#kelsey sutton

[brightbeautifulthings]

Hello, lovelies! Tell Me Something Tuesday is a meme created by Rainy Day Ramblings and currently hosted by Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, That's What I'm Talking About, For What It's Worth, Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell and Offbeat YA. It provides weekly discussion prompts on various book and blogging topics with optional participation. You can sign up for prompts here.

This week’s prompt is: What are some of your favorite Forgotten YA Gems?

Since TMST is taking a summer break, my Discord book group filled in a few of our own questions, this one in honor of our name. Forgotten YA Gems are any YA books more than five years old that don't get the same level of attention in fandom as new releases. While not a hard rule, I typically consider a book underrated if it has less than ten thousand ratings on Goodreads. Having been with this group for years now, it's a topic I'm passionate about, so let's scream about five of my favorite backlist gems!

Whores on the Hill by Colleen Curran I've been screaming about this book for over ten years. It's one of the best depictions of teenage girlhood I've ever read. Beautiful prose, heartbreaking characters, toxic girl friendships. For fans of Dare Me by Megan Abbott.

Dream Keeper by Amber R. Duell A delightful re-imagining of the Sandman mythology, with a spooky, nightmarish dream world, a swoon-worthy hero, and a dangerous, timeless rivalry. For fans of A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) meets Rise of the Guardians (2012).

The Art of Escaping by Erin Callahan Erin is an absolutely delightful YA writer, and I've had the honor of beta reading for her several times. Delightful characters, emphasis on friendships, themes of authenticity, and of course some breathtaking escape acts, this book is YA contemporary done to perfection. For fans of Radio Silence by Alice Oseman.

What We Buried by Kate A. Boorman This book is a twisty mindfuck, and I loved every page of it. Unreliable narrators, surreal atmosphere, and excellent tension-building, with just a hint of something potentially supernatural going on. For fans of The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma.

Smoke and Key by Kelsey Sutton A dark, atmospheric afterlife story with a dash of romance, this book is exactly my kind of weird with a side of gruesome. For fans of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005).

[enchanted-keys]

"Some dreams are too unbearable to share when it becomes evident that they'll never come true."

- (c) Where Silence Gathers by Kelsey Sutton

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A sound awakens her. There's darkness all around. And then she's falling... She has no idea who or where she is. Or why she's dead. The only clue to her identity hangs around her neck: a single rusted key. This is how she and the others receive their names—from whatever belongings they had when they fell out of their graves. Under is a place of dirt and secrets, and Key is determined to discover the truth of her past in order to escape it. She needs help, but who can she trust? Ribbon seems content in Under, uninterested in finding answers. Doll’s silence hints at deep sorrow, which could be why she doesn't utter a word. There's Smoke, the boy with a fierceness that rivals even the living. And Journal, who stays apart from everyone else. Key's instincts tell her there is something remarkable about each of them, even if she can't remember why. Then the murders start; bodies that are burnt to a crisp. After being burned, the dead stay dead. Key is running out of time to discover who she was—and what secret someone is willing to kill to keep hidden—before she becomes the next victim…

[thequotejournals]

I want to inform them that I am not silent because I have nothing to say. I am silent because nobody is listening.

Kelsey Sutton, The Lonely Ones

[standingwherelightningstrikes]

If silence is what he likes, I'll never say a another word.

The lonely ones - Kelsey Sutton

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Corpse Bride (2005) & Smoke and Key by Kelsey Sutton

WHY:

Afterlife stories

Spooky underworlds

Star-crossed romances

[brightbeautifulthings]

Smoke & Key by Kelsey Sutton (4/5)

A dark, atmospheric afterlife story with a dash of romance. Exactly my kind of weird.

[brightbeautifulthings]

Smoke & Key by Kelsey Sutton

"We are ghosts, but we are the ones being haunted."

Year Read: 2019

Rating: 4/5

Context: I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Entangled Publishing, LLC. Trigger warnings: death, body horror, eye horror, violence, blood.

About: When Key falls into Under, a world of dirt and forgotten objects, she has no memory of who she is or why she's dead. All she has is the scar on her back and a key around her neck. All the residents of Under are named for the objects they brought with them: Ribbon, the kind girl who tries to make Under feel like home, Doll, the spooky child who never speaks, Smoke, the mysterious but protective boy with a scar across his neck, Journal, the reclusive bookworm, and enough others to fill the strange town. Key is desperate to remember who she was, but when bodies turn up burned almost beyond recognition, she realizes that even the dead can be killed and some secrets are meant to stay buried.

Thoughts: This book is exactly my kind of weird, with a side of gruesome. Sutton's world of Under calls up images of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005) without the slapstick humor or the singing. It's dark, grim, and imaginative, and it's a case of a fascinating premise given the execution it deserves (pun totally intended). Undead mysteries can keep my mind spinning for days, and the plot of Smoke & Key is interesting without ever being too over the top. Occasionally, the pace lags when Key is more wrapped up in her returning memories than what's happening in Under, but there were also times those captured more of my attention too. Sutton's old-world England is almost as interesting as Under. I guessed the overall villain but not some of the minor twists; I wasn't expecting a dose of witchcraft with my undead, but it works well.

The main cast is spooky and well-drawn. It's easy for a book with undead characters to drag readers down in the misery of being dead, but these feel very much alive. I admired Key's bravery and her willingness to bend the conventions of her time, Ribbon's sweetness and level head, Doll's spookiness, and Journal's obsession with books. There's a heavy dose of romance to balance out the horror, but Smoke is a mysterious and somewhat dashing love interest. I enjoyed their interactions perhaps most of all, which is unusual for me.

There's a love triangle element, but it's nowhere near the worst I've read. In fact, it forces some pretty interesting character development on either side. There's some angst while Key wallows in her guilt about not returning someone's feelings that started to wear on me; I've rarely seen a male character that feels bad about this, but it seems to be the default for females. However, Sutton ultimately takes it to a healthy place, which is nice to see in fiction. If you're looking for a mix of horror and romance or simply something that's off the beaten path, I highly recommend it.