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𝖆𝖓𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖘𝖎𝖆

@anashauntedlibrary

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Gothic, fantasy and classic books🕯️🥀
cr: The Fallen and The Kiss of Dusk☀️🦇
The Ink Eater🪶✒️ (ARC)

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𝔙𝔞𝔪𝔭𝔦𝔯𝔢 𝔟𝔬𝔬𝔨𝔰 𝔱𝔬 𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔨 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔱𝔢𝔢𝔱𝔥 𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔬🥀🦇

I decided to bring back this format and see how it does, maybe I'll keep them coming with new recs!

I skipped the classics in order to focus on less obvious choices even if many of these are pretty popular and I've talked about them before. I also included some titles that I read in the last year that were definitely a pleasant surprise and a fun slide for my teenage self.

I'd love to know your favourite vampire books and the ones you loved as a teen.

I wanted to include a slide for queer vampires but the majority of these already are, so: all the Carmilla retellings, obviously, House of Hunger, all the ones about the Brides, and A Long Time Dead include queer characters, especially sapphic relationships. If I'm not mistaken Blood in Her Tongue, too.

#vampirebooks #bookrecs #gothicbooks #sapphicbookrecs #sapphicvampires by @anashauntedlibrary

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a month ago

𝔊𝔬𝔬𝔡 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔢𝔳𝔦𝔩 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔰 🔮

Since my last posts with book recs with a theme went well, I decided to continue the series and focus on witches this time. These books are from many different genres: from classic lit to YA fantasy, from gothic atmospheres to feminist retellings of Greek mythology.

I love the figure of the witch, both hated and admired, charming and frightening, and I really want to read more about them, so I would love your recommendations. I realized my list lacks some traditional representations, so I really want to read Slewfoot in the future since it's been compared to The Witch, which is one of my favourite movies.

Do you like books about magic and witches?

#bookrecs #witches #booksaboutwitches by @anashauntedlibrary

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2 years ago

𝔚𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔟𝔬𝔬𝔨 𝔯𝔢𝔠𝔰 ❄️

As much as I love autumn, winter will always be a special season. Not only my birthday is in December but I also feel like the cold winds bring a certain otherness, an eerie but notstalgic feeling, with them. We all need an escape when outside is cold and dark, so here are my favourite Winter Fairytales🏔️

In the last slide I put the book I will probably be reading this holiday season and I'm so excited, I hope some of you will be reading it too so that I can rear all of your thoughts🤍

Which season do you prefer? Are you a fairy of the Ice Court, a witch of the wilderness or a cozy girl in the winter?

#winterbookrecs
#thestolenheir
#spinnintsilver
#thebearandthenightingale by @anashauntedlibrary

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2 years ago

𝔅𝔬𝔬𝔨 𝔯𝔢𝔠𝔰 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔞𝔲𝔱𝔲𝔪𝔫🍁🍂

Since this is both cozy and spooky season, I crafted a little guide of books that I read in Autumn or wish I had read in Autumn. I divided them according to vibes and themes, enjoy🖤

#bookrecs #autumnbooks #gothicbooks

Some of these deal with dark topics: the characters have abusive pasts or have been shunned by society for being different, but I still find them deeply comforting because of the settings and the deep connections the protagonists form with their chosen family🥀

I'm still reading The Ink Eater but I thought it fit perfectly with the other books.
Even if I found them comforting, these can still be tragic and heavy, so read the content warnings before⚠️

My favourite books about haunted or evil houses and family secrets. Fungi, rot, roots, sentient houses, a book for every taste!

From Bunny, full of gore, to Sorcery of Thorns, an almost cozy fantasy, I think these all encapsulate the need for broody and misty academic settings in very different ways✒️

Disturbing gothic stories and my vampire staples. If you want more of those look at my pinned post about vampire book recs🕷️

These are gothic stories so check the content warnings, especially beware of The Thirteenth Tale and the Michael McDowell's novels⚠️ by @anashauntedlibrary

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9 days ago

𝔅𝔯𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔰🥀🩸

I have contrasting feelings about this book.

Brides is a sort of prequel that tells the story of the Brides of Dracula through their perspective before meeting him, relying heavily on the original story while adding completely new characters. We mainly follow four women: Mafalda, an aristocrat of hungarian descent, her best friend Lucy, almost forgotten by her own family, Eliza, an old friend from their school days, married to a widower, and Alice, Eliza's lady's maid with prophetic abilities. Their journey to Budapest to care for Mafalda's aunt and the intrigues that ensues will lead them to meet Dracula as we will learn about this through their diaries and the investigation lead some years after the events by John Seward, a character we all know from Stoker's novel.

