I read and adored House of Salt and Sorrows, so I knew what I was getting into with Small Favors, the slight horror around the edge of the story, then a drastic ending. But I wasn't quite expecting it to be that drastic and chaotic.

Sue me, but I am not a big fan of books with lots of death or mostly unhappy endings, so this wasn't the right book for me.

Following in the same vein as House of Salt and Sorrows, Small Favors is a dark and twisty fantastical read from Erin A. Craig.
Ellerie Downing and her family live in a small town called Amity Falls, located in a secluded valley surrounded by forest. What starts out to be a kind and peaceful place quickly turns into a mysterious scene full of seemingly random attacks, vandalism and unexplained hatred. Ellerie is determined to figure out what madness is plaguing her town, with the help of a new stranger who’s just arrived.
I didn’t even realize this was a Rumpelstiltskin retelling until after I was done reading it but it definitely makes sense with the plot and considering the fact that the author’s first book was also a retelling. I feel like I understand the direction of the story so much more now that I know that.
This one was definitely similar to House of Salt and Sorrows in that it has some fantastical elements and darker storylines included. I also found the writing style to be very consistent between the two books. The writing was immersive and really added to the atmosphere of the story.
One of the main things I enjoyed about this book was the small town setting of Amity Falls, surrounded by a dark and mysterious forest. This definitely added to the creepy-factor of the story while also keeping the reader engaged in solving the mystery of what darkness has overtaken the town.
This small town dynamic did come with a very big cast of characters. There was a list of townspeople and families at the beginning of the book which was helpful but some things did get confusing when there were big town gatherings and trying to remember how everyone is connected. Having this larger group did bring a lot of drama with it though, and I enjoyed following the various storylines between characters. The romance felt a bit too insta-lovey for me and I was much more interested in the mystery plaguing the town and the Downing family dynamics than the relationship between Ellerie and Whitaker.
This was an interesting take on a classic fairytale and I really appreciated how original it was. The story was riveting and the pacing felt well done throughout.
Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher and author for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I received a free ARC of this book via NetGalley from the Underlined Pajama Party at YALLWEST a few months ago and I'm pleased to offer my review!

So, I can't remember if I read a blurb for this book before I went into it, or if I just knew that it was by the author of The House of Salt and Sorrows and decided that was good enough for me--but if I had to sum it up to pitch myself I would probably call it The Village by way of Holly Black, with bees.

oprah_BEES.gif

Is this a historical fantasy? Is it horror? I don't know and I don't care, because the mystery and the creep factor kept me reading long after I should have been in bed. Our protagonist, Ellerie, is the eldest daughter of an apiarist in an insular Little House on the Prairie village with a codified, rhyming list of rules governing their way of life. Unfortunately, there are monsters in the forest surrounding them, strangers in their midst who may or may not be real, and as crops die, animals are mysteriously slaughtered in the night, and a hard winter sets in, suspicions begin mounting as the town turns on itself.

In the midst of this, Ellerie seems nearly untouched by the growing paranoia, too wrapped up in taking care of her younger sisters and her bees in their parents' absence, faced with a sullen, irresponsible twin brother and dwindling supplies--or otherwise distracted by her budding romance with the handsome new trapper in town, who won't tell her his name. (Anyone who has ever read a fairy tale sees this red flag immediately, right?) And this is only one of the myriad of burning questions this book showered me with. Nothing here is incidental--every detail is a part of the tangled web being woven, and every character is trapped inside it. Pair that with the hint of the supernatural, macabre, and just plain creepy shit cropping up around every corner, and this is a book unlike anything else I've read this year. Maybe in a while. It kept me guessing right up through the brutal end.

Also, BEES.

**Thank you to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

“There’s a power in names, don’t you think? Once your name is given away, you can’t help but be pulled along by those who have it.”

Monsters, mysteries, and mayhem! Small Favors was an amazingly twisty story! I didn’t know what to expect with this book, but it was a crazy ride! I had a hard time putting it down; I finished the book in under two days!!

I loved Erin Craig’s House of Salt and Sorrows, but Small Favors was even better! It kept me in my toes the entire time. Erin has established herself as an auto-buy author for me!

