As the very good boy and at least part Australian cattle dog (just like my old girl Laika, also rescued from a shelter) alerts them almost immediately, evil is afoot.

Part folk horror, bigger part body horror, You Weren’t Meant to Be Human is a beautiful, brutal read.  I was uncomfortable almost immediately as blurred (or non-existent?) consent lines were crossed in the opening paragraphs (see note on content warnings below) - and that feeling never totally left. 

My suggested taglines:

• The sound bath will be a blood bath!

• Instead of meditation, decapitation!

• They came for inner peace, they’ll leave in pieces!

Some things I liked:

• Some of my favorite phrases

  • ”secret squirrel shenanigans”

  • “eponymous plastic raincoat”

• Herman!!! Everyone should have a black cat.

• The names of the mushrooms like “Father of Lies” and “The Harlot’s Progress”

Nowhere Land by Pamela Kinney starts with a bang as a group of ghost hunters in Virginia who’ve been hired to investigate a property outside of Gloucester called Burkett make a fatal discovery - that there is definitely paranormal activity in Nowhere Land. 

What I got that I was expecting: dark comedy and vampires

What I got that I was not expecting: family drama, characters dealing with misogyny and/or racism, and some legitimately scary and/ or tense scenes - made especially so by the amazing audio production.

How Bad Things Can Get was hard to put down, especially as secrets started being revealed and the action stepped up and is a perfect thriller for anyone who finds themselves scrolling social media or listening to true crime podcasts - or is just looking  for an exciting, engrossing read. 

Reading this collection was like taking a walk through a dark, dappled forest where mushrooms grow and wild creatures populate inside and outside of us, where sunlight only rarely makes it way through the canopy.

Clown in a Cornfield is that unicorn of a YA novel that is YA only in that its main characters are teenagers that act like teenagers, but, unlike some in the market, Adam Cesare's writing is - for lack of a better word - good.

She’s a Lamb is everything it promises - dark, funny, smart. What surprised me is how Meredith Hambrock makes us empathize with Jessamyn - especially since Jessamyn is fundamentally incapable of feeling empathy for anyone - even herself.

Returning to the world Travis Baldree built in Legends & Lattes is like any of the metaphors having to do with coziness - being wrapped in a warm blanket, having a cup of tea or cocoa or mulled wine or brandy, enjoying an evening by the fire in the company of friends.

Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders is a charming light fantasy about loss, love, and identity with a simple plot but complex characters and themes. 

When a book opens with a perfectly hilarious - but no less heart-pounding- description of a man feeling his power (whom we will learn is POTUS - or as Sam Seaborn tells us in the opening scenes of The West Wing- the President of the United States) having his soul hurtle through a metaphysical tunnel system to be deposited in a, let’s say, more modest, actual infant, you know you’re in for a ride of your own. 

It’s obvious from page 1 that Garrett Boatman’s Bloody Bones is not going to be the sanitized (if still scary) version of folk tales you heard on your mamaw’s porch.  And that’s (mostly) a good thing - just be ready for the darkness. 

The Entirely True Story may not be “entirely true”, but it is entirely entertaining, especially for those with any interest in the history of mesmerism or spiritualists such as the Fox Sisters, or even Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle or in the feminist struggles of women at that time (or now).

The Ghostwriter is not only a compelling mystery for mystery-lovers and true-crime fans, as we pick up clues alongside Olivia - but also get a special insight through chapters told through the eyes of the three siblings in 1975 - it is also about the ways families can hurt each other, sometimes by trying to protect them - or themselves - and about how those hurts can be mended.

As someone who unironically uses the phrase "statistically significant" in her day job several times a week, I was drawn to Lucky Day's concept, and, in true Chuck Tingle style, it delivered.

Cló‘s dreams and memories begin overlapping with the perspectives we read from the other timelines, and I couldn’t read fast enough to see how they and the people around her are connected.

Night & Day, besides being edited by THE name in genre short story collection editing, Ellen Datlow, reads like a who’s who of horror - and it does not disappoint.

In classic T. Kingfisher style, Hemlock & Silver is filled with intrigue, adventure, surprise, and humor , sprinkled with a touch of body horror and a little romance.