#estelle laure

[bookcoversonly]

Title: City of Villains | Author: Estelle Laure | Publisher: Disney-Hyperion (2021)

[blogthefiresidechats]

Shipment #2

Well, the other half of my order came in today. It was waiting for me when I got home which gave me something to look forward to when I got home from work (other than my wonderful hubby and my cat). Now I’d better get reading, hadn’t I?

[judgingbooksbycovers]

Mayhem

By Estelle Laure.

Design by Kerri Resnick.

[presslakay]

Estelle-Laure Gilles, nouvelle Chargée d'affaires a.i de l'ambassade d'Haïti en Italie prend ses fonctions

La diplomate Estelle-Laure Gilles a officiellement pris ses fonctions, lundi 9 septembre 2024, à Rome en tant que Chargée d’affaires a.i. de l’ambassade d’Haïti en Italie. Elle remplace le ministre-conseiller, Me. Emmanuel Charles. Alors qu’elle était nommée par le gouvernement de transition comme nouvelle Chargée d’affaires de l’ambassade d’Haïti en Italie, la diplomate Estelle-Laure Gilles a…

[ghostflowerdreams]

Books Similar to The Lost Boys & Near Dark

If you like the 1987 films The Lost Boys and Near Dark you might be like me—on the hunt for books that capture a similar vibe. I’m talking about stories with non-sparkly vampires, set in the '80s with all its bold hairstyles, vivid colors, edgy fashion, and unique charm. Most of the books here are recommendations from others, so I can’t guarantee they’ll match the feel of The Lost Boys or Near Dark, but I’m giving them a try.

If you have any suggestions that truly fit, please share—I’d love to add them to my TBR list! So far, most of the books here are set in or around the '80s, though a few might stray into other decades. They’re also not in any particular order, and not all may be suitable for every reader.

The Lost Boys by Craig Shaw Gardner — A mother and her two sons move to a small coast town in California. The town is plagued by bikers and some mysterious deaths. The younger boy, Sam, makes friends with two other boys, the Frog brothers, who claim to be vampire hunters. Meanwhile the older boy, Michael, is drawn into the gang of bikers by a beautiful girl named Star. Michael starts sleeping days and staying out all night while Sam starts getting into trouble because of his friends' obsession.

Near Dark by Stacey Abbott — Isn't a novel but a scholarly book that analyzes the 1987 vampire film Near Dark, directed by Kathryn Bigelow. The book is part of the British Film Institute (BFI) Film Classics series, where each book provides an in-depth look at the themes, cinematic techniques, and cultural impact of a specific film.

Near Dark is set in the contemporary American Midwest and follows Caleb, a young man turned half-vampire who must decide whether to embrace his vampire nature or try to return to his human family. Abbott explores how the film blends horror and Western elements, portraying vampires not as romantic figures but as gritty, violent outsiders in a desolate American landscape.

She also discusses how the film’s unique approach to vampire lore set it apart from other '80s vampire movies, such as The Lost Boys, and influenced later portrayals of vampires in media.

Until Summer Comes Around by Glenn Rolfe — When fifteen year old Rocky Zukas meets a mysterious dark-haired girl named November, his world is forever changed. The young couple falls under the spell of summer love, but not everyone approves.

November's brother, Gabriel, is the keeper of the family's secret, and big brother is always watching, growing more sinister as his bloodlust gets the best of him. Directing his attention to Rocky's family, Gabriel aims to make sure little sister knows who is in charge.

Mayhem by Estelle Laure — It's 1987 and unfortunately it's not all Madonna and cherry lip balm. Mayhem Brayburn has always known there was something off about her and her mother, Roxy. Maybe it has to do with Roxy's constant physical pain, or maybe with Mayhem's own irresistible pull to water. Either way, she knows they aren't like everyone else. But when May's stepfather finally goes too far, Roxy and Mayhem flee to Santa Maria, California, the coastal beach town that holds the answers to all of Mayhem's questions about who her mother is, her estranged family, and the mysteries of her own self.

There she meets the kids who live with her aunt, and it opens the door to the magic that runs through the female lineage in her family, the very magic Mayhem is next in line to inherit and which will change her life for good. But when she gets wrapped up in the search for the man who has been kidnapping girls from the beach, her life takes another dangerous turn and she is forced to face the price of vigilante justice and to ask herself whether revenge is worth the cost.

