Cackle
By: Rachel Harrison
By: Rachel Harrison
"All her life, Annie has played it nice and safe. After being unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start. She accepts a teaching position that moves her from Manhattan to a small village upstate. She’s stunned by how perfect and picturesque the town is. The people are all friendly and warm. Her new apartment is dreamy too, minus the oddly persistent spider infestation.
Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming, magnetic Sophie, who takes a special interest in Annie, who wants to be her friend. More importantly, she wants Annie to stop apologizing and start living for herself. That’s how Sophie lives. Annie can’t help but gravitate toward the self-possessed Sophie, wanting to spend more and more time with her, despite the fact that the rest of the townsfolk seem…a little afraid of her. And like, okay. There are some things. Sophie’s appearance is uncanny and ageless, her mansion in the middle of the woods feels a little unearthly, and she does seem to wield a certain power…but she couldn’t be…could she?"
Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming, magnetic Sophie, who takes a special interest in Annie, who wants to be her friend. More importantly, she wants Annie to stop apologizing and start living for herself. That’s how Sophie lives. Annie can’t help but gravitate toward the self-possessed Sophie, wanting to spend more and more time with her, despite the fact that the rest of the townsfolk seem…a little afraid of her. And like, okay. There are some things. Sophie’s appearance is uncanny and ageless, her mansion in the middle of the woods feels a little unearthly, and she does seem to wield a certain power…but she couldn’t be…could she?"
I am such a sucker for anything witchy especially during the fall so when I saw the gorgeous cover of Cackle, I simply could not resist it. If you're looking for an atmospheric read for Autumn this may just be the book for you. It's classified as Horror and it has some spooky parts, but it isn't terrifying and in fact it has a lot more cozy vibes than creepy vibes.
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The entire town of Rowan sounds delightful. I'd love to stroll around their farmers market and sample a frothy latte from the local coffee guru, Oskar, or pick up a jar of homemade jelly. Since I can't step through the pages of the book I'm taking inspiration from Sophie and whipping up a pie.
"I love to make pie. I find it very relaxing," she says. "Let's go pick up some berries, and then we can go to my place, yes?" ~ Sophie
I made these adorable mini Blackberry-Raspberry Pies from Pillsbury. They were really easy to make and feature berries that were so well-described in Cackle. "We stop in front of a tent where cartons of fresh berries are for sale. Ripe pink strawberries. Chubby blueberries and raspberries. The most beautiful blackberries I've ever seen, clusters of dark bubbles shining like satin. Sophie goes for the blackberries. She plucks one from the pile and slips it into her mouth."
It just makes you want cartons of your own fresh berries, doesn't it?!
The next recipe was not mentioned in the book, but I really wanted to represent my little buddy Ralph. I'm not usually a fan of spiders, but Ralph gets a pass.
I used this Oreo Truffle Spider recipe from KidsActivities.com. The truffles came together easily, but the legs required a bit of finesse mainly because I didn't feel like putting together a piping bag so I freehanded them. If you're making a bunch I would recommend the piping bag, but either way they will taste good!
Cackle: ★★★☆☆
I liked some of the lessons this book seemed to preach. Specifically, the one about treating yourself kindly and not waiting for someone else to make you feel special (make a nice dinner just for yourself, wear a fancy dress just because), but I didn't love the main character, Annie. I could relate to the people-pleasing and even feel for her trying to navigate her way through a tough break up, but it seemed like her interactions with pretty much everyone (especially females other than Sophie) were pretty negative. Also, I'm fully onboard with the idea of doing what you want as long as you're not hurting others, but I don't think Annie even tried to befriend anyone in town or at work. She certainly complained about them though!
I keep wavering between 3 and 4 stars because of my distaste for Annie, but ultimately there was some good stuff here. I loved the imagery of the small town and I was intrigued by Sophie, who definitely has some issues of her own, but she was also fascinating. I would definitely read a book centered around Sophie. I also liked that I didn't realize this was categorized as "horror" until I finished the book so I was pleasantly surprised by the spooky parts of the story. As I mentioned earlier, it's not terrifying, but it adds an edge to a tale that would otherwise lean solely toward chick-lit.
Lastly, can we just appreciate the cover for a minute?! The black background, acid green font, spider webs... *chef's kiss*.
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