Name: As You Wish Books's review of Small Favors by Erin A. Craig
Item: Small Favors
Rating: 4.5
Author: As You Wish Books

Erin A. Craig

From the New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows comes a mesmerizing and chilling novel that's The Village meets Needful Things about what lurks in the shadows of the people you think you know. "Unique, enchanting, and haunting."—Brigid Kemmerer, NYT bestselling author of the Cursebreaker series Ellerie Downing is waiting for something to happen. Life in isolated Amity Falls, surrounded by an impenetrable forest, has a predictable sameness. Her days are filled with tending to her family's beehives, chasing after her sisters, and dreaming of bigger things while her twin, Samuel, is free to roam as he wishes. Early town settlers fought off monstrous creatures in the woods, and whispers that the creatures still exist keep the Downings and their neighbors from venturing too far. When some townsfolk go missing on a trip to fetch supplies, a heavy unease settles over the Falls. Strange activities begin to plague the town, and as the seasons change, it's clear that something is terribly wrong. The creatures are real, and they're offering to fulfill the residents' deepest desires, however grand, for just a small favor. These seemingly trifling demands, however, hide sinister intentions. Soon Ellerie finds herself in a race against time to stop Amity Falls, her family, and the boy she loves from going up in flames.

Small Favors

In the secluded town of Amity Falls, Ellerie has the chance to have her secret wishes come true, but there is a price to pay in this retelling of Rumpelstiltskin.

Elin Hakvoort

If only the waves of panic would recede long enough for me to be able to think.

A whimper escaped from deep within me, and once again I lost myself weeping.

Why do I have a feeling they’re both dead. 

Tears sprang my eyes at Mama’s thoughtfulness, her remembering my plight even as she convalesced. 

I don’t think Gideon will have a hard time deciding whether or not to give his daughter’s hand to this man. 

“Stay with your wife, sir,” Whitaker said. “I’ve got everything taken care of.”

My cheeks flushed red beneath the weight of his twinkling stare, and i grabbed at the first flower I spotted, just to have the chance to look away.

Joan 

'Perfect for a fair-haired fairy queen," he said, settling the wreath atop my head. He nodded approvingly. " I was right, those are the perfect flowers for you."

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

As You Wish Books

I went into this thinking it was a fantasy romance, and while that was somewhat true, whoa this book was spooky. It had me looking over my shoulder when in a dark room by myself.

It felt like a combination of The Village, The vvitch, some Chernobyl-like animals, with a dash of romance sprinkled in to sustain me.

It was the perfect Autumn, Halloween season book. 

I had actual dread not knowing what was going to happen next to this villagers. I wanted to read it and figure out what was going to happen, but I knew it wouldn't be pretty and dreaded it. There was really no knowing what was going to come next.

It was almost too spooky for me; I'm too much of a baby. 

I wished the characters peace and happiness, and then the next disaster would occur or someone would see something sketchy near the edge of the woods. 

Eeriness, otherworldly, and strange vibes a plenty.

Sarah Campbell

I went into this thinking it was a fantasy romance, and while that was somewhat true, whoa this book was spooky. It had me looking over my shoulder when in a dark room by myself.
It felt like a combination of The Village, The vvitch, some Chernobyl-like animals, with a dash of romance sprinkled in to sustain me.
It was the perfect Autumn, Halloween season book. 
I had actual dread not knowing what was going to happen next to this villagers. I wanted to read it and figure out what was going to happen, but I knew it wouldn't be pretty and dreaded it. There was really no knowing what was going to come next.
It was almost too spooky for me; I'm too much of a baby. 
I wished the characters peace and happiness, and then the next disaster would occur or someone would see something sketchy near the edge of the woods. 
Eeriness, otherworldly, and strange vibes a plenty.

Christine

- love the world

- love the ending

- love the plot

- very slow at some points. Sometimes so slow I even considered giving it 2 stars halfway through the book. But the ending made up for it.  

- still don’t know if I should give 3.5 or 4 stars. so for now 3,75 stars HAHA, gonna sleep about it and decide tomorrow. 

- I think I’m gonna settle for 3.5. AH IDK i will read my review of her other book tomorrow and compare. 