Mouth Full of Ashes by Briana Morgan — Mourning the sudden loss of her sister, Callie Danoff wants nothing more than to embrace a fresh start in a new town, leaving the haunting memories of her sister’s death behind. But when her brother Ramsay drags her to a spooky boardwalk, the two become entangled with a local vampire gang and its enigmatic leader, Elijah. Callie refuses to accept their existence... until she and her brother unknowingly ingest vampire blood. Now, they only have three days before they turn into vampires themselves.

With her carefree summer thwarted, Callie must trust a group she barely knows in order to save her family.

Nightfall by Suzanne Young — In the quaint town of Nightfall, Oregon, it isn't the dark you should be afraid of—it's the girls.

Theo and her brother, Marco, threw the biggest party of the year. And got caught. Their punishment? Leave Arizona to spend the summer with their grandmother in the rainy beachside town of Nightfall, Oregon—population 846 souls.

The small town is cute, when it’s not raining, but their grandmother is superstitious and strangely antisocial. Upon their arrival she lays out the one house rule: always be home before dark. But Theo and Marco are determined to make the most of their summer, and on their first day they meet the enigmatic Minnow and her friends. Beautiful and charismatic, the girls have a magnetic pull that Theo and her brother can't resist.

But Minnow and her friends are far from what they appear. And that one rule? Theo quickly realizes she should have listened to her grandmother. Because after dark, something emerges in Nightfall. And it doesn’t plan to let her leave.

Less Than Human by Gary Raisor — The town of Carruthers, Texas, has seen its share of drifters and lowlifes. But never anyone like Steven and Earl.

They move from town to town. Hustling the pool halls. Raising a little hell. Drinking a little blood. They sleep by day and hunt by night -- the ultimate predators. The perfect life. Until now.

A barroom brawl ends in disaster. The soil from Steven's grave has been stolen. And a young boy's death sparks an all out war between vampires and mortals that will turn the local Frontier Day celebration into a blood bath....

Live Girls (Davey Owen #1) by Ray Garton — Seeking consolation after losing his job and his girlfriend, Davey Owen enters a small, dark club in the seedy precincts of the city and finds a world of uncontrollable ecstasy and unbelievable horror inhabited by savagely seductive vampires.

The Light at the End by John Skipp — The newspapers scream out headlines that spark terror across the city. Ten murders on the New York City subway. Ten grisly crimes that defy all reason -- no pattern, no m.o., no leads for police to pursue. The press dubs the fiend the "Subway Psycho"; the NYPD desperately seeks their quarry before the city erupts in mass hysteria. But they won't find what they're looking for.

Because they all think that the killer is human.

Only a few know the true story -- a story the papers will never print. It is a tale of abject terror and death written in grit and steel... and blood. The tale of a man who vanished into the bowels of the urban earth one night, taken by a creature of unholy evil, then left as a babe abandoned on the doorstep of Hell. Now he is back, driven by twin demons of rage and retribution.

He is unstoppable. And we are all his prey... unless a ragtag band of misfit souls will dare to descend into a world of manmade darkness, where the real and unreal alike dwell in endless shadow. A place where humanity has been left behind, and the horrifying truth will dawn as a madman's chilling vendetta comes to light...

Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite — At a club in Missing Mile, N.C., the children of the night gather, dressed in black, looking for acceptance. Among them are Ghost, who sees what others do not. Ann, longing for love, and Jason, whose real name is Nothing, newly awakened to an ancient, deathless truth about his father, and himself.

Others are coming to Missing Mile tonight. Three beautiful, hip vagabonds - Molochai, Twig, and the seductive Zillah (whose eyes are as green as limes) are on their own lost journey; slaking their ancient thirst for blood, looking for supple young flesh.

They find it in Nothing and Ann, leading them on a mad, illicit road trip south to New Orleans. Over miles of dark highway, Ghost pursues, his powers guiding him on a journey to reach his destiny, to save Ann from her new companions, to save Nothing from himself...

Blood & Dust (Vampires in the Sunburnt Country #1) by Jason Nahrung — Kevin Matheson works at his family’s service station in the Queensland outback. Life is all about cricket, fishing, the pub, his girlfriend. Then it all gets blown to hell – he’s caught up in a hideous, unbelievable world of cops and monsters in which two rival gangs of vampires vie for control, all while maintaining a charade of humanity.

Kevin has to cope with his new existence as a vampire, adapt to the destruction of his family and play the politics of the supernatural world. The biker Taipan and his lover Kala make for unlikely allies as they lead the nomadic Night Riders in their fight to be free of the control of the Brisbane-based Von Schiller group, led by the ruthless Mira and her pack of blood-addicted human servants.

