CITY OF THE LOST by Kelley Armstrong & narrated by Thérèse Plummer

I really enjoy Kelley Armstrong's YA books, but I also enjoy her thrillers. This was such an intense read from start to finish and Thérèse Plummer was amazing as a narrated. 

Casey Duncan went against her family of doctors to become a detective, and she has plenty of secrets and people to hide away from. But she agrees to leave the life she knows behind solely to get her best friend, Diana, away from her abusive and controlling ex. After a series of interviews and cash payments, the two of them head to Rockton, a town up in the Yukon that is not discoverable except by those who run it. Casey arrives after Diana and is immediately thrown into a murder case. The only problem is, most of the people in the town are up there under false names, hiding from what they've done, or from those who want to hurt them, making the town full of victims and criminals. Casey must work with Eric Dalton, the town sheriff, as well as Will, the deputy, to solve the case as well as the new ones that keep happening. She also must confront her own secrets, her toxic friendship, and her growing feelings for the uncultured sheriff. As her investigation unravels, she finds her own life at risk while so many twists and turns keep happening.  This was one of my favourite reads this year, and I can't wait to listen to the next in the series!

AETHERBOUND by E. K. Johnston

Pendt Harland grows up on her family's ship, getting only the minimum amount of food needed to keep her alive. She doesn't have the abilities her family desires, so they have her work in the kitchens until she is old enough to be sold off to another ship or a space station. A week before her 18th birthday, she escapes from the Harland onto Brannick Station. There she meets the young heirs of the station who show her that her undesirable mutation is something much more powerful and useful.

This story is charming and sweet with a satisfying ending that left me curious about the next book.

A DARKNESS ABSOLUTE by Kelley Armstrong & narrated by Thérèse Plummer

A Darkness Absolute is another thrilling story by Kelley Armstrong that is set in the city of Rockton. This time, Casey and Will come across a woman trapped in a hole when they are forced to take shelter in a cave during a snowstorm. The woman has been missing for over a year, and her discovery leads to the discovery of the remains of other missing women. Finding out who took them becomes difficult when Casey and Eric must consider suspects from Rockton, nearby settlements, and even hostiles. It takes a lot of digging, but eventually they find the abductor/killer. Or think they do...

I really do love this series by Kelley Armstrong and I think Thérèse Plummer is an amazing narrator. But, as a Canadian, I was thrown off by the pronunciation of toque. It should have the "ew" sound after the t, and not be pronounced as toke. That is something quite different in Canada.

THE LUMINOUS DEAD by Caitlin Starling
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Although this book is considered a sci-fi horror, it was not exactly a horror in the way that I expected. The story is set on a faraway mining planet, and caver Gyre is anxious to take a new mission to earn money to find her mother who left when she was young. As she gets further into the mission, she learns that it is far from the usual mapping of mineral deposits that she expected. Her guide, Em, is not much older than herself, and has her skipping past all the usual significant discoveries for something beyond. 

I found this story to be good and it mostly kept my interest throughout, but I would have liked the fear of the Tunneler, a deadly creature that we don't meet until the end of the book, to be enhanced toward the beginning. As a reader, I knew it was nearby, but didn't understand the fear until the actual encounter. I also would have like to have seen the relationship between Gyre and Em develop a little deeper. I didn't understand Gyre's sudden feelings for Em. They seemed out of the blue. The first half of the story spent a lot of time on the specifics of cave diving. If this is your special interest, you will LOVE this book! To me, the horror came from Gyre being alone in the caves for so long and encountering dead bodies of previous divers along the way, that it drove her to madness. Also, the dangers of cave diving on its own. The ending was satisfying.

​COMPOUND FRACTURE by Andrew Joseph White

I can usually tell when an author who writes about a small town has never lived in a small town. I can also tell when an author has, and Andrew Joseph White obviously knows first-hand the nuances of living in a town very far removed from a big city. They're the same towns people avoid driving through and have horror stories written about. Compound Fracture isn't exactly a horror story, but a coming-of-age story about Miles who is just coming out as trans while also discovering he is autistic. It is also the story of friendship, hardship, class division, and revenge. This is not a sweet tale, but very gruesome and hard to read at times, but it is Miles' story that happened the summer before his senior year of high school.

The story is well-written, intense, emotional, shocking, realistic, and captivating to the very end. I never know what to expect from books by Andrew Joseph White, but I know it will be quite the ride. I already have his next book on my bookshelf.