Gothic horror with really unique world building.

I enjoyed the two sisters as main characters. Isolated, poor and fairly alone, they grow up in wood raising rabbits for food. Angie, the younger of the two sisters, was my favorite character. Obsessed with Rambo, fighting the Russians and compelled to create her own deck of tarot cards, she feels called upon to be the hero of her small town. She wants to take the killer, who is lurking in the woods down.

Narration was wonderful. Loved the accents. I had my on theories on the killer and was just a bit disappointed with the ending. Some of the paranormal aspects were a bit confusing, but loved Angie’s tarot readings.

This was a such an interesting and atmospheric read. The story was entrancing and the setting was vibrant, which was 1980s Appalachia. The story was almost other-worldly. It was a lot of fun to read.

We follow the sisters Sheila and Angie in their struggles growing up in a secluded home, in the Appalachian mountains. Surrounded by nature and mystery, the two girls couldn’t be more different from each other, but both trying to find their identity and place in this world between social structures, expectations, sexuality and old beliefs.
A series of murders in the area sets them on their quest to unravel the enigma, around the mystical figure and around themselves.

The story itself, is as alien and wild as the title. It pulled me in from the beginning, exploring the area, the folklore and the personality and life of the two main girls, each struggling with their own doubts and issues. Even if the upbringing and situation of the girls is vastly different to mine, I still could connect to their inner fears and doubts of being a young girl. They felt as raw and feral as the nature around them and the story itself. This all happens to a degree, where the actual murder plot pretty much takes a side role.
The book blends a lot of genres, like folk horror, coming of age, mystery and literary fiction. It also mingles with a lot of themes, visuals and symbolism, of which I also probably missed quite a few things. It does not always glide fluently. There is some jumping between these and that, what makes it a bit hard in places to keep track. It feels a bit like it teasers a lot, that does not essentially pull together too well. Like a very wild crop of flowers in all kinds of states and colours and shapes.
I would’ve loved the book to dive a bit more into the magical absurdity that sometimes shines through the cracks of the story. As the ending felt a bit anticlimactic and too convenient.

As an audio experience, I was very impressed with the narrator, she managed to carry the magical complexity of the story with her voice and I chuckled a bit when she gave the girls the lovely southern accent. She did a great job.
Although I must say that audio would not be my choice of media for a complex world build like this, as I would want to re-read things, sentences and words and decipher certain symbols more closely.

I enjoyed the writing style a lot and will probably get myself a physical copy, to better dwell on quotes and underline and research topics that came up.

A big thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the audio-ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

4.25 stars

**Thank you to NetGalley for this audio ALC in exchange for an honest review.**

Basics
Authors: they/their, USA
Genre: horror, magical realism, gothic mystery
Setting: 1980s Appalachia
Themes: being without, fighting, surviving, longing
Mood: visceral, evocative, secretive, dark

Pros
+ the audiobook is AMAZING (I never wanted to stop listening)
+ the writing is wonderfully evocative and visceral (reminds me of Perfume by Patrick Suskind)
+ Sheila (1POV): a quiet 17yo girl caught between being bullied mercilessly at school and taking care of her sister and grand-aunt at home using foraged forest food
+ Angie (2POV): a loud 12yo girl who is obsessed with dark visions, surviving in a nuclear fallout, and her self-made horrific tarot cards
+ Mountain (3POV): a female spirit shaped by the life and death of those on her slopes
+ Sheila & Angie's life is disrupted by the sudden bloody murder of two female hikers just 20 miles from their house
+ LGBTQIA rep: lesbian
+ lush nature writing about the flora and fauna of the Appalachian forest
+ I would give my left arm to see Angie's creeptastic hand-drawn cards.
+ magical realism elements are integrated in my favorite is-that-really-happening-or-are-they-dreaming way
+ I'm at 10% and I love everything about this book so far. My hopes are getting very high.

Cons
- The Sheila/asylum/Juanita's room passage was never explained. It kept bugging me because it felt out of place compared to other magical realism elements.
- Only about half of the narrative arcs are tied up. There are things we never find out. There are things that I hoped would be resolved and weren't (the rope being the huge one). It left me really unsatisfied because the author had such an amazing pace and narrative strength the whole time and the end just fizzled out.

