3.5 stars

The author bio says she’s a writer of weird fiction and this is by far the weirdest book I’ve read in a long time.

Wasn’t quite sure what it was all about although it intrigued me enough to keep reading until it’s conclusion.

Felt like one long drug-induced trip with talking skeletons and animated vines taking over Josie’s back yard.

Weird and strangely enjoyable.

Josie is divorced, drinks vodka every day and works at home on her computer. She has isolated herself and lives with her dog Po. She only leaves the house when Po wants out. She looks out one morning to find a plant growing in her backyard. The plant continues to grow and is sentient. The following day there is a talking skeleton siting on a throne of vines. Josie and the skeleton (to be named Skelly by Josie) is sitting on a throne made by the vines. Soon her new neighbor, Sue comes over to borrow a screwdriver. Josie is surprised to have Sue talk to her and invites her to come over for tea at ten o’clock in the morning for tea. Josie says okay but knows she won’t go but ends up doing it. Why? The vines keep growing. They’re continuing to grow up to her roof and over. Why? Will Josie find out what Skelly wants from her?

The author has written a weird novel which also includes horror. (Weird stories is a su genre of fiction that utilizes aspects of fantasy, horror and supernatural fiction often having nontraditional monsters..). I found myself liking Skelly and Josie’s dog Po. I liked Josire in that she realizes that she doesn’t realize that she doesn’t want to be isolated. It’s an excellent story that opens you up to thinking (at least I did) about how well do we know who we really are. It’s so easy to ignores ourself when given the chance to do so. I look forward to reading more books by this author.

This story starts off immediately in an interesting way. It's humorous, and the relationship of Josie and her dog and everyone else was entertaining. Yet, that entertainment didn't last. This book feels more like something that should have been more of a short story, or novella, rather than a book. If it had been about 50-100 pages shorter, I think I would have enjoyed the entire story more.

This book focuses, seemingly, more on the confusing and jarring stories the skeleton is telling rather than the ongoing plot. The stories felt distracting, and by the second or third one, I was over it. I realized it was a theme in the book, and it made me less interested in picking the book back up and continuing with my read. I wanted to know about Josie and Skelly, about the neighbor, about this relationship. Unfortunately, outside of the tidy clean-up at the end, I didn't really get that.

What can I say about Little Bird?

It's the strangest book I've read in a while, and that's saying something. I was drawn in by the fantastic cover art, then by the odd description of a skeleton that sits in a woman's yard. Then I sat down to read it and I was intrigued by every moment. I don't think I've encountered a character quite like Skelly before and she was perfectly balanced by Josie.

Josie is an alcoholic in denial who has built her life around working from home. She never truly defines her job, though it requires all of her time and provides her with an endless supply of stress. Skelly is the skeleton in her backyard, sitting on her throne amidst the vines. More than anything, this novel shows a battle of wills and stubbornness.

The ending was so strange, I never would have thought of it. Tiffany Meuret is a master of the strange and unknown and Little Bird encapsulates her skills and puts them on display for everyone.

Read this book. There's enough mystery that everyone will be drawn in and most will want to stick around and find out what's going on. It's a phenomenal read.

couldn't get into it no matter how hard I tried :( maybe it was the formatting? the story felt bland and not as twisty / horror-esque as I hoped.

TA-DA!!

A blurb that gives away nothing of what the author has conceptualized and a freaky skeleton staring out of all the green vines, does it scream HORROR to you? Lured in by that beautiful cover image made me realize how terribly wrong one’s expectation can be!

To say Josie is struggling would be a gross understatement. A loner who loves being a recluse with minimal contact with the outer world, Josie’s idea of coping mechanism is found inside an alcohol bottle. She works from home catering to that niche profile of being a middleman or a problem negotiator thru emails soothing the tempers of clients and service providers. Honestly, her character is such no one would willingly offer her any sort of job to negotiate. Her sarcastic, cynical and sometimes obnoxious attitude towards all and sundry makes her the last person to do the kind of job she does but she gets it done. It is the arrival of new neighbors both in the garden of her home and the next door that spoils her lonesome existence and when both parties refuse to cater to her GET OUT OF MY PREMISES viewpoint, Josie has a tough fight in her hands.

Little Bird is not horror or at least not the kind of horror I am used to, it has magical realism intertwined thru the story like the vines twisting around Josie’s house and the hilarious banter between Josie and Skelly the skeleton was a riot to read. Skelly imparts life lessons to Josie thru stories which felt long-winded but I loved how the author captivates the reader thru them. One can read the book just for the witty one-liners between the snarky skeleton and the bitter and irascible Josie. The chihuahua Po was so adorable and it was so endearing to see that the dog was the sole raison d'etre for Josie.

For all fans of books that offer something DIFFERENT, Tiffany Meuret’s Little Bird is a perfect read. There is a sense of sadness as Skelly narrates her stories but the scary scenes are minimal and it would be a good choice for all who love a quirky read. The alcoholism and the overpowering grief mentioned in the book could be potential triggers for many, so fair warning to readers who have issues with the same.

