This book is creative and very well-written - the author absolutely nails the Southern Gothic mood with this one. It’s a great mix of vibe and character work.

Even though the vibe was impeccable, the plot was thin and convoluted - in an effort to make things “spooky”, we got long inner monologues instead of moving the plot along in any way. The ending felt really unsatisfying, ending with an adventurous high that then fades to almost nothing.

Overall the mood is perfect but there could be a better mix of vibe & plot. Would definitely look out for more work by this author, especially more Southern Gothic writing!

Thank you to NetGalley, Alisa Alering, and Tin House Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Smothermoss is Alisa Alering’s debut novel, set in rural Pennsylvania in the 80s and following sisters Sheila and Angie in the aftermath of a murder along the nearby Appalachian trail. This novel is a wonderful blend of literary fiction, subtle folk horror, and magical realism, and I appreciate Alering’s ability to pull from each of these genres without firmly cementing their book in any one of them. I would recommend this creepy and thought-provoking read for readers who enjoy Shirley Jackson or dirt-smudged depictions of girlhood and sisterhood.

There were many things to love in this novel, and it has certainly brought Alering to my attention as an author to keep tabs on as they continue in their career. It’s a wonderfully atmospheric story, with the mountain itself and the surrounding woods looming large in Sheila and Angie’s lives. I also loved the folksy and occult-adjacent elements, including Angie’s semi-sentient deck of homemade tarot cards and the rope around Sheila’s neck, tying her to the mountain. Many of these supernatural aspects of the novel occupy a transient space between fiction and reality, which creates a really interesting tone. I especially appreciate the way that Sheila’s queerness and her resistance to being perceived as a lesbian are explored in the story, navigating themes of visibility, conformity, desire, and self-acceptance.

The omniscient narration works really well in this book's favor as well, highlighting both Angie and Sheila and illustrating to the reader the ways in which the sisters diverge, the differences that will grow to be points of tension. In Angie, we get an almost idealistic and fantastical perspective of life on the mountain (always on the lookout for Russian spies, making plans for a seemingly inevitable nuclear war), and in Sheila we see a more adult and tempered perspective on life. The scenes in which the sisters interact, their perspectives twisting around one another, are made all the more rewarding for the fact that the reader has gotten to know them as discrete individuals.

My only complaint is that sometimes the book almost felt unsure of itself, either in its exploration of genre or in the direction in which it brings its characters. For the most part, this reads like realistic literary fiction, and the odd horror or supernatural element that gets thrown in occasionally feels a bit out of place, or like it could have been excluded without altering the direction of the novel. Both Angie’s tarot cards and some of Sheila’s experiences feel like boxes to check in the creation of a specific aesthetic, or vehicles of a dues ex machina moment near the novel’s end. I would have liked to see Alering lean into the weirdness and magical realism of it all a little more, in the style of Mona Awad or Juliana Lamy. I also loved Sheila’s arc, but by the end of the novel she was very much the focus, leaving me feeling like Angie’s story was somewhat incomplete.

In the end, however, this was a lovely summer read that I would recommend for anyone wanting to pick up an ecological, literary thriller or who is looking to scratch that Appalachian gothic itch. I’m looking forward to seeing what Alisa Alering has in store!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tin House for the e-ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I was interested in this because it was marketed as an Appalachian horror/mystery. After reading, I would say this is actually a queer coming of age story with gothic elements and magical realism.

I didn’t find the ending to be as satisfying as I wanted it to be, or rather, I wish a question I had about the older sister, Sheila, was more clear.

Though this book wasn’t what I expected it to be, which is usually a big turn off (I can’t stand when something isn’t marketed correctly), I still found this book to be an engaging read, despite plot lines ending up unresolved by the end.

All in all, worth the read imo.

Thanks to NetGalley & TinHouse for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Atmospheric, absorbing, and unputdownable, Smothermoss is the perfect small-town horror if you’re craving something like Stranger Things but a little more cryptic.

Smothermoss is set at the periphery of civilization, with people who are outsiders. In this regard, the characters are so well-developed. You understand and sympathize with Sheila instantly. While it would be nice to be liked, she just wants to escape. She’s coming into her queerness too, and like most elder daughters of single moms, she has so much responsibility dumped on her shoulders and is never appreciated for all she does. She is shown to be loyal to a fault, as well as quite the martyr. But when your family is all you have, you do everything you can to keep it together, even when all you want to do is leave.