My one critique is that I wish their had been more closure between Ellerie and Samuel. I would have liked more information about Sam and the choices he made! And for the ending, I would have liked an epilogue at least where the Downing children reunited with their parents. The ending was not bad, but since the book is a standalone, I would have liked more of a wholesome wrap up.

This is Erin A. Craig's second novel, and while I haven't read her first yet (it's on my TBR), this was a solid second book, another standalone.

This book was creepy. It gave me the creeps. There's even a creepy doll with red X's for eyes (nightmare). The story is somewhat reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan's The Village in the sense that it is set in a small, old-fashioned (for lack of a better term, but let's just say the women wear dresses and skirts and do housework and the men wear pants and work outdoors or as the doctor, shopkeeper, etc. you get the idea) village surrounded by forests, and there are creatures that roam the woods ready to attack and maim anyone who crosses them.

Ellerie Downing lives with her parents and three siblings at the edge of the village. Her father is a beekeeper, and when her twin brother shirks his responsibilities, Ellerie begins to learn how to care for the bees. Meanwhile, the peace and tranquility of the town begins to unravel around them, beginning with the slaughter of some men in the village after they venture out into the woods for supplies and the arrival of strange out-of-towners, including the charming but mysterious "Whitaker Price."

Parts of this book are admittedly slow, bordering on dragging, but I chalk that up to the author slowly building tension. The village goes all to hell, but it starts with a small loose thread and the creepiness, sense of dread, and even violence, builds slowly as the book carries on. Other parts of the book felt somewhat disjointed, for example, Ellerie's twin brother is Samuel. We're told that they are so close and love each other so much but from the beginning Samuel is kind of a jerk (putting it nicely) so all we're left with is that we're supposed to believe what the narrator tells us about that relationship.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and would even recommend this as a good one to read as we approach the "spooky" fall season.

This was creepy, great setting, family relationships, creepy creatures and it definitely reminded me of the movie The Village at times. I also liked seeing how this was inspired by the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale. The author truly captures tension, mystery and also the feeling of being watched so well. I wasn't sure how to to trust and I had theories of what was happening. I will say that some of the village tension was too repetitive without anything being done about it, pacing kinda dragged in parts, the romance was kinda too distracting and some of the reveals were a little underwhelming. But I still love Craig's writing and story ideas. This was fun to read and easy to get pulled into. Plus the cover is so amazing. I'm excited to see what she writes next.

Ellerie and her family live in a small village called Amity Falls or God's Grasp. What starts out seeming to be a kind and peaceful place quickly turns into a mysterious scene full of attacks, vandalism and unexplained hatred. But where is this enmity coming from?

There are mysterious beasts with deformities (really creepy) and glowing silver eyes. Also, a strange woman described as beautiful with the same silver eyes but hands that are too long and misshapen. Everything just keeps getting more odd, as if someone or something is changing the town. But is it the towns peoples fault? Or the strangers from the woods?

I definitely recommend this chilling read! Trigger warnings for disturbing imagery related to animals and some people, violence and death.

It took me a minute to get hooked by this book, honestly. I felt like I had read this story/seen the movie before when I was still only in the "don't leave this small town, there are evil things in the woods," stage. But then, damn, did it get good.

I was not expecting to be surprised nearly so many times. I was not expecting Ellerie to be nearly so competent. I was not expecting the Evil Things to be nearly so complex.

And speaking of complex, I didn't even realize this was a Rumpelstiltskin retelling until I read other reviews but now I can totally see it! What an interesting take on that story. I will definitely be recommending this book to teens who like fantasy, mystery, suspense, a strong heroine, and a bit of romance!

After a slow start, Small Favors picks up and delivers a solidly creepy tale about a small, isolated town and the horrors that lurk in the woods outside and those that lurk inside the town itself. I loved Ellerie as a main character and I really felt for her as she struggles to deal with more and more responsibility in her family and her town. I also really enjoyed all the beekeeping aspects - I recently started beekeeping myself so that was fun to read! I'll definitely be recommending this one to my teens, especially once the weather turns cooler and they're looking for something on the scary side.

