I have liked this author in the past, and so I am glad I received this book as an eARC. I thought it was interesting and definitely original (which you don't get too much in YA fiction nowadays) and so I give it points for that, along with excellent writing. But it didn't keep me turning the pages long into the night, and I found I could easily put it down. However, I still would recommend it to teen readers who want a mystery, love story, and a strong heroine.

I was so excited when I got approved on Netgalley for this book! I really loved House of Salt and Sorrows and knew I wanted to read more from the author. This book didn’t disappoint! I really really enjoyed this dark retelling of Rumpelstiltskin a lot! I liked how dark and atmospheric it was. There were some slow parts but overall it kept me drawn into the story and wanting to know what was going on. I really enjoyed the characters and how it was written. I definitely recommend this one. Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy of the arc in return for an honest review!

**Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children's/Delacorte Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my rating**

Small Favors was my first book by Erin A. Craig and I really enjoyed it. The synopsis said it was like The Village meets Rumplestiltskin, which hooked me before I even cracked the book open and was a description I found to be very accurate.

Ellerie Downing lives in a small town called Amity Falls. The town survives by following a series of rules laid out by its founders. But things start to go wrong and cause tension between neighbors, monsters may be lurking in the woods, and there’s a new and mysterious boy in town...

I really enjoyed Craig’s writing in this one. I liked how the book was broken up into sections. Oftentimes, sections in books can be broken up weird or feel strange. Each one of Craig's sections felt like they started and ended in a good place before moving on.

Another thing I really enjoyed was Ellerie’s relationship with her family. It’s clear they mean the world to her and I enjoy characters with that kind of family dynamic. This is especially true of her relationship with her younger sisters. That dynamic also applied to the love interest, who treated her sisters with nothing but kindness and respect. Many times in YA books, the family is the cause of strife or the character wants to escape them, so it was nice to see not only that Ellerie had a close bond with her family but that Craig took the time to make sure the love interest ALSO developed a close bond.

There were a good amount of twists and turns to keep readers on their toes and guessing what will happen next. If you’re looking for a book that’s part dark fairy tale with a fiesty female protagonist mixed in, this is the book for you! I would highly recommend this book and will eagerly look forward to Craig's next book!

4.5/5 stars (rounded to 4 for Goodreads)

"'There's nothing. Not even for the girl who can name every flower. The girl who thinks she can name the stars. The girl who thought she could name me.'"

Ellerie Downing has lived in Amity Falls all her life. It's a small, peaceful town tucked away in mountains and forests, and they rarely have visitors. Long ago, the villagers told stories of monsters in the woods, and they hung bells in the trees to keep them at bay. When a supply party turns up missing and then dead, rumors of the monsters resurface. Isolated throughout the cruel winter months, Amity Falls sees more strange events pile up, and neighbors begin to turn on each other. Someone or something is pulling strings, offering people their dearest wishes in exchange for favors, and Ellerie will have to discover who--or what--is trying to destroy her town before it's too late. I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Random House/Delacorte Press. Trigger warnings: character death (on-page), violence, some blood/gore, fires, severe injury, burns, threats, gaslighting, slut-shaming.

This is a perfectly fine novel other than being a little too long, and I'm pretty sure the things that didn't work for me about it are just "me problems" rather than actual problems with the novel. For one thing, I have a low tolerance for any historical time period before electricity was commonplace, no matter how steeped in fantasy, and for another, I'm a little burned out on fantasy at the moment. I loved Craig's debut novel, House of Salt and Sorrows, because it's dark and creepy and full of dead things. Small Favors is certainly dark, but it's not at all spooky, and it's an important a distinction. Most of the dangers are human dangers, and I get weary of people being awful to each other.

It's fairly slow-moving on plot and pacing levels, but not all books have to have things happening all the time. It's dreamy and atmospheric, but for all the time we spend with the characters, I came away feeling like I really only had a strong understanding of Ellerie and Whitaker. There's a strong sister theme like the one in HoSaS, but I kept getting her sisters mixed up, and there are far, far too many villagers with names like Amos and Matthias to keep track of all of them. I like Ellerie though; she's strong and capable, and she handles the situation she's trapped in with grace, cleverness, and the right amount of desperation for a teenage girl. I could take or leave Whitaker. There's not much about him that deviates from the mysterious, charming stranger with secrets trope. Honestly, they're both pretty interchangeable with the main characters from HoSaS.