TW: poverty, parental neglect, animal death, gore, human death (murder & other), school bullying, incarceration, SA (implied), body horror

I loved this book! So atmospheric. A story set in 1980s Appalachia, two sisters with a complicated relationship and an asylum. Yes, please! The settings also function as characters in this story. I love stories with a complex setting that becomes just as important as the main character. This is an amazing debut novel. I can't wait to see what Alering does next.

Although beautifully written and full of symbolism, I can't tell you what this book is about. I think itwould have been far better if it didn't take itself so seriously. All the gorgeous prose in the world is of no use if the story doesn't make sense.

This is an ambitiously busy and weird story of two sisters in 80s Appalachia, shaped largely by the mountain, poverty, and isolation, in addition to mountain folklore.. I think. There is, to put it lightly, a LOT going on in this book.

On top of poverty and general isolation, the girls are battling their own demons: Angie is bullied mercilessly at school and Sheila is struggling to come to terms with her own sexuality and the invisible tether around her neck that often catches and chokes our protagonist.

A murder of two female hikers has shaken their Appalachian community. Many families are not allowing their children to roam freely, but nothing stops young Angie, who is determined to catch the murderer herself. Both girls are enveloped by magic… be it the magic of the mountain, Angie’s self-made tarot-like cards, or the invisible boy who befriends Shiela, their lives are engrossed in the occult - is it real? Or symbolic? I’m still not sure.

I believe much of the occult content is hyperbole for the magic/folklore of the Appalachian mountains (isn’t that a theme in some other Appalachia-based stories? Maybe I am making that up…), but much of the hyperbole was lost on me, and instead inundated me with too much going on and a lot of strange things that seem to lack connection and never seem to wrap up.

Thank you to NetGalley and RBMedia for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free audiobook copy from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Sheila and Angie are sisters living with their mother and their elderly great aunt in a rural Appalachian community in the 1980s. They struggle with bullying, poverty and hella weirdness in their lives, complicated with a murderer on the loose and an oppressive funk that hangs over the town.

The description was intriguing and sounded like an interesting read, but I was left unsatisfied and completely confused. There were so many elements to this story that I had a hard time keeping track and got tired of trying to keep everything straight. That's very unusual for me! The asylum, the rabbits, the rope, the ghost boy, unrequited love, the mountain... just too much. I wish I liked it more, but unfortunately, this book just wasn't for me.

This was such an interesting read. I love the Appalachian setting and the coming-of-age and sisterhood themes, but the story just didn't stick with me. I enjoyed the ride, but just don't remember much.

What is more dangerous , the supernatural world or the real world? Listen to Smothermoss and find out. I listen to the audio version of this book and I greatly enjoyed it.

This was the perfect short book, I was fortunate enough to get the audiobook book.
I still don’t know if I truly understood it, but it gave me similar (although very different from) Laird Hunts The House in the Dark of the Woods.
It was a resolved end but abrupt.
3.5 stars

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the free audio ARC

This book was one of the most atmospheric and tension filled reads I’ve yet come across. I felt every description so viscerally, and the tension wound tighter and more taut like a rope around my neck. The magical realism alongside the haunting macabre setting just keeps you engaged in a push and pull kind of way. The very duality of nature being filled with whimsy and growth as well as teeth and decay is very prominent in this novel. I found myself relating to the female protagonists and feeling memories of family ties, high school bullies, and sisterhood all coming to me in waves. Beautifully written and hopeful even amid the darkness - it’s a much recommended book from me.

Smothermoss by Alisa Alering is a stunningly imaginative and engaging book. From beginning to end I was hooked.

It begins with two sisters, Sheila and Angie, who live in rural Appalachia in the 1980’s. They are both picked on at school, though it bothers Sheila much more than Angie. Their mother works at a nearby asylum which leaves Sheila, the oldest, with a lot of responsibility. Sheila had always felt a tug around her neck, and Angie has a habit of creating creepy cards with different monsters. In addition to all the issues they already deal with, there is also a killer in the mountains that had murdered a couple hikers from the city.

Things I loved:
Before even reading the description, Smothermoss drew me in with the beautiful cover. The story itself had a lot of really fun components: it’s got a little queer coming of age, magical realism, 1980’s rural Appalachia, and to top it off it’s got a folksy gothic vibe that I love.

The creepiest part was Angie’s cards, and that was such an interesting piece of the story. I wish there was more of it.