Based on other reviews I feel like this is a situation of it's not the book it's me. It was just a very slow burn novel for me and I felt myself questioning when the plot was going to get somewhere. I wasn't able to finish it because I picked it up and set it down multiple times with dread every time I went to pick it up. Just not my cup of tea.

I really liked the story, the characters and the atmospheric writing. I didn't like the romance though. It felt like it happened to quick, especially since this is a sllow-burn story.

I have liked this author in the past, and so I am glad I received this book as an eARC. I thought it was interesting and definitely original (which you don't get too much in YA fiction nowadays) and so I give it points for that, along with excellent writing. But it didn't keep me turning the pages long into the night, and I found I could easily put it down. However, I still would recommend it to teen readers who want a mystery, love story, and a strong heroine.

I was so excited when I got approved on Netgalley for this book! I really loved House of Salt and Sorrows and knew I wanted to read more from the author. This book didn’t disappoint! I really really enjoyed this dark retelling of Rumpelstiltskin a lot! I liked how dark and atmospheric it was. There were some slow parts but overall it kept me drawn into the story and wanting to know what was going on. I really enjoyed the characters and how it was written. I definitely recommend this one. Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy of the arc in return for an honest review!

**Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children's/Delacorte Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my rating**

Small Favors was my first book by Erin A. Craig and I really enjoyed it. The synopsis said it was like The Village meets Rumplestiltskin, which hooked me before I even cracked the book open and was a description I found to be very accurate.

Ellerie Downing lives in a small town called Amity Falls. The town survives by following a series of rules laid out by its founders. But things start to go wrong and cause tension between neighbors, monsters may be lurking in the woods, and there’s a new and mysterious boy in town...

I really enjoyed Craig’s writing in this one. I liked how the book was broken up into sections. Oftentimes, sections in books can be broken up weird or feel strange. Each one of Craig's sections felt like they started and ended in a good place before moving on.

Another thing I really enjoyed was Ellerie’s relationship with her family. It’s clear they mean the world to her and I enjoy characters with that kind of family dynamic. This is especially true of her relationship with her younger sisters. That dynamic also applied to the love interest, who treated her sisters with nothing but kindness and respect. Many times in YA books, the family is the cause of strife or the character wants to escape them, so it was nice to see not only that Ellerie had a close bond with her family but that Craig took the time to make sure the love interest ALSO developed a close bond.

There were a good amount of twists and turns to keep readers on their toes and guessing what will happen next. If you’re looking for a book that’s part dark fairy tale with a fiesty female protagonist mixed in, this is the book for you! I would highly recommend this book and will eagerly look forward to Craig's next book!

4.5/5 stars (rounded to 4 for Goodreads)

"'There's nothing. Not even for the girl who can name every flower. The girl who thinks she can name the stars. The girl who thought she could name me.'"

Ellerie Downing has lived in Amity Falls all her life. It's a small, peaceful town tucked away in mountains and forests, and they rarely have visitors. Long ago, the villagers told stories of monsters in the woods, and they hung bells in the trees to keep them at bay. When a supply party turns up missing and then dead, rumors of the monsters resurface. Isolated throughout the cruel winter months, Amity Falls sees more strange events pile up, and neighbors begin to turn on each other. Someone or something is pulling strings, offering people their dearest wishes in exchange for favors, and Ellerie will have to discover who--or what--is trying to destroy her town before it's too late. I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Random House/Delacorte Press. Trigger warnings: character death (on-page), violence, some blood/gore, fires, severe injury, burns, threats, gaslighting, slut-shaming.

This is a perfectly fine novel other than being a little too long, and I'm pretty sure the things that didn't work for me about it are just "me problems" rather than actual problems with the novel. For one thing, I have a low tolerance for any historical time period before electricity was commonplace, no matter how steeped in fantasy, and for another, I'm a little burned out on fantasy at the moment. I loved Craig's debut novel, House of Salt and Sorrows, because it's dark and creepy and full of dead things. Small Favors is certainly dark, but it's not at all spooky, and it's an important a distinction. Most of the dangers are human dangers, and I get weary of people being awful to each other.

