REVIEW:

If stories had color palettes, Cackle’s would be an ombre fade of white gradually turning to black. This is a book that vibes hard, though the vibes vary big time.

What starts out feeling like a NYC-set romcom slides through magical realism on its way to paranormal before ending with a wee bit of witchy horror. It’s almost like a writers’ relay, where chapters might have been written by different authors in the following order:

Christina Lauren

Sarah Addison Allen

Alice Hoffman

Anne Rice

Cackle follows a year in the life of 30-something Annie after she’s dumped by her boyfriend and moves from the big city to upstate New York to start over. She meets an impossibly beautiful woman named Sophie, and they become insta-BFFs. They drink a lot of wine, play dress up, and play with spiders. A LOT of spiders, most notably a big one named Ralph who has a jovial personality and dons a little hat. Through her friendship with her new feminist bestie - who, it goes without saying, is a witch - Annie learns to take back her power over her life while gaining powers over the universe.

While uneven in tone, Cackle is a great choice for a little Halloween reading that’s spooky enough to feel seasonal but not enough to scare. I can’t stress this enough though: Must Love Spiders.

My thanks to the author and Berkley Publishing Group for the gifted copy to review. Cackle is now available.

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

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?