Many thanks to Net Galley, Black Spot Books, IBPA, and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

This review is published in my blog https://rainnbooks.com/, Goodreads, Amazon India, Book Bub, Medium.com, Facebook, and Twitter.

This was a strange read; whilst I usually love anything strange, dark, and with horror elements, on the whole I don't think this one was for me! I definitely enjoyed the author's writing style and subtle humour, and I found it incredibly atmospheric at times, especially the skeleton element of the story. I think that was done really well, it was creepy and foreboding, and left me almost with a sense of dread despite the humour that's interwoven throughout. I initially found the story very intriguing, but somewhere along the line I found it harder and harder to connect with Josie, and in turn, the overall story and it's themes. However, I'm rather glad this was on the short side - I think I may have likely put this down had it been much longer. Overall, this really is a book where it's beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder - not a bad book by any means, just not necessarily for me.

I went into this expecting a horror but I would say that's not really what this book is. It's much more quirky with a healthy dose of magical realism but very little scare.

I found it slow to begin with and honestly after the first couple chapters I wasnt sure if I was going go enjoy it all that much but I pushed past it and it definitely got a lot more enjoyable. I really enjoyed the rapport between Josie and Skelly. I think it could have dragged a lot if that relationship hadn't been quite as fun as it was.

I quite enjoyed this book, it was easy to read and all of the characters were so loveable! It took me a while to get into it and it bored me in a couple of places, hence the 3 star rating.

2/5

I will be honest--I did not like this book at all. (Well, besides Po, but who doesn't like the dog?) For some context, I went into this book expecting a weird horror novel with some elements of fantasy. That is not what this novel is at all, and while I don't think it is a terrible book, it certainly isn't one for me.

I just really felt like a lot of the stuff that was set up--Josie's fraught relationships, her alchoholism, etc--was never resolved or addressed, just dropped entirely at the final conclusion. We never get to see her decide to do anything about these relationships. She identifies them as unhealthy yet never addresses her ex-husband or her mother; we have no idea if they think she is dead or alive or if she's cut them off at the end of the novel. This is disappointing, as her struggle over how to feel about and handle these relationships were a huge portion of her characterization.

As a partial result of this, by the end, Josie feels stripped of all personality. She, essentially, begins to speak and act just like Skelly, instead of retaining her own personality. Her choice to 'maintain gardens around the world' makes no sense. She, as a character, has never cared about plants, and she doesn't even really seem to like the vines much at all until the end. Why she would choose this for her goal is perplexing. Why would she choose it? What does it accomplish for her or for anyone else? What is the point of those gardens?

I also felt that the novel dragged. Even though it is a fairly short, quick read, I felt I had to force myself through it. Skelly could be an interesting character but I found myself rolling my eyes every time she told a story--no matter how interesting the premise was, that was all the stories really were: a premise. They did not go into enough depth of language or story to really grab me. I also found Josie's reactions to her situation to be a bit boring; she just reacted the exact same way every time with nothing changing until she suddenly decides to be chill with everything going on at the end.

Finally, the whole thing with Skelly's motivation and the vines and the sirens--it was all vaguely explained, and I don't necessarily need to always understand everything if it's not meant to be understood, but I felt like the explanation for what the sirens were or what the deal with Skelly was was supposed to make sense and to me it just did not.

I don't think this book was really for me. I adored both Josie & Skelly's brash personalities but I missed the point of Skelly's existence entirely. It was beautiful, sure, but it isn't something I'd feel compelled to read again.

Four Stars

Little Bird

Overall, a strange but enjoyable read.

Brief overview: On the surface, Josie Lauer looks like she’s living the introvert’s dream: she lives alone with her dog, Po, works from home, and doesn’t have to talk to anyone face-to-face. But Josie is grieving, and she isn’t handling her emotions well. Then Skelly shows up in Josie’s backyard, a literal skeleton full of ominous messages and surrounded by sentient vines. Skelly starts demanding that Josie pull herself together–or else.

This book is categorized as horror, but I think, though it has horror elements (like a talking skeleton?), that’s not quite right. I think it’s more quietly and existentially menacing and suspenseful than anything else, though it’s very difficult to categorize it exactly. This isn’t a criticism: I just think that if you approach this book as more genre-blurring that you'll appreciate it more. If you’re looking for gore and action, this isn’t the book for you.

I really enjoyed the meditative quality of this novel, the way Josie sank deeply into her despair and into herself. I’ve always enjoyed books where characters have to go down into the darkness, where they have to explore their own trauma and grief and pain, in order to figure out how to live. Josie isn’t a particularly active protagonist in a lot of ways, and the plot isn’t face-paced, but I found her relatable. I really felt for her as she struggled through trauma, even if she was self-destructive at times.