3.5/5 rounded up

first of all, props to erin a. craig for never fails to amaze me with the thrilling and creepy retellings. she's a master for crafting haunting and mysterious atmosphere, she aced that on her previous book (that's also one of my favorite standalone fantasy read), house of salt and sorrows. small favors did not disappoint with its creepy, slightly claustrophobic-inducing settings--in a very small town surrounded by mountain and circled by the equally haunting forest--and every strange, unexplainable things that happened in it. 

the romance is nice for me, because i didn't really expect the whole romantic-esque plot in a mystery-horror packed book. it's there and has a build up, sweet moments here and there, and that's enough for me.

however, with a very nice build up of the story, atmosphere, and plot, the ending of this book feeling slightly anti-climatic. (view spoiler)[yes, i am talking about the meeting of the kindred (hide spoiler)]. also the whole chaos (view spoiler)[massacre of the whole town people (hide spoiler)] seemed so rushed. and most importatly didn't really like how we didn't know about the downings parents whereabouts when they played kind of important role in the beginning.

they didn't take away my enjoyment--i was truly scared to read some scenes at night. but it's very unfortunate because i expected this to be my 5 stars read like house of salt and sorrows was.

but overall, if you dive with little expectation and you love some mystery-horror reads you might wanna check this book out!

I don’t why this book is categorised as horror but I’ve seen no elements of it whatsoever while reading it. I feel like it wasn’t graphic enough, even the tension wasn’t there. The way the story was brought was just soporific. I didn’t feel anything or just intrigued. Just bored. 

Doesn’t help that the main character was dumb dumb and cheesy and melodramatic haha 

The writing style felt overly lyrical and just like an excess of pretty words i think. And I think it just distracted me and contributed to my lack of enjoyment of the story 

I guess it’s my last chance with the author. After dnfing house of salt and sorrow, and now this. I guess their universe is not for me.

Amira BEN

More like 1.75 ⭐️ 

I don’t why this book is categorised as horror but I’ve seen no elements of it whatsoever while reading it. I feel like it wasn’t graphic enough, even the tension wasn’t there. The way the story was brought was just soporific. I didn’t feel anything or just intrigued. Just bored. 

Doesn’t help that the main character was dumb dumb and cheesy and melodramatic haha 

The writing style felt overly lyrical and just like an excess of pretty words i think. And I think it just distracted me and contributed to my lack of enjoyment of the story 

I guess it’s my last chance with the author. After dnfing house of salt and sorrow, and now this. I guess their universe is not for me.

Sasha

I enjoyed the book, but it just didn’t feel complete. For the first 300 pages I felt nothing happened, and then everything happened so fast. It seemed unfinished, sad because it had lots of potential

Julian

Colleen

3 Stars
 
*A slow-burn, dark fairytale retelling where the humans just might be worse than the monsters*

**This review contains minor spoilers**


I loved Craig’s debut novel, House of Salt and Sorrows. So even though I generally avoid YA books, I was excited to pick up Small Favors. The story is a very loose retelling of Rumpelstiltskin with the commonalities boiling down to "wishes granted with dark consequences" and "guess my name."


  “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.”

Set in an isolated town called Amity Falls in the fictional Blackspire Mountain range, the setting closely resembled early American pioneer days – right down to the religious mania. An unfortunate incident left eighteen-year-old Ellerie Downing struggling to maintain the family homestead and take care of her younger siblings. Meanwhile, the town went haywire as a series of tragedies combine with the isolation and hardships of winter. On top of that, the mythical monsters that the town was supposedly formed as a refuge from have returned to wreak havoc.

This is one of those cases where I had mixed feelings. The story was well-written, but it did a little too good of a job showing that people are scumbags. It was atmospheric and captivating, but I'd be lying if I said I truly enjoyed it. As with her debut book, Craig made an interesting retelling of a classic fairytale, but the claustrophobic atmosphere in Small Favors was a little depressing. While I usually love fairytale retellings that stick close to their darker roots rather than the happy-go-lucky, no-consequence Disney bastardizations, this story was awfully convincing at showing how easily people turn into angry mobs.

The love interest was dubious at best, so I was not invested in that aspect of the story. As in so many Gothic stories, the love interest was sketchy. He really irritated me in the beginning, and at least an inkling of that annoyance remained throughout.