It's fairly slow-moving on plot and pacing levels, but not all books have to have things happening all the time. It's dreamy and atmospheric, but for all the time we spend with the characters, I came away feeling like I really only had a strong understanding of Ellerie and Whitaker. There's a strong sister theme like the one in HoSaS, but I kept getting her sisters mixed up, and there are far, far too many villagers with names like Amos and Matthias to keep track of all of them. I like Ellerie though; she's strong and capable, and she handles the situation she's trapped in with grace, cleverness, and the right amount of desperation for a teenage girl. I could take or leave Whitaker. There's not much about him that deviates from the mysterious, charming stranger with secrets trope. Honestly, they're both pretty interchangeable with the main characters from HoSaS.

While I never really bought the peaceful small town setting (Ellerie is just a kid--there's no way it's all as pleasant as she seems to think at first), Craig does a nice job layering the mysteries and ramping up the weirdness. I'm here for all the Annihilation-style mutated woodland animals, which sadly play less of a role than I'd hoped. It's clear early on what the problem is and who's the cause of it, and I felt Ellerie was pretty slow to catch on there. As far as being a fairy tale retelling-- it is, but barely. I actually had to Google what fairy tale it was supposed to be, thinking I was missing something, but it's just that the Rumpelstiltskin elements hardly come into play for more than a chapter. If this sounds like something you'd enjoy, I'm sure you'll find more to like about it than I did.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the ARC of this book!

Ellerie Downing lives in an idyllic town called Amity Falls. The people are kind, helpful, and always look out for each other. When a supply run goes awry with the entire party missing, the town's old fears of monsters come rushing back. Soon, other strange occurrences start happening much to the delight of a group of creatures who fulfill the people's deepest desires for just one small favor. Ellerie has to figure out what's happening in her town if she wants to save her family from sure destruction.

Small Favors definitely has the vibe of the Village mixed with a Rumplestiltskin-like storyline. I was invested in the story immediately, trying to suss out exactly what was going on and who could be trusted. It was impossible to tell, honestly. The author did a great job here of keeping the mystery going throughout the story.

Whitaker, the love interest no one trusts, was maybe my favorite part of the story. Ellerie was a good MC, if not a bit predictable in this setting. It was nice to have Whitaker around to really keep me guessing on who he was and what he would do. I wish we could've seen more of some of the other characters, Ellerie's uncle and cousin especially. I would've liked to learn more about them.

Definitely an atmospheric read that relies heavily on well-spun imagery, Craig shows us the seeds of distrust that start brewing amongst the townspeople. The really brilliant thing about this story, I think, is that at the end of the day, it's about human nature. We're fallible, of course, and we're sometimes easily influenced. So when the infighting starts, it's easier to point fingers than to really look at oneself.

Overall, a good and quick read for YA horror fans!

I love the entire vibe of this book so much! This is a haunting midwest gothic story of otherworldly influence and, even worse, the power of fear and selfishness in a small town.

This novel is harrowing, in the best of ways. There is a mysterious, evocative way that this story moves. It's a slow pace, like the kind you take when you're not sure you really want to see what's behind the door, and yet it never stops being completely compelling. There is such a sense of dread to the way Craig moves these pieces that even when things don't look bad on the surface, you still find yourself gripping to book and crossing your fingers against what you know is going to get worse. I think this book is paced perfectly, as slow as honey dripping and slow enough to build up the right amount of nerve and fear.

The magic of this book perfectly meets the small town mood of Amity Falls. It's powerful yet subtle, not quite what you expect and easy to lose in translation or gossip. The way things both add up and get chipped away as the story progresses, and Ellerie begins to take note, gives the whole thing a feeling of probable magic- the kind of magic that feels like it could exist in a place far enough out of sight. It's folktale magic, done perfectly right.

But the magic is a source of both horror and delight depending on when you see it, and who's selling it, and the same is true about the town itself, and the people within. They way the tension grows in town, and the way these people we've met begin to turn is so organic and believable yet monstrous, that that in itself makes the horror of it succeed.

Surprisingly, the romance in this book worked well for me. I didn't expect it to, and I wasn't ready to trust anything about it, but it wound up being in itself spell binding, and added yet another layer to the story and the way that these events are perceived. Whitaker is a charming character, and he meets Ellerie's sense of duty and strong mindedness in a combination that almost feels like the plot in miniature, wound up not just winning me over but giving me a better grasp and appreciation of Ellerie.