My favorite character was definitely Skelly. I mean, a cryptic, sarcastic skeleton surrounded by sentient vines? What’s not to love about that? I also loved Josie’s nosy, aggressively-social neighbor, Marie, as a character, but would not like to meet her in real life.


I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hmmmm. This is a tough one.
From the cover and the description I thought I would love this, but in truth I really struggled to connect with it in any way. I didn't like the main character at all and I barely grasped what was happening most of the time.
I appreciated the gentle exploration of grief and loss, however this seemed to be the only relatable and understandable parts of the book. I'm sure this book would be a hit with others, but sadly not me on this occasion.
Big thanks to the publisher and netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

We follow Josie, who is in the middle of a hurricane of feelings including grief, loss, addictions and little hope in the future. In the middle of that emotional chaos, through magical realism we get to experience Josie interaction with both her mysterious neighbor, her dog Po and a particular skeleton, Skelly interfering with her life.

Although this genre is not exactly my usual read, I couldn't stop looking back at the beautiful cover and thought maybe this was a good chance to read something different. Yes, it is marked as a part of the horror subgenre however, it didn't really have that many horror elements as I thought it would. The characters were interesting enough for the readers to want to finish the entire story and see how it all ends, however, I found it hard to empathize with them completely. That said, I couldn't but to find it complex to get into the story specially at the beginning, also maybe it was the arc format but how it was edited made me struggle to finish it.

Overall, I think it is an easy read and I can see how those who are way more into the genre can love the story.

TW: grief, death of a parent, addictions, alcoholism, and others.

I received the arc through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Black Spot Books and NetGalley once again for the chance to read it before publishing date.

Well, this was actually a surprise.
I don't usually read this genre so I was very excited to try something different but I didn't expect and actual skeleton to be in the picture.
Despite the surprise, it has an captivating plot and interesting characters. Even though most of the times I was wondering what was happening and trying to make sense of all the stories being told, I think it's a nice small read.
Po though, he wins the best character title for me.

Instant cover love with this one, and an immediate fear that something horrible would befall Po, the cute little chihuahua, because past experience has taught me to never trust an author who includes a dog in their story.

Little Bird is a fairly quick read that's more magical realism and less horror/creepy than I had anticipated. In it, our alcoholic leading lady Josie is forced out of her post-divorce self isolation when she notices a weird, stubborn vine taking root in her desolate backyard. Though she applauds its tenacity, when Josie attempts to rid herself of it by cutting it free of the dusty dirt plot, an animated skeleton appears and begins making mundane conversation with her.

Po, who normally barks her head off at every little thing, isn't sound the alarm and Josie doesn't initially trust her senses. Must be the alcohol, she's hallucinating, right?! But after running inside and taking a few hesitant peeks out the window, nope, that thing is still out there, and good lord the vines are growing, stretching, taking over the backyard, and she begins to realize this is more than just a simple plant infestation.

As if that wasn't enough to rock Josie sideways, someone has just moved into the abandoned house next door and appears deadset on inserting herself into Josie's life. The timing is too conicidential, and Josie begins to wonder if there's a connection between the nosey neighbor and the strange 'Skelly' that seems to have taken up permanent residence her yard.

Cool in theory, a little clunky in execution, Little Bird started to unravel for me at the halfway mark. Much like Josie, I decided to hang in there because I was curious to see where it'd end up, though by that point I wasn't enjoying the ride as much as I had been at the beginning. And what an interesting ride it was.

I had high hopes for this book from the description, but spent the whole book thinking 'what on earth is going on?'. The main character was unlikable, then a random neighbour turned up who clearly had something to do with the strange weed that turned up in the main character garden, then a bizarre talking skeleton. Skelly the skeleton challenges Josie, the main character, to come up with a story in 3 days with dire consequences if not, then proceeds to tell a load of seemingly unconnected stories herself, before Josie's world falls apart. I had no idea what was going on or why, and found that I didn't actually care what happened to her. It made absolutely no sense, and although I believe it is categorized as horror it was so ridiculous that there was no fear factor.

𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘳𝘥 by Tiffany Meuret was a super interesting, slightly strange, fairly quick read. I really liked it. It was full of very real, very human emotions and coping mechanisms, some pretty…we’ll say quirky…characters, atmospheric creepiness, a bit of magic, and (very) unexpected friendships. 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘳𝘥 was a distinctive, absorbing read and I definitely recommend giving it a try!

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘣𝘺 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 (𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬-𝘺𝘰𝘶!). 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

Unfortunately this book wasn’t for me and I DNFed at 25% as I didn’t understand the plot or connect to the characters. Nothing personal against the book but not my style!

This book really wasn't it for me. I could not for the life of me get invested in the story.

It was actually well written but The main character, Josie, was a little strange. As in never leaves the house and her only friend is a Chihuahua. I couldn't really connect with her. The only conversation she has in the first few chapters are essentially with herself.

Once Skelly was introduces with the vines I was even more confused. I feel like the introduction could have gone a lot smoother.

The book wasn't able to make me feel anything and I still don't understand some plot details.