Small Favors - A Perfect Spooky Fall Read
When I first saw the cover art for Small Favors by Erin A. Craig I knew I had to read it. The bees, flowers and honey dripping off the title text made it look so sweet and fun, but I knew it was YA horror. I had to know what was hiding under the beautiful cover, and what I found was not at all what I was expecting.
Over the past year or so, I’ve been exploring more sub-genres within horror: body horror, queer horror, slashers, and possession stories. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d stumble across a book that can only be described as Prairie Gothic. That’s right: imagine Little House on the Prairie meets monsters and mayhem, and you get Small Favors.
Written in a similar vein as M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village, Small Favors starts off cute and innocent, in the very small, very secluded town of Amity Falls. Every family plays an important role, the Elders keep everyone in line, and people are too busy sewing clothes, milking cows, and tending to their fields to be worried about anything sinister. That is, until reports of monsters start popping up, and a stranger wanders into town – strangers are far and few between in Amity Falls.
When I first started reading this book, I really didn’t know what to think. The characters and the setting just seemed off, and I wasn’t sure where the plot was heading. But as soon as the first creepy moment happened, it all clicked: this secluded town has limited information, and what we as readers know is even more limited to that of the narrator. The characters are trapped and don’t fully understand what’s happening, and neither do the readers.
From there, we get a slow-burn story full of suspenseful terror that will pull you in. I often walk my dog along wooded trails near my home, but while reading this book, and even now, a week later, I hesitate before stepping onto the path, and am constantly looking around me to make sure nothing is following.
Every time I flipped a page, I was worried about what would happen next to our heroine, Ellerie, and her family. Everything seems so innocent, until it’s not, and then before you know it the entire town is plagued by unknown horrors with no end in sight.
Small Favors is the perfect book to curl up with if you want a fully immersive, atmospheric story to read during Fall. Between the woods, the pine trees, the beehives, and honey cake, you’ll find yourself right alongside the characters, and then quickly wish you weren’t once the monsters begin to appear.
I loved this book way more than I thought I would, and can’t wait to explore more work by Erin A. Craig.
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