Caught between vicious nomadic bikers and their brutal foes from the coast, Kevin fights to save not only those he holds dearest, but his own soul. In a world without rules, only one tenet holds true: blood really is thicker than water. But how far will he go to save the people he loves?

The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl — When Elton Irving turned Holly Liddell into a vampire in 1987, he promised her eternal love. But thirty-four years later, Elton has left her, her hair will be crimped for the rest of immortality, and the only job she can get as a forever-sixteen-year-old is the midnight shift at Taco Bell.

Holly’s afterlife takes an interesting turn when she meets Rose McKay and Ida Ripley. Having also been turned and discarded by Elton—Rose in 1954, and Ida, his ex-fiancée, in 1921—they want to help her, and ask for her help in return.

Rose and Ida are going to kill Elton before he turns another girl. Though Holly is hurt and angry with Elton for tossing her aside, she’s reluctant to kill her ex, until Holly meets Parker Kerr—the new girl Elton has set his sights on—and feels a quick, and nerve-wracking attraction to her.

Song of the Vampire by Carmen Adams — Believing that peace has returned to sleepy Blue Mesa after dispatching the vampire members of the The Band, Megan and Iris find their lives disrupted again when a group of the undead invades the beach town of Turo.

In the Valley of the Sun by Andy Davidson — One night in 1980, a man becomes a monster.

Haunted by his past, Travis Stillwell spends his nights searching out women in West Texas honky-tonks. What he does with them doesn’t make him proud, just quiets the demons for a little while. But after Travis crosses paths one night with a mysterious pale-skinned girl, he wakes weak and bloodied in his cabover camper the next morning—with no sign of a girl, no memory of the night before.

Annabelle Gaskin spies the camper parked behind her motel and offers the cowboy a few odd jobs to pay his board. Travis takes her up on the offer, if only to buy time, to lay low and heal. By day, he mends the old motel, insinuating himself into the lives of Annabelle and her ten-year-old son. By night, in the cave of his camper, he fights an unspeakable hunger. Before long, Annabelle and her boy come to realize that this strange cowboy is not what he seems.

Half a state away, a grizzled Texas Ranger is hunting Travis for his past misdeeds, but what he finds will lead him to a revelation far more monstrous. A man of the law, he’ll have to decide how far into the darkness he’ll go for the sake of justice.

When these lives converge on a dusty autumn night, an old evil will find new life—and new blood.

The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman — New York City in 1978 is a dirty, dangerous place to live. And die. Joey Peacock knows this as well as anybody—he has spent the last forty years as an adolescent vampire, perfecting the routine he now enjoys: womanizing in punk clubs and discotheques, feeding by night, and sleeping by day with others of his kind in the macabre labyrinth under the city’s sidewalks.

The subways are his playground and his highway, shuttling him throughout Manhattan to bleed the unsuspecting in the Sheep Meadow of Central Park or in the backseats of Checker cabs, or even those in their own apartments who are too hypnotized by sitcoms to notice him opening their windows. It’s almost too easy.

Until one night he sees them hunting on his beloved subway. The children with the merry eyes. Vampires, like him…or not like him. Whatever they are, whatever their appearance means, the undead in the tunnels of Manhattan are not as safe as they once were.

And neither are the rest of us.

[page-a-pages]

Le phare enchanté de Puisette et Fragile

« Puisette et Fragile » se décline en deux versions : un spectacle de théâtre et un livre. L’album entre les mains, on ignore lequel du livre ou du spectacle a vu le jour en premier. Son traitement est surprenant et d’entrée, on se dit qu’il ferait un excellent spectacle, avec son décor facile à monter, ses deux personnages - pardon le pingouin de ne pas te compter - et de bons dialogues, même à sens unique. Enfin, les règles du théâtre classique sont quasiment respectées.

Renseignements pris, on apprend que l’album est tiré d’un spectacle dont le processus de création a été initié en 2016 et s’est achevé en 2018. Depuis, « Puisette et Fragile » n’en finit pas de tourner. L’album, publié en 2021, l’accompagne dans ses voyages. Il est remarqué par la presse spécialisée et gagne même un prix.

Estelle Olivier et Laure Poudevigne sont à l’origine du spectacle et le jouent sur scène. Elles ont également écrit le texte de l’album. Les dessins ont été réalisés par l’illustrateur Samuel Ribeyron. Récemment, on a pu apprécier son album « A vendre » publié chez Hélium. Il a également à son actif des films d’animation.

