C. J. Daley

Grabbed this for $1 on kindle. I’m always down to check out a shark horror.

This had some fun Jaws references—that made me point like the Leo meme—while not try to be it. Which to me was great, because there are some that use Jaws just like a formula, and it’s not.

A great white shark has been tested on and given something to make it larger. When it comes time to end the experiment and pick up the body for study, an incorrect dosage leads to a full on ocean rampage. Surfers, swimmers, entire families aren’t safe.

I do wish the experiment was given a little more for readers to go on. This would have extended the story’s length, but also given it more depth. As it stands, it kind of just feels like a tacked on prologue, and the fact that the animal was given growth hormones doesn’t ever really come into play—it’s mostly just angry and hungrier than a normal shark. This opener reminded me of Michael R. Cole’s Thresher, as that involves a growing shark too.

This was a lot of fun. It’s fast, violent, bloody. It gives readers churning waters and viscous shark bites. You shouldn’t be surprised at the number of different people at the beach and in the waters, and this shark is coming for all of them. I do wish there was a bit more mixed into the descriptors used for the attacks, as sharks do attack from below, do take bites and rip their heads back and forth, but there could have been some more brutality to it for me. Otherwise, I would have read an even longer version of this, or a sequel too!

Thanks so much to Tor Nightfire for the ARC, I really wanted to read this one!

Since I started writing I have wanted to write an old person serial killer. Then this year I saw Samantha Downing’s Too Old For This and thought, aww damn. But then I said, wait has there ever been a final grandma? Which began me brewing new ideas until…well this. That’s not to say I can’t or won’t at some point! But this one mentions the Hudson Valley multiple times, with the main character Rose’s daughter even buying a house there, making me feel like a Philip Fracassi book now lives in the same world as my dark little town in Welcome to Cemetery. It can live right next to Black Spring from Thomas Olde Heuvelt’s Hex (the American version). I mean there’s even a young female detective named Williams…so just maybe.

The Autumn Springs retirement sounds like the place to be! Apartments next to your acquaintances, friends, maybe even love interests. Schedule exercises or classes, meals, movie nights, and of course there’s open visitations, this sounds like a fun-filled place to live. Rose is just one of a phenomenally inventive cast of characters, all filled with so much life and personality. They may have aches and pains, may get sick easily or need special care, but these people have life left to live—and they’re determined to do so to the fullest. That is, of course, until the first accident. An accident that’s followed by several more, some that are growingly suspicious.

I love that Rose and her small group of confidants take on almost amateur sleuthing the continued accidents and deaths. They use their unassuming, and often underestimated, natures to get information from nurses, doctors, and even the police that others just simply would not receive. With multiple Hercule Poirot mentions, an in-world detective named Hastings, and Miss Marple name dropped, this had my Agatha Christie loving heart aglow.

This did a really great job of showcasing the elderly as more than just the feeble or fragile people they so often are portrayed as. There’s life and spunk and continued brains up there—there’s more life to be lived. So while this book does feature death, even having multiple scenes where someone says, “well death must happen here all the time!” it does a great job of subverting that with strong and strong willed characters. The kills are inventive, as well as a killer reveal that still felt real-world enough, and there is enough brutality in that realness to appeal to a wide horror audience. My grandmother is 87 and I’m definitely giving her a copy. She loves mysteries and thrillers.

The ending had a callback I was not expecting, and I loved its ambiguous style allowing you to believe what you want. It’s hardcore and intense, and you know what, they deserved it!

Before this read, I had Boys in the Valley on my TBR, only having read Fracassi’s Shortwave Media release, D7. After finishing this, I’m going to have to get my copy out of storage to bump it way up the physical TBR mountain.

Huge thanks to Netgalley and Del Rey for the invite to the eARC. Malerman has been an auto-buy author for me for years, so I was excited to see something so different from him for the first time, a nonfiction.

Malerman is offering readers a chance to partake in an incredibly personal and transformative evening with him, his then girlfriend, her cousin and his partner. With snapshots of profundity and also hilarity, this one ticked off some boxes I didn’t even know I was looking for. It features far more ups and downs than I was expecting, and offers a true glimpse into the author’s life and writing thought process. I have seen it compared to King’s On Writing, but to me it’s absolutely its own thing. A living, breathing piece of art. And unlike King’s which features an almost lifelong autobiographical summary, Malerman does his best to never stray too far from that one single night.

Josh, Allison, Kenickie and Rose gather together with alcohol and weed to traverse an immensely important (current) miss—Allison has never seen Evil Dead. It also happens to be the night Josh aimed to answer a question that has been following him like a hellhound: What does a writer deserve? Mentioned previously in interviews, this is much more exhaustive in his journey for the answer. To me, it is a reminder that writing is supposed to happen because you want to do it, you love to write, you even feel a need to get the story out. Everything else that follows is not the prize, telling the story is.

I loved that their night continued with young love, dying love, and of course, Bruce Campbell. From one film to the sequel, to even the remake that must have led hours into the night. There was even mentions of tackling Army of Darkness! I loved the view-screen readers are offered into the author’s processing of art. I feel like I even finished the read with a different take on Evil Dead too, and last night I switched the cable on and BOOM Evil Dead 2 was on, right at the start of the first demon scene. Love when things all line up.

Profound (IMO): “Can I really expect the non-artist to understand that the victory is not in sales but in writing the book itself? Can someone who doesn’t write be expected to understand that the words THE END and not on the dotted line are the finish line?”

Hilarious: “Usually two movies or more means six drinks or more and once you get to three movies … chances are you could be watching Air Bud and not know the difference.”

Huge thanks to Berkley for the physical ARC. I originally saw the UK cover, which is wild, but I enjoy this one quite a lot too.

So right off the rip, I was drawn in by the comments on a feminist body horror, of wax models coming to life to dispatch men that have wronged them. And while that does happen, that’s not exactly what this book is about. This is an incredibly slow burn with an equally slow build. While this does teeter on the edge in the final act, I don’t know that I would call it a body horror…at least not in what I imagine is the typical sense. To me, this was an almost historical drama and horror, the tale of two women trapped by circumstance and a master manipulator.

Eleanor, after running away from home for love, then sleeping with the man only to be abandoned, finds herself in quite the bind. She cannot return home due to how she left, and 1763 London doesn’t look kindly on young women that are all alone. Here enters Elizabeth, a resplendent and well-mannered Lady, to sweep her off her feet. She speaks a big game about pretty things, about having money not just for needs but for wants. She is opening her own serail, a high class brothel, to be the first of its kind in London, and she thinks Eleanor is just the beauty she needs. There’s talk of a family-style existence there, of having people to lean on, and truthfully, as it stands, Eleanor is not exactly juggling options.

