plenty of moments where Finnie was very much so acting like a monster instead of The Little Mermaid. I also liked how the author ultilized scent in this novel, it makes complete sense that a mermaid who’d been alone for quite a while would smell terrible and it makes sense that just in general a fish store would have a fishy/algae smell. I’ve kept fish my whole life and I’ve worked in pet stores, sometimes there’s just nothing you can do to prevent that smell completely. So as a fish dork, I really appreciated those details.
My one complaint is the heavy focus on the music element of the story. I understand why it was there and it’s connection to Finnie and more specifically, explains why Seonhyung is so drawn to her. I just wish there was a bit less focus on. I think I just wanted more mermaid horror and less betrayals in the music industry.
Thank you to NetGalley, Cho Yeeun, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor.
A Mouth Full of Fins is about a young woman who inherits her uncle’s pet shop and discovers a mermaid living in his basement. The woman, Seonhyung, nurses the mermaid, named Finnie, back to health and realizes that the mermaid is missing her tongue. Seonhyung becomes determined to figure out how restore her mermaid’s tongue.
I really enjoyed this short translated story about obsession and female rage. I love when mermaids are horrific and there was plenty of moments where Finnie was very much so acting like a monster instead of The Little Mermaid. I also liked how the author ultilized scent in this novel, it makes complete sense that a mermaid who’d been alone for quite a while would smell terrible and it makes sense that just in general a fish store would have a fishy/algae smell. I’ve kept fish my whole life and I’ve worked in pet stores, sometimes there’s just nothing you can do to prevent that smell completely. So as a fish dork, I really appreciated those details.
My one complaint is the heavy focus on the music element of the story. I understand why it was there and it’s connection to Finnie and more specifically, explains why Seonhyung is so drawn to her. I just wish there was a bit less focus on. I think I just wanted more mermaid horror and less betrayals in the music industry.
Thank you to NetGalley, Cho Yeeun, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor.
mackattack finished a book
22h
A Mouth Full of Fins: A Novel
Cho Yeeun
From award-winning Korean horror sensation Cho Yeeun, an uncanny and profoundly moving tale about the beautiful obsessions and destructive delusions of love, and what it means to give a voice to the voiceless. Something is strange about Seonhyung’s uncle’s death. All that’s left of him are bones: a skull, a ribcage, and a couple of teeth—each so pristinely white it almost seems as if someone has licked them clean. Seonhyung is still reeling from the loss of her band—and the betrayal of its heavenly-voiced lead singer, Gyeongju—when she returns home for the funeral. There, she’s confronted by a handwritten will that bequeaths to Seonhyung her uncle’s most prized possession: a dilapidated aquatic pet store. On the surface, the store seems like nothing but a burden—one Seonhyung reluctantly agrees to take on. Then, searching for the source of the rotting stench in the air, she stumbles upon a trap door to a secret basement where she discovers tanks full of unimaginable horrors. Among them, near death but still unimaginably beautiful: a mermaid whose tongue has been cruelly carved from her mouth. As she nurses the mermaid back to health, Seonhyung falls under the spell of her beguiling hum, until she can only think about one thing: hearing the mermaid sing. But there’s only one way to get the mermaid’s voice back: by satisfying her carnivorous appetite. Thrilling yet ethereal, A Mouth Full of Fins dares to tread the blurred line between our greatest dreams and our greatest nightmares.
mackattack finished a book
1d
The Writing Retreat
Julia Bartz
A book deal to die for. Five attendees are selected for a month-long writing retreat at the remote estate of Roza Vallo, the controversial high priestess of feminist horror. Alex, a struggling writer, is thrilled. Upon arrival, they discover they must complete an entire novel from scratch, and the best one will receive a seven-figure publishing deal. Alex’s long-extinguished dream now seems within reach. But then the women begin to die. Trapped, terrified yet still desperately writing, it is clear there is more than a publishing deal at stake at Blackbriar Estate. Alex must confront her own demons – and finish her novel – to save herself. This unhinged, propulsive, claustrophobic closed-door thriller will pull you in and spit you out…
mackattack started reading...
1d
A Mouth Full of Fins: A Novel
Cho Yeeun
From award-winning Korean horror sensation Cho Yeeun, an uncanny and profoundly moving tale about the beautiful obsessions and destructive delusions of love, and what it means to give a voice to the voiceless. Something is strange about Seonhyung’s uncle’s death. All that’s left of him are bones: a skull, a ribcage, and a couple of teeth—each so pristinely white it almost seems as if someone has licked them clean. Seonhyung is still reeling from the loss of her band—and the betrayal of its heavenly-voiced lead singer, Gyeongju—when she returns home for the funeral. There, she’s confronted by a handwritten will that bequeaths to Seonhyung her uncle’s most prized possession: a dilapidated aquatic pet store. On the surface, the store seems like nothing but a burden—one Seonhyung reluctantly agrees to take on. Then, searching for the source of the rotting stench in the air, she stumbles upon a trap door to a secret basement where she discovers tanks full of unimaginable horrors. Among them, near death but still unimaginably beautiful: a mermaid whose tongue has been cruelly carved from her mouth. As she nurses the mermaid back to health, Seonhyung falls under the spell of her beguiling hum, until she can only think about one thing: hearing the mermaid sing. But there’s only one way to get the mermaid’s voice back: by satisfying her carnivorous appetite. Thrilling yet ethereal, A Mouth Full of Fins dares to tread the blurred line between our greatest dreams and our greatest nightmares.
mackattack started reading...