Vivant dans un phare avec un pingouin, Puisette se croit la seule petite fille au monde. Chaque matin, elle a tout à organiser : refaire la mer, mettre quelques nuages dans le ciel, installer le soleil et les mouettes, gonfler les poissons et ne pas oublier de mettre à l’eau quelques bateaux. Ensuite seulement, elle s’accorde une pause café. Pingouin la suit partout autour du phare, en silence, parce que les pingouins ça ne parle pas, contrairement à Puisette qui, elle, est très bavarde. Peut-être que ça lui donne de l’énergie, car de l’énergie, il en faut pour que tout roule sur la petite île.

Un jour, la mer livre un colis que ni Puisette, ni Pingouin n’ont commandé. A leur grande surprise, une petite fille avec une valise en sort. Puisette se présente, mais l’autre ne répond pas. Peut-être est-elle muette. A l’étiquette « Fragile » collée sur le colis, Puisette en déduit que la nouvelle petite fille se prénomme Fragile.

Fragile découvre avec plaisir ce nouvel environnement, mais elle est assez maladroite. Cela agace Puisette qui, avec le temps, a pris l’habitude que tout soit réglé comme du papier à musique. La cohabitation s’avère compliquée et Puisette congédie Fragile. Il y a aura bien entendu un retournement de situation et Puisette réalisera l’attachement qu’elle a pour celle qui, mine de rien, était en train de devenir sa petite amie bizarre et comblait sa solitude.

Samuel Ribeyron a utilisé les papiers découpés pour réaliser les personnages et les objets de l’histoire, dans un style naïf et assez minimaliste qui s’accorde parfaitement à des phylactères. Les dialogues sont délicieux car Puisette concocte ses mots à elle, mais surtout la gamine est extrêmement touchante dans son monde à la fois très concret et imaginaire. Toujours vêtue d’un ciré jaune pétant, signe d’un optimisme à toute épreuve. Le lecteur passe du rire à l’émotion et se régale de cette apologie de l’amitié et de la tolérance.

Quant au spectacle, les quelques teasers que l’on trouve sur la toile montrent de jeunes spectateurs happés par l’histoire quand ils ne rient pas aux éclats.

Bravo à Estelle Olivier Laure Poudevigne qui ont su adapter avec bonheur leur merveilleuse pièce en un album très réussi. Parole de critique, ce n’est pas si évident. Bravo également à Samuel Ribeyron qui a participé à cet exploit.

Puisette et Fragile (Album) Laure Poudevigne, Estelle Olivier, Samuel Ribeyron Seuil Jeunesse Dès 4-5 ans

Puisette et Fragile (Spectacle) Laure Poudevigne, Estelle Olivier, Samuel Ribeyron Dès 4 ans

Dimanche 22 septembre 2024, à 14h00 Maison Rousseau et littérature Genève

https://m-r-l.ch/evenement/jeunesse/puisette-fragile

[thisselflovecamebacktome]

Books I want to read in 2024.

My usual disclaimers of most of the series being books I had/read one of as a kid but didn't have access to the rest of, me not actually expecting to read all of this and this being a list of everything on my bookshelf I haven't read before (so not my full to be read list but definitely what I'm aiming to read first) still apply from the posts I've made on this the last few years lmao.

Series:

Anne of Green Gables Series - L.M. Montgomery

Beca Cooper Series - Tamora Pierce

City of Villains – Estelle Laure

Fallen Series - Lauren Kate

Inheritance Cycle Series - Christopher Paolini

Maximum Ride Series - James Patterson

Molly Moon Series - Georgia Byng

Protector of the Small Series - Tamora Pierce

Skyward Series - Brandon Sanderson

The Land of Roar Series - Jenny McLachlan

The Sea of Trolls Series - Nancy Farmer

The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski*

*I started this in 2023 but did not finish it

The Wizards of Once Series - Cressida Cowell

Vampire Diaries: Stefan’s Diaries Series - L.J. Smith

Warcraft Archives Series - Richard A. Knaak, Christie Golden, Chris Metzen and Jeff Grubb*

*I started this in 2022 but did not finish it

Fiction:

How To Be Second Best - Jessica Dettmann

I Kissed Shara Wheeler – Casey McQuiston

Room - Emma Donoghue

The Billionaire’s Cinderella Contract - Michelle Smart

The Priority of The Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon

The Record Keeper - Agnes Gomillion

The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village - Joanna Nell

The Strays - Emily Bitto

Wilder Girls - Rory Power

Non Fiction/Based on a true story:

Letters From Hawaii – Mark Twain (Edited by A. Grove Day)

*I started this in 2023 but did not finish it

Taste: My Life Through Food – Stanley Tucci

Teacher - Gabbie Stroud

The Prisoner’s Wife - Maggie Brookes

The Volunteer - Jack Fairweather

This Much Is True – Miriam Margolyes

Trejo: My Life Of Crime, Redemption And Hollywood – Danny Trejo

[latteandbookz]