Angie is the chaos to Sheila’s extreme self-control. She runs quite literally wild, exploring the woods, stealing stuff, and is often lost in her own world where she’s a commando (she would have loved Fallout the game)

Their story is both a coming-of-age and a bringing together of two disparate sisters who often don’t seem to like one another. It’s a sisterly bonding novel, though it does it in the weirdest way possible. As someone with two sisters, this aspect really resonated with me.

I also really loved the story because I had no idea where the hell it was going, but in the best way. We are not sure how much of what is happening - the supernatural aspects - are real events or interpretations of a lonely little girl who puts stock in ritual to explain her life and a young woman whose self-starvation is messing with her brain. While these two aren’t exactly unreliable narrators, at least not at the start, they definitely don’t hold the reader’s hand. I love this approach in novels.

Tied to this, not a lot is explained in the story. The book is layered with nuance and subtle meaning, where symbols, like rabbits, appear again and again, leaving you wondering what they signify if anything at all. In this way, you can draw out meaning based on your own interpretation. The richness of the oral history of the area is also expressed by Angie and Sheila’s general knowledge of the place, but also their great aunt, who tells some pretty wild tales. In fact, we almost feel liek we’re being pulled into this shared knowledge of the area, and have witnessed a legend by the end.

Part of this is the writing style. It’s absolutely lyrical, with lines like - and this is an ARC, so it may be changed or altered in the final version - “What is days to humans and generations to Mayflies is a mere flash of lightning to the mountain.

The book is rife with detailed and visceral descriptions, yet is never verbose, and moves at a wonderful pace. It knows when to slow down and when to speed things up, and while Sheila and Angie have it pretty tough, it’s not a book about despair or even a book really about class. There is a moment when Angie starts to clue into their lower economic status, but the story is almost about how people who live on the outskirts are more in tune with nature, which still affords them a lot of their sustenance. It's cheaper to grow food than buy it, and the girls do a lot of farmsteading.

The book also has some creepy parts to keep it a horror, but mainly what it has is, as the young people say, vibes.
(Am I using that term right?)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

Full Rating: 3.5 stars rounded up

"Smothermoss" by Alisa Alering is a chilling gothic novel set against the eerie backdrop of an Appalachian town reeling from a double murder. The story centers on two sisters, Sheila and Angie, whose lives are marred by poverty and family dysfunction. Sheila, the older of the two, harbors resentment towards her half-sister Angie, who is fixated on Cold War paranoia and spends her time drawing unsettling tarot cards. Despite her frustrations, Sheila has resigned herself to her dismal circumstances and does her best to support her family, taking on a job at a local asylum alongside her mother.

The novel excels in its atmospheric descriptions, with Alering turning the Appalachian mountains into a living, breathing character. The natural world, with its wild and untamed beauty, is depicted in vivid, eerie imagery that adds depth and tension to the narrative. The mountains seem to watch over the town, its presence felt in every shadow and whispering wind, enhancing the book’s gothic tone.

As Sheila and Angie navigate the aftermath of the murders, they struggle to be taken seriously by the adults around them, including those involved in the investigation. Their attempts to prove their worth and gain recognition form a core part of the narrative. Sheila, who is coming to terms with her queerness and her crush on a classmate named Juanita, dreams of escaping the town and its oppressive poverty. Meanwhile, Angie is determined to rise above their circumstances, believing that solving the murder will earn her the respect she craves.

The novel’s exploration of these themes is compelling, particularly in its portrayal of Sheila’s internal conflict over her sexuality and her desire for acceptance. The tension between the sisters, their different coping mechanisms, and their interactions with the wealthier, bullying kids in town are well-drawn and add emotional depth to the story.

However, while the book's atmosphere and character development are strong, the plot ultimately falls short. The narrative’s progression is marked by a pervasive sense of unease, but this tension does not culminate in a satisfying resolution. By the end of the book, many plot threads remain unresolved, leaving readers with more questions than answers. This ambiguity may appeal to some readers who enjoy symbolic and open-ended stories, but it left me feeling confused and somewhat unsatisfied.

Despite these shortcomings, "Smothermoss" remains a compulsive read, driven by its haunting atmosphere and vivid depictions of nature. Alisa Alering’s talent for creating an unsettling, almost otherworldly setting is undeniable. If you are drawn to gothic fiction with rich, eerie landscapes and complex characters, this book is worth exploring, even if its conclusion may not tie everything together as neatly as some might hope.

