#Review - The Raven's Tale by Cat Winters #YALIT #Paranormal #Occult

Series: Standalone
Format: Hardcover, 368 pages
Release Date: April 16, 2019
Publisher: Abrams
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Paranormal, Occult & Supernatural

Everyone knows Edgar Allan Poe—now it’s time to meet the Muse who inspired him.

Seventeen-year-old Edgar Poe counts down the days until he can escape his foster family—the wealthy Allans of Richmond, Virginia. He hungers for his upcoming life as a student at the prestigious new university, almost as much as he longs to marry his beloved Elmira Royster. However, on the brink of his departure, all his plans go awry when a macabre Muse named Lenore appears to him. Muses are frightful creatures that lead Artists down a path of ruin and disgrace, and no respectable person could possibly understand or accept them. But Lenore steps out of the shadows with one request: “Let them see me!”
 

 

"Silence your muses!" lest they lead you into temptation and keep you from pursuing an honest, hardworking, upright life.

Cat Winters' The Raven's Tale is a re-imaging of Edgar Allan Poe's early life. The Raven's Tale is dripping in mood and the macabre. The year is 1826, Edgar Poe is struggling with his foster father who took him in after his own mother died. As he is sitting in a church under which 72 people were buried after a horrible fire in 1811, he sees a girl dressed in soot and black feathers. She tells Edgar that she's no longer satisfied with mere crumbs of his attention. She tells Edgar that "I Want More Words." Thus is the first meeting between Edgar and his muse that he names Lenore.

But, Edgar has other issues to deal with as well. He is a week away from going to the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, but his "father" is threatening to withhold all financial responsibility unless he puts away his muse, and forgets about writing his dark poems that have caused a bit of consternation in his home of Richmond. It also precludes him from asking the girl he loves to marry him openly. As Eddie arrives at university, where he hopes to achieve greatness through his poetry, his financial situation becomes dire and he's forced into debt and out of control gambling in a futile attempt to pay for his fees. 

It is fair to say that Poe sank heavily into his obsessions with his art, and if we didn't know that his friends and family are all able to see his muses as well, we might think he'd tumbled into madness. This story contains dual POV's from Edgar and Lenore. Muses are supposed to be a person or personified force who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist. In this world, muses are real, physical beings, and they're considered corrupt and dangerous by polite society. In Lenore's case, she has a mind, a desire, and a goal of becoming much, much more.  

The author did a remarkable job in researching who Edgar Allan Poe really was, especially in the early days of his life when he is struggling to get noticed. Also, I give props to the author for also including a bit of her own Poe-esque poetry in several of the chapters, while also mingling in real Poe works throughout the book. I think it's fair to say that most of us have read one of Poe's books, or his poetry, but really understand who he was as a young adult was truly a wild ride. Melding both Edgar and Lenore's tales together made things a bit more twisted, and yes, dark as well.

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Tuesday #Review - Odd & True by Cat Winters #YALit #Historical

Series: Standalone
Format: E-Book, 368 pages
Release Date: September 12, 2017
Publisher: Amulet Books
Source: NetGalley
Genre: Young Adult / Historical Fiction

Two sisters with a dark past face their demons in the latest from master of historical paranormal Cat Winters.

Trudchen grew up hearing Odette’s stories of their monster-slaying mother and a magician’s curse. But now that Tru’s older, she’s starting to wonder if her older sister’s tales were just comforting lies, especially because there’s nothing fantastic about her own life—permanently disabled and in constant pain from childhood polio.

In 1909, after a two-year absence, Od reappears with a suitcase supposedly full of weapons and a promise to rescue Tru from the monsters on their way to attack her. But it’s Od who seems haunted by something. And when the sisters’ search for their mother leads them to a face-off with the Leeds Devil, a nightmarish beast that’s wreaking havoc in the Mid-Atlantic states, Tru discovers the peculiar possibility that she and her sister—despite their dark pasts and ordinary appearances—might, indeed, have magic after all.

Cat Winter's Odd & True is a step away from the author's previous works like In the Shadows of Blackbirds, The Cure for Dreaming, and The Uninvited. Odd & True is the story of Odette Grey and Trudchen Grey. Two sisters whose family is anything but normal. In fact, I dare say that they are as discombobulated as they come. Odd is a strange character. I would say that she's a storyteller's dream. She bloviates about stories that she thinks will entertain her younger sister Tru. She lives in an alternate reality where monsters actually do exist, and her mother was a hero who protected the family from said monsters. 

Tru is definitely my favorite and that's because she has the ultimate handicap. She was struck by polio as a young girl, and has had to struggle to get from place to place without assistance. But, when Odd returns home 2 years after being banished by their Aunt, she agrees to go on an adventure of a lifetime with her sister. From Oregon to Chicago. From Chicago to Philadelphia. From Philadelphia to New Jersey where they hunt for the elusive Leed's Devil. Tru also had a curious aspect of tea leaf reading which leads you to wonder if she did have magical abilities after all.

Let's call this Odd & Tru's Tall Tales, shall we? Odd & True's story takes place in actual historical locations. The author uses real events, places, & incidents to weave her story. Odd is the most curious sort. She spent her early years weaving stories for Tru. These stories were filled with fairy tales, legends, fables, myths, ghost stories, magic & monsters. Heck, they even grew up reading Grimm's Fairy Tales. Odd's choices are to be scrutinized, but I won't deny there was a bit of sadness on my part as well. 