[New Post] ARC Review: Mayhem by Estelle Laure

Title: Mayhem Author: Estelle Laure Page count: 304 Published: July 14th, 2020 Publisher: Netgalley Genre: Paranormal Romance Received: From the publisher in exchange for an honest review Rating: 2/5 A YA feminist mash up inspired by The Lost Boys and The Craft. It’s 1987 and unfortunately it’s not all Madonna and cherry lip balm. Mayhem Brayburn has always known there was something off…

[razreads]

Music carries the weight of being human, takes it away so you don't have to think at all, you just have to listen. Music tells every story there is.

Estelle Laure, This Raging Light

[disneybooksandanimearemylife]

Book Blog: City of Villians by Estelle Laure

I honestly just finished this book a few hours ago and was caught up in some errands before I had the chance to blog about it. This was relatively short; barely over two-hundred pages. While I was reading the story I was getting disney vibes combined with Law & Order SVU. Allow me to explain

PLOT: Our main character Mary-Elizabeth Heart She’s not only a high-school student but an Intern for the metropolitan police. She resides in The Scar which was once full of magic and wonder, until one day The Fall happened. A bright light engulfed a huge chunk of the city as well as the residents; and the magic. Now it’s just a barren wasteland of old buildings and shady deals. In the present though Mary and her friend/ enemy Bella are assaigned to a missing person case. Mally Saint, the popular girl in school just up and dissapeared without a trace. Days later Mary’s best friend Ursula is gone too. 

Can the two girls be linked? and who said that magic is completely dead?

PROS: I was seriously digging the vibes while reading it. Again a Law & Order Disney doesn’t sound half bad. It’s darker than most Disney published books; hell in this story they’re even allowed to swear! That used to be an absolute no-no. 

Also the little easter eggs that are scattered throughout the story are pretty fun and I do like some of the changes. Like The Scar is a city (Scar is a reference to The Lion King) Mally Saint is a teenage Maleficent. Ursula is also a teenager, but she’s like the “I could be popular if I wanted too, but I don’t feel like it” person. PLus they kept her character trait to making shady business deals. Bella is obviusly Belle right down to doing things “by the book”. Even Tinkerbell and Smee get a little nod. 

Mery-Elizabeth is an interesting enough character. Throughout the book she’s not only trying to solve a huge case, but she needs to balance school and her social life and try to remember that others may need her more than she reconizes. She’s even had to be reminded that her personal life and the police life cannot cohabitate each other and that sometimes she must only pick one.

CONS: I’m guessing that there is a sequel coming soon because the way it ended made little to no sense. We get a huge battle with the police only for Mally and Ursula to say “We’ll be back with a vengeance” and Mary noting to herself “magic is back”. SO I do hope there’s more to come.

Also there were alot of factions and goupies in the story that I forgot who was who. Some would argue that it could reflect with what’s going on right now with political factions and ideological groups. But in the real at least there’s some form of a line. Here there’s Legacy, Amagicalist, Naturalists, Magicalist, Narrows. I think that’s it? It all got so confusing and I forgot whom belonged to which group half the time.

I liked it well enough, I do hope there’s more in the future. As of right now I have to rate it  a 7/10 

[blogthefiresidechats]

Purchased today!

I had to get out and run some errands today on my day off. While I was out, I visited my local bookstore today and purchased some new material. Two of the books are ones I went in there specifically to get…the others were just an added bonus that I found while looking. I even found 3 of them in the bargain section so I saved some money on top of getting to use my membership to the book store. I’m…

[emilyccannings]

Top 10 Book Covers #3

Top 10 Book Covers #3 Let the cover speak for the book!

I wanted to do a post each week that showcases some of incredible artwork that is on books that may be coming out or be already out. As sometimes it is the cover that convinces you to buy the book! 1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone US Book Cover by Laini Taylor Info: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52372929-daughter-of-smoke-bone Book Depository Amazon 2. A Cuban Girl’s Guide To Tea and…

[brightbeautifulthings]

MAYHEM BY ESTELLE LAURE BLOG TOUR & CHAPTER EXCERPT

The Lost Boys meets Wilder Girls in this supernatural feminist YA novel.

Available July 14th, 2020

It's 1987 and unfortunately it's not all Madonna and cherry lip balm. Mayhem Brayburn has always known there was something off about her and her mother, Roxy. Maybe it has to do with Roxy's constant physical pain, or maybe with Mayhem's own irresistible pull to water. Either way, she knows they aren't like everyone else.