While I never really bought the peaceful small town setting (Ellerie is just a kid--there's no way it's all as pleasant as she seems to think at first), Craig does a nice job layering the mysteries and ramping up the weirdness. I'm here for all the Annihilation-style mutated woodland animals, which sadly play less of a role than I'd hoped. It's clear early on what the problem is and who's the cause of it, and I felt Ellerie was pretty slow to catch on there. As far as being a fairy tale retelling-- it is, but barely. I actually had to Google what fairy tale it was supposed to be, thinking I was missing something, but it's just that the Rumpelstiltskin elements hardly come into play for more than a chapter. If this sounds like something you'd enjoy, I'm sure you'll find more to like about it than I did.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the ARC of this book!

Ellerie Downing lives in an idyllic town called Amity Falls. The people are kind, helpful, and always look out for each other. When a supply run goes awry with the entire party missing, the town's old fears of monsters come rushing back. Soon, other strange occurrences start happening much to the delight of a group of creatures who fulfill the people's deepest desires for just one small favor. Ellerie has to figure out what's happening in her town if she wants to save her family from sure destruction.

Small Favors definitely has the vibe of the Village mixed with a Rumplestiltskin-like storyline. I was invested in the story immediately, trying to suss out exactly what was going on and who could be trusted. It was impossible to tell, honestly. The author did a great job here of keeping the mystery going throughout the story.

Whitaker, the love interest no one trusts, was maybe my favorite part of the story. Ellerie was a good MC, if not a bit predictable in this setting. It was nice to have Whitaker around to really keep me guessing on who he was and what he would do. I wish we could've seen more of some of the other characters, Ellerie's uncle and cousin especially. I would've liked to learn more about them.

Definitely an atmospheric read that relies heavily on well-spun imagery, Craig shows us the seeds of distrust that start brewing amongst the townspeople. The really brilliant thing about this story, I think, is that at the end of the day, it's about human nature. We're fallible, of course, and we're sometimes easily influenced. So when the infighting starts, it's easier to point fingers than to really look at oneself.

Overall, a good and quick read for YA horror fans!

I love the entire vibe of this book so much! This is a haunting midwest gothic story of otherworldly influence and, even worse, the power of fear and selfishness in a small town.

This novel is harrowing, in the best of ways. There is a mysterious, evocative way that this story moves. It's a slow pace, like the kind you take when you're not sure you really want to see what's behind the door, and yet it never stops being completely compelling. There is such a sense of dread to the way Craig moves these pieces that even when things don't look bad on the surface, you still find yourself gripping to book and crossing your fingers against what you know is going to get worse. I think this book is paced perfectly, as slow as honey dripping and slow enough to build up the right amount of nerve and fear.

The magic of this book perfectly meets the small town mood of Amity Falls. It's powerful yet subtle, not quite what you expect and easy to lose in translation or gossip. The way things both add up and get chipped away as the story progresses, and Ellerie begins to take note, gives the whole thing a feeling of probable magic- the kind of magic that feels like it could exist in a place far enough out of sight. It's folktale magic, done perfectly right.

But the magic is a source of both horror and delight depending on when you see it, and who's selling it, and the same is true about the town itself, and the people within. They way the tension grows in town, and the way these people we've met begin to turn is so organic and believable yet monstrous, that that in itself makes the horror of it succeed.

Surprisingly, the romance in this book worked well for me. I didn't expect it to, and I wasn't ready to trust anything about it, but it wound up being in itself spell binding, and added yet another layer to the story and the way that these events are perceived. Whitaker is a charming character, and he meets Ellerie's sense of duty and strong mindedness in a combination that almost feels like the plot in miniature, wound up not just winning me over but giving me a better grasp and appreciation of Ellerie.

The only thing I didn't like in the book was reveal of a certain secret and extra context in a place where it made the tension fall. Had it been done earlier, maybe it would have worked better, or if the reveal had been part of the climax. But for me it felt like with a mystery suddenly dropped, the focus felt a little flimsy.

