Something about the under dwelling violence made this a very special read to me, as I never felt really comfortable with the protagonist.

The fine like between magic and reality that was crossed a few times together with the timelessness of the setting makes it really worth reading.

Triggerwarnings for Death of Animals, though.

Read it, bu best read it in a very cozy room with tea and blankets to come back from this dark place.

DNF ~10% - I'm not sure if I lack the intelligence to get through this one, I was completely lost through the first few chapters and could not seem to make it through.

I had (digitally) picked this up and put it back down in the hopes to get into it but just could not. The subject matter of a thriller set in Appalachia (close to where I grew up) was so captivating but I felt like this read very differently than I expected.

The Gothic mood and tone of this book is fantastic. I grew up in Appalachia, so I am forever attracted to the books that explore not only this aesthetic but its mysteries. The cover is gorgeously rendered, and the reader did a lovely job. I was not as satisfied with the ending as I would have liked, however, and while I'm not one who needs things tied up neatly, I felt as if there were some missed opportunities here.

I think this one was just a bit too much for me, it was quite repetitive and i kind of lost what what actually going on and what the point of the story was.

This was a very dark read, almost suffocating and at times very intense. The pacing was a bit off for me, it was a very slow ramp up and not a big enough pay off. I did enjoy the dark atmosphere and the writing but the overall story was just lacking to me. I didn't love the narration, it just didn't feel like the right voice for the story so that may influenced me as well.

Smothermoss by Alisa Alering and narrated by Susan Bennett is a tale of the Appalachian mountains and two sisters who live there. The sisters are like chalk and cheese, completely different, but each has their own idiosyncracies that cause them to be seen as outsiders, the others, there to be teased and bullied.

The turning point is the discovery of two murders, which spirals into a maelstrom of events and symbols, imaginings that may not be fantasy and a litany of unexplained events, all coursing from the mountains and through the very blood that runs in the girls veins

Absolutely brilliant. Very well narrated, dark, atmospheric, intriguing, I was rapt and this will be perfect for an autumn read or listen!

Thank you to NetGalley, RBmedia | Recorded Books, Alisa Alering and the narrator Susan Bennett for this awesome ALC . My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

Smothermoss by Alisa Alering hit home for me, especially as someone who grew up in Appalachia. The eerie, atmospheric storytelling really captured the haunting feel of the mountains, and the time period made for an even more eerie telling. Alering’s portrayal of Sheila and Angie made their bond feel real and raw, grounding the story even as the supernatural elements crept in.

The setting, with its mix of rural mountain life and the unsettling, otherworldly forces, is where this book truly shines. I did find it a bit slow at times, and I kind of wished the hikers' murders had been more central to the plot. But honestly, the slow-burn pacing worked in building that deep sense of dread, and the strangeness of the story as a whole made up for any lag in action. The audiobook narrator also did a fantastic job, and I can say I really enjoyed the listening experience!

In a remote community just off the Appalachian Trail, half sisters separated by five years are in unsurprising conflict during a summer in the 1980s that is filled with mysterious happenings and murder. Each girl has her own dream world, her own confusions about identity, sexuality, and purpose. Although both are focused on the murders of two hikers and worried about a murderer in their community, their responses are very different. Neither sister seems quite sane, and I would categorize this Gothic novel as magical realism. The setting is well done and and heavily atmospheric.

The book, although very short is also very dense. A reader or listener must pay close attention, but after spending hours doing so, I have to wonder why. And don't expect to learn everything about any of the women in this family of 2 girls, a hardworking mother, and an elderly relative--the details of their lives dribble out slowly. The book seems like an unfulfilled promise that needed at least one more revision. A little more work and it would have been 5 stars.

🍃SMOTHERMOSS🍃 by @alisa.alering

Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publisher @recordedbooks and @tin_house for both the audio and e-ARCs. Out on shelves now!

❇️❇️❇️

When murders start to occur around a small Appalachian town, two sisters become obsessed with finding out what is happening. Sheila, the older sister and consummate rule follower who works at the local asylum tries to figure out who is killing these women by tracing through town history while her younger, practically feral sister Angie believes she will be the town hero when she traps the murderer and brings him to justice.

