Snag Your Copy Small Favors Devised By Erin A. Craig Supplied As Audio Book
and her family live in a small village called Amity Falls or God's Grasp, What starts out seeming to be a kind and peaceful place quickly turns into a mysterious scene full of attacks, vandalism and unexplained hatred, But where is this enmity coming from
There are mysterious beasts with deformities really creepy and glowing silver eyes, Also, a strange woman described as beautiful with the same silver eyes but hands that are too long and misshapen, Everything just keeps getting more odd, as if someone or something is changing the town, But is it the towns peoples fault Or the strangers from the woods
I definitely recommend this chilling read! Trigger warnings for disturbing imagery related to animals and some people, violence and death.
"Enter not the forest deep, Beyond the Bells, the dark fiends keep, "
This is a stunningly beautiful, eloquently written novel, I was a little confused by some of the happenings at the end, and thinking on things didn't help clarify the rushed climax, so I'm just going to take the hit and move along, enjoying the lush atmosphere sitelinkSmall Favors provides.
Aside from a few characters being a main part of the first half of the book, and then disappearing with no update on what happened to them mom and dad, a character who was so unlikable and acted out of character from what we were being told brother, I really grew attached to this quirky, creepy community and the children that tried to hold it all together along the way.
Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy, I read this book as my first read ofas part of diversefirst by Horror Spotlight in an effort to support female, nonbinary, and other diverse horror authors.
I loved the setting, which was loosely based on colonial America, although no specific time period or region was referenced, I love to crochet and my grandpa has bees, so all of those aspects were very relatable, sweet, and fun, I especially enjoyed the bee content,
Isolation was a common theme with this one, as the premise is set around the fact that Amity Falls is snowed in each winter with no way to seek extra supplies, while the yearly supply run is cancelled when the men who try to leave town are all killed by unknown monsters.
The slow decay of mental health in an isolated environment is common with these books, and thats present here, too, The almost claustrophobic feeling of it reminded me of the pandemic more than anything else, though, and Im wondering if thats where Craig got some of her inspiration.
I tend to like Craigs books because theyre a good combination of fantasy, horror, and romancemy three favorite genres, I thought the romance in sitelinkHouse of Salt and Sorrows was somewhat mediocre, although I liked it well enough, I was slightly annoyed with the romance here, although I wont go into detail to avoid spoilers, Instead, I though the main characters relationships with each of her siblings were far more interesting, I almost would have liked a little more from her sister Mary and her best friend Rebecca,
Overall, I thought this was really enjoyable and I will certainly keep reading Craigs work, The romances tend to be very YA, so maybe Im just growing out of those a bit, I guess Ill find out when I read the next HOSAS book, sitelinkHouse of Roots and Ruin,
Past diversefirst Horror Spotlight / ladiesfirst Ladies of Horror Fiction Reads:
sitelinkDread Nation
sitelinkHouse of Salt and Sorrows
.
.
After finishing House of Salt and Sorrows, I cant wait to get my hands on this beauty!
Update: I preordered the BampN exclusive edition and boy is it stunning!.
Growing up, I was especially drawn to fairy tales, legends, mythology and fantasy stories, Maybe because of that I still love discovering wellwritten YA fantasy novels,
When I opened up Small Favors such an innocuous title I couldnt even remember adding it to my TBR justmonths ago, It definitely was a story inspired by myths and fantasy,
A tightknit community, a code of rules, and a pastoral setting surrounded by a deeply forested and ancient woods, Creepy but as the story opens we learn about beekeeping and get to know the hive and the family raising and relying on those hives,
It may have a pastoral beginning but the darkening shadows spread out from the “pines” and settles, ever so quietly in Amity Hollow,
What follows is a year of darkness, emotional strife and the hardships of winter combined with malevolence waiting in the darkness and violence, We learn how easy it is for neighbor to turn against neighbor, We see this all though the eyes of Elleria Downing, our heroine and half a set of twins,
This is a great book to go into knowing nothing as the turns in the story build upon each other, While I admittedly found the last few chapters a bit of a mess, we got it violence and vengeance only begets more of the same, the long build up ends in a fairly quick and messy ending,
Aless pages on the build up and an extra chapter toward the denouement would have earned this fascinating tale another star, No doubt this is because Im a critical old bookworm and not the teenage audience this book was written for who else would Whitaker have been created for besides Elleria
Regardless I look forward to reading more from this author she sure knows how to build a slow burning book!!
PSthe beekeeping information was stellar!! Small Favors is a quiet YA horror novel that entirely sucked me in.
It's creepy and atmospheric with slowbuilding tension, small town secrets, and fraught relationships, Definitely worth a read.
Ellery lives in an isolated small town governed by rules created by the founders, It's a close knit community where neighbors are always there to lend a helping hand, But things start going very wrong, It starts with the deformed animals, the rotting crops, and then relationships going awry, Through it all Ellery struggles to keep her family together and help them survive, I don't want to say too much more, but I loved a lot about this, It was creepy and fascinating, Towards the later part of the book I thought the pacing could have been better and we got explanations of some things a tad too early in my opinion.