This was such an enjoyable read. I'll be thinking about this world and its characters for a long time.

House of Salt and Sorrows remains one of my favorite retellings after it swept me away with its spooky atmosphere and amazing characters last year. As soon as I saw that Erin A. Craig was releasing a new book I preordered, no questions asked! I was even more excited to get approved for an ARC and jumped into it immediately!

Ellerie Downing lives in Amity Falls with her family and helps her dads tend their bees. Her mother is in an unfortunate accident and her parents leave the village early on to get her help and are never seen again. The dynamic between Ellerie and her siblings was probably my favorite part of this book, much like the relationships in House of Salt and Sorrows. I enjoyed watching them support each other and work together to get by once their parents had left.

Of course, there's also romance and the love interest is a trapper named Whitaker who happens to pass by their house. While Whitaker was a fascinating character, the romance was a little strange to me. He was only in a handful of scenes and the romance felt forced even though it was spread out over a series of months. I honestly feel that this could have worked just as well if not better without the romantic relationship between the two.

Small Favors was originally marketed as The Village meets Needful Things so I was had really high expectations for the horror going in. In reality, the only similarity between this and The Village is that they live in an actual village. This book was an extremely slow burn that unfortunately lost me halfway through.

While Small Favors starts out feeling a bit creepy, there wasn't much to it beyond a family going about life in a small village and squabbles amongst neighbors as they run low on supplies for the winter. There were some tense moments and feelings of dread throughout the book, but I honestly don't know that I would classify this as horror. The explanation given at the end was interesting and I thought there was a good idea there, but I expected more of the execution.

I completely forgot until after I finished this that it was supposed to be a Rumpelstiltskin retelling and I just don't see it. The fairytale retelling is extremely vague and I certainly hope people aren't going into this book hoping for that! I will still give Erin A. Craig's next book a try because House was incredible, but perhaps with lower expectations. If you like survival stories that are light on horror, you will probably enjoy this one more than I did!

Please excuse any grammatical errors, or typos. I have done my best, but in reality I am just reader. and will leave the writing to all the incredible authors out there.
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This book was received from the Author, and Publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is a non spoiler review, because you as reader need to read this book. Also, I feel sometimes I have in the past gave away to much of the plot line. This has diminished the pleasure for would be readers.
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Small Favors is the newest book from the very talented author Erin A. Craig.
Craig is a spectacular writer, she cleverly takes classic fairytales and twists and bends them into something very creepy gothic.

Beekeeper Ellerie Downing, is an eighteen year old beekeeper living in an isolated town of Amity Falls. A dark ominous forests surrounds the little town and its inhabitants. Earlier settlers fought and kept the monstrous creatures lurking in the dense forest. Ellerie, doesn’t believe in the handed down tales, she is busy with her Bee hives and her young siblings. She is restricted as is norm for women living in Amity Falls, unlike her brother Sam who is allowed freedom.
In a series of events, rumors about the creatures have started up as some of townspeople are meeting some horrific endings.

Woo hoo, I really enjoyed reading this newest book by the author Erin Craig who dazzled us with the House of Salt and Sorrows. Which was a darkish take on The Twelve Dancing Princesses. This book takes its inspiration from The Brothers Grim Rumpelstiltskin, but Craig uses her own signature lyrical prose

Erin Craig delivers a well-written, unique and twisty read here that had me pretty much-questioning everything that was happening within the pages of this book.
The way that the details were revealed to me as a reader was extremely well-done and the setting was creepily atmospheric which I totally loved!

Full review on goodreads
This story premise was decent. Pretty fresh even with the comparison to needful things, but it fell a little short for me. There was all this build up to monsters that were kind of disappointing, the ending was also a little too perfect in some ways. Not a bad book, and I think teens would dig it. I just was hoping for a little more. Still 3stars bc I’m glad I read it.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Delacorte Press.

I loved this book! It is so atmospheric and creepy! It's sold as a mashup of The Village and Needful Things but I feel the material is elevated to a breathtaking degree.

I have thoughts on how a certain character arc doesn't seem to track with what we're told but this is such a good read!

