{"id":10836,"date":"2018-05-02T18:52:17","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T22:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=10836"},"modified":"2021-09-22T18:21:03","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T22:21:03","slug":"freaks-other-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10836","title":{"rendered":"Freaks & Other Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

Freaks & Other Family<\/a><\/em> (2016) Lish McBride<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>You Make Me Feel So Young<\/em>
\nHalfway Through the Wood<\/em><\/p>\n

This collection is two stories about the characters from Hold Me Closer, Necromancer<\/a><\/em>, Sam and Ramon. Sam is now a necromancer. Ramon is now a were-bear. Luckily, Sam’s inheritance also included a house and money, so he’s able to help Sam with some of the issues that came from the change.<\/p>\n

You Make Me Feel So Young<\/em> finds Sam and Ramon attempting to discover who or what is leaving desiccated corpses around town.<\/p>\n

Strange human remains had been discovered\u2014 and by strange I mean that we\u2019d found thin, dry husks and nothing else. All that had been left was skin, like people had started spontaneously molting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s also about how much Sam has not yet learned about what he can do.<\/p>\n

The second story, Halfway Through the Wood<\/em>, is about Ramon and how things have changed with his family after his change (since he can’t tell them what happened).<\/p>\n

Which is difficult, because his family is very close.<\/p>\n

I followed them deeper into the house, which was full to bursting with family and friends that had earned that status. My family has been known to rope in people who we\u2019ve decided need food and family or those that simply can\u2019t run away fast enough.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ramon’s problems are not of the supernatural nature, but they are still serious problems–especially since Ramon still feels he has to protect his mother and sisters.<\/p>\n

One of the things I like about Lish McBride’s writing is that it’s evocative AND fun. For example:<\/p>\n

There was a sound then, like the death rattle of a milkshake when you\u2019ve sucked up the last of the ice cream with the straw and start pulling in air.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And her characters are very well-depicted young adults: they make mistakes because they lack experience, but they aren’t stupid, so they don’t make the same mistakes twice.<\/p>\n

If you haven’t read Hold Me Closer, Necromancer<\/em>, don’t start here. Get Necromancer: A Novella<\/a><\/em>, which is free, and which is what got me to read the first. It’s free, so you’ve got nothing to lose. But these two stories were a nice reminder of why I liked Sam and Ramon so much.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Devo-Lish
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Freaks & Other Family (2016) Lish McBride You Make Me Feel So Young Halfway Through the Wood This collection is two stories about the characters from Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, Sam and Ramon. Sam is now a necromancer. Ramon is now a were-bear. Luckily, Sam’s inheritance also included a house and money, so he’s able […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,2,35,34,20],"tags":[149,150],"class_list":["post-10836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-fantasy","category-short-story","category-urban-fantasy","category-young-adult","tag-lish-mcbride","tag-necromancer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2OM","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3226,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3226","url_meta":{"origin":10836,"position":0},"title":"Necromancing the Stone","author":"Michelle","date":"October 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Necromancing the Stone (2012) Lish McBride This is a sequel to the YA book, Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, which I really liked. Luckily, I like Necromancing the Stone just as well. Sam LaCroix is still trying to adjust to being a necromancer. And to having a position on the local\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Necromancing-the-Stone.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2560,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2560","url_meta":{"origin":10836,"position":1},"title":"Hold Me Closer, Necromancer","author":"Michelle","date":"October 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (2010) Lish McBride Sam can't decide what to do with himself, which means that by default he has fallen to the painful default of food service. His life is going nowhere, he's job is crap, but he has friends, and friends can make anything easier. Even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Hold-Me-Closer-Necromancer.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2377,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2377","url_meta":{"origin":10836,"position":2},"title":"Necromancer: A Novella","author":"Michelle","date":"May 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Necromancer: A Novella (2011) Lish McBride One of the things I'm coming to adore about the Kindle (and there are many) is authors can put up short stories and novellas--for free!--to give you an introduction to their work. Which is how I ended up downloading \"Necromancer: A Novella\" because who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Necromancer.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6434,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6434","url_meta":{"origin":10836,"position":3},"title":"Burnt Sugar","author":"Michelle","date":"January 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Burnt Sugar (2014) Lish McBride Ava, Lock, and Ezra have been sent by the Coterie (magical mafia) to collect a tithe from a witch who has missed payment. But when the find a gingerbread house, they know things are more serious than they expected. Lock stopped and crossed his arms,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/burnt-sugar.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11186,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11186","url_meta":{"origin":10836,"position":4},"title":"Pyromantic","author":"Michelle","date":"October 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Pyromantic (2017) Lish McBride The sequel to Firebug is set a few months after those events. Ava and Cade are adjusting to their changed relationship, and also rebuilding Cade's bookstore, which was burned down amidst everything else. Luckily, the head of the new Coterie believes that the incident was a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Pyromantic.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9304,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9304","url_meta":{"origin":10836,"position":5},"title":"Firebug","author":"Michelle","date":"September 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Firebug (2014) Lish McBride I have this thing where if I really love an author, I sometimes have difficulty starting a book in a new series. Because I'm afraid the new book won't live up to my expectations of the other books I've read, so I keep putting off reading\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Firebug.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10836\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}