Pleasant Nights

Title: At the End of Everything

Author: Marieke Nijkamp

Genre: YA dystopia

Thank you NetGalley for this book!

I read This Is Where It Ends a while ago and was just floored at how excellent it was. After all this time, the story has really stuck with me. So, when I saw a new book by Nijkamp, I knew I would be reading it. I’m so happy I got this one from NetGalley because it was another great one that I won’t forget anytime soon.

From Goodreads: The Hope Juvenile Treatment Center is ironically named. No one has hope for the delinquent teenagers who have been exiled there; the world barely acknowledges that they exist.

Then the guards at Hope start acting strange. And one day…they don’t show up. But when the teens band together to make a break from the facility, they encounter soldiers outside the gates. There’s a rapidly spreading infectious disease outside, and no one can leave their houses or travel without a permit. Which means that they’re stuck at Hope. And this time, no one is watching out for them at all.

As supplies quickly dwindle and a deadly plague tears through their ranks, the group has to decide whom among them they can trust and figure out how they can survive in a world that has never wanted them in the first place.

The story is told from various teens within the Hope center. You see their survival story from multiple sides, namely those who are trying to help and make their situation as livable as possible. Even though the teens are there because they were in some kind of trouble, thankfully this isn’t some kind of Lord of the Flies re-creation. Sure, they disagree at times, but it isn’t a battle for king of the hill, and they *mostly* work together. Clearly, this was written post-Covid because plenty of the “news” the kids hear is directly from what we have been going through. Overall, I really liked this book, and I’ll keep my eye on other books from Nijkamp.

Title: Horseman

Author: Christina Henry

Genre: horror

Thank you, NetGalley for this book.

I’ve only recently become aware of Christian Henry’s work, specifically her Alice series. I’ve heard great things about it and have added it to my TBR. I had completely forgotten that I had this book from NetGalley, so when it turned up as my next read, I was really excited to see if all the hype was real. And, wow, it was. This book was so creative and fun.

From Goodreads: Everyone in Sleepy Hollow knows about the Horseman, but no one really believes in him. Not even Ben Van Brunt’s grandfather, Brom Bones, who was there when it was said the Horseman chased the upstart Crane out of town. Brom says that’s just legend, the village gossips talking.

Twenty years after those storied events, the village is a quiet place. Fourteen-year-old Ben loves to play Sleepy Hollow boys, reenacting the events Brom once lived through. But then Ben and a friend stumble across the headless body of a child in the woods near the village, and the sinister discovery makes Ben question everything the adults in Sleepy Hollow have ever said. Could the Horseman be real after all? Or does something even more sinister stalk the woods?

I love that this story was told from a kid’s perspective. Ben is a strong character with specific ideas and goals. You really root for Ben throughout the book. I’ve only read Sleepy Hollow once or twice and don’t remember much but that didn’t cause me any issues. As long as you have the general gist that a headless horseman terrorizes the town of Sleepy Hollow, running off the schoolteacher Ichabod Crane, you’re set. I really enjoyed this book. It’s categorized as horror, but it’s not super scary or graphic. It really could be a YA book, even. Ben is a great character that you just love and respect. I will definitely be checking out more of Henry’s books.

Horrorstor