The author's previous novel, House of Salt and Sorrows, was good, but this book knocks it out of the park. Creepy in a "The Village" way - monsters in the woods, a small, cultish community, and the isolation of being surrounded by almost impassable mountains. Then there were the bees, which make me think of "The Wicker Man". The mood is dark and oppressive, in spite of the story beginning in the summer. Already, there are signs that this community is going to collapse. As the seasons change, the community becomes more distrustful and claustrophobic - the people aren't able to leave because of the monsters in the woods, and the citizens of the village begin to turn on one another, even within families. The author builds suspense as the months go by and unusual and disastrous things begin to happen.

My main issues were with Sam, the brother. I felt like the changes he goes through in the book are out of character based on how Ellerie describes him and their relationship, especially as the mysteries are uncovered and we learn more about the monsters. I also felt Ellerie was too quick to trust, not just Whitaker, but "Uncle Ezra" and "Cousin Thomas" as well. Overall, however, this book was hard to put down and is one I will definitely recommend to my students.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC.

If you’re looking for a book to give you goosebumps as you read, you’re going to want to add this one to your TBR! Erin A. Craig is a master at creating the creepiest book atmospheres; I was sitting on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading this book. Amity Falls is a masterfully crafted world where it’s not just about the monsters that might be hiding out in the woods, but the ones hiding within ourselves as well. You’ll find engaging and enigmatic characters that seem like friends, but might also be hiding some fiendish intent behind their easy smiles. And if you love The Village, you’re absolutely going to love this book.

Ellerie Downing is a young woman living in Amity Falls, a village that’s nestled within the Blackspire Mountain Range, isolated by the mountain range and a seemingly impenetrable forest. It’s said that the early settlers of the village battled devils in the woods, and when a supply crew goes missing, the villagers worry that the monster’s might have returned. As winter arrives, more strange things begin occurring, and all signs point to a devilish group that can fulfil the villagers deepest desires for a small favour. Unfortunately, their true intentions harbour some sinister intent. Ellerie will find herself racing to try to save her family, Amity Falls, and the boy she loves, before everything goes up in flames.

This story will reel you in from the start. It’s told in seasons, beginning at the height of the summer. Ellerie is learning beekeeping from her father, something she longs to be in charge of, but is facing the reality that she’s expected to marry and have kids, while her brother takes over everything. However, her brother has been missing most of the summer, and seems to be keeping secrets. Though they’re twins, they couldn’t be more different. Where Sam seems to be a little weak-willed, Ellerie is determined and follows through with her choices despite the consequences. Their personalities become more apparent as the seasons go on and devilish things begin happening.

I loved the worldbuilding taking place in this story because you truly get to know the village and the key players. The elders, the founding families, and the parson all play key roles in this story. Everyone knows each other, and helps contrive an incredible sense of community, but also makes betrayals sting that much more when they happen. Ellerie’s sense of duty to her family is strong, but with the failed supply run and the possibility of monsters, she’s weary of sending anymore men to their deaths. Her choice puts her at odds with her father, but she stands by her decision, supported by her mother. What stood out most strongly to me was that despite their disagreement, her father still sees her strength and ability to sustain the family farm when disaster strikes.

As the story progresses, it almost feels cinematic. We go from a peaceful-ish beginning to an ever-building chaos in the further seasons. Craig manages to write in this palpable tension that propels you to turn the page. Everyone starts to have issues, and the village folk seem to be making enemies of each other. The elders seem to be losing their ability to keep the peace, and the parson is using this to further his religious agenda. There’s no doubt that things are going to continue to get even worse before they get better. At one point, I found myself hunched over the book as if to brace myself for what was to come. The characters are being affected both psychologically and physically, and it’s a wonder what may be causing it all.

The monsters in this story are terribly wicked creatures, and I think readers will find them as fascinating as I did. The small favours seem so insignificant, but make such a huge impact both to the story and to the villagers.

Of course, my favourite aspect of this book was the romance. Much like the story, it starts off very subtly and then as the story intensifies, so does the romance between Ellerie and her stranger. I loved their interactions so much, particularly their beginning banter. His easy manner and Ellerie’s inherent distrust of him make for a great start to a romance. She finds herself seeking him out despite her better judgement.

