The nitty-gritty: Cynthia Pelayo’s latest love letter to historical Chicago is infused with ghosts, fairy tales and an intriguing mystery, perfect for genre fans who love surprises. Forgotten Sisters was such a unique reading experience, and I’m so glad I’ve finally read a book by Cynthia Pelayo. This is a weird, spooky ghost story with […]
The nitty-gritty: A supernatural revenge story revolving around a dangerous game is the focus of Melissa Albert’s latest, a beautifully written, dark tale with a compelling mystery. “That’s why they were here, eating crap coffee and bad sweets at a rest stop perched like a concrete spider over the highway. So Becca could see what […]
The nitty-gritty: A family slowly loses control of their extremely disturbed daughter in this scary, creepy domestic thriller. “Her happiness and high energy were abnormal. Mommy had turned into a balloon, and she wanted to pop her with a pin and watch her fizzle-fuzzle into nothingness.” I have finally read Zoja Stage’s debut, Baby Teeth, […]
The nitty-gritty: Monsters both supernatural and human populate the pages of this short but thrilling dark adventure tale. I always hear good things about Premee Mohamed’s books, but this is my first experience with her writing. Now I can see what all the fuss is about, because I loved everything about The Butcher of the […]
The nitty-gritty: Angsty, immature characters, overly-dramatic dialog and secrets revealed too soon add up to a disappointing story. It seems February is the month of disappointments, as yet another one of my highly anticipated 2024 releases failed to impress me. I had high hopes for An Education in Malice, especially after loving the author’s last […]
The nitty-gritty: I wanted the gothic creepiness of What Moves the Dead, but instead this sequel lacked the elements that made the first book so good. “This isn’t just a dream, though. It’s the war.” I absolutely loved What Moves the Dead last year, and I was honestly surprised to see Kingfisher had written a […]
The nitty-gritty: A short, psychological horror story that is heavy on mood and light on plot. Your Shadow Half Remains is a psychological horror story that takes place after a pandemic-like event, and it’s definitely more “psychological” than “horror,” in my opinion, which is probably why I didn’t rate it higher. I do love Sunny […]
The nitty-gritty: Darcy Coates takes the serial killer story and gives it a unique twist in this creepy and unsettling tale. “Doubtful, Illinois was a glue trap. People sometimes came in, but they very rarely left…The longer you spent in the town, the more you felt trapped there. As though there wasn’t any space for […]
The nitty-gritty: A haunted museum is the setting for Luke Dumas’ latest, a solid mystery story with supernatural elements. If you’re a dinosaur fan, and I mean if you love scientific facts about dinosaurs, you’ll probably enjoy The Paleontologist a lot. I thought I liked dinosaurs, but I have to admit parts of this book […]
The nitty-gritty: Disturbing and creepy, Nestlings is the perfect horror story to curl up with this Halloween. “What does it mean to be a mother? This, she realized. Doing what was best even though it killed you.” Nestlings arrives just in time for Halloween, and I couldn’t have picked a better book to end October […]