Erica Waters

DNF at 16%
I had pretty high hopes for this book (I mean look at that cover, dangit), but unfortunately, the main character comes off as very juvenile for a college student. I think maybe all the marketing that says this is a "dark academia" book led me to believe that it would be more... intelligent. Which sounds harsh, I know, but really. The atmosphere was there, secret society on a college campus, mysterious death - all good elements that just needed more fine-tuning. I won't even say it takes a long time to get started, even for having read so little, most of the major story elements came into play, but I got so tired of the narrator's voice I couldn't keep going.
Others may find this more enjoyable, but I can't help but give it two stars for that phenomenal let-down.… (més)

Shady Grove wants nothing more than to be a good enough musician to play in a bluegrass band with her friends, and she wishes her daddy’s fiddle hadn’t drown in the lake with him 5 years ago. It was a special instrument that, when played just right, could call the dead, and there’s a good chance Shady would be able to use it since she already can sense the ghosts all around her in her daddy’s childhood home and in the woods surrounding it. That seems an impossible dream, though, until her stepdad is murdered and her brother is blamed. It’s then that the ghosts start calling her to find her daddy’s fiddle, and she’s determined to do just that so she can use it to find out who really committed the crime. But there’s a reason her family hid the fiddle and lied to her about it – the cost of playing it is higher than she can imagine…

This YA novel has it all: bisexual bluegrass-playing teens, multiple murder mysteries, a fiddle that can raise the dead, and spooky atmosphere for miles. What more could you possibly need in a fall read?! I adored it.… (més)

Tara Boone fought for a place at Corbin College hoping to get into the esteemed Magni Viri academic society which provides a full scholarship. However, Tara isn't accepted and is muddling through college with two jobs and a more practical academic track. When one of Magni Viri's star pupils, Meridith Brown dies unexpectedly, Tara is offered her spot. Tara readily accepts, with tuition and board fully covered, Tara no longer has to work and gets to move into Denfeld Hall with the rest of the Magni Viri students. Now, with an automatic friend group and a semi-creepy initiation ceremony, Tara finally feels accepted. She also has a lot more time to work on her writing. Tara begins writing in the middle of the night, in a haze, she barely remembers what she wrote; if it wasn't in her own handwriting, she wouldn't believe it. The writing also seems a lot more like Meredith's writing than her own. Tara begins to believe that she is being haunted by Meredith's ghost and is being forced to finish her story. As Tara learns more about Magni Viri and its members, she discovers something more disturbing about its membership and decides she must free herself from its grasp.

All That Consumes Us is an atmospheric, gothic story set within a college secret society. I was pulled in by the mystery of Magni Viri and their consistency in producing outstanding students. Tara's character is at a point where she is desperate while being resourceful and diligent, making her a perfect target for Magni Viri's deeds. The writing builds the tension slowly as a student dies and Tara finally finds her place and her goals begin to seem realistic, but things simply don't seem right with the students of Magni Viri, their accomplishments or the novella Tara is writing. As Tara continues in Magni Viri, obsession seems to overtake her and she is not herself. The feeling of wanting what you can't have along with slipping from reality permeates Tara as well as Denfield Hall. The quote "...some of the dead don't sleep. They don't rest. They rise up from their graves to steal hours from the living," summarizes the atmosphere. I was really interested in the story that Tara was writing and would have loved to have more history behind that as well as the beginning of Magni Viri. I would have also loved to see some of Tara's writing when she wasn't under the influence and how she infused the emotions she experienced into her craft. Overall, a queer, gothic, ghostly coming of age story with amazing characters.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.… (més)