Marissa Doyle

In Marissa Doyle’s Evergreen, 17 year old Grace Boisvert is a dryad. A human-looking fae-like being who exhibits a kinship with trees, being able to talk to them, draw on their power, among other minor abilities. The Boisvert family is from a long lineage of dryads who originated in Europe.

The story is set around Grace leaving her family (and home forest) for a summer to spend time with her best friend Alice in Newport and then the Adirondacks. In Newport, Grace is thrust into a world show more unlike any she has known before as she navigates her way through the labyrinth of young men and early 19th century debutantes. The Adirondacks, a forest entirely different from her home (and, at that time, relatively untouched by man), is much more her speed. However, this strange and wonderful forest is also teeming with unknown entities, some of which could prove dangerous.

On the whole, I liked this story. The writing was excellent and most of the characters came across as genuine with believable and logical motivations (as logical as can be expected from teenagers). The settings were well fleshed out and the descriptions of the Adirondacks and Grace’s experience being within that massive forest resonated with me.

I did have couple complaints, however. The books is pretty well cleaved in two: Newport and Adirondacks. The former feels all politicking and teenage emotions whereas the latter really begins to bring out the supernatural elements of the woods and being a dryad. The Newport section is certainly necessary to set the stage and character relations for later, yet I think it could have been shorter as I found it a bit of a chore to get through (note that I am not likely the target audience for this book). The Adirondacks section was fantastic, with the fleshing out of the dryad powers and the other supernatural creatures that roam such ancient and untouched woods.

I was also not a big fan of the twist towards the end. To avoid spoilers, I won’t get into it, but just say that I thought it was somewhat cliché and a little underwhelming after the build up (again, not the target audience).

The publisher, Book View Café, provided a copy of the book to me for early review; the opinion expressed is my own. show less

Well, how to review this as a whole? It was a mixed bag, really, as so many anthologies are.
Some stories I liked, enjoyed even; some I didn't like one bit, either because I didn't like the approach or feel of the tale, or they felt meaningless or nondescript to me.
A collection of ghost stories – or rather, of stories with a certain ghostly/otherworldly aspect to them. It was nice to read such different approaches to and explorations of what ghosts are and what a ghost story can be like show more – some were creepy; some otherworldly; some tragic; some light, funny, even; some full of loss; one fantasy/Norse mythology story was included ('The Waking of Angantyr' by Marie Brennan - fabulous).
Even a short hilarious erotica piece featuring a house spirit/sex demon (Jennifer Stevenson's 'Lideric' *thumbs up*) was included.
I don't regard it as a horror anthology (as marketed) at all, though. There's only one story that was light horror – my favorite of them, Shannon Doyle's 'Golden Spider Beetles'.

I received this book via LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program - Thanks, LT! - in exchange for an honest review. show less

Theodra Fairchild is excited to leave teaching Latin to middle-schoolers behind to work on her PhD. She expected the rough and tumble rivalries of interdepartmental politics. What she didn't expect was to fall in love . . . or to become the plaything of the gods.
At first this was a pleasant little romance with the cachet of Olympian gods as professors in the classics department of a small liberal arts college. (Where else would they go?) It took a turn for the uncomfortable when Theo becomes show more the target of department head Julian's (aka Zeus) attentions. He basically drugs her and takes sexual advantage of her. There are several instances of Theo regaining consciousness to find Julian forcing drugged wine down her throat.
There is some redemption when Theo resists Julian's plans and defies the king of the gods but the depiction of Zeus as a modern-day sexual predator complete with lame justifications and narcotics overwhelms her defiance. I couldn't enjoy the last half of the book because of this. show less

Murmurs in the Dark edited by Marissa Doyle and Shannon Page—an early reader’s review:
I was lucky enough to read this book in October as the witching season approached, but rather than being scary, these stories seemed more like a series of bridges to understand the ghosts. Most of the stories were sensitive, some imagined from the departed’s point of view. They made the bumps in the night seem like compromises everyone makes when sharing a space with others. The personalities of the show more spirits were as varied as the personalities of the living and they were trying to figure things out after death just as much as we struggle before the fact. I did enjoy the different voices of the thirteen story tellers and I did like some more than others, but the collection holds together well.
If you crave action, blood and guts, this read might not be your cup of tea. This is more like sitting with a close friend who is struggling to confess a weird occurrence that he can’t explain, can’t forget, and fears looking foolish for believing, but, at the same time, can’t keep it to himself.
I enjoyed the book very much. show less