Minor Spoiler: (view spoiler)[It was a little tough to read about what happened to Ellerie’s mother. My great-grandmother also suffered severe burns while pregnant. And her oldest daughter had to drop out of school (at an even younger age than Ellerie) to take care of her younger siblings while her mother was bedridden and severely injured. And they lived in the country with only a very small, rural town nearby. This may have been primarily a Fantasy story, but it was still a reminder of how frequently dire accidents happened back then, and how few options people had when emergencies arose. Anyway, that really is putting too much into it. My family history is still fresh in my mind since I only recently found out more details of the hardships my family suffered during that time. That is obviously a very personal response, and I doubt most readers would give that any pause other than the general sense of sympathy. I only bring it up because the unexpected instance of art imitating life kind of blindsided me and did honestly affect my ability to enjoy the book. (hide spoiler)]

Admittedly, the story was extremely slow burn. It was slow paced. A large portion of the story is just Ellerie trying to survive on the homestead. It made parts of the story feel more like someone asked Guillermo del Toro rewrite Little House on the Prairie.

But what I liked least about this story was the suffocating mob mentality of the townsfolk particularly with the hypocritical religious zealotism piled on top. The mindless mob mentality of hatred made my skin crawl way more than the monsters did. And that claustrophobic atmosphere was too nihilistic at times.

Eventually things came to a head and did get exciting, but it was a long buildup for a frantic-feeling ending. It also would have been nice to have an epilogue, because the ending felt a bit abrupt.

While I didn’t enjoy this one nearly as much as House of Salt and Sorrows, I’m still interested in reading more books by this author in the future. I know this review sounds mostly negative, but Craig is a talented writer. This just wasn’t the right story for me.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

A chilling tale perfect for fans of The Village, but with an even more gruesome twist. This is not one to listen to at night!! As an oldest daughter, I found Ellorie’s stress and burdens remarkably plausible.

Be aware of potentially triggering content including religious trauma, gore, blood, fire injury, hangings, hallucinations, animal death, and prominent character death. THIS IS A HORROR NOVEL.

Sadly I found the open ending to be dissatisfying; otherwise this would have been a 5 star read for me. I would have preferred either more confirmed closure OR an all-out horror ending.

Liz Griffin

A chilling tale perfect for fans of The Village, but with an even more gruesome twist. This is not one to listen to at night!! As an oldest daughter, I found Ellorie’s stress and burdens remarkably plausible.

Be aware of potentially triggering content including religious trauma, gore, blood, fire injury, hangings, hallucinations, animal death, and prominent character death. THIS IS A HORROR NOVEL.

Sadly I found the open ending to be dissatisfying; otherwise this would have been a 5 star read for me. I would have preferred either more confirmed closure OR an all-out horror ending.

Really liked it. Dark book and I just wanted to find out what was happening.

I had every intention of buying a standalone book for light reading as I finish up my thesis and college career. I read the entire thing in 72 hours. The setting is interesting and real, the characters and their relationships breathe, and the story of Ellerie, Whitaker, and the rest of Amity Falls is captivating. Be warned, despite the flowers on the cover, this book descends into violent chaos in its exploration of our biggest desires and the lengths we would go to obtain them. Erin A. Craig has set a high bar yet again.

Emily McMeans

Wow this book was so hypnotizing! I loved how for most of the it was kind of like a physiological thriller. All these crazy things happening and not knowing who or what was causing it. It was interesting how the book had some of those mob mentality moments had how people will do crazy things when in a crowd. The idea of the dark watchers was really interesting as well and how they went about creating chaos. 

Hannah Williams

McKenzie McWhorter

*4.5* 

I really loved this book until the ending and it left a lot to be desired. The author did a beautiful job with the setting and world building and I loved the main character.

Sven Test

I heard the audiobook of House of Salt and Sorrows and loved it so much! As for Small Favors, I wish I had done the same. Still, i really liked this atmospheric story with a writing that truly transports you into the book and makes you feel like you’re a character in the story. I can’t wait for more books by this author.