Angie has always created what she calls, Monster Cards full of scary creatures and when the things that Angie says the cards tell her start coming true, Sheila is sure that she and her sister are caught up in something much stranger than run of the mill murder.

🪶🪶🪶

Full of impending dread and the terrifying specter of not knowing, this story was more of a creepy thriller than horror to me although there are a few parts that had me holding my breath. The mystery and fantastical things that occur in the book are intriguing, but the relationship between the two sisters, their cavern of differences yet fierce loyalty to each other was what kept me reading to the end.

This had a similar mysterious magical realism vibe while set in a small backwater town as INSATIABLE VOLT SISTERS which I also read and loved this year. Full of atmosphere, suspicion and survival, this book is a perspective on small town American living, the trials and tribulations of sibling rivalry and spooky middle of nowhere happenings.

Do you live in a city? A suburb? A rural area?

I live in the city limits of Seattle!😎

💚SMASHBOT💚

#smothermoss #reader #alisaalering #tinhousebooks #netgalley #netgalleyreviewer #monsterbooks #magicalrealism #booknerd #bibliophile #bookish #booksta #recordedbooks

I really enjoyed this one! Thank you netgalley for the advanced audiobook copy. I will be telling my friends!

big thank you to netgalley and libro.fm for the arc of this book.
ok lets start by talking about all the potential this book had, it had a hint of magical realism and follows two sisters who dont get along very well. one of the sisters has a mysterious rope around her neck that no one can see and she can see ghosts? (this part had mo relevance and was random af) also the sister has a tarot deck and she was drawn to specific cards when she asks questions of it. these things separately could have been fun but the way they were put together was not fun to read.
you could tell from the writing that the author was going for a literary fiction vibe and it just didnt get there. there also is a part of this story that focuses on the older sisters identity and discovering she is a lesbian. i liked that that aspect of her character was there and that came to a positive conclusion but the way this story tied together didnt work for me.

Unfortunately not for me. In a world with SO many books being published, I just don't see this as a must in our collection. I expected this to be weird by the description, but it was just a little too out there for me.

Appalachia horror stories is a growing trend and I am here for it! This latest in the sub-genre follows two sisters and is set in the 1980s. It was hauntingly atmospheric, involved dark secrets, family drama and was great on audio. I look forward to reading more by this author! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

Smothermoss centers around the lives of two sisters, Sheila and Angie, living in a secluded Appalachian community. Their world is thrown into turmoil when a double homicide occurs on the nearby Appalachian Trail. As the investigation unfolds, strange occurrences begin to plague the sisters.

I loved how Alering used the Appalachian setting in this one. The writing was so atmospheric and evocative. The real and supernatural was superimposed in a fascinating way in this one. I loved the way nature along with the folk horror elements was incorporated into creating the unsettling setup. Sheila and Angie were intriguing and well built characters, their perspectives were used well to create tension between them really well. A lot of the symbolism in the book wasn’t explained, which definitely contributed to how vibes heavy it was. Books that are heavy on the vibes don’t always work for me, and I do wish some threads were more explored and explained more. Despite that I really enjoyed being pulled into an uncanny Appalachia setting with this one.

I started reading this one from the galley and eventually finished on the audio. I enjoyed Susan Bennett’s narration of this one, and I do like gothic reads as audiobooks, especially when they are this atmospheric. I think if I had started this one audio, I might have mistaken my confusion to have something to do with the format and missing something, but that’s just the charm of the story.

This was one of those books that was easy to start but hard to finish. The writing was beautiful, the atmosphere was thick, and the premise was promising. I loved the themes of identity and queerness, and the folk horror vibes, but after some hallucinatory sequences I couldn’t make heads or tails of, I really didn’t find myself dying to pick this back up.

This felt like it maybe had too many moving parts, and many of the pieces never fully get develop or resolved. I kept waiting for the threads to come together, but they never completely did for me. Plus, the murder mystery really took the backseat to everything else in this story, and its resolution didn’t feel satisfying at all. Not to mention, the one side character I liked most (the ghost boy) never really gets a resolution or an explanation either, which layered in the disappointment.

