Family Solstice by Kate Maruyama is a challenging book about inequality, privilege, sacrifice, and the relative comforts and horrors of benefitting from systemic injustice…with some cosmic horror thrown in. It’s hard to give a synopsis of this short volume without spoiling it. Every Solstice one member of Shae’s family must go into the basement of the family home to fight…something. I enjoyed this book. I was really intrigued by trying to figure out what was going on throughout the book. This is...

I feel extremely lucky to have gotten a sneak peak of this thrilling novella, and was not disappointed. Just clear your calendars before you start because you will not want to put this book down.

Um ... This is a really interesting novelette. I give about 10 stars for the writing and suspense comprising more than half this book, but about 3 stars for the execution of the climax, which rapidly deflated in a weird mix of hardcore fantasy horror, softcore paranormal, and eye-rolling "wokeism". But then inflated again and ended good. Some of it I just didn't get. It reminded me of Robert Marasco's Burnt Offerings. You know, "this house was always your house" The Shining, "you've always been

Hilarious and chilling both, this is a brilliant work that you'll read straight through without stirring a-once. Combines the unease 70's low rent horror films with classic gothic spinetingler. An unforgettable book. So much fun and an incredibly moving portrait of what lurks in a family's secrets. Read it tonight!

A fun, very quick horror read about a family with a dark secret.

A fast and chilling read that is also thoughtful with extremely discussable themes. Horror readers will enjoy this but people who don't usually read in the genre will also enjoy the creepy, suspenseful elements paired with topical questions. (I just wrote more and then deleted, realizing that it's really best to go into this one cold! Put aside all assumptions about what this is about, avoid the spoilers and just read.)P.S. My own book club frequently alternates between thicker tomes and thinner...

The second I read about this one on ladiesofhorrorfiction, I pre-ordered it. The premise is bat-shit crazy, and I spent this morning reading the hell out of it (it's a whopping 53 pages, so just perfect for a single-sitting read).The positive- Maruyama manages to maintain a heckin level of suspense across the entire story. I could not turn (well, scroll) the pages fast enough. I had to know what was going on in that basement. And Shea is pretty level-headed. She remembers little details from gro...

Loving parents, average children, summer barbeques, a nice home. Normal. So it seems.As each child approaches a certain age they begin to practice: shuffle, shuffle, step, stab and do not look.On solstice that child goes to battle...in the basement. Afterward they get control of the TV remote for two whole days.This story is told through the eyes of the youngest daughter, about to turn 13 and take her turn at battle. Shea is an effective narrator. She's typical 12 year old, going on 13. She's cu...

A haunting little book about a girl’s coming of age within one family’s generation-spanning secret. Starting during Shea’s carefree summer and leading up to her first time battling on winter solstice, Maruyama introduces us to a family we’d want to be part of, until we wouldn’t. A metaphor for larger issues, this story makes me think about all we are willing to sacrifice in order to maintain the status quo.

FAMILY SOLSTICE brings us into a world where a house breathes and children do heroic battle in its basement only to discover that the enemy they're battling isn't anything they ever could have envisioned. Maruyama paints such human portraits of all the characters that their choices and convictions will forever haunt me.

The prose instantly drew me in. It's so well crafted. Maruyama successfully lulls the reader into a sense of contentment enjoying the everyday life of the narrator while building the sense of menace, and then delivers an ending that all at once seems surprising and inevitable.

Wonderful, creepy, metaphorical, and unputdownable...Family Solstice is my first exposure to Kate Mayuyama's work and, if this is any indication, won't be my last. The short (about 52 pages) packs a lot into its pages, spinning an eerie-dread filled tale worthy of none other than the likes of Shirley Jackson (made me think of the iconic "Lottery").

I read this entire novella in less than 24 hours because I couldn't wait to have everything revealed. The story was creepy and suspenseful and full of dread - but somehow also touching and playful all at the same time. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but I want to emphasize that it was simply so much fun to read. That isn't to say it didn't have depth or is forgettable - it is very well written and memorable. But it was also just fun and exciting. The second I finished it I couldn't wait...

For a thought-provoking twist on the haunted house genre, Kate Maruyama’s Family Solstice is a chilling must-read. A tale rife with secrets and suspense, and written in vibrant, gripping prose, this one-hour lunch read tells of the Massey family, pioneers who came to the USA over 400 years ago, shipped over before the Mayflower even, and who have lived in the current house, a ‘big yellow clapboard’ since 1902, when the previous dwelling was destroyed in a fire. The Masseys have a proud legacy, a...

I was lucky to get a copy of this book for review purposes. This suspenseful novella engages with themes rich for discussion about the interconnected webs of family, secrets, history and justice. I enjoyed it as an adult, but I could see it being particularly engaging for YA readers.

Read this in one sitting. Besides for the excellent voice of our young narrator, Shea, this novella doles out chilling suspense from start to finish. Allegorical beneath the surface of a creepy and chilling story - Family Solstice will leave you questioning everything from this seemingly normal family to the deep rooted questions about the sort of traditions and biases we are willing to inherit.

I LOVED this novella!! I read it all at once because it made me so eager to find out what happened. It's a fast, scary, and fun read. Beautifully written. It's also a very interesting and layered family drama. I highly recommend this book!

Wonderful, dark, creepy Winter Solstice read, fittingly is: FAMILY SOLSTICE by Kate Maruyama which will keep you guessing all the way to the end, just what IS the ominous family curse in the basement that Shea Massey must do battle with for her coming-of-age ceremony on Dec. 21?Published by Omnium Gatherum Media (2021), this is a great quick read by an author of immense talent and beautiful prose/imagery, cutting into the literal and metaphorical sins of family lineage, perception, and inheritan...

After my second read of Family Solstice I’m certain of what I believed after the first: this is a great short novel (one of my favorite forms). I know I’ll return to it again and again. It helped me survive a bout of COVID the first time and I’ll always love the book and author Kate Maruyama for that. But I was also half delirious with fever then, so I wanted to go back and make sure. And yes, it was even better the second time. I saw how artfully she planted the clues and hints, how she built u...

Don't let the slender size of this book fool you. It's ripe with family secrets and creepy thrills, like Mexican Gothic meets The Lottery. I had to finish it in one sitting because the suspense was too much for me.