📖 Recommended For: Fans of gothic fiction with a haunting atmosphere, readers who appreciate stories set in the Appalachian mountains, enthusiasts of character-driven narratives with a touch of the supernatural, and those interested in themes of queerness and socio-economic struggles.

🔑 Key Themes: Queer Representation, Family Dysfunction, Poverty, Gothic and Eerie Natural Elements, Adolescence and Identity, Socio-Economic Struggles, Appalachian Setting.

Content / Trigger Warnings: Blood (moderate), Gore (moderate), Death (moderate), Medical Trauma (minor), Bullying (moderate), Murder (severe), Animal Cruelty (minor).

I requested an eARC of @alisa.alering debut novel Smothermoss on netgalley because the synopsis sounded like it would be my vibe and the cover is STUNNING!

I went into the novel thinking that the main focus would be on the murder of two female hikers on the Appalachian Trail but, ultimately, the story is more about sisterhood, family and identity.

Even though I don’t have a sister I felt like I could really understand the frustrations of both Sheila and Angie, especially when it came to their dynamic and rocky relationship. I appreciated that we were able to get some insight into both of these characters through their own POVs. Alering fleshes out these two voices so well and is able to make them completely unique so that you always know who is speaking, even when the narrators can change mid chapter.

I adored the way Alering writes about nature and I would consider this to be a character all on its own. The descriptions are so rich and layered it was a pure delight to read.

Smothermoss is out July 16th and needs to be added to your summer TBR. You won’t be disappointed.

4⭐️

Thank you to @netgalley and @tin_house for the eARC.

i always request anything in appalachia set. with this habit comes lofty expectations. i want to hear about lush greenery, i want to hear about the culture. i want to be able to hear the crickets at night in the summer and smell honeysuckle on the breeze.

the setting for smothermoss is immaculate and immersive. it's the 1980's and two sisters, sheila and angie, live in a small, rural community. their mother is overworked and underpaid. they get by by raising rabbits and foraging their own food in the forest. people at school tease them for their poverty, too. i found this utterly indicative of an impoverished appalachian experience.

appalachia is also known for its magic and lore, so when this book delved into that, i was initially pleasantly surprised. there's very specific rules for living in appalachia, like: 1.) if you hear a baby cry in the woods or someone asking for help, no you didn't, 2.) don't whistle or sing in the woods, 3.) never look too hard in the woods. angie's brain, fixated on russians and adventure, apparently didn't get this memo and when two hikers are found dead in the woods, she makes it her life's mission to hunt down the murderer, perhaps with the help of a mysterious deck of cards that she's made featuring sinister characters...

sheila's story is mostly about grappling with her sexuality. she's also got a rope wrapped around her neck that no one can see and the only one that can see it is a boy that no one can see. confused yet?

same.

ambiance was a plus, but a murder "mystery" this book is touted as it is not. i think this was meant to feel like a fairytale but it felt flat and fell mostly on the side of just vibes for me. i desperately wanted to love it, though.

The mountains remember everything.

I am SCREAMING a huge thank you to Tin House Books, Netgalley, and Alisa Alering for the #gifted digital copy of this 1980s Appalachian horror before it hits shelves on July 16, 2024.

This gothic tale isn't for the faint of heart or those surrounded by a thick patch of trees and residing in such Appalachian territories, for this one might hit a bit too close to home. My husband grew up in eastern Kentucky, a well-known Appalachian region known for its ages-old lore surrounding the mountains and the forests that I'm all too familiar with. Its landmarks see, hear, and experience everything, keeping the land's secrets and protecting those who need care.

In Alisa Alering's tale, we have two sisters and their maternal figures doing their best to survive the hand they've been dealt, living off their land and making do with their mother's measly salary at the old asylum. Sheila is the oldest, starting to explore her sexuality and longing to work with her mother so she can raise the funds to leave this lonely place, and Angie is the exact opposite, a bit younger, with a fantastical mind that paints a picture of hunting Russian spies and evading nuclear war.

When two hikers are found murdered in the dense forest by their home, Angie springs into action with her makeshift Tarot cards and her grit to try and catch the murderer. Her homemade tarot cards, drawn with monsters and demons such as the Worm King and other devilish characters, depict the lay of the land. With the mountains on her side, those very cards find their way into the hands of the wrong and right people, enacting death, change, and actions of fear.