Mackenzie Young

My new favorite book. This would make such a good movie. The characters are all so well created and you really feel like you’re in Amity Falls with them. I could picture everything so vividly. Erin A. Craig is easily one of the best authors I’ve come across, with “House of Salt and Sorrows” being another work of art. Ugh this book was amazing. 1000/10

Holly

I had mixed feelings about this. I felt like the pacing was off, going from very slow to super quick and it just didn't quite work for me. I also felt like there were a lot of loose ends that weren't tied up, and if this were part of a series would make sense for there to be some missing aspects. I feel like the premise and blurb were amazing, but did not match what the book actually was. There were elements introduced somewhat randomly and while the book was enjoyable overall, it was not for me. I absolutely adored House of Salt and Sorrows, but this was not as good in my opinion. I still enjoyed the book, but not as much as I had hoped/would have liked.

Sophia Wolf

I most definitely did not expect the ending, but I feel like everyone got what they deserved. It would've been a five star read if it might've progressed faster, but in my opinion it's more of a vibe book (except towards the end). The vibes were great though.

Ashlee

Once again, Erin A. Craig hit it out of the park. If you enjoyed the film The Village, or the books Strange Grace and The Grace Year, this one should be right up your alley. It’s a little bit fantasy, a little bit mystery, and a little bit horror, and I devoured every moment of it.

Ellerie lives in the small, secluded village of Amity Falls. The village is surrounded by forest, and when an unknown calamity befalls their supply party, the townspeople find themselves even more isolated from the outside world. There are terrifying beasts prowling the woods, but the worst monsters are the ones who live just doors away. Dark times have come to Amity Falls, and mysterious occurrences turn the townspeople against each other. This book begs the question of just who you’ll trust, and how far you’ll go, to protected your loved ones when help isn’t coming.

I loved the romance, the family dynamics, the politics, the mythology and setting of this book. Truly, everything about it hit the mark for me.

This is quite easily one of my favorite reads of 2021, and I sure love Erin A. Craig’s brand of hauntingly atmospheric fantasy. She certainly has a way of writing compelling stories that are downright unsettling and suck you right in!

Elizabeth Bentler

Very enjoyable retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. There is a tiny sweet romance but this book deals heavy around family and found family in a community. Has some Colonial America vibes for setting.

Emi Gilmore 

Maegan Kennedy

DNF at 66%

Thank you to the publisher for gifting me an arc in exchange for an honest review. 

I wanted to love this book. I really did. I loved Craig’a debut novel, House of Salt and Sorrows, but this one just didn’t do it for me. I couldn’t even finish this book. 

I liked Ellerie and Whitaker and their relationship, but that’s the only thing I liked and understood. I could not tell you what the plot of this story is. All I know is there were some weird things happening in Amity Falls and there were lots of bees. 

There’s absolutely no plot to this story. The story jumped all over the place. There were too many elements included that made following the characters difficult. I have no idea what I read. I can’t remember any of the elements that were in the story. This book just wasn’t for me. 

I hope other people will enjoy reading it more than I did.

This book was absolutely delightful in such a dark way. This feels to me as though it is very much inspired by “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, which happens to be one of my favorite short stories

I did not know a lot about this going in. Frankly, I’m not sure how well the synopsis describes this book. It made it seem as though our main character had an early grasp on what was happening in Amity Falls, when in actuality this was a mystery to everyone, even the reader, until close to the end.

The majority of the book feels like a much longer, drawn-out version of “The Lottery.” The town has a set of rules they follow strictly, they all abide those rules, everyone is kind to their neighbor. At least on the surface. As in “The Lottery,” by the end it is clear that there is almost a primal evil living in the hearts of these neighbors. They are willing to do anything for self-preservation.

This was a really wonderful book and I would like to read more by this author. Even the writing felt very Shirley Jackson-esque to me.

I am knocking half a star because I think the author should have committed to saying goodbye to any of her main characters. Unlike Shirley Jackson’s story, this had a moderately hopeful ending, in my opinion, that I didn’t think was very fitting.

Charlie Winchester 

A good suspense to keep you on your toes. With a well written plot and unique characters, this book is spooky in the best way.

Jessica Guht

EC is a masterful storyteller of the creepy and mysterious. I love seeing the way her stories grow with each page, and I was completely sucked into this small town that she created.

As You Wish Books &
Small Favors by Erin A. Craig

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As You Wish Books &Small Favors by Erin A. Craig

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As You Wish Books &
Small Favors by Erin A. Craig