The Roots Have Dug Into My Heart: Peter Fugazzotto
Reviewed By Miranda Crites
Jessie has moved back home with her daughter, Maya, so that she can get her life back together. She’s trying, or she thinks she’s trying. As her mom goes off to work, making it crystal clear to Jessie that she needs to get up and take care of Maya, Jessie sleeps off the remnants of yet another booze-filled night instead of tending to her young daughter. Jessie thinks the tv is a good enough babysitter…until Maya goes missing.
Lured deep into the fog-shrouded marshes, Maya is finally found. Jessie and her mom fight over Jessie’s drug and alcohol problems and her poor attempt to clean up her act and be a mother to Maya.
Jessie promises to be a better Mom. Maya’s disappearance has awoken her to reality a little.
But something isn’t right. Maya’s appetite is different. Her attitude isn’t the same. At times she almost seems feral.
The horror that hides in the marshes isn’t finished with Maya. Or Jessie.
Jessie becomes determined to save Maya, no matter the cost.
Jessie’s mission becomes a psychological battle. Is she really battling a supernatural being in the marshes? Is she battling demons inside her own head? Is it both? What’s real and what’s drug-induced? Either way, she knows she can’t let her mother find out, or she will likely be locked up, and locked up mothers can’t save their daughters from what lurks in the marshes.
I really enjoyed The Roots Have Dug Into My Heart. This was my first book by Peter Fugazzotto, and I’d like to read more of his work. I was so mad at Jessie throughout this book for being such a horrible mom. Her half-hearted attempts at motherhood were pathetic, but she finally woke up enough to realize what the ultimate outcome was going to be if she didn’t pull herself together. Maybe it was already too late… too late for her? Too late for Maya? Maybe too late for me.
The last quarter of this book kept me wondering just where it was going to go, what was going to happen next. I didn’t really know what to expect. It was suspenseful. I was waiting for a jump-scare or a bit more of something to reach out and grab at me (or Jessie or Maya), but it didn’t…it slowly grew, the tendrils quietly reaching, tickling, then wrapping their stronghold around me, binding me there in the marsh, until they dug right into my heart, too.
The Roots Have Dug Into My Heart: Peter Fugazzotto
A missing child returns home. But now the horror begins.
Recovering addict and single mom Jessie Milano wakes from a hangover to find her daughter missing from their Northern Californian family farm. After her daughter is found, Jessie senses something different with her daughter and reluctantly begins believing the insane idea that an ancient terror lurks in the marshes, a nightmare that threatens to destroy everything she loves.
The Roots Have Dug into My Heart by Peter Fugazzotto is a horror novella exploring how far a mother will journey to save her daughter.
Pre-order The Roots Have Dug Into My Heart from Amazon UK & Amazon US
Miranda Crites
Miranda Crites is a reader, writer, book reviewer, photographer, and lover of horror from the ghostly woods of rural West Virginia.
The writing bug bit Miranda at a very early age. She was pretty much born with a pen and a camera in her hands. She won the young writers’ contest in first grade and received her first camera as a gift when she was nine years old.
When not writing, Miranda enjoys spending time with her family. She and her family spend a lot of time off the grid where they are building a cabin in the supposedly haunted woods.
Miranda is self-employed. She and her husband create large and small vinyl decals, t-shirts, signs, and a plethora of creative customized items.
Some of her many hobbies when time allows are: making unique crafts and artwork, painting, hiking, and, of course, photography.
She has a diploma for Writing for Children and Teenagers although most of her current work is horror fiction and poetry.
Miranda is a member of Team Kendall Reviews at www.KendallReviews.com where you can find her horror book reviews and her monthly feature, Miranda Snaps, which generally contains horror fiction and photography.
Miranda is one of “The Thirty,” which is a group of thirty authors who are each taking a turn in writing a chapter of an in-progress horror novel.
You can follow Miranda on Instagram Miranda_C_rites
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You can find out more about Miranda via her website www.mirandacritesreadsandwrites.com
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