This is my absolute favourite novella from this series by RDSP. It was so well written you don't even see the genre switching twist ending coming but when it does it shocks you and makes you think WTF did I just read (in the best way possible). Eden is such a master that in the end you realize that the clues where there all along. I walked away wondering why did that book have to end? What am I going to read next that's even comparable?

Eden Royce is extremely talented at exploring complicated parent-child dynamics and that was the biggest draw at the beginning but unfortunately, the tone of this wasn't as engaging as I expected. It felt like the story carried on way after the initial intrigue and had extra elements/reveals that bogged the narrative down.

I enjoyed this book! It was very well written and easy to get into. I read it in two sittings! Will be looking for more from this author!

Southern gothic at its finest. This novella follows Maxine as she is forced to return to her childhood home after a tragic incident that causes her to lose her job. Max is reluctant to return to a home that caused her so much pain. When she pulls up, the house looks desolate save for the front yard. She enters to find the house empty and dust filled. The reader learns about her trauma and relives her memories with her. What follows is an interesting twist and changes that are unexpected.

I felt really deflated by this book.
It had all the ingredients for an amazing story. I truly enjoyed the concept, but the execution was poor and felt very rushed.
I loved the main character. She was relatable and likeable.
As a whole though, the ending let down the entire book. This was a lot of build up for a very little in the way of any kind of horror and lacked imagination.

This book screams Souther gothic Horror and I'm here for it. It also touches on trauma and working through your trauma to become a better version of yourself. It could get emotional, depending if you are an emotional reader so beware.

For a shorter book, it has a huge impact. Both shocking and horrifying. Eden Royce has a way with words and a knack for Gothic horror.

I really enjoyed this beautifully written horror novella with an ending I was totally unprepared for!

Maxine returns home to deal with some family business with the hopes that her mother has finally left her father. She hasn't spoken to either of her parents for years. Her mother is gone but so is her father. Assuming he is out drinking, Maxine begins to remanence and is swallowed up by the atmosphere of her childhood home. Haunted by past abuse the house takes on a dark and creepy life of its own. The house has one more secret for Maxine, leaving the reader with a totally satisfying ending!

Thank you @netgalley and RDS Publishing for this ARC!

Maxine Forrest is going through the motions. After surviving a life threatening injury, she wishes only to live quietly and keep the past buried. Unexpectedly, she receives a letter from a bank in Charleston, SC claiming that fees for a safety deposit box in her mother's name is long overdue.

Concerned that her mother may be missing, Maxine Forrest returns to her childhood home, finding it empty yet seemingly lived in. Her abusive father is also nowhere to be found. Has her mother finally left, or perhaps resorted to something much more drastic?

As a black woman, Maxine's story is a result of not only generational abuse but also racial self-hatred. Her mother had been taught that "You ain't people. You a woman, and you Black," implying that Maxine's grandmother had internalized this way of thinking. In an ideal world, every parent wants their child to have a better life than they did and even vice versa. Life is not a competition of "what's fair" or a school of hard knocks. Despite its use of fantastical science, it accurately portrays how bitterness can eat away and change an individual.

As much as I wanted to like this one, there was a lot of emotional build up with very little pay off. There's a brief "hallucination" when Maxine first arrives at the house, but only memories and flashbacks until the horror of the story hits like a brick wall in the last few pages. It's over before it begins and with minimal closure. À la The Fly, it's creative insect body horror, I'll admit, but it left me wanting more. If Maxine's mother had re-appeared earlier on, perhaps the reader wouldn't be left with so many questions. This one was a miss for me, but I would give this author another chance!

Rated 2.5 / 5!

Publishing date: 20.06.2024

Thank you to Netgalley and RDS Publishing for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

The book as a meal: A full plate of trauma with a side of misogyny
The book left me: Feeling a little nasty

Negatives:
Moreso a story of trauma than horror
The "horror" was revealed a little too late

Positives:
Strong spooky vibes
So descriptive I could almost smell it

Features:
A character with a disability, lots and lots of family trauma, bugs and smells are pivotal to the story, jumping between now and the past

Why did I choose this one?
I had to continue the Selected Papers series as I adored book 4. The cover is also an eye catcher, and I trust RDS publishing to front great books.

Pick-up-able? Put-down-able?
Pick-up-able. The pacing feels natural for a story like this, and there is just enough curiosity to what is going on to keep me reading.

What was the vibe and mood?
A little spooky. I felt like I was wandering in a dark house with stale air. Oppressive mood. And just a faint nauseating smell of flowers follows my every step.

Final ranking and star rating?
4 stars, A tier. Selected Papers has done it again. I adore the concepts of this series, and this one continues that. I will be keeping an eye out for book 6, and I will be recommending this strongly.

This was a ride and I mean as a roller coaster the hits you with a nice inverted loop deathdrop spin all before the ride is over.


You go into this story feeling one way, asking the questions of haunted house tropes or maybe redemption over traumas. These characters were like watching neighbors down the street of younger years.

What becomes of a child, now grown, who wants to confront the trauma of a demeaning father. One that kept his house in a choking fear. But there’s so much more as the story whispers it to you that something is quite off about coming home.

I think of Tales from the Crypt when I was finished. And that’s a truly wonderful coming a ‘84 baby.