On the modern side of this split timeline story we have Alys, a high class antiques dealer, and the true driving force for the novel. We meet her, then learn of the wax Venuses and their entrancing abilities in short order, only to find out that she is being pushed (read: coerced) to destroy them ASAP. She agrees to do so in two weeks time, but the reader quickly learns that things aren’t so simple. While she is clearly a traumatized character with a hidden past, she remained this strong presence throughout the entire book for me.

I loved the different ways evil was showcased. Elizabeth is manipulating like someone that has always had the mind to put themselves ahead no matter what. She earns trust, builds a life for her girls, and then traps them. She then transcends time to appear as a witch or even an evil hag (to my mind), truly embodying the evil she has displayed. Then there are the men. And while this story operates around the idea of opening a brothel, there is not any actual sex work displayed. The men can easily be shown as deviant, misleading and misrepresenting women without having to go further. I also enjoyed the lack of there being more because it was never about it, or the men, it was all for Eleanor and Emily. And when the actual wax-figure antics finally began, I thought that how they were almost underused/under-shown really enhanced the impact. The thought of these women—so often ignored in every day life, or garnering attention they would never want (especially at night)—stalking devious men and waiting for the right moment to strike, was the perfect climax to a story filled with barely-tempered rage. And the visual of them dressed in all black brought to mind the Widow from season five of Slasher titled Ripper. The brutality present in this, while short, certainly equalled the likes of that show.

One thing I noticed right away was how spellbindingly well this was written. With a mix of short and long (longgggg) chapters, there is so much happening, with so much at stake, that even with things going slowly I was enraptured. This book is filled with so much history and life, and while it is absolutely destroying emotionally, it’s so well done as to make you end your read with a thank you to the author.

For me, this book tells the story of losing, or the loss of, autonomy. Or perhaps even the realization you never had it. As Elizabeth is slowly showing her true colors, there is this growing unease in atmosphere, truly driven deep by the two-week rush in the present day. Eleanor and Emily are not receiving the family camaraderie they were promised, and as seemingly nothing goes their way, their debt to Elizabeth is more of a chain than an opportunity. Then, with the novels more supernatural elements, the theme is nailed down by having them physically tethered to their wax figures. From a loss of autonomy to their souls being stuck in anatomical Venuses. With no choices of their own, with Eleanor not even able to speak on her own, there is a truly horrifying loss of self and autonomy. This is where there is true body horror. Lost to time and to self, but still present enough to know you’re being controlled. The idea of which is horrifying.

The ending featured several twists (some of which I had guessed, and others I hadn’t) and there are so many masterfully woven plot points coming back around that I was surprised in how it all finished up. Small details from throughout the entire story come back, some in major ways. The ending itself is even another tie back to the loss of autonomy, to losing free will. What must be sacrificed to finally be free? I find myself thinking the typical saying to finally be “set free” but even that feels like a certain amount of allowance comes from someone else…I’m still thinking about it every day, and I dare say this has become my favorite read this year.

Grabbed this tiny audiobook before even finishing with the novel and I’m glad I got to it. Scott Fleming did a great job with this continuation.

Paschia’s hidden journals, frequently mentioned in book one, are finally being revealed to us. I think it’s a genius move by the author as this thing is 100% world building. It gives the universe an origin, as well as showing the beginning of the Keepers. I loved how it spanned years unknown…as existence without time cannot truly be measured.

I also really commend the author as he was able to keep it feeling like a diary throughout its entirety. Yes we receive dialogue, and yes there is more to the cast and happenings, but it always remains within Paschia’s worldview—as he is the one reporting on it. As we know, Paschia is a great creator, as he is the inventor of the empathic weapons (and items) introduced in the novel, and that he was always learning. What a great way to show off the emerging personalities of the other Keepers by him spending time around them learning what they know.

And as anyone who has ever taken up journaling or keeping a diary will tell you, once you get into the habit, it’s often hard to stop. So if you pay a little attention to that volume one on the cover, the author could keep us plied with information for years. I’m excited by the idea that newly released entries could take readers to entirely different worlds, realms of existence, to sentient life that isn’t even human. This series could be endless in scope. I think the author has shown his skill is up to the task of it too. This is perfect for fans of the first book, novellas, and lore.

My thanks again to the author for the audio review copy! The continued narration by James Meunier is great, he does a solid job with bringing a different cast to life.

This was a real unique mix. It is prequel, it is sequel, it is side character origin story, and side mission story all rolled up into two novellas. I can only assume that the actions, interactions, and outcomes from the two will carry weight in the sequel. It didn’t feel like random characters or random locations, so I’m interested to see where it goes.

Conwenna, who we meet in book 1, must shed her identity that has kept her in hiding all these years in order to save her family name and a city about to be ruled by evil men. She must reassume the name of Koni, she must retake her place in society and power. Alfswich, who stole Grahme’s stone flowers, tries to return to the world of thievery. Somehow, while trying to stay in the shadows, he still can’t seem to avoid the spotlight. Both the thief and the blacksmith’s wife run afoul of treacherous hags, the repercussions of which will leave them cursed.

I thought the curses were fantastically chosen. Conwenna is a family woman, hiding in a plain life so that her family is safe. A lot of her story is about sacrifice, so the cost of her closest friend is just one more tally on the list of losses. I did however, dislike that when he is so upset and wants comfort he just outright asks for sex? It struck me as odd…I understand that it linked back to the hag’s curse, and it was probably part of her plan, but when you are particularly upset wouldn’t you just want someone to be there for you in the moment? To not be alone? This felt almost calculated, which I did not like for Blocky’s character.

Alfswich is a thief, a masterful one, so when the hag’s curse means he has to give away the six stolen stone flowers, he thinks there’s no catch because losing treasure is bad enough. He’s wrong. And I really liked how his curse forced notoriety onto him everywhere he went, taking away his nighttime profession. It did stick out to me though that he says he isn’t an assassin, that he only kills when absolutely necessary, and yet throughout the story he is most definitely a cutthroat.

I loved the combined and entwined conclusion. The way the stories connected back into the present. The main reason I am certain there will be an impact going forward into the next book. There was definitely good world building here, and the side story style allowed the author to present us with things outside of Grahme’s worldview, especially the Sorim.

This will hit for fans of the first book, as it is required reading, and for fans of side missions/completionism.

I usually try not to take on too many ebooks for review as I have never been the most organized person. But I also find it hard to say no, so I usually never agree to attach a date to when I will read it by. Even with those excuses in place, I would still consider this late as hell, so I am truly sorry! With that being said, I have bought all the ebooks for the trilogy, and I also bought this one on audio when it came to my attention I still hadn’t gotten to it yet. I do try to make my small amends. The narration by Jonathan Johns was solid, I enjoyed the voices he did and his pronouncements of all the monsters.

When a beast surprises Ara parents, they fall victim to the deadly attack. Ara is left with nothing and no one, and although her parents weren’t shining beacons of parenthood, that’s still a daunting reality to find yourself in for someone that’s not quite an adult yet. In enter the beast hunters to save the day. They were working another case, and therefore they were too late to save her parents. They take her under their wings, and while she’s traveling with them, they gain her trust and begin to teach her of the world and monsters around her. When they reach their destination of Cornstead, they are plunged into mystery, deception, and a bit of short-legged mayhem!

