What happens when the villain of a novel is something as seemingly harmless as a little rain or snow? What happens when it’s not so harmless anymore and the characters mere survival hinges on surviving the elements? Here are a few novels where nature is not so nurturing anymore!
PS- This is the Monthly Motif theme for August if you’re participating!
One Perfect Couple, Ruth Ware
If you like reality tv shows and lots of drama, you’ll love this thriller that takes place on the set of a couples reality tv show. When the couples find themselves stranded on an island after a hurricane, things go south very quickly! This one has all the stereotypical characters you expect to find on shows like these, except you won’t be able to decide who’s a hero and who’s a villain!
When the opportunity arises for Lyla and her boyfriend, Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show, The Perfect Couple, they decide to go for it. But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla finds that this game show is all too real—and the stakes are life or death.
The Nature of Witches, Rachel Griffin
A world where witches control the weather and the climate? This one has a slow burn start but once you get into Clara’s story, you’ll find yourself swept away.
For centuries, witches have maintained the climate, their power from the sun peaking in the season of their birth. But now their control is faltering as the atmosphere becomes more erratic. All hope lies with Clara, an Everwitch whose rare magic is tied to every season but Clara is on her own journey. In the end, she must choose between her power and her happiness, her duty and the people she loves.
The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden
I’ll never stop finding excuses to recommend this series. It’s long been one of my favorite fantasy retellings and the winter setting makes it so much more magical.
At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind—she spends the winter nights listening to her nurse’s fairy tales. But when her mother dies her father brings home a new stepmother who forbids the family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.
The Wager, David Grann
If you like non-fiction that reads like fiction, this might be the book for you. I couldn’t put this one down. Shipwrecks, mutiny, raging storms over the ocean- this one, from the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, is the perfect fit!
On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell.
The Lost Man, Jane Harper
This might be my favorite Jane Harper book. It fits the bill for this theme perfectly as the desert heat directly plays a role in this mystery. Family drama and secrets propel this book to the last page!
Two brothers meet at the border of their vast cattle properties under the unrelenting sun of outback Queensland. They are at the stockman’s grave, a landmark so old, no one can remember who is buried there. But today, the scant shadow it casts was the last hope for their middle brother, Cameron. The Bright family’s quiet existence is thrown into grief and anguish. Something had been troubling Cameron. Did he lose hope and walk to his death? Because if he didn’t, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects…
The Guest List, Lucy Foley
I listened to the audiobook of this one years ago and loved it. With a ‘locked room’ setting and a storm isolating the characters, it’s definitely giving Agatha Christie vibes.
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed. That is, until this wedding celebration turns dark and deadly.