Smothermoss depicts scenes of magical realism and hyper-fantastical dialogue, leading the reader to transport to the Appalachian territories, seeing its magic at work, and I couldn't get enough—easy five stars.

SMOTHERMOSS is evocative and compelling. I'm a native Appalachian, and I found much to admire here in the way Alering depicts the region and its folklore. The sisters are interesting, well-crafted characters. I enjoyed how the town became consumed with figuring out the missing killer. At times the sisters' ages didn't quite ring true, but I appreciated the role that the natural world played. Although the writing seemed overdone in places, overall this is a very strong novel. Highly recommended for fans of creepy, literary stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance e-galley; all opinions in this review are 100% my own.

Atmosphere, check. Lush language, check. Setting, check. There are some things to love about Smothermoss, and some of it just felt as though the author missed a whole, juicy opportunity to lean into the quirky, the eerie, the gothic weirdness of a creepy asylum and some illustrated cards which seem to have a life of their own - I simply wanted more of the story behind those cards more than I wanted to know who murdered a couple of hikers. This wasn’t a bad book, it just failed to engage on a level it could have given the elements present in the story.

So, I was going through a bit of a reading slump, reading a little bit of one book (Vampires), reading a bit of fantasy (the second in a series I'm reading), but nothing seemed to stick…nothing seemed to hold my interest enough for me to stick to it until the end. Until I started Smothermoss. This novel is so uniquely atmospheric that it immediately captured my interest through the character of 17-year-old Sheila. Sheila's life is a story, even if she doesn't understand it. It is filled with memories she doesn't know are real, a confidant she doesn't know is real, a sister who is extraordinarily unmoored from normalcy and a sense of self that she finds confusing and heartbreaking. 
Sheila's sister Angie lives in a somewhat make-believe world. Believing the Russians will invade at any moment, Angie hones her survival skills in tracking and knife-wielding. To give her more of an edge against the enemy, she also creates "tarot" cards with images that "speak to her," guiding her decisions. 
As if life isn't tricky enough, the elderly aunt they live with is dying (and scaring them with stories from the past and two female hikers are murdered in their area. 
Alering creates believable characters amidst an unsettling, visceral setting. 
Altering is a beautiful, gifted writer whose prose can effectively be used as mentor texts in a classroom, especially when teaching atmosphere, conventions, imagery, character development and theme. 
This is a perfect Southern Gothic to immerse yourself in for the summer (it will be in stores July 16th). It's the ideal choice for those long, lazy summer days.
Thank you to Tin House and Netgalley for the advanced copy.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I liked this more than I was expecting to, but I didn't love it. I found the majority of the book really solid, if a bit over-reliant on flowery descriptions of the Appalachian landscape. The older sister, Sheila, was really interesting tragic figure, and I loved the descriptions of the younger sister, Angie's cards (and the little illustrations at the beginning of each chapter). The cards were probably the best, most unsettling part of the whole novel. But the ending felt too deux ex machina-ish for my tastes, and I found there were just too many underdeveloped elements (the boy with the spot of blood in his eye, Sheila's crush, etc).

The writing in "Smothermoss" is exquisite, as is the figurative and metaphorical world. That said, I had a very hard time getting into this and staying there. I felt a bit ungrounded. What was real and what wasn't? So much was given to the dream and imagined-world, that I felt little tension to propel me forward. I would try another book by this writer for sure, but I didn't love this one.

I enjoyed the book overall. Loved the dreamy quality it has as well as the haunting atmosphere. The story had good pacing but the characters maybe needed more fleshing out and development. 3 stars.

Unfortunately this book was not it for me. I wasn’t prepared for how much of a mix of real and dream it was. It was really confusing to get through with the EPUB and each character just really frustrated me.

Poetic and magical. This book swirls around you like a strong wind, holding you in its grasp. It is both realistic and fantastical, teetering between the sad reality of Shelia, Angie, and her family-living in poor, rural Appalachia in the 1980’s-and the fairytalesque pull of the mountain. But among the sister, the author gives us a stark contrast. Shelia is fearful, scared, and lashes out at anyone who gets too close. Her sister, Angie, is fearless, reckless, and walks through the world with something to prove. Both are ruthlessly bullied and shunned, but each deals with it in their own way.