Overall, this book was hard to pin down and at times hard to follow, and although it had some great ideas, it seemed like it didn’t fully deliver on them. But I can see the potential here in the author’s writing, and will absolutely keep my eyes peeled for what the she does next.

Visceral and odd coming of age story about two sisters living in poverty in Appalachia. The audiobook narrator mispronounced Appalachia which was off putting. Overall, this didn’t totally make sense to me and didn’t really work for me, but the folksy horror vibes are definitely there

I enjoyed myself while reading, which has to be part of the point, but as soon as I was done I felt as though I'd just eaten a big fat éclair with tons of calories but no nutritional value.

3.25/5

Set in the 80s deep in the Appalachia we follow Sheila, a seventeen year old girl who has a difficult life. Surrounded by poverty and harsh living conditions and bullied at school, she's also dealing with a lot of new feelings regarding herself and her sexuality. Her little sister Angie on the other hand is an adventurous preteen who is obsessed with a Russian invasion and learning how to defend herself. She also happens to create unsettling tarot cards that sometimes tell her what to do or predict future events. Then, two women are murdered on a nearby trail casting a shadow of violence and uncertainty in their community and drawing Angie, and by default Sheila, into the hunt for the murderer while odd things happen in the mountain and their home.

I enjoyed this, but I think it was wrongly marketed. The summary makes it seem more like a thriller or a mystery when it's actually a slow burn character exploration of Sheila. I can totally understand people not loving this based of that misconception, it is very slow and atmospheric, the kind of book that doesn't give you an explanation of the events, preferring to focus on the feelings and the vibe instead. The writing was good, intensely descriptive and you can tell the author grew up in the Appalachian mountains in the way they lovingly set the ambiance. I also liked the characters, the sisters had really different voices and personalities and their relationship rung true.

My only negative thoughts on this book related to the pacing and the resolution of the plot. This didn't need a murder or the search for the culprit, I would have enjoyed it more if we veered away from this plot and focused more on the magical realism aspect and the mountain. The ending was too abrupt and left me unsatisfied.

Regarding the audiobook I have nothing but praise for Susan Benett as the narrator. As someone who's not a native English speaker, it took me two chapters to really understand the accent, but once I got it I was fully into it. The different voices were excellent and engaging, and I do feel like it affected my enjoyment of the book in a positive way.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and the author for granting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review (or rating).

"Smothermoss" by Alisa Alering plunges readers into the eerie beauty of 1980s Appalachia, where Sheila navigates a turbulent world of bullying, caring for her great-aunt, and her younger sister Angie—an oddball fixated on nuclear war and zombies. Their lives take a dark turn after two hikers are murdered on the Appalachian Trail, leading the sisters on a dangerous hunt for the killer. As violence creeps closer, the Appalachian mountains loom large, their ancient presence a possible shield against the growing darkness.

What struck me most about "Smothermoss" is its unique blend of dark fairy tale and gothic Appalachia. As a kid from the '80s, I found it easy to connect with the setting—it’s a nostalgic return to a time when life seemed simpler yet full of shadows. Alering does a fantastic job of capturing the haunting atmosphere of the region, and the sibling relationship between Sheila and Angie is well-written, providing a strong emotional core to the story.

The novel is heavy on atmosphere and light on traditional mystery. There’s a sense that the story keeps drifting, and for a while, I wasn't sure where it was headed. Still, the journey was compelling—especially with Susan Bennett’s exceptional narration in the audiobook, which enhanced the Appalachian accents and kept me immersed.

At its heart, "Smothermoss" is a strange, dark, and intense read. While the supernatural elements were a bit overwhelming at times, the juxtaposition of Appalachian folklore with metaphysical themes created an intriguing tension. It’s not a book that’s concerned with tying up every loose end, which might frustrate some readers, but for me, that ambiguity only added to its strange charm.

Thanks to RBmedia for the Advance Reader's Copy.