But when May's stepfather finally goes too far, Roxy and Mayhem flee to Santa Maria, California, the coastal beach town that holds the answers to all of Mayhem's questions about who her mother is, her estranged family, and the mysteries of her own self. There she meets the kids who live with her aunt, and it opens the door to the magic that runs through the female lineage in her family, the very magic Mayhem is next in line to inherit and which will change her life for good.

But when she gets wrapped up in the search for the man who has been kidnapping girls from the beach, her life takes another dangerous turn and she is forced to face the price of vigilante justice and to ask herself whether revenge is worth the cost.

From the acclaimed author of This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back, Estelle Laure offers a riveting and complex story with magical elements about a family of women contending with what appears to be an irreversible destiny, taking control and saying when enough is enough.

About the Author:

Estelle Laure, the author of This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back believes in love, magic, and the power of facing hard truths. She has a BA in Theatre Arts and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and she lives in Taos, New Mexico, with her family. Her work is translated widely around the world. 

Twitter | Instagram | Get Your Copy

Read on for a special chapter excerpt of Mayhem!

three Santa Maria

“Trouble,” Roxy says. She arches a brow at the kids by the van through the bug-spattered windshield, the ghost of a half-smile rippling across her face.

“You would know,” I shoot.

“So would you,” she snaps.

Maybe we’re a little on edge. We’ve been in the car so long the pattern on the vinyl seats is tattooed on the back of my thighs.

The kids my mother is talking about, the ones sitting on the white picket fence, look like they slithered up the hill out of the ocean, covered in seaweed, like the carnival music we heard coming from the boardwalk as we were driving into town plays in the air around them at all times. Two crows are on the posts beside them like they’re standing guard, and they caw at each other loudly as we come to a stop. I love every- thing about this place immediately and I think, ridiculously, that I am no longer alone.

The older girl, white but tan, curvaceous, and lean, has her arms around the boy and is lovely with her smudged eye makeup and her ripped clothes. The younger one pops some- thing made of bright colors into her mouth and watches us come up the drive. She is in a military-style jacket with a ton of buttons, her frizzy blond hair reaching in all directions, freckles slapped across her cheeks. And the boy? Thin, brown, hungry-looking. Not hungry in his stomach. Hungry with his eyes. He has a green bandana tied across his forehead and holes in the knees of his jeans. There’s an A in a circle drawn in marker across the front of his T-shirt.

Anarchy.

“Look!” Roxy points to the gas gauge. It’s just above the E. “You owe me five bucks, Cookie. I told you to trust we would make it, and see what happened? You should listen to your mama every once in a while.”

“Yeah, well, can I borrow the five bucks to pay you for the bet? I’m fresh out of cash at the moment.”

“Very funny.”

Roxy cranes out the window and wipes the sweat off her upper lip, careful not to smudge her red lipstick. She’s been having real bad aches the last two days, even aside from her bruises, and her appetite’s been worse than ever. The only thing she ever wants is sugar. After having been in the car for so long, you’d think we’d be falling all over each other to get out, but we’re still sitting in the car. In here we’re still us.

She sighs for the thousandth time and clutches at her belly. “I don’t know about this, May.”

California can’t be that different from West Texas.

I watch TV. I know how to say gag me with a spoon and grody to the max.

I fling open the door.

Roxy gathers her cigarettes and lighter, and drops them in- side her purse with a snap.

“Goddammit, Elle,” she mutters to herself, eyes flickering toward the kids again. Roxy looks at me over the rims of her sunglasses before shoving them back on her nose. “Mayhem, I’m counting on you to keep your head together here. Those kids are not the usual—”

“I know! You told me they’re foster kids.” 

“No, not that,” she says, but doesn’t clarify. “Okay, I guess.”

“I mean it. No more of that wild-child business.”

“I will keep my head together!” I’m so tired of her saying this. I never had any friends, never a boyfriend—all I have is what Grandmother calls my nasty mouth and the hair Lyle always said was ugly and whorish. And once or twice I might’ve got drunk on the roof, but it’s not like I ever did anything. Besides, no kid my age has ever liked me even once. I’m not the wild child in the family.

“Well, all right then.” Roxy messes with her hair in the rear- view mirror, then sprays herself with a cloud of Chanel No. 5 and runs her fingers over her gold necklace. It’s of a bird, not unlike the ones making a fuss by the house. She’s had it as long as I can remember, and over time it’s been worn smooth by her worrying fingers. It’s like she uses it to calm herself when she’s upset about something, and she’s been upset the whole way here, practically. Usually, she’d be good and buzzed by this time of day, but since she’s had to drive some, she’s only nipped from the tiny bottle of wine in her purse a few times and only taken a couple pills since we left Taylor. The with- drawal has turned her into a bit of a she-demon.

