Book Review - Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Title: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
Author: Grady Hendrix
Genre: Horror/ Fantasy/ Historical Fiction
Published: 2025
 
Description: They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who gre up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their own families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of It ever happened.
 
Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.
 
Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid… and it’s usually paid in blood.
 
Review: Grady Hendrix is my guy, my horror guy. I love how he takes on these standard horror tropes and flips them upside down. He did it before with demons, vampires, zombies and a haunted house. Now it’s witches. And I think this is my favorite Hendrix so far.
 
We meet a fifteen-year-old girl, who is send to a home for wayward girls. Basically teenage pregnant girls are being send there to have their baby in secret, give it up for adoption and move back home and act like it never happened. When she arrives, she is given the name Fern. She is not allowed to tell anyone what her real name is and where she is from. There, Fern befriends three other girls: Rose, Zinnia and Holly. When Fern receives an occult book about witchcraft from the local librarian, she becomes obsessed by it. And believes their might be a way to get away from this. But witchcraft comes with a price.
 
The horror element is minimal, in the way that it’s not very scary. But there is some body horror. Especially focused on pregnancies and giving birth. If that makes you squeamish, just be warned. The books is mainly scary because of its social commentary. Because wayward houses were an actual thing, for teens who were troubled or out of control. And the goal was to redeem them and eventually return home as a bettered person. But most important, no one could ever know about it. In “Witchcraft for Wayward Girls”, it’s a home for pregnant teenagers to have their baby, give it up for adoption and leave again to continue their lives like nothing every happened.
 
In Hendrix’s author’s note he acknowledges that as a middle aged, childless man he probably isn’t the best choice to write this book but based on family revelations he wrote to understand these homes and the people who would have been sent to them. I personally think he did an amazing job and praise him for giving empathy understanding. It’s kind of amazing this book, which has a great debate on women’s rights, was written by a man. And this proves again what a great author Hendrix is. The book was only a bit too long for my taste.
 
Like I said, this is my favorite Grady Hendrix so far. And I was a bit skeptical, because reviews were very mixed. I’m glad it turned out to be such a success.
 
Rating: 4,5/ 5

20s Movie Review - The Deliverance

Director: Lee Daniels
Genre: Horror/ Thriller
Runtime: 112 minutes
Year: 2024
Starring: Andra Day, Glenn Close, Mo’Nique, Anthony B. Jenkins, Calen mcLaughlin, Demi Singleton, Omar Epps

Description: An Indiana family discovers strange, demonic occurrences that convince them and their community that the house is a portal to hell.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2025 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 8: A FILM WITH GLENN CLOSE
 
Review: Films about demonic presences and exorcisms. More often unsuccessful. Where “The Exorcist” (1973) has introduced cinema audiences to this horror subgenre, it know one has done it better since then. This also goes for “The Deliverance”, because it’s not a very good movie.

“The Deliverance”, directed by Lee Daniels, is based on the story of Latoyra Amons. He changed the names, details and settings. Using a hefty dose of social realism, Daniels slowly allows the arduous struggle for survival of Ebony and her family to degenerate into farcical situations without a shred of realism.

Ebony struggles. Her absent husband is a soldier in Iraq, and live=in mother Alberta is a cancer patient. She can barely take care of her three children and her kids struggle with to connect with their peers. Just having moved into a new home eventually makes everything even worse, because some strange things are happening.

Why this movie was dropped as a horror film, doesn’t get clear until the very end. Because “The Deliverance” is never scary, and I scare easily when it comes to horror. Daniels left it for the final 30 minutes, no exorcism cliché is shunned.

“The Deliverance” starts out promising, especially with names like Glenn Close and Mo’Nique attached to the project. But in the end the film is pretty dull and unscary for a horror movie, trying to save it in the final act. When It’s already too late. Did not enjoy.

Rating: 2/ 5

Book Review - The Perfect Escape by Leah Konen

Title: Perfect Escape
Author: Leah Konen
Genre: Mystery/ Thriller
Published: 2022
 
Description: New friends Sam, Margaret and Diana are thrilled to be getting out og the city for a girls’ weekend – they’ve bonded over their messy divorces, and every mile on the odometer feels like another step towards putting their exes in the past. But when car trouble halfway into their trip strands them in the most unlikely mountain towns, they come face-to-face with the hurts and betrayals they were so desperate to leave behind.
 