This read like a coming of age, young adult blend of The Witcher and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Like if Geralt was a little less gruff (a lot less) and the world wasn’t so dark. If Ciri wasn’t always gone and was instead more the focus. This world is described as being filled with dangerous monsters and beasts, many with cool and original names like Fantastic Beasts. However, with most of the story taking place within the walls of Cornstead, the reader doesn’t actually get to experience many. Instead, we receive an almost inspector’s apprentice mystery, where we learn only as clues trickle in. With that being said, it’s certainly in no way slow, it just took me by surprise.

Though the ending was a little rushed for me, as I did not feel fully connected to the trio of characters yet, I really do enjoy them. I liked how the author weaved a story that started with abusive parents and then gave us the rest of the story with understanding and accepting male protectors. Ara has to battle within to trust them, to let them in, and that continues on to the very last page. The town’s guard is displayed to perfectly play off of them with male toxicity and anger.

It fittingly felt almost like finishing The Sword of Destiny, where the Witcher shorts only leave you wanting more—as a book one, this is poised to do just that in the sequels.

I received a physical ARC of this, so huge thanks to Plume, however I did receive it only two days before the book released. I didn’t want to sit on it and not have a review ready for longer, so I also grabbed the audiobook and it is narrated by ROGER L. JACKSON. They should be shouting that from the rooftops! Certainly the definitive way to take in this nonfiction in my opinion. He did a great job and did all the chapter titles in the Ghost Face voice, it really elevated my enjoyment.

This was absolutely fantastic. An intensely deep dive into the Scream franchise and how it’s shaped the horror industry. As a self proclaimed Scream connoisseur (I’ve never proclaimed that) this was right up my alley and I had to have it. For me, this was one of the few horrors I had seen as a kid that stuck with me into adulthood, and I still love it to this day. I was one of those kids that was deathly afraid of anything you told me was supposed to be scary. I couldn’t understand that horror—slashers especially—can be both scary and enjoyable. Scream is a leading example of this and is one of the few I’d actually watch as a young kid. It’s scary of course, someone in a mask is murdering people right on screen, but it was also silly and bordered comical in its self references and satirical dissection of previous horror. As it stands, the first Scream movie is why slashers remain my most enjoyed (and watched) horror subgenre.

As the title states, Scream was the dawn of true meta-horror, a style that has been chopped and chipped and adopted by many others over the years, but few can capture the allure of the first. A slasher horror that knows it’s a slasher horror, that knows its tropes and where it’s treading them? Personally that’s always been my favorite part. The sequels, with their in-universe Stab franchise, equally find a way to mock and poke fun at themselves and their own commentary—all while still commentating. There’s something almost omniscient about them, as they dissect what came before and dictate where horror’s going. The first really paved the way to elevated slashers as a whole.

I love how vividly this painted the experience of the films. With chapters spanning from the original script’s conception all the way up to the latest, and currently unreleased, sequel (read: Requel/Legacy Sequel). I loved how everyone shone light on how wonderful Wes Craven was, the energy he brought to the experience, and how he bred such warmth and an inviting set. As a horror writer myself, it was nice to see the spotlight showing off how nice horror writers are as people! We bring people scares, we aren’t all scary.

I also enjoyed that this didn’t shy away from the controversies. From set troubles, money troubles, reception troubles, even ownership and The Weinstein Company troubles. This book showcases it all, the good and the bad. Not only does it serve as a very honest piece of work, it also provides the inside track on how movies get (and often times do not get) made. From displeased big shots, to rushed sequels, to rights disputes, firings, and studio languishing, there is quite a bit of behind the scenes issues we may never even know about. I even liked that this went into the controversy around the requel, Scream 7. Laying out some info that was previously misunderstood or misinterpreted. I can only add that it’s really sad to see Kevin Williamson (the original screenwriter) coming back to direct one that feels like it’s up against a wall already with the bad coverage and enraged fanbase. But what really shines through, and I’m sure will continue to, is the passion these people have for the entire franchise.

Most importantly, this keeps the focal point on us, the fans. As the fanbase is the point, and no matter what topic this is traversing, it continues to keep an eye on enjoyment. Almost everyone has seen these, has something linking them to one, has a reason why they’ll always rewatch them. That’s what they’re for. So, what’s your favorite scary movie?

Thanks to Netgalley and Henry Holt and Co. for the audio ARC. Apologies as this one definitely languished a bit. The narration is solid again, with continued voices/accents from the first production.

Much like the first novel in the series, this is some dinosaur goodness that brings to mind the likes of The Land Before Time and We’re Back! A Dinosaur Story. But as it’s not a scifi so much as an alt-history or even entirely fantasy world, with its talking dinosaurs and hierarchical nature, Jurassic Park just does not come to mind—even if it’s the largest dinosaur IP out there. Due in part to this one’s middle grade nature too though.

As I’ve only done audio for this, I’ve not seen the formatting for the physical copies. I hope there is some type of pictures or glossary, as the children interested in this could really learn some cool stuff and it’d help with visualization.

Our ragtag group of castaways are back…well actually they’re exactly where we left them. The carnivores are still hunting them. They are still without a home or even place to hide. They still desperately need proof to stop the incoming war, to save their people. And that is the impetus for this entire sequel. While that’s some truly heavy content—not to mention the carnivores in question not only want to stop them, but to literally eat them for dinner—the author does a solid job of suffusing humor, heart, and warmth into the story. Our friends are still learning to be around each other, to truly trust, and the way they flip flop and fumble is a fantastic way to showcase accepting others and their differences. Of showing emotion and accepting the way others feel.

But while this one was big on growth and character development, it was quite loose on plotting. As it’s middle grade, I suppose that’s not such a surprise. Their trek across the desert is a huge chunk of the novel, and when they finally arrive at their destination, the Fire Peak, the climax is already in full swing. But with that being said, this is once again a perfectly enjoyable story that makes you itch to see where they head next! I look forward to tackling book three at some point.

This did not work for me and I really wanted it to.

I hate having a negative review, and I might actually have DNF’d (which I never really do) but Angry Robot supplied a copy—so let’s start with some positive. Some of the writing, especially the truly haunting scenes, were written quite well. I’d actually notice myself falling into the cadence and getting with the flow. There is one particular scene involving a turned over portrait that I actually stopped reading to reread the entire section. It was unique, paced really well, and chilling.

For the most part, the rest of my experience was not so good. For me, I said yes to an ARC based off the beautiful cover and title. I love a great cover and a haunting. But I actually think the style is a little misleading. The cover with its portraits to me looks dark fantasy-esque, with their almost anime style jawlines. And that is not the vibe of the book at all.