Hands down worth a read. Grab a snack, a drink and settle into a tale of that will blossom before your eyes.

This creepy novella about past trauma, abuse, and loss turns into something horrific.

Max is headed back home. She left as soon as she was 18 with guidance and help from her mother. Her father is abusive and intolerable yet her mother stays so she can escape.

Injuries from a shooting makes her less mobile but she drives eight hours hoping her mother has finally left her father. But nobody is home. Or...

That's all I'll say about it for now. But when you think you're getting one kind of book and it swerves to something you didn't expect in the most terrifying way, that's a win!

I highly recommend this well written, emotional, and frightening novella.

This gothic horror tale is flawlessly executed, with the house itself taking on a persona of its own - dark, stifling, and imposing. However, it is Maxine who truly shines in this narrative. As we trace her tumultuous past, we bear witness to her transformation from a victim of trauma to a new and evolved being, shedding her former self. I was completely captivated and entranced by this piece, savoring every word. It is a mesmerizing, exquisite, and delightfully unconventional story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for granting me a copy of this book for an honest review!

I wish I could give this six stars. I'm absolutely obsessed. I'd read anything written by this author. Were I an influencer, this would be the horror book I didn't shut up about.

Came for the beautiful cover, stayed for the incredible southern gothic horror.

This is gothic horror done right! The house—dark, suffocating, looming—a character of its own. But Maxine is our true star here. Readers follow the winding road of Maxine’s dark past and witness her emerge from the chrysalis of trauma as something new, shedding her old skin.

I devoured this, consumed it. It’s memorizing and exquisite and weird but in the best way. Bonus points for the setting being South Carolina, my home state.

“A house is the worst kind of monster… when we step through its doors, we are transported back through time, to a moment where we were perhaps at our most vulnerable.”

Thank you RDS Publishing and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Available 06/20/2024!

After a series of tragic events, Maxine returns to her childhood home only to find it abandoned. No food, the soap is old and hardened, mold spots coat the walls and the backyard is overrun with weeds. As Max grapples to understand what events could have led to the house being uninhabited, she’s also forced to confront the painful memories haunting every room.

This short gothic tale centers on Maxine, an incredibly resilient character whose life has been a series of unfortunate events. Her journey, as she confronts and conquers that which haunts her past, is inspiring. The narrative initially unfolds as a domestic drama but gradually escalates into outright horror, echoing the butterflies depicted on the cover. The story intentionally leaves many questions unanswered, a characteristic I appreciate. When a book leaves you pondering unanswered questions, it tends to linger in your memory longer. With a small cast of characters and limited settings, Royce crafts an intimate atmosphere akin to a "bottle episode". It's just us and Max, navigating through the mysteries and attempting to uncover the truth behind her absent parents.
If the above sounds like your style, I highly recommend this book.

Similar vibes: The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison, Umma (2022)

Thank you, NetGalley and RDS Publishing for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

What an amazing surprise this book turned out to be. I went in knowing very little about this story other than it was about a woman returning to her childhood home and I’m glad I did it that way.

Eden Royce tells such a shocking and horrific story in the small amount of time you spend with Max in this novella. Her words pack such a punch as she tells you about the abuse and trauma Max and her mother endured over the years. The house itself feels like the main character, as the descriptions of it had me feeling like I was right there with Max smelling the floral soaps and feeling the heat that Charleston is known for.

What an eerie journey this was from start to finish. The final reveal at the end was so disturbing in the best way. Royce flawlessly hands you a monster that will haunt your dreams for a long time to come!

This book is such a good book. Loved the plot. Loved every second of it. The characters were amazing and the story was impecable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I don't quite know how I feel about this book, but I think that might be more of a me problem than a this book problem, so I'm rounding it up to four stars. I went into this novella fully blind, pretty sure that it had something to do with family trauma but having quite literally zero idea that it was horror. Even so, I could immediately pick up on the atmospheric horror elements of this book. The description was excellent, and a little chilling. I love books that take the concept of 'haunted houses' and turn them on their heads in such a real, scary way by talking about the actual experiences the main character had in the house. However, I think for me, the book jumped very quickly from feeling realistic, if chilling and kind of creepy, into actual horror very abruptly, and then the whole thing was just over in a couple of pages. I think this might have worked better for me as a longer novella or full-length novel. There were a few loose ends or things I would have liked to be explored more, and I just found the horror element so jarring and abrupt that it was almost a little bit... funny? I think that's on me though for going in with no clue what was going to happen. It just all felt a bit unrealistic. Which like, okay, obviously, but it felt unrealistic to the point where I couldn't quite believe what was happening even in the context of the book, if that makes any sense. It just felt a little beyond the scope of the rest of the book.
Overall, however, what I think the book did really well at was an exploration of complex family dynamics and childhood trauma.

I really enjoyed this book by Eden Royce in The Selected Papers from the Constortium for the Study of Anomalous Phenomena series. It was very well written, and I definitely didn't see where it was going until the end. Great character, great story, and great pacing. Will definitely like to read more from Eden Royce. #HollowTongue #NetGalley

This story had a lot of purple prose. Deep and overly detailed description that were totally unnecessary and severely slowed the pace. There wasn't enough plot or story development and it caused me to lose interest.