As always, positives first: I loved the atmosphere and the journey through England and Hungary, but above all I enjoyed the intrigues and the relationship between each woman. The characters felt cohesive and the tension initially well built, even if the book was pretty slow. My main problem was the ending: without spoiling anything, I think it was partially anticlimactic and the epilogue impacted the core of the relationship between two characters, stripping the sapphic love story at the centre of the book of its beauty. I also could have done without the shift in focus towards Seward's personal life.

Overall, I think this was a pleasant read with a lot of potential. I devoured the first half or so and would still recommend this if you enjoy Dracula retellings, but avoid it if you don't like slow, character driven stories. So read it being aware of the kinda problematic (in my personal opinion) ending and the pacing.

SPOILERS (no mention of names) ❌⚠️

I am absolutely not contrary to tragic endings for queer love stories in gothic novels, after all, the genre itself calls for unfortunate closures. What I didn't like was the casual way one of the characters accepted an heteronormative life after this being previously referred to as their worst nightmare.

I can't wait to know your thoughts on this!

#Brides #bridesofdracula #dracularetelling #gothicromance #sapphicbookrecs by @anashauntedlibrary

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11 days ago

𝔅𝔬𝔬𝔨𝔰 ℑ 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔨 𝔪𝔶 𝔣𝔯𝔞𝔤𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔢𝔰 𝔴𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡 𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔡 🪻

I'm fairly new to this world but I just love to smell like the atmosphere I want to surround myself with, and what better way to do this than to pair it with my favourite books?

I'd love to know what fragrances you'd recommend based on my taste ✨

I chose books with witchy vibes, a gothic classic and generally stories that are feminine in a very bold, unhinged and seductive way for my favourite🔮

Everything ink-related, sharp, mysterious and gothic for my first niche fragrance ⋆♱⋆

My favourite books for my favourite cheap fragrance. It immediately carries me into a voyage through the same cities that Dracula lived in, between east and west🥀

A whimsical and magical classic🪄

While I'm still not sure about Japanese Rituals, the vanilla fragrance is a cozy choice for everyday and I wanted to show both the sweeter side and the edgier one with the unhinged book that is bunny🐰

These were both gifted to me (I avoid shopping at Zara since it's fast fashion) but I very much enjoyed Violet Blossom, which is both more delicate and powdery, but also dreamy and somewhat magical like the books I chose🪻

I really need your help now, I want to smell like the dampness of Mexican Gothic, the medieval atmosphere of The Six Deaths of the Saint, the wild magic of the fairies of The Cruel Prince, the perfect winterland of The Bear and The Nightingale and lastly I want to smell exactly like The Night Circus🖤 by @anashauntedlibrary

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15 days ago

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔎𝔫𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔅𝔲𝔱𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔟𝔦𝔯𝔡🛡️🪶

Alix E. Harrow did it again.
Despite me being so bad at keeping up with reviews and reading this in March, I had to say something about this because it was phenomenal and it's now one of my favourite short stories up there with The Bloody Chamber and The Six Deaths of the Saint.

This is an old tale set in the future, a dystopian fairytale. In only 40 pages, it made me feel both fear and hope for the future and I could vividly see the apocalyptic world it crafted as I closed my eyes.
I don't want to talk about the plot because I genuinely believe the less you know going into this, the better. The main gist is that the world, as it often does, irreparably poisoned itself and the survivors now have to deal with the consequences. While our protagonist has the task to preserve what little was passed down from our time, others have to fight the demons that this poisonous world inexplicably produces.

The creatures followed the same core concept of the ones from Starling House: monstrous but still capable of inspiring empathy, almost an inevitable consequence of our world. I highly recommend this even if you don't usually like apocalyptic scenarios because the author created a unique atmosphere that transcends the genre while maintaining its core pillars and the message is not entirely new.
One way it was done was through the attention to detail, such as the language used that blends regional accents, terms from our time and terms from the past.

5⭐

#alixeharrow #theknightandthebutcherbird #bookrecs by @anashauntedlibrary

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18 days ago

𝔐𝔶 𝔫𝔞𝔪𝔢 𝔞𝔰...🥀

I finally did this but it took so much damn time because my name is so long, ugh.
I still enjoyed it because I love to showcase my passion for everything dreamy, gothic and unhinged though different media. by @anashauntedlibrary

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a month ago

5 𝔟𝔬𝔬𝔨𝔰 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡𝔫'𝔱 𝔭𝔞𝔶 𝔪𝔢 𝔱𝔬... 🗡️

Came back with this cute trend. I think the books I wouldn't shut up about or couldn't put down are pretty obvious: I always talk about them and my love for gothic stories and weird, dark fairytales. So, I'd like to specify something about the books I would never pick up.