Especially when the author finally reveals some really heart breaking twists. Imagine being told that you will go on grand adventures and become a hero in her own right. Just like her Uncle Magnus, and her own Mother. Then life hits you squarely in the face. Would you rather live in a fantasy world, or the real world? Never doubt the love between these sisters. Never doubt that either of them would bend over backwards to help the other. Odd & True is a story that alternatives between the sisters, but also between the present and the past. Recommended.

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#Review - The Uninvited by Cat Winters (Historical Fiction)

Format: E-Galley, 368 pages
Release Date: August 11, 2015
Publisher: William Morrow
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Genre: Historical, Paranormal

From the award-winning author of In the Shadow of Blackbirdscomes a stunning new novel—a masterfully crafted story of love, loss, and second chances. Set during the fear and panic of the Great Influenza of 1918, The Uninvited is part gothic ghost-story, part psychological thriller, perfect for those who lovedThe Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield or The Vanishing by Wendy Webb.

Twenty-five year old Ivy Rowan rises from her bed after being struck by the flu, only to discover the world has been torn apart in just a few short days.

But Ivy’s life-long gift—or curse—remains. For she sees the uninvited ones—ghosts of loved ones who appear to her, unasked, unwelcomed, for they always herald impending death. On that October evening in 1918 she sees the spirit of her grandmother, rocking in her mother’s chair. An hour later, she learns her younger brother and father have killed a young German out of retaliation for the death of Ivy’s older brother Billy in the Great War.

Horrified, she leaves home, to discover the flu has caused utter panic and the rules governing society have broken down. Ivy is drawn into this new world of jazz, passion, and freedom, where people live for the day, because they could be stricken by nightfall. But as her ‘uninvited guests’ begin to appear to her more often, she knows her life will be torn apart once more, but Ivy has no inkling of the other-worldly revelations about to unfold.

The Uninvited, by Cat Winters, is a historical/paranormal standalone novel that takes place in 1918 Buchanan, Illinois. The protagonist is 25 year old Ivy Rowan who teaches piano to children and is also sensitive to seeing the Uninvited (spirits) like her mother, and grandmother. Ivy knows that when a spirit shows up, someone has died or will soon be dead. Everything changes when she learns that her younger brother Peter and father Frank have killed a young German out of retaliation for the death of Ivy’s brother Billy in the Great War aka World War I. Buchanan, Illinois has been hit extremely hard by the flu epidemic and the war. Ivy's school friends have also suffered from the pandemic and the war.

Ivy is affectionately called Wendy Darling by her brothers. She can't just stand by and let things slide by. She takes action, she tries to make a wrong into a right, and in the end, Ivy finds a way of letting go of worrying about others, and focusing instead on putting a smile on her face, and a skip in her step. While I have a bit of issue with the speed of the romance, and the angst, it all comes out in the wash. The next thing that readers should know about The Uninvited, is that it is not a young adult themed story like In the Shadows of Blackbirds. Ivy is a character with profound empathy, a sensitive nature, and unable to move forward with her own life until she has an epiphany of sorts.

Winters was asked to write a story that was more adult themed in nature than young adult. The Uninvited is the end result and we, as readers, should be thankful that the publisher thought so highly of Winters writing ability to take a chance that she would succeed. The story is filled with complex angles and a surprising revelation around the 80 percent mark. Perhaps if one truly pays attention to clues Winters puts in front of you, then you can get the general idea of what this story is about and I can save the spoilers for private conversations. Winter doesn't sit on her hands and hold back on the dark things that happened in America during World War I.

Groups like The American Protective League (APL) was an organization of private citizens that worked with Federal law enforcement agencies during the World War I era to identify suspected German sympathizers and to counteract the activities of radicals, anarchists, anti-war activists, and left-wing labor and political organizations. There were concentration camps in Georgia and Utah for Germans who were deemed dangerous to America. People find different ways of coping during horrible times. I dare say that the US hasn't exactly been kind to legal immigrants, especially when it comes to putting them in concentration camps. Just ask the Germans in WWI. Just ask the Italians and Japanese in World War II. Students should learn from our countries history and mistakes so that we can stop repeating them over and over again.

I do like that Winter once again flirts with a very tragic and deadly pandemic that spread throughout the entire world killing millions. The Spanish influenza or flu pandemic of 1918 to 1919, was the deadliest in modern history. It infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide; about one-third of the planet's population at the time. It killed an estimated 20 to 50 million victims. I do like that Winter once again puts women in the forefront of her story in an age where men were fighting overseas, and women were helping out at home, especially with the American Red Cross. The painful exploration of these women trying to deal with the pandemic reads as factual, and the suffering is clear as the nose on your faces.

As with her previous novels, Winters doesn't hold things back. Her story is fluid, and her characters are very likable. I like that Ivy is written like a butterfly who finally gets her winds, and flies away to do her own thing rather than being stuck in her parent's home doing odd jobs. I think that readers will agree that Ivy truly stands out and is a remarkable character even with the shocking abruptness of the romance, and the HOLY CRAP revelation at the end.

**I received this book for free from (Publisher) via (Edelweiss) in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**

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