The ending of this story seems a bit ambiguous, a little ominous, and will definitely make you wonder. I’m not usually a fan of ambiguous endings, but it works in this story. Overall, Craig has created a creepy masterpiece that is going to look lovely sitting next to my copy of A House of Salt and Sorrows. I can’t wait to see what creepy things she writes about next!

The Village meets Needful things in this story about one small village and the monsters in it. Ellerie Downing has lived an isolated life in Amity Falls, surrounded by forests, and working on tending to her family’s beehives and taking care of her sisters. She dreams of bigger things yet her twin brother remains careless and free to do as he pleases. Life in Amity Falls is not like many others, early town settlers have fought off monstrous creatures in the woods....and suddenly rumors have started again that they are back. Throw in people dying in mysterious and gruesome ways, missing storage, sabotage, and resentments brewing and secrets coming to light and soon Amity Falls is beginning to fall apart. It does not help that there is a mysterious new boy in town who claims to be visiting with his trapper companions... and has taken a liking to Ellerie but remains tight lip about his secrets. Soon Ellerie begins to realizes that the residents’ desires are coming true, and the creatures are indeed real and back. Now Ellerie must figure out what is going on and how to protect her sisters before its too late.

This was such a fun read! I adored The Village and Needful Things so this was just a great time for me. The mystery was a fun one to try and unravel and the magical element just worked so well. I really enjoyed getting to know Ellerie and Whitaker. Their chemistry was sweet and I loved that we got to go through the seasons in this story. I am a sucker for any kind of murder mystery set in a small community where secrets start coming to life and everyone is suspect. This one was particularly interesting with the whole creature aspect! I highly recommend this chilling yet magical read that has a dash of romance!

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Children's for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Anyone else feel like reading a book in the woods can make it even more creepy?

Small Favors felt like a mass up of The Village with The Quiet Place. A remote, small town is suddenly plagued with odd occurances and horrible deaths of towns people.

Small Favors was an interesting read but it hung on the edge of evolving for me. I wanted a bigger bang at the end of the story and was left a bit disappointed and wanting more.

Let me start by saying that I really enjoyed House of Salt and Sorrows. It was such a fantastic debut and I said then that this author could only go up from there. After finishing Small Favors, I do believe that I was right because Erin A, Craig has done it again! I absolutely loved this book. It was so atmospheric, eerie and always kept me guessing.

The small town setting was perfect. Amity Falls seemed like such a friendly yet haunting place. Being that it was so secluded made the stakes seem a little higher. I loved getting to know the people and learning how the town functioned. As the story unfolds we see the Falls fall apart little by little. You are left wondering what is happening and who or what is causing it!

The main character Ellerie was so brave. When certain events happened, she stepped up to the plate. She took on a lot of responsibility and I admired her for that. Ellerie loved her family so much and she would do almost anything to keep them safe. The relationship between Ellerie and her sisters was super sweet. I can’t help but love that one of her sisters was named Sadie! It’s always fun to see your name in a book!

There is a bit of a romance and it was cute. The love interest was definitely the mysterious & charming kind. Just like Ellerie, you don’t really know if he can be trusted.

Overall, Small Favors was everything I hoped it would be. I was constantly worried for the characters and I had to know how things would end up. This book is a page turner for sure. Erin A. Craig is quickly become one of my favorite authors. I cannot wait to see what she writes in the future!

⭐⭐⭐⭐!

Small Favors is an upper YA fantasy set back in time where a close-knit community sits far away from the hustle and bustle of city life, surrounded by deep forests that hold their own secrets—and terrors.

What a pleasant surprise this turned out to be overall. The contents really don't match the bright, fairytale-esque cover it comes wrapped in, but that made it all the more fun. It's highly reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village"; small, idyllic appearing town governed by Rules and religion in general peace, whispers of creatures in the surrounding woods from ages past that keep the town wary and far away. But here they had been reduced only to whispers, and the townspeople didn't live in such abject fear as they did in The Village, though, that quickly changes.

We follow Ellerie Downing, the eldest daughter of the town's renowned beekeeper as she navigates the descent of everything she knew and loved into madness. I wish that was hyperbole, but the fact is that thing implodes like nothing else.

