Book Reviews
I read books and say things about them.
Find Me Where It Ends
I just listened to Find Me Where It Ends by Cassandra Khaw (narrated by Isaiah Nichols). Well, to be precise, I just listened to Find Me Where It Ends by Cassandra Khaw (narrated by Isaiah Nichols) twice. I love her writing and voice so much that I get lost in the cadence, the rhythm, the words she choose and the way they sound when they’re read aloud that I forget to comprehend their meaning.
Our Cut of Salt
As heartbreaking and horrific as Our Cut of Salt is, it is also full of love, seen from these women for each other and their lost homeland. And, importantly for this horror-lover, it has some legitimately haunted house-style scary moments.
Tales from the Territory
Listening to Tales from the Territory narrated by the author Travis Baldree was like catching up with old friends. I love settling into some cozy fantasy for my horror reading palate cleanser, and five new stories set in the world of Legends & Lattes were a welcome early autumn retreat.
We Turn Gruesome at Night (Burnt Sparrow 2)
Every time I read something written by Eric LaRocca, from short story to novel, I wonder what I've gotten myself into.
Home Sick
I listened to the audiobook of Home Sick by Rhiannon Grist (narrated perfectly by Mhairi Morrison) several weeks ago as we moved our household 250 miles south to Atlanta which meant I was in the perfect mindset to relate to Tamsin, though the character is 20 years younger and lives an ocean away from me.
Still Floating: 40 Years of Pennywise
By the time IT was released when I was a budding 13 year old horror writer, I was a die-hard Stephen King fan, as only a horror lover who grew up in the ‘80’s with a tiny town library could be - which is not to say I’m not still a fan - especially nostalgically - just that my horizons have greatly expanded.
Maria the Wanted
This was my favorite kind of thriller, one where I didn't know what was going to happen next, where I literally held my breath several times, and with a protagonist who is complicated and real, but that you ultimately root for.
Fabulous Bodies
I haven't been on a rollercoaster since I was diagnosed with sciatica in my early 20s when stabbing pains hit me on The Big Bad Wolf in Busch Gardens Williamsburg, but reading Chuck Tingle's Fabulous Bodies was an equally (well, almost...RIP BBW) thrilling ride.
This Wretched Beauty: A Dorian Gray Remix
This Wretched Beauty was beautifully written but it was so full of angst and heartache as Dorian endures all the pains of not fully embracing who they are but feeling outcast from their family and society even while not knowing why or how they’re different that it wasn’t always an easy read, but I am glad I read it.
The Children
The Children bounces between Guinevere's adult self and her child self - really her two child selves - the self from the "real" world and the one from the pages of the Ninth City books, a series of bestselling children's books her mother wrote in which she and her brother Ennis were the stars.
Headlights
I knew it was going to be good, but I didn't know it was going to be this good. Is it weird to say CJ Leede has written my favorite Stephen King novel? I know, every horror writer and their cat gets compared to Stephen King in one way or another, but here's why I say it: besides the obvious reasons SK would come to mind within the first pages, the best thing about King and the thing that Leede took and infused with her particular flavor of WTF-ery, is the everyday, run of the mill, regular person suddenly dealing with very irregular, extraordinary circumstances, both within and without themselves.
House of Margins
House of Margins is an eerie Gothic tale with a true crime podcast setup, a haunted house, a writing retreat, and a chance to learn something about a culture that’s not my own - basically everything I could ask for.
Women of the Weird West
I appreciate that editor KC Grifant admitted she was not a fan of westerns growing up because same, and for the same reason; all I saw onscreen were men having adventures, and I wanted to see women doing something other than tending the home or warming a bed.
To Make Him Disappear
Thanks to NetGalley and their Victory Editing Co-op, I had a chance to read a fun dark comedy/thriller instead of my usual horror.
Bone of My Bone
Johanna van Veen has become an auto-read author for me, and Bone of My Bone is another example of the reason why. It's a sapphic folk horror set in Bavaria against the backdrop of the Thirty Years' War with witchcraft and necromancy and characters wrestling with their faith (and vampires).
Hearts Strange and Dreadful
Tim McGregor wastes no time introducing us to the realities of daily life in and around the 1821 Rhode Island village of Wickstead where Hearts Strange and Dreadful is set, and in the same strokes that prepare the lamb for the Stokely family meals, we know what's what in the Stokely household, especially when it comes to the 17-year-old narrator Hester Stokely, cousin and adopted sister to the children of the family since her parents died in the same housefire which scarred her face when she was 12.
Mama Came Callin’
People who don't think reading graphic novels "counts" need to read something like Mama Came Callin' by Ezra Claytan Daniels and illustrated by Camilla Sucre.