Now, as a writer, I have pulled the trigger on releasing an ARC too early…and early reviewers called me out on it. But I also self release, and I can only assume this was read through by 1 or more AR person. The book is almost rife with errors. Not just the tiny things, like a ‘t’ making the word ‘it’ instead of the correct ‘is’. The things you can ignore. There were sentences, paragraphs, even some pages that didn’t really make sense. Character reactions seemed out of place, and there was more than one spot that was just randomly in first person? The book is broken into sections to mark William’s week at Hanbury Manor, but the chapters run on, and in more than one spot there’s mentioning of sleep and morning, but the section break comes later…making the day sections not make sense. I don’t say this to drag it, because editing is hard, but this almost felt overly rushed, if not bordering careless.

For me, the real problem lies with William Thorn. He is grieving, suicidal, struggling through something unbelievably hard. And he was unimaginably insufferable. Every time he spoke, every choice he made—how he flip flopped—grated on me for hundreds of pages. The book’s blurb promises a split timeline, and I would say that it is not. The book opens in the past, but the rest of the book is present day, with William sometimes reading journal entries from the past. These entries are short, never quite deep enough, and don’t really offer much in the way of ‘the past’. The book, if you can believe it, also tries to function as a forced proximity romance, but the proximity does not make sense, and it surely wasn’t romantic. Especially after a third act revelation that would have been earth shattering, and yet it’s so quickly thrown away. The ending did work for me, but it was a little too late.

I’m sure this will work for some, just wasn’t for me.

As always, my endless thanks to Shortwave Media for the physical ARC.

A group of 7 students, 2 group leads, and 1 director head into the woods for a backpacking trip. 10 people. So how the hell do they set up camp on the first night with 11 total? Something is clearly wrong, but they all seem to remember each other like there isn’t an extra. Those in charge even remember everyone from the pre-trip dinner, but how could that be possible?

This is an incredibly simple, creepy, eerie premise. It’s also short, so it had to be all about atmosphere. Which can be quite hard to capture in so short a time. This is where I originally struggled personally. I was creeped out, and my brain was screaming “alien” but I didn’t necessarily feel that creeping unease. Truthfully, I did get really sick during the reading of this one, which prolonged the time it took to finish, so that could honestly be on me. The one singular thing that I still struggle with though is the author harping on them using a 10-seat passenger van. I just found it odd that the main character needed to grasp that as his holy ground for knowing. Coming from the times of being a teen while only one friend drove, only smushing in a single other person doesn’t feel farfetched to me. Two smaller women or men sharing a backseat? That could easily have explained it, but the author had the main character take the 10 seats as confirmation. And maybe there’s a point to that that I am simply missing, but I feel like a well placed sentence explaining it away would have helped. As the instructor, is he such a stickler for safety and rules that he’d never seat an extra person perhaps?

I also wouldn’t have said no to another 30 pages or so. I feel like we get snippets of the students, but not all of them, and maybe not necessarily deep enough to have a decision be made on who the extra was. And maybe with his prying, one of them would have thought to ask “why are you asking this?…I was talking with so and so and they said you asked them that too…” and that would have added a layer of tension more to the atmosphere. But again, perhaps that is the point—the author’s subversion, or even perversion, of expectations.

Mildly spoilery (but also not) below:

Now the real surprise for me comes from the ending. At first, I thought it was okay but rather simple. Now, NOW I can’t stop freaking thinking about it. They said only ten of them are leaving the woods no matter what, that was the decision. Who in their right mind (especially because they clearly aren’t) could make that call? How would you live with it, not knowing if you were really right or not? Did you do the right thing, or did you condemn the world, unleashing something that was never meant to leave those woods? Oh my god, I seriously can’t get it out of my head, and therefore, it’s continually grown on me. There’s no answers here, no comforting end. If you can’t trust your own mind, your memories, what else can’t you trust? Can’t we trust?

Huge thanks to Scholastic Press for the physical ARC!

I started this one at the same time as listening to 80s Ghosts by V.S. Lawrence. It also features paranormal investigating, just like the opening of this one. I loved the old school feel with the camcorder and its almost Blair Witch opening scare. I really thought for a second I was going to have dueling ghost novels, but LSU quickly deviates, which really surprised me. I was drawn in by the title, the obvious Scooby Doo vibe, and I was not expecting this to become a slasher investigation story.

To address the elephant in the novel…this is not really Scooby Doo-like in my opinion. And it’s trying to be, which then became a problem for me, as I had trouble drawing comparisons. The title is of course a very typical SD trope and there’s a blurb chosen that specifically references SD as well. There are four friends investigating, and even a dog, although they don’t include the dog when in public. Two girls and two boys and when they meet the new girl they even guess her name might be Daphne. It just didn’t encapsulate that spirit of SD in the way I wanted. It tried to be a darker, more adult (more like teen) version, but with the truly great Meddling Kids out there, this was a hard one to live up to.

It is however, a perfectly easy and enjoyable read. There is suspense, tension, and even stakes with some flip-flopping Scream-esque twists. The description of the ghoul did feel very SD with its almost cartoon style blue glow and manor filled with hidden entrances and tricks. It also gave an updated, modern take with its male best friends turned boyfriends, but then again it all felt very easy. Not that every story needs the relationship (especially queer ones) to be this incredibly arduous and eggshell-walking experience, it just didn’t add much. They were pure in a novel that’s pretty dark, but then again, the friend group has a pureness to begin with.

I think I’d gladly read another to see how this develops, as there were some well thrown in red herrings, but as it stands I’d love the see the multiple POV take on a more necessary feel. Much of this novel felt a bit empty.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the audio ARC. This one was on my radar for a while, so I’m stoked I had the chance to bump it up my TBR.

I started this one at the same time as reading a paperback of Let’s Split Up by Bill Wood. It also opens up with a paranormal investigation, and even featured a camcorder, giving it that old school feel. I really thought for a second I was going to have dueling ghost novels, but LSU quickly deviated.

80s Ghosts features Chrissy Rodriguez, a down-on-her-luck paranormal investigator trying to make it big. I was so excited to get into this, and the parallels to my own ghost hunting story, BestGhost, made it even more enjoyable from the jump. Chrissy has the chance to investigate Merlin High with her crew, and although funds are already tight, she’s determined to make this work. A couple hotel room bookings later, they pack up into their very own Mystery Machine (a great nod IMO) and take off. As you can typically suspect in ghost hunting stories, there is not much discovery in the first couple nights. We get the set up, the backstory, the mystery, the tension, and maybe just the beginnings of a hint of haunting. And that’s just how I like it.

The novel has a bunch of nods to the 80s, some of which worked for me as a 90s kid as well. The overall description of how the kids acted back then, especially toward each other (something that I feel has certainly changed) kind of felt akin to Carrie. The mall scene brought back nostalgia for a time when cruising the various stores was the IT place to be. When pizza, a soda, and movies were only a couple bucks.