Strange animals roam into town, broken and twisted and wrong, and with their appearance comes suspicion and fear, brought on even stronger when a supply party disappears into the woods and never returns—with the exception of Ellerie's own twin brother, Sam, who claims there are monsters hunting for them and that he barely escaped with his life. But Sam returns different, and his odd and often violent behavior is only the start.

I truly loved so much about this book. There was beautiful symbolism and reference brought with the bees themselves and the Downing's keeping of them. The relationships were complex and real, something I deeply appreciated as a reader and writer both. Family dynamics are not all "ma and pa and baby sis" this: there are insecurities, fears, prejudices, and just regular old human folly that should be acknowledged and studied when talking about families. Ellerie both adores and feels disconnected from her father at times, though he is a loving man, he is biased and flawed. She struggles as her relationship with her twin, Sam, seems to fray and twist at the edges, secrets have already been working their way between them all summer. I was just as interested in them as I was in anything else in the story.

Which meant that the creatures themselves, the mystery of the woods, were captivating and a lot of the time just plain creepy. There were a couple of nights I had to set this book down and shiver at the imagery of long, eerie fingers waving out from the dark. Coupled with Ellerie's growing resentment for her sibling, the (hopefully temporary) loss of her parents to the big city after a tragedy concerning her mother, her growing fondness for a mysterious trapper who she deems "Whitaker", and the slow, crippling grasp of winter—there was a lot of ways this could go wrong.

For the most part, I feel like all of the elements were handled well. I really loved Ellerie and Whitaker. Their story was slow-moving, sincere, something I could believe in. It was refreshing to not have a love story rushed through the pacing.

The finale had good and not-so-good aspects. I love when the world goes up in flames, so to speak, and the culmination of all the suspicion and growing resentment in the town was terrifying. But the thing about monsters is that it's hard to keep them monsters once you start applying human logic to them and that took a little bit away for me at the end. (I won't say how or in what context, but really this is just a personal preference thing). And I was shocked to find myself at 99% when I was sure there at least had to be another 10% left of the book. The ending was so abrupt I was scrolling back to see where I had missed something. I wish we'd gotten a little more closure in that respect.

Overall this was a lovely read and definitely did its job at freaking me out more than once!

*My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.*

This was a clever and unique story that captures the reader's attention right away. I stayed intrigued by both the town of Amity Falls's isolated feel and by the horrifying and thrilling events of the plot as town slowly unravels. The time setting for the story is left open and as a result gives the story vibes of "The Village". Could this be similar, I wondered? I won't say yes or no because, you know, spoilers are real. The pacing didn't seem rushed at any point in the story, as some books tend to get towards the final parts of their books. I also enjoyed the intelligence and empathy of the main character, Ellerie. She's a well developed, likeable, and believable protagonist for this thrilling book. Worth reading if you like unique takes on thrillers/mysteries.

Dark and twisty with a lot of spookiness and a current of romance. The charming, mysterious love interest and unbreakable sister bonds will pull you in and keep you hooked.

Amazing. Erin A. Craig is quickly becoming a fav author. House of Salt and Sorrow was a fav book of all time when I read that. When I read the synopsis of this story, I was intrigued but at first disappointed that the setting wasn't by the sea, because Craig did such an amazing job creating a creepy sea setting. However, Needful things meat The Village is definitely an amazing combo and soooo accurate. I could not put this book down. I love stories were there is just a slow unraveling of a town and this odd growing tension that we don't know much about. The reveals of this were interesting and done well. I loved the MC and how the town was created and written. Craig is just so good at creating settings and towns and implementing subtle horror elements that just grow and grow.

Oooooh- this book was good. Thank you to NetGalley & Erin Craig for the ARC copy!

I truly enjoyed this one way more than I thought I would. The book follows Ellerie and her heroism when her mother is sick and her father goes to the city with her. I was constantly kept guessing and of course, I love that there was a small romance interest as well. I can only imagine how *dreamy* Whitaker was.

Anyways- I gave it 4 stars because I just didn't really like the ending. Everything just ended a bit too abruptly for me. I feel it could truly use a sequel!