I try to look through her eyes, to see what she sees. Roxy hasn’t been back here since I was three years old, and in that time, her mother has died, her father has died, and like she said when she got the card with the picture enclosed that her twin sister, Elle, sent last Christmas, Everybody got old. After that, she spent a lot of time staring in the mirror, pinching at her neck skin. When I was younger, she passed long nights telling me about Santa Maria and the Brayburn Farm, about how it was good and evil in equal measure, about how it had desires that had to be satisfied.

Brayburns, she would say. In my town, we were the legends. 

These were the mumbled stories of my childhood, and they made everything about this place loom large. Now that we’re here, I realize I expected the house to have a gaping maw filled with spitty, frothy teeth, as much as I figured there would be fairies flitting around with wands granting wishes. I don’t want to take her vision away from her, but this place looks pretty normal to me, if run-down compared to our new house in Taylor, where there’s no dust anywhere, ever, and Lyle prac- tically keeps the cans of soup in alphabetical order. Maybe what’s not so normal is that this place was built by Brayburns, and here Brayburns matter. I know because the whole road is named after us and because flowers and ribbons and baskets of fruit sat at the entrance, gifts from the people in town, Roxy said. They leave offerings. She said it like it’s normal to be treated like some kind of low-rent goddess.

Other than the van and the kids, there are trees here, rose- bushes, an old black Mercedes, and some bikes leaning against the porch that’s attached to the house. It’s splashed with fresh white paint that doesn’t quite cover up its wrinkles and scars. It’s three stories, so it cuts the sunset when I look up, and plants drape down to touch the dirt.

The front door swings open and a woman in bare feet races past the rosebushes toward us. It is those feet and the reckless way they pound against the earth that tells me this is my aunt Elle before her face does. My stomach gallops and there are bumps all over my arms, and I am more awake than I’ve been since.

I thought Roxy might do a lot of things when she saw her twin sister. Like she might get super quiet or chain-smoke, or maybe even get biting like she can when she’s feeling wrong about something. The last thing I would have ever imagined was them running toward each other and colliding in the driveway, Roxy wrapping her legs around Elle’s waist, and them twirling like that. 

This seems like something I shouldn’t be seeing, some- thing wounded and private that fills up my throat. I flip my- self around in my seat and start picking through the things we brought and chide myself yet again for the miserable packing job I did. Since I was basically out of my mind trying to get out of the house, I took a whole package of toothbrushes, an armful of books, my River Phoenix poster, plus I emptied out my underwear drawer, but totally forgot to pack any shoes, so all I have are some flip-flops I bought at the truck stop outside of Las Cruces after that man came to the window, slurring, You got nice legs. Tap, tap tap. You got such nice legs.

My flip-flops are covered in Cheeto dust from a bag that got upended. I slip them on anyway, watching Roxy take her sunglasses off and prop them on her head.

“Son of a bitch!” my aunt says, her voice tinny as she catches sight of Roxy’s eye. “Oh my God, that’s really bad, Rox. You made it sound like nothing. That’s not nothing.”

“Ellie,” Roxy says, trying to put laughter in her voice. “I’m here now. We’re here now.”

There’s a pause.

“You look the same,” Elle says. “Except the hair. You went full Marilyn Monroe.”

“What about you?” Roxy says, fussing at her platinum waves with her palm. “You go full granola warrior? When’s the last time you ate a burger?”

“You know I don’t do that. It’s no good for us. Definitely no good for the poor cows.”

“It’s fine for me.” Roxy lifts Elle’s arm and puckers her nose. “What’s going on with your armpits? May not eat meat but you got animals under there, looks like.”

“Shaving is subjugation.”

“Shaving is a mercy for all mankind.” 

They erupt into laughter and hug each other again.

“Well, where is she, my little baby niece?” Elle swings the car door open. “Oh, Mayhem.” She scoops me out with two strong arms. Right then I realize just how truly tired I am. She seems to know, squeezes extra hard for a second before letting me go. She smells like the sandalwood soap Roxy buys sometimes. “My baby girl,” Elle says, “you have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to see you. How much I’ve missed you.”

Roxy circles her ear with a finger where Elle can’t see her.

Crazy, she mouths. I almost giggle.