*****

I usually don't judge books, they simply aren't for me, and I certainly won't judge people who enjoyed them! I have to admit, I used A Little Life as a catch-all example for stories about certain topics that are simply too much for me. As for the others: I think Colleen Hoover hate often results in misogyny and I want to be clear: her books sound like hell to me and I don't like her marketing choices, but I'll never judge readers, especially women, for their taste and their choice to read certain romances.
The same goes for The Plated Prisoner series. I know everyone loves it but it felt so weird and sexist to me, I couldn't believe it was written by a woman. The protagonist judges every sex worker she sees while remaining almost one herself and acts like a saviour, there are numerous explicit and gratuitous sexual abuse scenes and almost zero plot. I know everyone says to wait for the second book but I just couldn't, it wasn't good enough of a story for me to endure more. Maybe I should write a more in depth review? I read it a long time ago but I was so scared to post a negative opinion of such a beloved book then, especially because the author was fighting for independent artists at the time and I respected her for it.

I would love to know your opinions, especially the unpopular ones! by @anashauntedlibrary

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2 months ago

𝔄 𝔇𝔞𝔯𝔨 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔇𝔯𝔬𝔴𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔗𝔦𝔡𝔢🗡️🌊

I started this book last summer and I've only managed to finish it last month.
I was drawn to it by the sapphic romance and the most beautiful, ethereal cover.

A group of young academics are called to go on an expedition for the king to find a magical river that is supposed to be the source of all power. They all fought together in war, except for our protagonist, which is very clearly from the fantasy equivalent of a Jewish background. Her people, the Yeva, are ostracized and strictly controlled, but she managed to find an almost secure position thanks to her work as a folklorist. They sail for the expedition, but she's immediately forced to work with her rival, Sylvia, to find her mentor's murderer.

I loved the dark and magical atmosphere, the thorough descriptions of nature and the creatures straight out of folklore. Each detail reconnects to water, making everything seem still, with something dark lurking underneath. I also enjoyed how everyone was still recovering psychologically from the war and its consequences, and the underlying tension between the characters that this brought.

However, I didn't really like how the magic system was explained, even though it was initially promising, and I didn't much enjoy the romance and murder mystery either, but I would've still liked the book as a whole.
Sylvia comes from an occupied region that is being stripped of its autonomy and traditions in order for the Kingdom to be unified. Another character is practically a n@zi and the others seem to overlook this, initially even Sylvia. Those characters are meant to be unlikable, yes, but we later presented with their own struggles and complexities, which is dangerous territory but can still be done well and bring an interesting perspective. I don't think this was the case, though. What truly baffled me was the ending: the message I received was that assimilation during colonialism is inevitable and can sometimes be positive, since a united kingdom is a greater cause.

Continued in the comments⬇️

#adarkanddrowningtide #darkacademia by @anashauntedlibrary

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2 months ago

Hello with a little weird post about my latest obsessions in between books. I'm hoping The Hacienda helps me with my recovery from the horrible reading slump I've had. An Education In Malice and The Knight and the Butcherbird were amazing and helped me so much.🎀

I've also been away from my usual book content so I would love to hear your book recs, especially new releases!🖤 by @anashauntedlibrary

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7 months ago

𝔄𝔫 𝔈𝔡𝔲𝔠𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 ℑ𝔫 𝔐𝔞𝔩𝔦𝔠𝔢🎀🦇

I'm ashamed to admit I didn't initially trust S.T. Gibson. I loved A Dowry of Blood but I couldn't get into this one in the beginning. It felt a bit slow -which isn't usually a problem for me- and I couldn't see what it was adding to the infinite pile of Carmilla's reimaginings. Boy was I wrong. The setting of the all-female academy in the sixties fit quite nicely, a nod to the numerous vampire movies of that period, I imagine. The characters were obviously pretty different from the originals but Carmilla maintained her temperamental attitude and quick mood-swings and Laura her innocent and curious nature. On the other hand, I loved the switch in the dynamic where Carmilla became the masochist looking for punishment. Their relationship with De La Fontaine also added complexity to their rivalry and she was an incredibly interesting character.
When I truly gave the book a chance I was compelled and invested, it didn't feel like a copy of every other version of this story. I also loved the impending sense of danger added to the story, I almost wished for more, but in the end, the focus had to be on Laura and Carmilla. It reminded me a bit of the catacombs in House of Hunger, a favourite of mine.

Minor spoilers ahead⚠️

My only complaint is that I felt like the pretty obvious elements of grooming weren't really resolved in the end but maybe it was just meant to represent realistically the point of view of the girls who couldn't still see the true nature of the problems. by @anashauntedlibrary

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7 months ago