The novel is also unique in the sense that it blended a few things that are not typical for ghost hunting stories. Or at least I didn’t expect them. Chrissy has nightmares throughout that are part haunting/part clairvoyance, each one growing in intensity. There are multiple twists, not just ones including the spirits left behind, and it’s even a revenge story! While I did think to myself that they must have been some incredibly powerful ghosts to pull it all off, it’s certainly pulse pounding. There is redemption, a smidge of romance, character growth, and forgiveness. A lot of real life ghost hunting shows say they do it to help trapped spirits move on to the afterlife, and this one is no different…well except for the confirmed ghosts.

Great for fans of the 80s, Buzzfeed Unsolved/Ghost Files, and all things paranormal. It was nice to see someone follow a dream, even if it was at the stake of financial ruin, and it was nice to rope in Chrissy’s finding herself and acceptance.

This one is sadly a DNF at 84%. I usually am really against ratings or reviews if you (me) don’t read the full story. (If you aren’t me, please gladly do whatever you want!).

I received the audio to judge for the Indie Ink Awards, so I did really want to finish it in full. The narrator, Magnus Carlssen, did do a fantastic job. I wouldn’t say it was a struggle or anything, as I enjoyed a great deal of it, but there was definitely some issues, one of which, I could not come back from.

For one, I was asked to judge LGBTQ rep. Lago, our teenage main character, is announced as gay from the start. He paints his nails and has a female best friend he plays and swims naked with (because obviously he isn’t interested in her, we’re actually TOLD this), and he has a weirdly conservative dad even though we are set in a fantasy world? Other than that set up, the gayness of the character did little more than allow for some very overly depicted sex scenes.

That’s number two. We know this is a fantasy world and that our perceptions and morals and thoughts on age simply “don’t” exist there, but come on, clearly it was written in the real world. The sad but very real truth is teens do explore and have sex, but I do not want, need, or should have any involvement—and this author very clearly chose the age of his protagonist (much of the writing reads as very young adult) and then had MULTIPLE explicit scenes. In some aching, horrifying detail. While their world is described as not wholly accepting of gay people, Lago still manages to have a really weird one night stand in the middle of no where with a full grown man? Then the final scene made me throw in the towel. A character that is described as a 9ft tall immortal being, one that has already existed for time untold, has decided it’s okay to want to have sex with the teenager and then does. The character is very much so parts Beorn and Gandalf, Hagrid and Dumbledore, a wise and knowledgeable character I quite liked at first. But then he’s like those characters only if they were actually groomers.

Number three is the story itself. While the worldbuilding is interesting with the cataclysmic past that ended the ancient times making it feel as if this could be a primitive, yet futuristic and magical earth, every opportunity taken to build is entirely an info dump. Every single time. While it did make parts of the world feel super fleshed out and real, nothing ever seemed to come of it. Part one is basically all about Lago being a child and doing work, there’s not much there and it kind of does drag. Part two is basically Lago fulfilling his entire promise from the opening of the book, seeing as the author decides to subvert expectations by just making all of the characters important to the initial quest die. Part three goes into another subverted journey, but then it just becomes all about development and training, in the style you’d almost expect from a book two in a trilogy. This goes into the third part, where I decided I’d had enough. Lago uses his magical mask, which has only come to him specifically because the author decided to kill everyone else it belonged to, and it helps him change into a kind of half man half Timberwolf that seemingly just suffices to pay off as a sort of voyeuristic furry fantasy of some kind. The use of a teen and weird sex scenes felt almost exploitative and problematic even.

Loved the cover immediately, so I am so thankful I was chosen as an arc reader. Thank you to Tor Nightfire for the physical copy.

Eco horror is on the rise, and the spores and fungus, the sporror, will come for us all! Us a FanFiAddict actually do a lot of talk about all things fungus, especially with Adrian M. Gibson’s debut of Mushroom Blues, and A.J. Calvin being a certified scientist-badass, we are a bunch of fun-gals and fun-guys. So I know several of us were eager to get our hands on this.

The author does a solid job with laying the scene. It’s slow, as it is the real world. People may go missing, but nothing supernatural happens here. That, and we may need a tad of atmosphere to built up. I enjoyed the idea of Erin Harper heading for a little work away from work. She tells her boss there’s a new hotspot on the rise, one they must cover before someone else does, but truly she wants to turn her journalistic feelers out for her photographer and friend, Hari’s podcast. When too many disappearances for one town come to light, could her brother possibly have been lost out there too?

I was a tad shaky on the followup, the build, and the climax. On the one hand, don’t we all love determination, perseverance, and overcoming odds? On the other, I found myself wondering why THESE characters were pushing so hard for this. Erin has her brother to think about, but their qualifications otherwise are that they are hikers? When one character said no and left, I was like hello, sensibility! But in all seriousness, when fungus hiveminds become real, you protect the townspeople.

The owner of the Airbnb Erin stays at really came to mind to me like Lisa Emery’s portrayal of The Dama in The Walking Dead: Dead City. All high collared and mighty, but then ready to get her hands dirty. And while at first I wasn’t loving the hivemind mushroom-fugue-state chapters, they grew on me more and more and the reaching mycelium or hyphae brought to mind that first runner you see at the neighbor’s house in HBOs The Last of Us…which is just chef’s kiss spooky stuff.

This is a good story and it’s not overly long. It’ll grip your attention and you can easily rip through it…if you can handle the rot, decay, water logged skin, and eerie, creeping mushrooms.

I had the opportunity to listen to this one through the Indie Ink Awards and I’m super glad I did. The narration by Richard Pendragon was stellar—great voice work and depth of character.

This is an urban fantasy with spice, both things that usually aren’t for me, but this was done very well. I know it’s a rough comparison to make at this point as many people want nothing to do with them (myself included) but for me this was one of the most successfully integrated urban fantasy’s featuring an almost entirely secondary world since reading Harry Potter. In the same way The Soul’s Aspect by Mark Holloway captures the school essence from HP, Mawce has done so on our own city streets. Glamours or magically enhanced items do little tricks on human minds that keep them seeing “normal” things, but behind closed doors, the entire world is magic. And this is of course enhanced by the main character’s shop and home, the Belamour, being a magic entity itself!

It’s incredibly representative, with gay, bi, trans characters throughout—all in prominent roles that are NOT ruled by the inclusion of their orientation. And while sex scenes just are not my cup of tea in books, there was definitely a well built tension in the book leading up to the moment. For me though, maybe just a few less moments…as there are several.

There is also some disability and neurodivergent rep as well, with Mael suffering from autism and magical synesthesia. While the first made me think like wow, magical people from magical lands still deal with the same stuff as humans, the second felt like an even cooler blend. He can sense, picture, even see people’s magical aura through his synesthesia and I thought that was just one of the cleverest little twists ever. The rep in general is handled well by someone showcasing it (at least IMO) as it seemed to inform the character more than control them.