Susan Bennett is an amazing narrator with a soothing voice and she nailed the rural Appalachian accent.

Things I didn’t love:
There was a LOT going on. With all those components (that I LOVE) there was also a lot of sub plots such as the rope around Sheila’s neck, her talking to a boy at the asylum that no one else can see, and Angie’s creepy cards. It all tied together well in the end, but it felt like there wasn’t much of a focus.

Based on the description, I thought this would be more of a murder mystery. The killer was really a minor detail in the whole story.


Overall, I really enjoyed this book and cannot wait until it is published on July 16th so I can share it with my friends.

Thank you to Netgalley and RBmedia for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There is something very hypnotic and dreamlike about this novel. At times, I was not certain if the girls were fully a part of reality or living within an altered form of reality in the Appalachian Mountains. Sheila sems to be determined to overcome her upbringing and to ignore if not surpass everything that would hold her down, even the kids on the bus or her family's own poverty. Angie, is younger and fights imaginary monsters while thinking the world is a wasteland after the world has already fallen to nuclear waste.

I do not think I am supposed to believe the events in this book are "real" as in "really happening". I like that someone else referenced the idea that it is intended to be unsettling and atmospheric, which I believe it is. In the foggy forests and mysterious Appalachian area of the US, unknown horrors abound where moonshiners hide their stills and money is far from plentiful. There is a gothic quality to the writing and a bit of a thriller sense with the murder of the two hikers.

I thin I give it 4 stars because, though I liked the eerie vibes of the writing and setting, I did not fully understand what was going on and the route in which the author took to get us there, Perhaps a second read would illuminate things which I missed on the first time through.

A modern folktale that will haunt me. Heartfelt, eerie, funny, weird and scary with lush prose, unforgettable characters, and mysteries abound. It usually bothers me when a book leaves questions unanswered, labyrinths unsolved, but with SMOTHERMOSS, I don’t mind. It was enough to observe the unrealities, accept the world they built, and focus on the tangible Shelia and Angie—their fears, desires, and becomings. I loved this. The audio edition is perfect. The narrator expertly brought the regional accent to life, and was simultaneously able to create distinct voices for each character. This should win an Audie.

Am I cursed to only DNF books this month? June was the best reading month of my year & I had endless high 4 star reads. Now? This is the 3rd book I have DNF’d in 8 days. I don’t hesitate to DNF, but when it’s this many in such a short period, I try to push through. So, I truly tried with this book, but if I didn’t DNF, then I would’ve went back to sleep with the sound of this audiobook in the background. It’s the greatest melatonin I could ever find.

This is one of those stories that are a mix of prose and lyrical where you’re not sure what’s real and what’s not.

For me this is a major detractor although I know many will love this writing style.

The narrator does a great job with the story.

That was fun. Received an audio ARC from NetGalley. The narrator Susan Bennett who gave a perfect southern feel to this story. This is a magical realism, weird story of two sisters dealing with their school age lives. They deal with grief, sexuality, fear, bravery, love, and more. I really enjoyed it. release date 7/16/2024.

Based in Appalachia and a story of a family in severe poverty I liked the mystery throughout. Though it was a bit hard to keep some of the characters straight. Some portions seemed like were a dream but were supposed to be actually happening and that was hard to keep track of as well. It honestly left me a bit confused as to what I just read.

SMOTHERMOSS by Alisa Alering

The narration by Susan Bennett was very well done.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the ARC audiobook.

Sheila and Angie are step-sisters living in a rural area of 1980s Appalachia with their mother, Bonnie and Great Aunt Athena. Sheila, at the age of 17, carries a heavy burden of caring for the family rabbits, their aging great aunt, the gardens and the home along with going to school. However Angie, at the age of 12, is Shelia’s greatest worry. Angie fantasies about saving the world from evil—-obsessed with battling imaginary enemies, with nuclear war, the Russians, and the tarot-like cards she has created that speak to her in ways only she understands. Their mother works long hours at the asylum and the girls are left to defend for themselves a lot of the time.

I was drawn into this propulsive debut of dark rural gothic/fairytale magic/thriller, right from the beginning. The book is layered with nuance and subtle meanings. The writing is lyrical and beautifully executed. Tells the complex nature of sisterhood in rural Appalachia along with a bit of folklore living on the outskirts of this rural community and how the mountain plays a powerful role. Can’t wait to see what this author has for us next.