Current Reads: Appalachian Horror and Urban Romantasy

I’m currently in one of those reading moods where the books on my nightstand do not match each other at all, which honestly feels correct.

Right now, I’m over halfway through To the Bones by Valerie Nieman and I’ve just started City of Gods and Monsters ("CGM") by Kayla Edwards. One is giving Appalachian horror, environmental dread, coal country corruption, and “something is very wrong here.” The other is giving supernatural city, morally questionable creatures, urban fantasy chaos, and a cover that absolutely knew what it was doing. I mean the two books are totally opposite but I get bored/burnt out on the same genre, especially when the books are as big as CGM (yes, I consider this big, embarrassing, I know.)

Current Read #1: To the Bones by Valerie Nieman

I picked up To the Bones at a local bookshop called Edens Ember Bookshop partly because Valerie Nieman is an author that is sort of local to me, which immediately made the book more interesting. There is something about reading an author with regional ties that makes the story feel a little closer, especially when the setting is already rooted in Appalachia, coal country, and the kind of place-based tension that does not need to be loud to be unsettling.

Valerie Nieman is a novelist, poet, and former journalist whose work often crosses genres, and To the Bones is usually described as a mix of horror, Appalachian tale, mystery, and environmental justice. That combination is what pulled me in. I like when a book is not easy to shove into one category. I like when I can tell the author is doing more than just trying to scare me. The plot need to be plotting LOL.

But, I wanted to say, this book is weird, but in a good way, actually.

I’m over halfway through, so I’m not giving a final opinion yet, but I can say this: To the Bones feels like the kind of book where the horror is not just the supernatural or the strange thing happening on the page. The horror is also the greed, the damage, the missing people, the environmental harm, and the way powerful people can chew up entire communities and still act like they’re the victim. It makes me wonder how many corrupt people of power we have lurking around my small town...

That part is what is sticking with me, especially with dead bodies popping up left and right in the neighboring county.

The book has a gritty, strange, almost fever-dream quality in places, but it is still grounded in something very real. I appreciate that it does not feel like generic horror. It has this Appalachian folklore/tall tale energy, but it is also political, environmental, and personal. It is not the type of book I would describe as cozy, obviously, but it is the type of book that makes me want to keep reading because I want to understand what the author is really saying underneath the plot... and what the Kavanaughs truly have going on of course.

There are parts where I’m like, “Okay, this is strange,” but I mean that as a compliment. I do not always need a book to be neat. Sometimes I want a book to make me feel like I wandered into the wrong hollow and now have to deal with the consequences.

That is very much the vibe here.

Current Read #2: City of Gods and Monsters by Kayla Edwards

Now for the other side of my reading personality.

I just started City of Gods and Monsters by Kayla Edwards, so I am not even going to pretend I have a serious review yet. This is very much my judge-a-book-by-its-cover stage.

The cover and description immediately give urban romantasy. So there is this city called Angelthene, a human main character, supernatural beings, danger, probably trauma, and almost certainly a morally complicated man somewhere nearby. I mean those are the best ones... am I right? Am I right?

So like I said, I’m not far in yet, but my first impression is that this feels like the kind of book that wants to be immersive. Big city. Big characters. Darker fantasy atmosphere. Romance brewing somewhere in the background.

Apparently, this is also the first book in the House of Devils series, which is dangerous information for me personally because the way my personality is set up I will immediately purchase the set before I even read the first chapter. Like, who approved this? Me. I approved it by opening book one.