[bookishlyjules]

Mayhem by Estelle Laure Blog Tour + Review

Synopsis:

It's 1987 and unfortunately it's not all Madonna and cherry lip balm. Mayhem Brayburn has always known there was something off about her and her mother, Roxy. Maybe it has to do with Roxy's constant physical pain, or maybe with Mayhem's own irresistible pull to water. Either way, she knows they aren't like everyone else. But when May's stepfather finally goes too far, Roxy and Mayhem flee to Santa Maria, California, the coastal beach town that holds the answers to all of Mayhem's questions about who her mother is, her estranged family, and the mysteries of her own self. There she meets the kids who live with her aunt, and it opens the door to the magic that runs through the female lineage in her family, the very magic Mayhem is next in line to inherit and which will change her life for good. But when she gets wrapped up in the search for the man who has been kidnapping girls from the beach, her life takes another dangerous turn and she is forced to face the price of vigilante justice and to ask herself whether revenge is worth the cost. From the acclaimed author of This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back, Estelle Laure offers a riveting and complex story with magical elements about a family of women contending with what appears to be an irreversible destiny, taking control and saying when enough is enough.

Review:

I went into this book without looking at the synopsis, and knowing very little of the plot except for the fact that it has been compared to The Lost Boys. With this said, I will say I am not a historical reader, or a dark/gothic reader, or a magic/fantasy reader, and yet Mayhem managed to win me over. With its real characters and relationships, strong female empowerment and family dynamic, including the sensitive and overwhelming mother daughter relationship found in May and Roxy, I couldn’t help but be moved and swayed with how each character comforted and took control of each other. 

As well, seeing each character blossom over the course of the story was written so well. I absolutely adored Kidd and her fearless attitude towards every situation, where Jason was more reserved, yet when he was with Mayhem we got to truly see him. 

When it came to Neve, I couldn’t help but feel entangled by her. She is a force of nature that grabs readers and puts them in her shoes, even until the end when you feel her changing around the others. It was powerful writing that made a great character.

Though this book deals with heavy topics including domestic abuse, sexual assault, and suicide, each topic is discussed tastefully and meaningfully and there is so much reason and purpose for the topics so they don’t feel superfluous. Estelle Laure’s writing is stunningly beautiful through her expressions and phrasing that draws readers in and has them yearn for more.

Though I felt it was slow to start and confusing, once the pacing picked up I could not put this book down! To me, it read like a movie and there are so many action sequences, and artfully depicted moments, I would absolutely love to see on the big screen.

I enjoyed that this book wrapped up nicely, yet still left questions unanswered for the reader to ponder, which, in my opinion, is always the perfect ending.

I can’t say Mayhem is for everyone, and I would definitely read into it to see if it’s for you, but I will say from this YA rom-com loving reviewer, Mayhem will stick with me for a long time in the best way... and I think it will with you too.

About the Author:

Estelle Laure, the author of This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back believes in love, magic, and the power of facing hard truths. She has a BA in Theatre Arts and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and she lives in Taos, New Mexico, with her family. Her work is translated widely around the world.

Pick up your copy of Mayhem now!

[edwinpenguinhands]

Mayhem by Estelle Laure

Check out my book review 📚(keyboard smash of love💖) of Mayhem by @starlaure ✨

I received a copy from St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday books and Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Mayhem is a coming to age novel about a girl who discovers her own powers from her lineage and how she tries to cope with her trauma and her new found abilities. It’s 1987 and unfortunately it’s not all Madonna and cherry lip balm. Mayhem Brayburn has always known there was something off about her and…

[2021ya]

CITY OF VILLAINS

by Estelle Laure

(Hyperion, 1/26/21)

9781368049382

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Mary Elizabeth Heart is a high school senior by day, but by night she’s an intern at the Monarch City police department. She watches with envy from behind a desk as detectives come and go, trying to contain the city’s growing crime rate. For years, tension has simmered between the city’s wealthy elite, and their plans to gentrify the decaying neighborhood called the Scar—once upon a time the epicenter of all things magic. When the daughter of one of the city’s most powerful businessmen goes missing, Mary Elizabeth is thrilled when the Chief actually puts her on the case. But what begins as one missing person’s report soon multiplies, leading her down the rabbit hole of a city in turmoil. There she finds a girl with horns, a boyfriend with secrets, and what seems to be a sea monster lurking in a poison lake. As the mystery circles closer to home, Mary finds herself caught in the fight between those who once had magic, and those who will do anything to bring it back. This dark and edgy YA series explores the reimagined origins of Maleficent, Ursula, Captain Hook, and other infamous Disney Villains like you’ve never seen before