The plot itself involves a human, Leo, hiring Mael to help track down a stolen dragon egg. The dragon egg belongs to his niece, and it is a bond that is meant to secure her place in the magical world. This leads to some interesting investigating, although as Mael’s best friend, a vampire, is an actual magical cop, I almost found myself wishing for a little urban fantasy/crime fiction blend. As you can imagine, the amount of power and effort needed to steal an actual dragon egg means that whoever took it won’t give it up easily.

Regardless, there’s tension, there’s suspense, there’s action, and there is a hell of a lot of tenderness bled throughout this one. Absolutely worth checking out.

Thanks to the author and Savage Realms Press for the eARC! This one sounded like it shared a sinister world with my own novel, so I was super intrigued. I really wanted to review by release day, and I was close, but I had some stuff come up.

Chapter one opens in the past, the kind of set up that may be labeled a prologue in SFF. It shows an event that would stain the town of Cedar Mills for years to come. It immediately feels like a tightly focused creature feature, which is one of my favorite horror subgenres. Then it shifts, giving the reader a mixture of POVs from high school kids to a disgraced detective. It’s a little strange at first, but the author ends up making it work.

This felt like the inverse of my own writing, where I mentioned supernatural but didn’t dive in, this one does it all. It’s a full on supernatural story that steps its toes into crime fiction. It’s a cool take on blending horror subgenres. That’s where this story really shined: the horrors. The creature, known as 43, whose description brought to mind Creature from the Black Lagoon, is a semi-aquatic badass—one that loves stabbing government agents in the head with its claws. And I even liked how the author gives us the full explanation of what it is by the end, spinning into an almost full blown scifi horror.

The trigger happy agents in this reminded me of the supernatural devision from When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy. Their no-loose-ends mentality actually causing more trouble by the end. The inclusion of innocent teenagers also added in a well done layer of emotion and heart to the novel. Regardless of any interwoven romance, four teen friends getting thrown into the deep end was an interesting take that felt kind of like its own thing. These weren’t slasher movie teens that feel and even look like adults, these were starry-eyed and screaming kids, grieving and just trying to make it out alive.

Great action, a scary beast, and a beating heart in the background, making this one a solid read!

Huge thanks to Flatiron Books for the physical ARC. I love the cover and colors and this was a cool one to receive.

This novel spans genres in a pretty solid and unique way. It’s deeply rooted in grief, with three of four best friends (whose names start with letters that make up The L.O.V.E. Club) dealing with the loss of the fourth. The story is shown through O, and she can’t really remember anything about what happened. That helps the author pepper in some mystery, and also allows for all the cards to not be present on the table at the start. Their love of video games, which is part of what brought them together, is exploited as they are all transported into their lost best friend, E’s, game-world. It kind of brought to mind the sequel/reboot of Jumanji, but that’s where the similarities stopped. That meshes scifi into the otherwise real-world Calendula, California, but then the levels of the video games present an almost fantasy-style layer on top of the settings the characters know from the world. This is also helped by L and V getting a bow and arrow and a sword, too. Then with the grief, and when some of the information about E comes to light, there is a tinge of horror there.

So there were some things in this that just didn’t work for me. While the bulk of this novel takes place in a video game, none of the actual descriptions of the levels felt like a video game to me. If anything, it could have been a portal fantasy and that might have been sold better. O’s gifted power is a notebook, as of course she is a writer. She is able to elicit help from L and V by writing out what they want to do, and while this may have actually been incredibly well done writing (as in an author pretending to write like a high schooler that thought they were a great writer) a lot of it was confusing and wordy, and seriously cringey. There is also a thread throughout about how much E loved flowers. While there is payoff for its inclusion in the end, as someone that doesn’t know about flowers, it felt like a chunk of this book was using descriptors that brought nothing to mind. Flower names used to enhance mentioned colors felt kind of forced and left me confused.

There were also things that continued to reel me in over and over in how well they were done. Calendula is a Chinese American suburb and the author does a great job of painting exactly what that means. The culture bled into everything around them, their intricacies and secrets, the dos and don’ts (if you will) that are (not so) quiet expectations, the challenges of thriving—or even surviving—there. It felt like a perfect glimpse into a world that wasn’t mine, and It was just enough. I’m all for the representation here as well. The layered in grief really hit for me. While the club had each other, E was truly O’s best-best friend. The kind of friendship where it’s hard to tell where one person begins and the other ends. So when she lost her, she just kind or crumbled, lost herself. I also thought it was clever to show how each girl was grieving separately, because each person carries it differently.

Then what really shone are the friendships. This author allows them to be natural, to be hectic, to be anything but cut and dry and nice and neat. They felt real, and every time they have some kind of revelation together I felt for them. The emotion described is powerful and felt almost like a tangible thing you could hold. These friends love each other. They have lost and they have grown. They may never be the same, but that’s still okay. The writing is imbued with a beautiful take on the world, even though their world is not wholly beautiful itself, and I loved the messiness. There are no even lines or comfy finishes here.

The author very kindly offered me a physical copy for review, and I’m very sorry I’m late. With my last year being what it turned out to be (a dumpster fire) I have been racing to catch up and realized I have no idea where the book was in my storage unit. So I decided to buy the audio to ensure I got to it. Scott Fleming was a great choice for narration, but did an almost Massachusetts/Boston accent (wah-rrior, dah-ughter, Coop-uh). Not at all an issue for me, I just noticed! Or imagined it…?

This one is really unique. It’s an urban/portal fantasy that at times feels wholly scifi, then it turns and feels wholly fantasy, with zero urban. The kind of story that makes you forget all about earth and high school. It blends entire galaxies away from earth, with some advanced technology that surpasses human knowledge. It features gods that make it feel ancient, but somehow it still feels rooted in the now. Through Cooper and Reed, it’s a coming of age story, an underdog story, and certainly a reluctant hero story. It blends so many things in its own original way that I feel like I can’t even summarize it.

The best friends of Cooper and Reed were spectacular. One is book smart, less confident, but certainly not without strength. The other is an athlete, confident and although bright, less focused on the future. While in some schools or circled this would be an unlikely match, their friendship formed at a young age and they didn’t let it stop them. They are opposites, like two sides of the same coin. They need each other, balance each other, and propel each other. I loved the healthy male friendship on display, and getting both of them focused on as POVs showed the reader how little jealously was there between them. Then they both succeed in unlocking/befriending the elements of air and fire called Spreeta. Little white and red creatures that I thought of as almost angry bird style little things. I imagined them as cute, but they controlled immense power. And they unlocked that power in both of the boys, as well as functionally offering a new responsibility for them, forcing maturing.

The magic system feels old and full and yet it left some things up for interpretation. Empathic objects can be bestowed to those with certain specifically strong traits. These can be any object, including weapons. But these empathic objects are just a scrape off the surface. There’s ways to learn a multitude of powers and strengths, as well as utilizing unimaginable tech. The strength unlocked by the Spreeta help the boys to find their inner power and unleash it. Their displays of strength kind of felt almost superhero to me, kind of a la Wistful Ascending by J.C.M. Berne, but with a completely different foundation. Then you throw in a twist almost a la Terminator…this one truly has it all.

