The Violin draws upon classic stories and Medieval themes, with a touch of paranormality, giving this gothic horror a uniquely timeless feel.
Gothic
Review: The Brides by Charlotte Cross
Synopsis: ‘Come to me, and be mine for eternity’ 1884. When Mafalda journeys to Budapest to care for her grieving aunt, her secret love, Lucy, hurries from London to comfort her, with chaperone and lady’s maid in tow. But lady’s maid Alice, blessed and cursed with the Sight, is tormented by terrifying visions. When chaperone […]
Review: Weavingshaw (Weavingshaw #1) by Heba Al-Wasity
Al-Wasity regales us with a true slow-burn of old, the eventual lovers are most definitely enemies for a more than sufficient amount of time to meet the criteria and, most importantly, the yearning induced in the reader is sensational.
Review: This House Will Feed by Maria Tureaud
Synopsis Amidst the devastation of Ireland’s Great Famine, a young woman is salvaged from certain death when offered a mysterious position at a remote manor house haunted by a strange power and the horror of her own memories in this chillingly evocative historical novel braided with gothic horror and supernatural suspense for readers of Katherine […]
Review: Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies by John Langan
Corpsemouth & Other Autobiographies is a fantastically tantalising set of dark tales, with a deep mythology to be uncovered as you scratch away at its surface, revealing something sinister between the words on the page.
Review: We Are Always Tender With Our Dead (Burnt Sparrow #1) by Eric LaRocca
Synopsis The lives of those residing in the isolated town of Burnt Sparrow, New Hampshire, are forever altered after three faceless entities arrive on Christmas morning to perform a brutal act of violence—a senseless tragedy that can never be undone. While the townspeople grieve their losses and grapple with the aftermath of the attack, a young teenage […]
Review: The Fisherman by John Langan
The Fisherman is a solid tale, with a great sense of cosmic myth in this tragic, grief veined fable.
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: 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?
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: Alone in the Dark (2024)
ALONE IN THE DARK (2024) is the latest incarnation of the classic survival horror video game franchise that started before Resident Evil was just a glint in Shinji Mikami’s eye. It has had its ups and downs over the years but never quite managed to bottle lightning the way its first game did with Detective […]
Review: The Haunting of Sorrow’s Leap by Chris Sorensen
Synopsis Ellen Marx used to talk to the dead. Now they’re ghosting her… With her psychic gifts on the fritz, she’s been demoted to hawking discount crystals at third-rate paranormal conventions. But when she inadvertently solves a supernatural challenge at New Jersey’s Hooky Spooky Convention, she catches the eye of the event’s reclusive sponsor: a […]