When Diana doesn’t return home after a night out, Sam and Margaret’s search for her reveals just how little they know about their friend. As eerie coincidences and secrets begin to pile up, and an ex arrives in the tiny town, the women realize that their detour may not have been a mistake… and that someone wants to guarantee that they never make it out.
 
Review: Sam, Diana and Margaret have become friends, when they bonded over their divorces and break-ups. To get away from all the mess, they decide to go on girls’ trip. When they are halfway, they have car trouble and they are stranded in a small town. One of them goes missing, an ex show up and someone ends up dead. Girls' trip gone bad.
 
First of all, this is more a mystery then a thriller. Only towards the end I felt this was more of a thriller. And although I did have a good time reading this book, the book was overall just okay and in the end pretty forgettable.
 
I liked the pace of the story and it did have some really good twists and turns. I was left in the dark for a long time. The stranded-in-a-small-town trope is one I love. The multiple POV’s I liked as well. And I was very invested in the mystery. But not at all in the characters. And because I have read so many thrillers at this point, the book didn’t give me anything new or ground breaking. I have read this kind of a book many times before.
 
All in all, a solid mystery thriller book, but not one that I will remember for the ages. Just fine.
 
Rating: 3/ 5

TV Show Review - Apple Cider Vinegar (Limited Series)

Season: Limited Series
Genre: Drama/ Crime
Number of episodes: 6
Year: 2025
Starring: Kaitlyn Dever, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Aisha Dee, Mark Coles Smith, Tilda Cobham-Herbey, Chai Hansen, Matt Nable, Ashley Zukerman

Description: The life of wellness guru Belle Guru (Kaitlyn Dever), who had a large social media following, where she pretended she pretended to be suffering from cancer but keeping the disease under control using self-are therapies. She confesses that none of it was true.

Review: The Australian series “Apple Cider Vinegar” is loosely based on the true story of wellness influencer Belle Gibson, who was exposed by two journalists in 2015. Among other things, she led her followers to believe that she had cured her brain tumor with healthy eating, exercise and holistic medicine.

Every episode starts with a disclaimer, that Belle Gibson did snot ger paid for this telling of her story. And the rise and fall of Belle Gibson starts, where a true story is told, based on a lie.

On Instagram, everything seems perfect. After roughly fifteen years, the app still hasn’t lost that distorted view of the world. Meanwhile, influencers are under strict scrutiny, but that hasn’t always been the case. Belle Gibson’s story takes the cake. Australian Belle Gibson was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was 20. Fortunately, she is not sitting back and, like her great role model Milla, decides to take a different approach. No surgeries, no hospitals and no chemo, but healthy juices, vegan food and lots of exercise. That, according to Belle, is the cure for cancer. She shares all her findings with thousands of followers on Instagram, develops the app The Whole Pantry and is writing a cookbook. It sounds too good to be true, cure cancer with a nutritious diet. And that’s because it is. Where Milla is actually going through cancer, believing she can beat it by living a healthier life. Belle made it all up, just for some attention. And the whole world fell for it. Until her lies were exposed by journalists.

“Apple Cider Vinegar” tells a lot. It deals with Belle’s mental problems, the rivalry she has with Milla, the research the journalists try to do to expose the influencer, and with the story of Lucy, who has breast cancer, it also deals with a lot with the impact this disease actually has. Milla and Lucy are fictional, Belle is real. And even though the stories of Milla and Lucy are interesting, the story of Belle would have been enough.

Kaitlyn Dever does a wonderful job as Belle. It’s very easy to portray belle as an evil woman with an attention disorder. Dever doesn’t do that. She gives Belle depth and humanity, but at the same time she makes clear that the only one Belle really cares about is herself. This series wasn’t made to feel sympathy for Belle.

Although the series often shoors off in all sorts of direction, Kaitlyn Dever provides a clear focus for her character. A story so crazy, that’s you almost wouldn’t believe was true, if you didn’t know it.

80s Movie Review - After Hours

Director: Martin Scorsese
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 97 minutes
Year: 1985
Starring: Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Verna Bloom, Tommy Chong, Cheech Marin, Teri Garr, John Heard, Catherine O’Hara, Linda Fiorentino, Will Patton, Dick Miller, Bronson Pinchot

Description: Ordinary word processor Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) experiences the worst night of his life after he agrees to visit Marcy (Rosanna Arquette), a Soho resident that he met that evening at a coffee shop.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2025 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 7: A MOVIE FROM 1985
 
Review: Ironclad black comedy, one of Martine Scorsese’s lesser know films. We meet Paul, an office clerk, who rolls from one bizarre adventure into another, when he decides to drive to Soho to visit a girl he just met at a coffee shop.