I loved the mentor figures so much. One, a misunderstood, centuries-old protector, a man that fits the trope perfectly. The other, another old character, but this one stuck inside the body of a child. The two played off each other even when they weren’t together, one the wise and understanding, the other quicker to action. It was great to see the senior-year teen Cooper go toe to toe with a kid and be forced to back down over and over. The author does a great job of twisting tropes in ways that feel fresh and familiar at the same time.

For the first time in a long time honestly, I had zero idea where a book was going to go. It was an awfully nice change.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook arc. Shoutout to the continued CJ supremacy from my fellows. Jenn Lee did a solid job with the audio, really nailing the submissive tone as well as the more solid-ground surety from later in the novel.

I’ve got to be honest, I found myself slipping during a slow day at work and was actually reading some reviews. That’s something I never do. I had already started it, so I guess I was just curious. For whatever reason, probably some Goodreads algorithm, some of the mid-negative reviews were toward the top. People claiming it wasn’t a horror, that it didn’t deliver…and I found this interesting (interesting enough to include in a review—even though the overall vibe of the book is not at all negative FYI) because it really didn’t match up with my experience. Sometimes when you aren’t getting along with a story you check the reviews and see people felt the same and it clicks. This was not that.

When Sadie finds out she’s pregnant, she knows there’s no way in hell she’s raising her child and newborn with an abusive partner. It’s the kick in the butt she’s needed to flee. Through mild planning that’s more shove-what-we-can-in-a-suitcase, she and her daughter end up outside the L’Arpin

Hotel on Erie Lake. As we can expect from a setup like this, a desperate job interview leads to new work and a place to lay low for a while. But as Sadie cleans the hotel (while an unsuspecting elderly live-in watches her daughter) she begins to question things at every turn. From seeing someone struggling in the pool, to a tentacled nuisance in the shower, things continue to get more and more odd and no one seems to be taking her seriously.

I felt that the novel really nailed the submissive personality. The abused person’s need to apologize and explain away. To accept things you’d never accept otherwise. The continuous self-sabotaging thoughts and self blame. As a person with anxiety, the train of thought felt familiar in a way, and I think the author really sold it as a layer in the novel that made each experience of Sadie’s more complex. Does she do, think, and accept things that may appear repetitive or even annoying? Absolutely. But that being engrained as her ‘normal’ is pivotal to her story. And I love a good story that can hit home on how horrific normal life and humans can be.

From there, this does have an almost cosmic twist to its horror. It reminded me of The Sundowner’s Dance in the sense that the climax also functions as a creature feature. And while your opinion on the ending is yours to feel however you’d like, this is where I really disagreed with those reviews I read. The audiobook I received was around 10 hours. The climax itself was over an hour long. For me that certainly delivers. I didn’t think it was short or underwhelming. It could have upped the gore for me, but I don’t think that was what the author was going for.

A creeping, slithering slow burn of a cosmic horror.

First saw this in the Library section of the SFF Insiders Discord and really liked the cover. A huge thanks to James for the audible code! Liz May Brice did a great job with the narration.

1920s Liverpool delivers a setting both familiar and different. Det. Amelia Dei must fight through gender roles, misogyny, and the supernatural in this murder mystery that feels both historical and fantastical. In a way it reminded me of Shadowseer: London by Morgan Rice in that it feels like a classic mystery meshed with an almost urban fantasy twist. Or Out on a Limb by Luis Paredes with its hints at a supernatural world beyond kind of a la Men in Black (although not alien).

Amelia will stop at nothing to upend Dr. Knight and his string of mysterious coma patient deaths. Her superiors don’t believe in her, and are finding it hard to believe her when she says something suspect is going on, but she refuses to relent. Her partner, Det. Reed, is the only one to have her back as the mystery unfolds into swirling darkness.

This is written well and feels cohesive. I found myself wondering where the two authors blended, becoming this unique voice. The two POVs (Amelia and Dr. Knight) worked well for me as I enjoy a glimpse into the dark and madness. The only hang up I had were the flashback memory scenes with young Knight. I understood their need, as it shows his coming into his power and experiencing his dark reality—the Umbra Mentis, but they also felt like attempting to humanize. As the story opens with him committing SA and reveling in it, I didn’t find him redeemable.

This tackles themes of sexism, gender roles, mental illness, poverty, and sexual orientation rather well. Even in a reality that turns out to have an entirely exterior nightmarish world just beyond it, these things are still present and touched on throughout. The Umbra was creepy, intriguing in what the authors held back, and I wished to know more. The inspector finally backing Amelia, as well as hinting at his awareness of the supernatural, makes me feel like there could be an expansive series even beyond the Umbra!

I really liked the last names of Dei and Knight facing off against each other. I have to imagine it was purposeful, as they even chose spellings that were not so on the nose. As the Umbra is this kind of swirling mass of black and darkness, it really felt like Amelia was the day facing off against the night.

Book 3 of the Malitu trilogy and I have been so happy to be part of this ARC team.

Let me borrow from my review of the first book two years later and say: WOW, that is how you write an ending! The climax is just so incredibly epic and beautiful and dark at the same time. Threads that were weaved throughout the entire story coming together to make a beautiful little sweater of gut-punching, heartbreaking action and tension. I am blown away. —two books and a prequel novella later and this couldn’t be more true. I suppose that together they make a full jumpsuit of gut-punching emotional damage. Dulin pulls threads from his debut all the way until the bittersweet end of this one. Character development three books in the making finally comes together, blossoming as each character becomes their fully realized selves. Kaylo grows from an angry, shadow of a man to the caring, loving protector of Tayen. Finally capable of putting aside his regrets, his fears, and his desire for retribution. Tayen goes from a fearful ball of anger, from a consequences-be-damned and no-matter-the-cost revenge seeker, to understanding patience and the need to see the bigger picture. And I absolutely love how much her story mirrors his past, and I can’t say enough on how well the author has crafted this father-figure and daughter duo.

And then to quote myself reviewing book 2: As I did with the first (and now second), I’d again liken this to The Last of Us. Tayen is bereaved of all those in her life, she’s jaded, and she wants revenge. So when she finally lets someone in, Kaylo, she has such a hard time accepting his mistakes. Much like older Ellie and Joel. That is where the similarities end of course, as Dulin has offered us a rich world with lore, magic, culture. —I would go even further and say that Tayen has a similar revelation as Ellie in the end of Part II in this. Revenge will not bring the relief she seeks, nor will it ever make her whole. That doesn’t mean that she can’t make a difference though, that she can’t fight for what’s right.