As the story moves along, we see the magnetic pull between the girls and the danger lurking in the mountain, and with it, a change they perceive in each other. The magic is woven deep in this complex and tragic tapestry, but the ending provides a glimpse into the possibility of hope, and different outcomes-even when it seemed so far out of reach.

This was a well written novel, and I really enjoyed it. And anyone who enjoys magical realism will as well.

3.5 stars

A haunting thriller with a little bit of whimsy and magic. Beautiful writing and imagination went into this, and I can see fans of Bunny liking this (even if you wanted to like Bunny but didn't).

The relationship between the sister is so authentic, which really helps be equally as annoyed with Angie.

I had a hard time connecting with a few devices (the rope mainly) for the duration of the book, but did come to connect with it a bit more at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book

Thank you to NetGalley and Tin House Books for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book! I really enjoyed this one!

Smothermoss is a blend of horror and fantasy that is both captivating and strange. Its Appalachian deep woods setting and uncanny elements give it the feel of a folklore or dark fairytale. There are aspects of the story that can be interpreted as supernatural or as a metaphor for the struggles the characters are dealing with. At times, the story takes a sharp turn into the surreal, but the reader is kept grounded by a cast of believable characters and relatable hardships.

The story is told through the perspectives of two main characters. Sheila, the oldest sister, is a sensitive young woman, struggling with her identity and place in the world. Angie, the youngest, is the exact opposite, completely at ease in her battle-ready, Rambo-loving self. The one thing they have in common is a sense for the supernatural. Sheila glimpses things that no one else is able to see, and Angie draws tarot-like cards that seem to speak to her. When two hikers are brutally murdered not far from the sisters’ home, Sheila and Angie are pulled into the hunt for the killer.

Overall, I loved this story. I didn’t quite get everything I’d hoped to get from the ending, but I loved the characters, setting, and atmosphere of the story so much that it didn’t really matter. Those things outweighed my desire to know more about the supernatural/surreal elements.
I’m so impressed that this is a debut novel. The writing is silky smooth and captivating, and the character building is just expert level. I definitely look forward to reading more books by this author!

Ratings:

Plot: 💀💀💀💀💀 /5
Characters: 💁‍♀️💁‍♀️💁‍♀️💁‍♀️💁‍♀️ /5
Setting: 🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳 /5
Ending: 🃏🃏🃏🃏 /5
Overall: 🐇🐇🐇🐇.5 /5

✔️ would recommend

Smothermoss is such a unique story. We follow two sisters that are growing up poor in the Appalachian mountains. Sheila is older and has an invisible rope tied around her neck and Angie draws tarot cards that seem to have power. One day, a brutal murder occurs in their community which begins to shift the lives of our main characters. I loved the magical realism aspects of this story. The mountain is almost its own character and the magic that follows the sisters is incredibly interesting and unsettling. The author created such vivid imagery which made the magical elements even more alluring. I really enjoyed my time with this story however, some of the elements didn't quite come together for me. I constantly wondered if I simply didn't understand the symbolism or if there were just too many elements and not enough tying them together. However, I strongly recommend it to anyone that loves atmospheric southern gothic with horror elements.

I don't usually read this genre (ghost thriller?) and am not a convert, but this book is beautifully written (rich with luscious phrases such as "the quilted silence of the pines") and the dream-like story, set in the Virginia forest, is wrapped in a keen sensibility of the mystery and nuance of the natural world and the deep tribalism of Appalachian culture interwoven with the human desire for the supernatural. A nice follow-up to reading Demon Copperhead.
An couple excerpts:
"... Now she feels dizzy, lightheaded, like the whole-body buzz that follows a wasp sting. The tingle on her skin sinks deeper, like he is scanning below the surface, digging past her flesh and into her heart and shadows. Into the murk and darkness where she keeps her need and her shame. ..."
"... Sheila sighs. “I sometimes wonder if we ever get to choose anything.” The magnifying glass thunks on the bureau’s top as Angie sets it down. “What do you mean?” “This. All of this. Everything.” Sheila waves at the room and the world around them. “Where we live, who we are, what happens to us. The parents we’re born to and the family we live with. Who likes you, who hates you. Whether you’re an airline stewardess or a night shift aide at an insane asylum. If the bomb falls next week and we die before we get out of school, or we fall in love with someone who sweet talks us into a backwoods hike where we’re clubbed to death in a tent, or we live a long life and fade slowly in the back room of a relative’s house.” .."