House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

"We all knew too well what could happen to girls on poorly lit streets at night, because it had happened to us. Then again, all girls knew that..."

It happened on New Year's Eve years and years ago. The three Hollow sisters were walking down the street. The clock turned to midnight, and their parents looked away to kiss, just a moment. When they looked back, the girls were gone. They searched high and low, but they couldn't be found. One month later, the girls were found right where they disappeared. They were naked and had half-moon scars at the base of their throats. Their eyes turned black, and their hair soon turned white. They didn't remember where they had been or what had happened to them. The sisters now live separate lives, though they share a freakish connection. The oldest, Grey, became a model. She started her own fashion line with beautiful, frightening dresses that contain little vials of her perfume in the hem. Their mother is terrified of Grey, even hates her. The middle, Vivi, cut all her hair off and ran off to tour with a punk group. Iris, the baby, is quite timid and bullied at her school. She takes the abuse in hopes of graduating, attending university, and becoming a doctor. When Grey goes missing, it's up to her sisters to search for clues to figure out where she went. They also encounter a man with a minotaur skull, a dead body, and a lot of mold, corpse flowers, and ants...it's a lot scarier than it sounds. With Grey's ex-boyfriend Taylor (Who I love, cause he's awesome), they work to find Grey and learn the truth about what happened when they disappeared. House of Hollow sounded deliciously creepy, so I just had to read it. I know a lot of lore about changelings, and the book does touch on that a lot, but it's also doing it's own creepy thing. It has a couple twists that it employs well, and though I expected where it was going, it still sort of surprised me. There's not really a happy ending, and it makes me a little uncomfortable, especially if there's a sequel like they implied...but, all's bleak that end's bleak, amiright?

A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares by Krystal Sutherland

"One great fear to rule your life. One great fear to take it. There was no escaping her fate and no way to save the members of her family from theirs; this Esther's grandfather had told her since she was a child..."

The center of A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares is the Solar family. They have been cursed by Death himself. Reginald Solar met a man during the Vietnam War who he believed was an apprentice to Death. Since then, every Solar has been cursed with one great fear. That fear will consume them and eventually be what kills them.

Esther doesn't know what her fear is yet. Her twin brother Eugene is afraid of the dark. Their house is full of lamps and candles, and every light switch is taped on at all times. Shadowy creatures come from the dark trying to take him away. The twins' father developed agoraphobia. One day he went into the basement and just never left. He stays down there, all alone, surrounded by Christmas decorations. Despite suffering multiple strokes, he refuses to leave. Their mother is afraid of being unlucky, something that started after her husband went into the basement. She spends all her time and all the family's money at the casino. She also spent a thousand dollars on a rooster that is supposed to be a goblin.

Because of this somewhat interesting family life, Esther dreams of moving out on her own after high school. To fund this dream, she sells secret underground baked goods to her classmates. Sugar and junk food are banned, so she makes a decent profit. One day after selling her wares at her grandfather's nursing home, she encounters a boy she once knew: Jonah Smallwood. She loved him in Kindergarten and they were really close, but he moved away suddenly. Now, he is crying and bruised at the bus stop. He proceeds to con her out of her newly earned $55, her grandmother's bracelet, and even her fruit roll up. It's a non-traditional way to start a romance, that's for sure.

Jonah is the one who convinces Esther to face her fears. He had also taken her notebook with her list of fears. She decided to write down anything that seemed mildly frightening. Then she could avoid said thing and it would never become her great fear. Jonah has the idea to conquer each of the fears. Esther figures that if she takes enough risks, Death will start to pay attention and she can make him reverse the curse. With Jonah's help, she conquers one fear every Sunday, starting with #50: lobsters.

This book was terribly charming. I LOVED Esther and Jonah. They were adorable. Jonah rescues a little kitten he ran over with his moped, and he names the disabled baby Fleayonce Knowles. Esther constantly wears costumes, dressing like Wednesday Adams, Eleanor Roosevelt, or Indiana Jones. The interactions between Jonah and Esther's father are also really sweet. Jonah is incredibly kind to him, promises to eat dinner with him. She tells him that he doesn't have to do it, but Jonah likes her dad. You can tell that her dad appreciates the company, which kind of breaks my heart.

There was also a lot of dark stuff. I didn't expect so much darkness, including a very upsetting suicide scene. The ending is also kind of ambiguous about whether the Solar curse was real or not. Was it a curse placed by Death himself or a family history of mental illness, self-fulfilling prophecies, and coincidences? There isn't a definitive answer, and it kind of feels like the book is trying to have it both ways. I didn't really mind, though. I enjoy the openendedness.