“After Hours” is a rather atypical Scorsese, in which you are drawn into an alienating and at times even surreal nightmare. Laced with dark humor and a kind of hilarious absurdity, which really makes it a unique mix, especially compared to the rest of Scorsese’s oeuvre.

One crazy character and absurd situation follows another, and the night increasingly degenerates into a nightmare you can’t wake up from. I didn’t know this film before I watched it, but I’m glad I did. I had a good time.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

TV Show Review - Black Doves (Season 1)

Season: 1
Genre: Action/ Crime/ Drama/ Thriller
Number of episodes: 6
Year: 2024
Starring: Keira Knightley, Ben Wishaw, Andrew Buchan, Sarah Lancashire, Ella Lily Hyland

Description: Helen (Keira Knightley) embarks on a passionate affair with a man who has no idea what her secret identity is. Caught in the crosshairs when her lover falls victim to the dangerous London underworld, Helen's employers call in Sam (Ben Wishaw) to protect her.

Review: In this six-part spy series, we follow London housewife Helen Webb, who is moonlighting as a secret agent. This double life is going well for Helen, until her lover is suddenly murdered. During the search of the culprit, she uncovers a plot.

The series is set during Christmas, with the Christmas music and everything. But if you can see passed that, you can watch this show at any time.

The story revolves around Helen Webb. She is married to the Secretary of State for Defense Wallace Webb. Together they have five-year-old twins and she is the perfect wife, mother and homemaker. But she is also a secret agent, with emphasis on secret. She worsk for an agency, the so-called Black Doves. Helen is a valuable Dove, because her marriage allows her to get to the most powerful people in the country. Still, the lying and cheating doesn’t quite bother her.

The man Helen was having an affair with is killed and she seeks revenge. But she soon realizes this a more difficult and dangerous task that she expected. She gets help from Sam, an assassin who Helen worked with in the past.

“Black Doves” is fifty percent action. It’s done in an eloquent, intelligent and with pleasantly dry humor. And the strong cast ensure sharp and excellent dialogue. Both Keira Knightley and Ben Wishaw are fantastic in the series and very believable as spies, but also in their other role they are portraying for the outside world.

“Black Doves” is an entertaining, well-made series. And it feels like a second season is coming. Would recommend.

Title: Cleopatra and Frankenstein
Author: Coco Mellors
Genre: Fiction/ Romance/ Contemporary
Published: 2022
 
Description: Twenty-four-year old painter Cleo has escaped from England to new York and is still finding her place in the sleepless city when, a few months before her student visa ends, she meets Frank. Twenty years older and a self-made success, Frank’s life is full of all the excesses Clea’s lacks. He offers her the chance to be happy, the freedom to paint, and the opportunity to apply for a Green Card. But their impulsive marriage irreversibly changes both their lives, and the lives of those close to them, in ways they never could’ve predicted.
 
Review: Cleo is from England and does not have much money. She is an artist living in the U.S. and her visa is about to expire. She falls head over heals in love with Frank, director of a New York advertising agency and twenty years older then her. He falls for Cleo too and not long after they meet, they marry, which will change their lives and the lives of the people around them.
 
Cleo and Frank’s story is told from their perspective as well as that of their friends: Cleo’s best friend Quentin views her marriage with distress, as he might prefer to have married Cleo himself, were it not for the fact that her likes men. Anders, Frank’s friend, is handsome and has no desire to commit, and so more that one woman from Frank’s circle he has slept with. Then there is Zoe, Frank’s half-sister, perpetually broke and at first not happy about her brother’s marriage either. There is Eleanor, who works for Frank and has always been his support. And Santiago, a friend of Frank, who lost his wife.
 
Author Coco Mellors has managed to poignantly describe the vast, turbulent world that revolves around love. With each chapter, we see the perspective of a different character, about their life, their struggles. It is still, in core, about Cleo and Frank, but the other people we follow are the ones that shape their lives. And how their marriage shapes the lives of their friends and family members.
 
“Cleopatra and Frankenstein” is not a happy love story, it’s heartbreaking but beautiful. It has multiple layers and is a great character study. Very well written. Coco Mellors’ book “Blue Sisters” is on my TBR and I can’t wait to read this as well.
 
Rating: 4/ 5