The only thing I didn't like in the book was reveal of a certain secret and extra context in a place where it made the tension fall. Had it been done earlier, maybe it would have worked better, or if the reveal had been part of the climax. But for me it felt like with a mystery suddenly dropped, the focus felt a little flimsy.

This was such an enjoyable read. I'll be thinking about this world and its characters for a long time.

House of Salt and Sorrows remains one of my favorite retellings after it swept me away with its spooky atmosphere and amazing characters last year. As soon as I saw that Erin A. Craig was releasing a new book I preordered, no questions asked! I was even more excited to get approved for an ARC and jumped into it immediately!

Ellerie Downing lives in Amity Falls with her family and helps her dads tend their bees. Her mother is in an unfortunate accident and her parents leave the village early on to get her help and are never seen again. The dynamic between Ellerie and her siblings was probably my favorite part of this book, much like the relationships in House of Salt and Sorrows. I enjoyed watching them support each other and work together to get by once their parents had left.

Of course, there's also romance and the love interest is a trapper named Whitaker who happens to pass by their house. While Whitaker was a fascinating character, the romance was a little strange to me. He was only in a handful of scenes and the romance felt forced even though it was spread out over a series of months. I honestly feel that this could have worked just as well if not better without the romantic relationship between the two.

Small Favors was originally marketed as The Village meets Needful Things so I was had really high expectations for the horror going in. In reality, the only similarity between this and The Village is that they live in an actual village. This book was an extremely slow burn that unfortunately lost me halfway through.

While Small Favors starts out feeling a bit creepy, there wasn't much to it beyond a family going about life in a small village and squabbles amongst neighbors as they run low on supplies for the winter. There were some tense moments and feelings of dread throughout the book, but I honestly don't know that I would classify this as horror. The explanation given at the end was interesting and I thought there was a good idea there, but I expected more of the execution.

I completely forgot until after I finished this that it was supposed to be a Rumpelstiltskin retelling and I just don't see it. The fairytale retelling is extremely vague and I certainly hope people aren't going into this book hoping for that! I will still give Erin A. Craig's next book a try because House was incredible, but perhaps with lower expectations. If you like survival stories that are light on horror, you will probably enjoy this one more than I did!

Please excuse any grammatical errors, or typos. I have done my best, but in reality I am just reader. and will leave the writing to all the incredible authors out there.
____________
This book was received from the Author, and Publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is a non spoiler review, because you as reader need to read this book. Also, I feel sometimes I have in the past gave away to much of the plot line. This has diminished the pleasure for would be readers.
____________


Small Favors is the newest book from the very talented author Erin A. Craig.
Craig is a spectacular writer, she cleverly takes classic fairytales and twists and bends them into something very creepy gothic.

Beekeeper Ellerie Downing, is an eighteen year old beekeeper living in an isolated town of Amity Falls. A dark ominous forests surrounds the little town and its inhabitants. Earlier settlers fought and kept the monstrous creatures lurking in the dense forest. Ellerie, doesn’t believe in the handed down tales, she is busy with her Bee hives and her young siblings. She is restricted as is norm for women living in Amity Falls, unlike her brother Sam who is allowed freedom.
In a series of events, rumors about the creatures have started up as some of townspeople are meeting some horrific endings.

Woo hoo, I really enjoyed reading this newest book by the author Erin Craig who dazzled us with the House of Salt and Sorrows. Which was a darkish take on The Twelve Dancing Princesses. This book takes its inspiration from The Brothers Grim Rumpelstiltskin, but Craig uses her own signature lyrical prose

Erin Craig delivers a well-written, unique and twisty read here that had me pretty much-questioning everything that was happening within the pages of this book.
The way that the details were revealed to me as a reader was extremely well-done and the setting was creepily atmospheric which I totally loved!

Full review on goodreads
This story premise was decent. Pretty fresh even with the comparison to needful things, but it fell a little short for me. There was all this build up to monsters that were kind of disappointing, the ending was also a little too perfect in some ways. Not a bad book, and I think teens would dig it. I just was hoping for a little more. Still 3stars bc I’m glad I read it.