Synopsis READERS LOVE GEMMA’S DARK, ITCHY WORLD 🐜 ‘If you are after something that is both shocking and horrifically beautiful then take a journey and discover this little atrocity for yourself’ 🐜‘I kept telling myself I really should turn off the light and get to bed now, eyes dry, head heavy, but every sentence in this book commands the reader keep […]
Body Horror
Review: Sister Svangerd and the Not Quite Dead by K.J Parker
Synopsis: Not even the Church of the Invincible Sun is invincible – and somebody has to do its dirty work. Enter Sister Svangerd and her accompanying priest, both accomplished practitioners. Their mission is simple: to make a meddlesome princess disappear (permanently). To get to her, they must attend the legendary Ecumenical Council, the once-in-a-century convening […]
Review: Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer
Synopsis: Every #tradwife needs a baby. She’ll get one at any cost. When Camille Deming isn’t cooking, cleaning, or homesteading in her picture-perfect country farmhouse, she’s posting about her tradwife lifestyle for her online followers. She takes inspiration from other tradwives on social media, aspiring to be like them, but Camille’s missing a key component: […]
Review: The Black Crow Book of Best New Horror Volume 1
Synopsis 13 original tales to terrify in a brand new anthology showcasing the very best and bizarre in horror fiction. Olivie Blake, Ramsey Campbell, Lisa Tuttle, Tim Lebbon, V Castro, Ally Wilkes, Rian Hughes, Lindy Ryan, Susi Holliday, Lily Kade, TL Huchu, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Clay McLeod Chapman Be careful what you wish for. Whether […]
Review: Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher
Synopsis: I saw the devil in these woods.” Sonia Wilson is a talented scientific illustrator—but she is only able to follow her dream because of her father’s reputation as a renowned scientist. Such is the lot in life for a woman in science in 1899. And after his death, she is left without work, prospects, […]
Review: ITCH! by Gemma Amor
ITCH! is a concerto of dark mystery, ritualistic misogyny, witchcraft, ants, expectations of women, violent control, ants, tradition, ants, and facing our fears. Oh, and also ants.
Review: Alien: Cult by Gavin G. Smith
Synopsis An FBI agent on the trail of a brutal serial killer gets caught in the web of a Xenomorph-worshipping religion in this thrilling murder mystery twist on the Alien universe, for fans of Scott Sigler’s Aliens: Phalanx and Alex White’s Cold Forge. In the affluent, technocratic Alexandria Colony, people are disappearing. And witnesses are dying in grisly, […]
Review: Wretch by Eric LaRocca
Synopsis: After his husband dies, Simeon Link finds himself overcome by grief and seeking comfort in an unusual support group called The Wretches, who offer an addictive and dangerous source of relief. They introduce Simeon to a curious figure known as Porcelain Khaw—a man with the ability to let those who are grieving have one […]
Review: The Graceview Patient by Caitlin Starling
The Graceview Patient is the polar opposite of a feel-good story.
It is confusing, delirious, claustrophobic, at times downright bleak, and frankly horrifying for so many reasons. Yes, I can almost guarantee that Starling’s raw and brilliant fever dream of a medical-horror novel will haunt you. Why? Because it is, to date, the cleverest and truest show of an unreliable narrator that I have read, while also presenting intelligent and nuanced studies into chronic illness, bodily autonomy, medical ethics, healthcare systems that seem to care more about profit margins than the lives they’re supposed to be saving, and disability. What happens when you cannot trust our own mind? Can things be too good to be true?
Review: Spread Me by Sarah Gailey
Synopsis: Kinsey has the perfect job as the team lead in a remote research outpost. She loves the isolation and the way the desert keeps temptations from the civilian world far out of reach. When her crew discovers a mysterious specimen buried deep in the sand, Kinsey breaks quarantine and brings it inside. But the […]
Eleni’s Top Reads of 2025
I couldn’t really pick a top five, nor a top ten this year. So you get the fun of a top 15! Like last year then, I’ll just be sharing all of their glorious covers and if I reviewed the book itself I’ll be linking the rambles in their titles so you can see if they are the books for you, at your leisure.
These are all books that kept me up till the very small hours of the night, some even made me see the first inklings of dawn and deprived me of even the little sleep I do get. But! I have no regrets whatsoever and neither would you, I believe, if you gave them a go!
Review: The Flesh King (Discreet Eliminators 2) by Richard Kadrey
Synopsis Tilda, Ford and Neuland hit NYC to hunt a flesh-eating monster in this bloody, macabre and witty supernatural noir packed twists, turns, betrayals and showdowns. Perfect for fans of Cassandra Khaw, Nat Cassidy and Chuck Tingle. Ford, Neuland and Tilda return home after the events of The Pale House Devil to try and make […]