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The Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean

Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple. Survive the palace's enchanted seasonal rooms. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. All are eligible to compete--all except yokai, supernatural monsters and spirits whom the human emperor is determined to enslave and destroy. Mari has spent a lifetime training to become empress. Winning should be easy. And it would be, if she weren't hiding a dangerous secret. Mari is a yokai with the ability to transform into a terrifying monster. If discovered, her life will be forfeit. As she struggles to keep her true identity hidden, Mari's fate collides with that of Taro, the prince who has no desire to inherit the imperial throne, and Akira, a half-human, half-yokai outcast. Torn between duty and love, loyalty and betrayal, vengeance and forgiveness, the choices of Mari, Taro, and Akira will decide the fate of Honoku in this beautifully written, edge-of-your-seat YA...
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The Atrocities by Jeremy C. Shipp

When Isabella died, her parents were determined to ensure her education wouldn't suffer.

But Isabella's parents had not informed her new governess of Isabella's... condition, and when Ms Valdez arrives at the estate, having forced herself through a surreal nightmare maze of twisted human-like statues, she discovers that there is no girl to tutor.

Or is there...?

TITLE: The Atrocities
AUTHOR: Jeremy C. Shipp
PUBLISHER: St. Martins Press-3PL
YEAR: 2018
LENGTH: 112 pages
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Horror
RECOMMENDED: Highly

Queer Rep Summary: No canon queer rep.

THE ATROCITIES is an engrossing bit of horror which deftly blends unreality and/or mental health issues of several characters to create an atmosphere where a supernatural explanation would almost be better than the alternatives. 

Having finished it, I'm now pretty sure I know what happened (and a specific explanation is offered which I found to be satisfying), but there's just enough wiggle room that I could see a very different explanation being true at the end. I especially love how the canonical explanation is more horrifying (and even more plausible) than some of the previously offered theories, that is well done.

The worldbuilding is fantastic, the aesthetics are detailed and creepy, the cast of characters is small and memorable, and I heartily recommend this to anyone who likes horror with creeping dread.

CW for child abuse (backstory), mental illness, medical content, medical trauma, child abuse, emotional abuse, body horror, gore, self harm, animal death, animal cruelty (backstory), child death, death.

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