1d
The Writing Retreat
Julia Bartz
A book deal to die for. Five attendees are selected for a month-long writing retreat at the remote estate of Roza Vallo, the controversial high priestess of feminist horror. Alex, a struggling writer, is thrilled. Upon arrival, they discover they must complete an entire novel from scratch, and the best one will receive a seven-figure publishing deal. Alex’s long-extinguished dream now seems within reach. But then the women begin to die. Trapped, terrified yet still desperately writing, it is clear there is more than a publishing deal at stake at Blackbriar Estate. Alex must confront her own demons – and finish her novel – to save herself. This unhinged, propulsive, claustrophobic closed-door thriller will pull you in and spit you out…
I read House of Monstrous Women earlier this year and it was a five star read for me, so when I saw this arc was available, I jumped at the chance to read it. Daphne Fama is very quickly becoming an auto read author for me, I liked A Deadly Blooming even more than I did her debut. Much like House of Monstrous Women, this novel also takes place in 1980’s Philippines. It also has the same really lush, descriptive prose that fully sets the scene and creates such vivid moments of horror without ever falling into trite purple prose.
When we first meet our main character Maria, she is working as a bar girl trying to pay off her debts accrued from her father’s funeral. Her father was all she had left in this world, as her mother kicked both of them out of her life when Maria was a young child. Maria is given notice of her mother’s death and is called back to her childhood home. Maria, thinking this should be an easy inheritance, it’s surprised when she is thrown into trials to earn the house instead.
As the trials progress, Maria learns more about the history of the house, her mother’s death, and the secrets her mother tried to protect her from. At the same time, she begins making some connections, including reconnecting with a childhood friend (and of course, taking the time in between trials to flirt with said friend). I really loved Maria as a character. She’s jaded and a bit closed off at first, and certainly suspicious about these trials. But as she uncovers more and more secrets, we see more layers of her personality and it’s clear she is someone who is loyal and willing to do whatever she can to protect those she loves. The relationship that forms between her and another contestant was very engaging and many of their interactions had me chuckling, even in the midst of all the horror.
I loved how this story was positively steeped in Filipino folklore. This book also had a lot of botanical horror elements. There are so many botanical horror books out right now and this stands out to me as one of the best. I think this is where Fama’s writing really shines, she’s able to perfectly capture the beauty of the plant life while also capitalizing on the inherent creepiness of plants taking over the human body.
This book had so many elements I love - botanical horror, sapphic romance, a ghost story, corrupt religious leaders, complicated family dynamics, possession, and Fama was able to balance them all without the narrative ever feeling cluttered. I truly cannot recommend this book enough.
Thank you to NetGalley and Daphne Fama for the eARC!
mackattack finished a book
1d
A Deadly Blooming
Daphne Fama
Lured into a terrifying inheritance competition when returning home for her mother’s funeral, a young woman must reckon with her mother’s secrets and a town’s past of deathly sacrifice. Be careful of what grows here… Maria’s strongest memory of Talalora is crying as her mother sent her away. But when the sudden news of her death leaves Maria in shock, she returns to the remote Filipino town she once called home. She’ll close old wounds for good and claim an inheritance her mother left behind. But Talalora isn’t what Maria remembers. Once lush fields are barren; the flowers are withered. The townspeople are devoted to a lone priest, Father Benito, who declares her mother’s inheritance must be earned. To stake her claim, Maria must brave a series of trials pitting her against relatives she’s never known. Each trial is crueler than the last as Talalora’s plants grow faster and stranger. Maria’s progress brings memories she was never supposed to reclaim: memories of her mother and tender moments with a beautiful girl, now a woman who insists her mother’s death was planned. And she remembers the Diwata, a spirit who’s ensured Talalora’s fertile land for decades. Now she wanders Talalora at night, leaving flowers and ruin in her wake. Maria’s fight for her inheritance becomes a search for the truth of Talalora, her mother, and a curse that binds them all together. What’s been buried must bloom.
mackattack finished a book
2d
Paradise Rot
Jenny Hval
A lyrical debut novel from a musician and artist renowned for her sharp sexual and political imagery Jo is in a strange new country for university, and having a more peculiar time than most. A house with no walls, a roommate with no boundaries, and a home that seems ever more alive. Jo’s sensitivity, and all her senses, become increasingly heightened and fraught, as the lines between bodies and plants, and dreaming and wakefulness, blur and mesh. This debut novel from critically acclaimed artist and musician Jenny Hval, presents a heady and hyper-sensual portrayal of sexual awakening and queer desire. A complex, poetic and strange novel about bodies, sexuality and the female gender.
mackattack started reading...
2d
Paradise Rot
Jenny Hval
A lyrical debut novel from a musician and artist renowned for her sharp sexual and political imagery Jo is in a strange new country for university, and having a more peculiar time than most. A house with no walls, a roommate with no boundaries, and a home that seems ever more alive. Jo’s sensitivity, and all her senses, become increasingly heightened and fraught, as the lines between bodies and plants, and dreaming and wakefulness, blur and mesh. This debut novel from critically acclaimed artist and musician Jenny Hval, presents a heady and hyper-sensual portrayal of sexual awakening and queer desire. A complex, poetic and strange novel about bodies, sexuality and the female gender.