Dragging it out a bit more would have kept up the suspense, But overall, a very strong book and I love seeing this kind of slow burn horror show up in YA, I received an advance copy of this book for review, All opinions are my own,
In terms of content notes, there is a lot of violence, some gore, death, lost of loved ones, manipulation, gaslighting etc, Following in the same vein as House of Salt and Sorrows, Small Favors is a dark and twisty fantastical read from Erin A, Craig.
Ellerie Downing and her family live in a small town called Amity Falls, located in a secluded valley surrounded by forest, What starts out to be a kind and peaceful place quickly turns into a mysterious scene full of seemingly random attacks, vandalism and unexplained hatred, Ellerie is determined to figure out what madness is plaguing her town, with the help of a new stranger whos just arrived,
I didnt even realize this was a Rumpelstiltskin retelling until after I was done reading it but it definitely makes sense with the plot and considering the fact that the authors first book was also a retelling.
I feel like I understand the direction of the story so much more now that I know that,
This one was definitely similar to House of Salt and Sorrows in that it has some fantastical elements and darker storylines included, I also found the writing style to be very consistent between the two books, The writing was immersive and really added to the atmosphere of the story,
One of the main things I enjoyed about this book was the small town setting of Amity Falls, surrounded by a dark and mysterious forest.
This definitely added to the creepyfactor of the story while also keeping the reader engaged in solving the mystery of what darkness has overtaken the town.
This small town dynamic did come with a very big cast of characters, There was a list of townspeople and families at the beginning of the book which was helpful but some things did get confusing when there were big town gatherings and trying to remember how everyone is connected.
Having this larger group did bring a lot of drama with it though, and I enjoyed following the various storylines between characters,
This was an interesting take on a classic fairytale and I really appreciated how original it was, The story was riveting and the pacing felt well done throughout,
Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher and author for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! Actual .
starsThere's a power in names, don't you think Once your name is given away, you can't help but be pulled along by those who have it.
Small Favors pulls the reader along with its atmosphere of total isolation and something creepy and insidious trying to cross the narrow borders we are hiding inside the story.
Its horror is not in the gory details which were enough trigger warning: if you are sensitive to the topic of the detailed description of manslaughter, I would advise withholding from reading this story, but also in the everpresent feeling of being watched.
I swear, Small Favors is the creepiest book I've read this year!
We are introduced to the small town of Amity Falls, located in the Blackspire Mountain range.
It's an isolated society of friendly neighbors, But soon enough strange occurrences take place in the town: a rotten harvest, a mutilated newly born calve, giant wolves in the woods hunting people, And most of the friendly neighbors start turning against each other, wreaking havoc upon the town's main rule: do not harm thy neighbor,
I was absolutely entranced by the pagan vibe of the story, Religion and myth clash together creating more suspense, The town of Amity Falls exists inside a circle surrounded by forest, It is literally divided by bells that mark the end of the town's territory and the beginning of the forest: as if the religious part ends where the superstitious part begins.
The forest breathes its ancient stories and legends on the people of Amity Falls, Cross this border and you are on your own,
Small Favors reminded me a little bit of the movie The Village, Isolation is a physical feeling in this place, And if something horrible happens there's no one to run for help, It's the mental horror of the situation that freezes your blood,
I would rate this story higher if not for the fact that the tension that was building most of the book, snapped too fast and was too unsatisfying.
It felt underwhelming. I expected so much more from the resolution with the strange occurrences taking place in the town, The author so masterly tugs at our fears I swear I was tense as a string, ready to snap with the story's crescendo, But nothing happened. I mean, some things happen but they are far from the tempo the story picked up at the beginning,
Still, it should not turn you away from the story because the whole experience is worthy of your effort and time, and though I felt a little bit disappointed, I do not regret picking this book up.
Erin's writing style pulled me right from the beginning, I was hooked and couldn't stop reading until I finished,
I was always fond of the topic of beekeeping as my grandfather used to keep bees and I would help him sell the honey on the market.
It was so endearing to read about how much Ellerie the main character cared about the hive and compared bees to human society, acting as one.
But in this case, bees were more loyal to each other than people could ever hope to be,
Also, the relationship between siblings one of my favorite topics in books, was greatly developed in the book, I loved reading about Ellerie's relationship with her sisters and especially her twin Sam, who was the morally grey character of the story, so to say.
I despised him for the way he treated his sister and the girl he loved, but I did not hate him and even felt sorry for him.
For romance lovers, there were some sweet
moments I enjoyed and rooted for, but the ending spoiled it a little bit for me,
Overall, Small Favors is a very creepy and atmospheric story but a little bit underwhelming at the end, My overall enjoyment wasn't spoiled but I am left wanting more: another small favor to satisfy my curiosity, .