October Reads: Cackle by Rachel Harrison and Small Town, Big Magic by Hazel Beck

 I've finished two more books out of my ginormous TBR pile to wrap up my staycation. Many more to go, but I feel like I have my reading mojo back again and am so happy about it. I decided to review both of these novels in this post because they're both witchy themed and definitely appropriate reads for October.

Cackle was just released in paperback with a very different cover. I bought the hardcover last year, started it, and yes, you guessed it, put it down and didn't pick it up again for months. I powered through it Friday and finished it Saturday afternoon. I'll confess I was a bit disappointed in it. I think mostly because I was expecting something more along the lines of a lighter fare witch story. It could be entirely my fault for going into it and being dismayed that it wasn't what I was expecting. It was definitely more of a "woman power" novel about finding your own strength and owning it. 

Quick synopsis: Annie is leaving a long relationship where her boyfriend thinks they're better off as friends. She's heartbroken, and leaves NYC to teach in a small upstate New York town. Rowan is a beautiful, Hallmark-esque town with friendly people and quaint shops. Enter Sophie, a beautiful woman who eagerly begins a friendship with Annie. It's weird how the townsfolk seem to be a bit afraid of Sophie and deferential to her whenever she's around. Soon, Annie is exposed to more of Sophie's life, and it's pretty odd. A giant home/castle in the woods, spiders that interact with Sophie, things appearing by magic. Sophie is a witch. And she's nice but if you cross her, she is quick to punish. She wants Annie to come into her own power, forget pining over her ex-boyfriend, and stand up for herself. She doesn't need anyone to live a happy life. Annie struggles with this--it's attractive and hard to resist. 

Will Annie fall under Sophie's "spell"? I felt this novel had some promise, but fell short of what I was hoping to read. I was disappointed in the ending and felt it went from potentially charming to a bit dark and gave me Stepford Wives vibes (I saw the original Stepford Wives movie as a kid on TV and was deeply horrified by it). I guess I don't like the conclusion that you have to be alone in order to be happy and free as a woman. 

I waited months for this to be published, and it's taken me checking it out twice and renewing it a few times from the library to finish it. Ugh! Again, another one I had huge hopes for, but was disappointed. Mostly disappointed in the main character Emerson. Bookstore owner? Love it! Independent woman-Love it! But holy cow she's a real pain in the butt. Annoying doesn't cover it. Always saying how smart she is, how capable she is, how tough she is. It gets. so. old. Emerson and her circle of friends are all witches in the small town of St. Cyprian, MO. Only thing is, Emerson doesn't know she's a witch. There's a horrible governing body of witches called the Joywood who wiped her mind clear in her teens when her powers didn't appear when they were expected. So for ten years Emerson has been oblivious to it all, while her friends have been hiding it from her and protecting her. 

Annoying asshat Mayor Skip tries to have Emerson killed by some heavy black magic, and low and behold, Emerson's hidden powers appear and she destroys the black magic. She finds out she's a Confluence Warrior, and she's meant to save the town from a horrible black magic flood that's going to destroy not only St. Cyprian, but possibly the Midwest. This black magic is concentrated in the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers, right where St. Cyprian is located. But Emerson must find the ritual that will stop the flood before it's too late. And she has to do it in secret, with her friends, so the Joywood don't find out and destroy Emerson. 

There's some romance, but it's low level between Emerson and Jacob, her love (she kind of remembers, but kind of doesn't thanks to the mind wipe) from high school. Still friends, and some smoldering occurs. She's got a heck of a great guy there, but doesn't seem to appreciate him as much as I'd expect. He's a peach. While their relationship progresses, it seems as though it's Jacob doing all the heavy lifting and Emerson accepting it without much giving. 

Anyway, I will read the next book, which is out sometime in 2023 just because this novel ends with a huge cliff-hanger moment. I'm interested enough in the other characters and what happens with all of them. Emerson's circle of friends are the best part of the novel. Emerson is annoying and hard to like as a character. 

Rating for Cackle: 3/6 for potential as an interesting novel about owning your own power, living your life. Fell short of my expectations. 

Available in hardcover, trade paperback, ebook, and audio. 

Rating for Small Town, Big Magic: 3/6 for a novel with a lot of potential that was almost sidelined by the annoying main character Emerson. I really liked her circle of friends and will read the second book to see where it goes. It is touted as a rom-com, but it's definitely not one at all. 

Available in trade paperback, audio, and ebook. 

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October Reads: Cackle by Rachel Harrison and Small Town, Big Magic by Hazel Beck

The Cold Vanish by Jon Billman

I stumbled on this book late last week as I was working at the library and knew immediately it was something I had to read. Lucky for me, no one else was waiting for it, so I took it home and spent a large chunk of Saturday reading it, finally finishing it Sunday morning. 

Author Jon Billman is a writer for Outside magazine, and started the quest that makes up the bulk of this book while working on a story for the magazine. Jon has written about other people going missing in our national parks and vast wilderness areas, but had no idea just how high the number was until he stared looking deeper into it--and found out no one actually keeps track of this disturbing trend. In April, 2017, Jacob Gray takes off on his heavily packed bike to explore the Olympic National Park. He's got plenty of food, a tent, clothing, and survival gear. Yet his bike is found just one day after he takes off, on the side of the road, with no sign of Jacob. What follows is the heartbreaking frustration his family and friends go through as red tape keeps organizations from stepping in and helping in the search that begins with the assumption that Jacob decided to just walk away. He's an adult, after all, so he could have done what many people do--walk away from their life with no word to family or friends. Yet his father and family persist in searching for Jacob, through all sorts of weather, in really rough conditions. Randy Gray is willing to explore every possibility and theory that might lead to his son, no matter how outlandish it may seem.  This story is the framework for many more stories about men and women who vanished with no clue what happened to them. Some were runners going out for a short run; others were at national parks in full view of other people, yet never returned to their cars and simply vanished into thin air. For some families, there is closure, but usually not for quite some time. For others, there is never closure. As long as there is no body found, they remain hopeful. The disappearance of a loved one is something they never move past, and never "get over". The unanswered questions never go away. 

What I found so very interesting is the fact that this is something that happens a lot in national parks and wilderness areas. And depending on where you disappear, there may be a lot of resources to help look for you; or if it's in a county that has little money, it may simply be a few days of looking for you, then it's left to family and friends to continue the search. It's beyond ridiculous that we have no federal or state procedures in place to address these disappearances--and no budgets, either. It's a case of too many agencies, large egos, and not enough money. 

I found this book hard to put down. I did get a bit turned around in the many descriptions of up the mountains, down the mountains, ridges, sight lines, rivers. I would be a classic case of someone lost in the woods who couldn't find their way out. 

Rating: 4/5 for a look at an epidemic of missing people that most of us are unaware of: people lost in the wilds of America. Theories abound around vortex areas, Bigfoot, UFO's, and time slips--but most of the time it simply boils down to being unprepared or a fatal slip on rocks or a slippery slope. For those who never come home, their story has no ending. 

Available in hardcover, ebook, and audio.

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The Cold Vanish by Jon Billman