Also from 2: of course the darker enthocentlrism, war, colonialism, and racism. I love the deep message of the story, and I really appreciate that you can also just read and enjoy it as a fantasy, too. —I also think these are quite deftly handled. When using or borrowing (or perhaps more truthful to these: highlighting) other cultures and peoples, it can be super hard to tow that invisible fine line of appropriation. I think the author’s boosting of others, including the works of others telling own-voice stories, has lended itself to him telling a story that feels wholly authentic. This is a fantasy jam packed with historical implications. Some of the not-so-small nods are messages that each and every person could do with some self reflection on.

Now when it comes to book 3 on its own, there was an incredibly tall order for it to hold up to the others. So does it? In my opinion, yes, absolutely. There are some areas where the pacing slowed for me, but even then, I was as engaged in Kaylo’s story as Tayen was. Therefore, while it may have stuck out in the back of my mind, I didn’t actually find myself consciously noticing or being bothered. Plus I expected a big action finish I think, and in that way I was maybe appeased with waiting. I do really feel like the author was successful here. Three books of weaving threads is a lot of work, and to end a book that feels satisfying is a triumph. I don’t think I’ve read many others that juggle so many side characters in a way that makes them all feel necessary. Sadly, that makes each and every loss hit like a brick to the face.

I do think there is enough emotional damage done here that a court may order reparations. I reeled myself in from messaging the author after finishing but that’s the sign of a well done ending.

Thanks to NetGalley, Tor Nightfire, and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook arc. I loved Nestlings, so I was excited to get into more from the author. Helen Laser was a solid choice for narration, and she embodied the main character well.

I went into this one completely blind. I didn’t read the blurb and even avoided seeing my fellow reviewers star ratings (let alone dodging reviews). The opening gripped me from the jump. A struggling actress just starting out turned late night waitress reminded me of Mary Jane in the second Spider-man movie. It differs from there as Jess is forced to deal with what comes her way by herself. A late night argument between neighbors and a strange naked man, a violent attack, a scared little boy, and an across country chase. Jess simply followed her instincts by saving him, but she might just live to regret it.

Of course with the cover and the first attack, I really thought I was buckling up for a werewolf novel. In a sense, it is, but then again, it also really isn’t. When I made it to the part in the hotel, where Kiddo is left alone watching tv, I was so surprised by the curveball the author threw that I actually thought it just might not be for me and maybe I needed to DNF. It bordered on goofy to me, and of course I truly had no idea what the hell was going on. But if you know me at all, you know I don’t usually DNF anything, and I’m once again glad I didn’t. Once you understand what’s happening, it all clicks into place.

This is a unique novel, and it’s certainly multilayered. It’s a child’s nightmare, it’s a family drama, it’s a body horror, it’s a reflection of what people see us as when we let our anger win, it’s a commentary on government testing even. Although the author didn’t focus much time on it, the testing on the boy’s father carried notes of Stranger Things—the boy almost becoming Eleven to my mind. The banter between Jess and the boy, and how it slowly turned to trust and familiarity, was really well done. And then of course with any adult and child on the run I always think of The Last of Us, and while this is drastically different, you’re still delivered a story that pulls at all the heartstrings by the end.

If you had the ability to believe something was true, and then make it so for the world, what would you do? World peace? End world hunger? World domination? Unlimited money, success, fire power? Even if you had the best intentions ever, could you really fix what’s been broken—especially when all of your fears, your shortcomings, become true as soon as you believe? I thought it was incredibly well done that at every turn, Jess continued to lose people. Anyone close. And even in her grief, nothing was truly the boy’s fault. While the implications are heavy, there’s such a well built note of hope by the end. It’s complex and confusing, but I suppose I chose to believe it was there. This one is definitely a thinker.

I won a copy of this by sharing a picture of myself and my cat Ellie…what better way to be introduced to an author.

This novelette packs an immense punch for how short it is. It’s almost inconceivably well written. Concise editing making every words’ placement reach its ultimate impact. With some well placed and cool commas, this one really stands out.

Two lone survivors of a battle take part in an incredible standoff when they come across each other in the mud and viscera. One fights for the chance to see his son again, and the other fights for his freedom and a chance at a family. They’re both exhausted, weaponless (several times over), and frantically trying to stay alive to see their dreams come to fruition.

I’m impressed at how descriptive this was. It’s not overbearing, it didn’t hinder the pacing, and yet it felt like being smacked onto the aftermath of a battle. Bodies—both human and horse alike—blood, limbs, excrement and decay. I even imagined the smell—(the filthy puddles?!). This felt like a historic level of representation.

The battle is gripping, with pacing that will shred your face off. The banter is enjoyable, as if two opposing soldiers could ever be friendly. And the most surprising of all, the story’s heart will hit you where it hurts with so much emotional damage you’ll be left checking yourself for blade wounds. While you may be able to see the twist coming in this story, it’s so deftly handled you won’t care. What an enjoyable, quick read.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for this physical ARC! I was intrigued by the cover, and I can’t resist new takes on the haunted house story.

This was pitched in the galley email as "A ghost story unlike any other." I honestly can’t sum it up any better than that. This was the most unique take on the haunted house story I’ve ever read. For the first time ever, I felt as if I read something true, real, possible, and yet it was paranormal. Of course there are notes of horror and thriller, but this really exists as its own thing. It’s not trying to chill or scare, it’s not blood pounding or jump scaring. Yet there is a sort of creeping eeriness to it, but that for me, came from the mundanity of her everyday tasks.

Cassie retreats from a shocking breakup and incident at work to her hometown. She’s crashing at her father’s old place while figuring it out when she runs into her ex best friend. Things reignite, things that had previously led to their falling out, however this time, there’s no significant other in the way. This struck me as odd, because frankly, his wife had died and I thought it was quite recent. The first 50-70 pages shocked me in that way, all the things taking place seemed to come at you far too fast, too easily. But I think their familiarity, as well as her dire straits, are what led to it reading as almost effortless. And that’s why I carried on…well that, and the fact that I was waiting for the ghostly shoe to drop.

The chapters from Beth’s somewhat-ethereal perspective gripped me the further I got into this read and I felt myself genuinely craving to know more. Cassie was interesting and dealing with a lot, but what had happened with Beth? I had to know. And honestly, who was involved—because at that point in the story, I wasn’t trusting anybody. What surprised me the most though, was how unassuming and almost laidback Beth was. It was a side to ghosts and death that I don’t feel is often portrayed. In a way it reminded me of The Ghosts of Thorwald Place by Helen Power as Beth becomes more cognizant.

I really ended up enjoying this one as it made the mundane daily tasks of a stepparent seem much more alarming than your home or person being possessed by a ghost. That, and the calming nature of her presence against that of Cassie’s harm OCD, flooding the reader with random depictions of extreme blood and bodily harm.

Mildly spoilery beneath…

I don’t know if this was an actual plot point of the author’s, but it continues to hold worth that you NEVER trust your partner’s “don’t worry about them” person. It just never seems to end well.

Also a modern book finally mentioned pop punk? Might be the first time I’ve seen it, and I respect it.