Seriously??? 

I don't even know what this book was supposed to be. I felt at one point that perhaps my day drinking was interfering with me being able to understand what was going on, but I took a crack at this Monday morning (sober) and I just gave up. Nothing makes sense at all. I was trying to read this book for Halloween Bingo 2017 and feel annoyed that I DNFed it instead of pushing through. But honestly, I don't have the patience to work through this book. 

The main character (16 year old Ivy Templeton) is just not interesting. I know there's probably some dark family secret thing going on in the town of Rowan's Glen, but if you can't grab a reader early on, I don't feel the need to just force myself to read what is shaping up to be a blah book.

I will also say that the author did not do a good enough job of setting up Rowan's Glen as a place that is a step out of time. It didn't read believable at all. And the further I kept reading about things that were traditions, I started to feel annoyed that this was shaping up to be a terrible facsimile of "Children of the Corn".

I will also add that the writing was not very good. I just had a hard time even working my way through paragraphs. We get random information dumps and than just mysterious things happening.  

This will be a quick review because my computer is about to die and I don't feel like bringing my charger upstairs. 

The May Queen Murders follows Ivy who lives in a not at all The Village-like town where, some years before, the May Queen was brutally murdered and her killer escaped into the woods. Now she realizes her cousin/best friend, Heather, is keeping secrets from her and, considering Heather is the first May Queen since the last one died, Ivy worries for her cousin's safety. She also has weird sexual tensions with her long time friend, Rook, though that's a separate line of the story. Has Birch Markel returned to kill the May Queen? Will Ivy's horrible premonitions end up true? Will Ivy and Rook ever do the do?!! 

Joking aside, I did like this book. Didn't love it but I liked it. The plot, while predictable and kinda melodramatic, was enjoyable and there were definitely parts that left me feeling suspense. The characters weren't anything spectacular but I enjoyed reading their story just the same. I found Ivy an endearing character, which is odd because she was incredibly clingy towards Heather. Like, you'd think they were young children from the level of clingy. Maybe I relate to her because I too have been clingy in the past. She just had an adorable personality to me and I loved the way she abided by the old beliefs held by her family. I like traditions like that.

My favorite part about the book was the language. Jude has a really amazing way with words where it's poetic without it seeming like she's trying too hard to sound fancy. She might not have the art of plot down, but by god is she a master of words. The images, especially the ones of nature, were just astounding and I loved how fresh all the language was. I definitely haven't read a YA book with language quite this good in a while. I think this book is technically a gothic story, if I remember my BritLit lessons well enough, and she definitely creates a gothic story. The atmosphere is there, I just wish the plot had been a little more on point. 

My biggest critique about this story was the level of melodrama it had to it. Maybe that's normal for gothic stories, I'm not sure. I don't read the genre a ton. But there were times where I felt like I was listening to my sister complain (yell) about her school day. Perhaps it might seem less dramatic to the intended audiences, but as a 23 year old there were times where I wanted to shake Ivy and be like "Get a grip!". It made it difficult to read the story as spooky/suspenseful at times. 

Not exactly a complaint, but I kind of wish the story hadn't of taken place during modern times. Rowan's Glen is very much like the village in The Village in that it rejects a lot of the luxuries of the modern era, and there were points where this did have a weight on the plot, such as with medical issues, Heather's rebelliousness, and the atmosphere of the Glen people being outsiders. Still, it didn't feel like it was THAT relevant to the story and almost seemed like a distraction at times. Like, we get it. You wear converse but don't have a TV. What does that have to do with anything? It's hard to say if this story would have been better set in the past, though, because, like I said, there were points where there was a purpose to the setting. Just something to be aware of, I guess.

Final rating: 3.5 out of 5. It's a decent book. I'd read it again, particularly because I loved the language. Very soap opera-y though. She went a bit overboard with the drama.

Saw this at the library, decided now was as good a time as any to read it. I really like it so far. The narrator's voice is something very different to me and I just love the imagery. 

