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Monarch
Monarch: A Novel | Candice Wuehle
3 posts | 3 read | 2 to read
The cryptic worlds of Hanna and Stranger Things mingle with the dark humor of Dare Me in this debut novel about a teen beauty queen who discovers shes been a sleeper agent in a deep state government program After waking up with a strange taste in her mouth and mysterious bruises, former child pageant star Jessica Clink unwittingly begins an investigation into a nefarious deep state underworld. Equipped with the eccentric education of her father, Dr. Clink (a professor of Boredom Studies and the founder of an elite study group known as the Devils Workshop), Jessica uncovers a disquieting connection between her former life as a beauty queen and an offshoot of Project MKUltra known as MONARCH. As Jessica moves closer to the truth, she begins to suspect the involvement of everyone around her, including her own mother, Grethe (a Norwegian pageant queen turned occult American wellness guru for suburban housewives). With the help of Christine (her black-lipsticked riot grrrl babysitter and confidante), Jessica sets out to take down Project MONARCH. More importantly, she must discover if her first love, fellow teen queen Veronica Marshall, was genuine or yet another deep state plant. Merging iconic true crime stories of the 90s (Lorena Bobbitt, Nicole Brown Simpson, and JonBent Ramsey) with theories of human consciousness, folklore, and a perennial cultural fixation with dead girls, MONARCH questions the shadow sides of self-concept: Who are you if you dont know yourself?
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review
Hooked_on_books
Monarch: A Novel | Candice Wuehle
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Bailedbailed

This book is either way to cool for me or just thinks it is. Either way, it‘s super weird and not my kind of weird. I got to the 25% point and do not want to read one more page. #ReadYourEbooks

dabbe #hailthebail! 🤩🤩🤩 3w
42 likes1 comment
review
Megabooks
Monarch: A Novel | Candice Wuehle
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Mehso-so

This book is weird AF. The second half was better than the first, but I think the larger societal points Wuehle was trying to make were obfuscated by the quirkiness.

Jessica was a childhood pageant queen, who longs to reconnect with a girl she loved. Her father is a professor of Boredom Studies and performs odd experiments on people and animals. When she flips out at college and her father disappears, she must find out the truth about her family.

Megabooks I‘m glad I read this #toblonglist choice. And I was looking for something weird, but she tried to make these larger points about abuse and conditioning that just weren‘t done well. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ @Cinfhen @BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain @Suet624 @sarahbarnes @Hooked_on_books @MicheleinPhilly @Ruthiella @Addison_Reads @RebelReader @Aimeesue @BkClubCare @merelybookish @batsy 1y
Suet624 The description of the book makes it sound like something they could make into a movie. 1y
Megabooks @Suet624 yes, for sure. I wouldn‘t call the writing cinematic, but the plot definitely was! 1y
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ImperfectCJ Your description reminded me of this one a little 1y
Megabooks @ImperfectCJ yes, I can see that! I apparently stacked Calamity Physics at one point. 👍🏻 Monarch was trying to do some commentary on domestic violence that I think it would‘ve been stronger without. 1y
Ruthiella Sounds like it was an ambitious attempt. I‘ll see if the universe allows it to wash up on my shore again but for now, I‘m probably going to pass. 1y
BarbaraBB It does sound good to me somehow but I trust your opinion and won‘t hurry to read it! 1y
Cinfhen If it turns up on #Scribd I‘ll give it a chance but I won‘t be using my Audible credit! GREAT review 1y
Cinfhen Creepy cover! 1y
Hooked_on_books Interesting! This is one that jumped out at me from the longlist, so I‘ll definitely still read it, but will for sure keep your thoughts in mind when I do. 1y
squirrelbrain Hmm, I‘m not sure I‘ll hurry to read this, plus it seems to be difficult to get hold of over here anyway…. 1y
TrishB Professor of Boredom Studies sounds awesome though 😁 1y
batsy This is an intriguing combination of themes! But it makes sense that it all might not come together, as your review describes. 1y
MicheleinPhilly That synopsis sounds like A LOT. 1y
76 likes14 comments
review
sarahbarnes
Monarch: A Novel | Candice Wuehle
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Pickpick

A bizarre ride of a book. The pieces didn‘t all hang together for me at times, but it was often a page-turner and clever. I loved the almost academic narrative tone. Another interesting book I wouldn‘t have read if not for #ToB2023.

BarbaraBB I haven‘t even heard of this one. You make it sound very good. 1y
sarahbarnes @BarbaraBB it was a really interesting read. I‘m not sure I would buy it, but I‘m glad I read it. 1y
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Suet624 I didn‘t know about this one either!! 1y
squirrelbrain Sounds interesting, but I think this was one I couldn‘t get hold of here. 🤷‍♀️ 1y
sarahbarnes @squirrelbrain argh! It‘s how I feel with the Booker longlist every year. 1y
sarahbarnes @Suet624 I do think it was worth the read! 1y
Cinfhen I don‘t recall this one either @BarbaraBB - I‘ll look out for it! Thanks for the tag, Sarah 😊 1y
Megabooks I‘m thinking about doing this on audio because I love the narrator. @Cinfhen it‘s Rebecca Lowman 👍🏻👍🏻 1y
Hooked_on_books This is one of the ones that jumped out at me from the longlist. I look forward to it! 1y
batsy I somehow missed this on the longlist! Your review is intriguing. I think I'm going to be behind on the ToB this year (as usual 😂) because not many on the shortlist are grabbing my attention. 1y
sarahbarnes @batsy I agree with you on the shortlist! 1y
Ruthiella I missed this from the longlist too. Sounds interesting! 1y
Cinfhen I‘ll await your review @Megabooks 😁 1y
33 likes14 comments