This is one of the most bizarre books I have read in a long time. It's disturbing and has some very uncomfortable gory bits....and I kind of totally loved it.

Usually I have a weird thing about reading books with a character that has my own name in it, doesn't bother me if it's a first person view point, but for some reason I don't like it when it's a third person view point. In this case though, the book was so good the same name thing didn't bother me. Even though said with the same name as me was a giant bitch. And died. Horribly.

The story is set in a secluded farming community, The Glen, who don’t embrace modern technology. Almost like Amish but not quite as religious. They have farms and animals and sell things at local farmers markets. The high school aged kids go to the local public high school. The Glen kids stick together, as they live and dress differently school is pretty tough for them.

Our MC, Ivy, has been BFF with her cousin Heather for their whole lives. They’re practically as close as sisters. Only lately, Heather has been acting differently, sneaking about and asking Ivy to cover for her. Ivy is probably one of the dullest, meekest most pathetic main characters I have come across in a long time. While she was sad that her cousin seemed to be growing up faster than she was – Heather was making friends with the normal town kids and Ivy couldn’t get her head around that. The town kids did something really horrible to one of the Glen girls and it’s left a deep mark on the family and the Glen kids. Well, most of them. Ivy is almost obsessed with Heather.

Everything she thinks or does has something relating to what would Heather think, why is Heather ignoring me and not telling me things anymore? Heather has secrets and Ivy is devastated she’s not being included anymore. Understandable, it sucks when you realise someone you’ve been close to all your life is more or less outgrowing you and doesn’t want to be friends anymore. Been there. It’s a hollow feeling and it’s horrible. But as I said, Ivy’s so obsessed with Heather and figuring out her secrets it goes beyond the concern of a cousin/friend/sister to almost stalkerish behaviour.

And while this is going on, several animals have been found mutilated. Ivy’s dad is the local vet, and she helps out in his practice. It’s described in detail and is very disturbing. Usually this kind of unnecessary animal violence turns me off completely. The narrative, even though meek and dull Ivy and while slightly nauseating, was compelling enough to want to know what happened. There is also a local legend of a man who lives in the woods and does terrible things. A teen girl was murdered at a May Day Celebration many years ago and this creepy wood guy was supposedly the killer sparked into a ghastly legend. He’s never been caught which sparks all sorts of scary rumours.

It’s a lot of inner turmoil for Ivy, who loves animals. Along with figuring out what’s going on with her cousin, and the worry that the cousin is sneaking off with the boy she likes who has recently started talking more to Ivy and showed signs of liking her. Ivy is disjointed and confused. With the increased fear in the community with the scary wood man rumours and animal deaths getting worse and more violent, it’s incredibly disturbing.

And weirdly compelling. Then the council people decide – let’s bring back May Day and have a local Glen girl crowned as the Queen and cheer people up a bit. Which works for a bit. Nasty things keep happening. Ivy’s relationship with Heather hits rock bottom. Though things get better with the boy she likes, Rook. It’s not insta-lovey, so plus points for that. It’s a slow build relationship that works really well when it’s filtered into the narrative.

The May Day Celebration comes and it’s pretty reminiscent (at least for me) of the May Day ceremony in the original version of “The Wicker Man”. Lots of dancing and bizarre animal customs. We know from the blurb of the book something bad is going to happen to Heather, and as I was reading, all I could think was please don’t be like "The Wicker Man", the girl’s a bitch, but don’t have her end up like the guy in “The Wicker Man did.”

After Heather goes missing, Ivy falls apart. The second half of the novel is basically Ivy and the community figuring out what happened to Heather and who’s responsible. It’s very twisty and impossible to predict, Heather’s hidden secrets come to light, and there are nothing like I imagined they would be. The narrative gets creepier and the imagery gets more and more dark and disturbing. It’s completely unpredictable which I liked, just when you think everything has been figured out – more twists and turns.

This book would make a fantastic horror movie. While it is rather unnerving and as I have mentioned, disturbing and gory, it’s very good. I loved it.