How Bad Things Can Get lives up to its title from the get go, with things starting off seemingly fine if a tiny bit off, only to then get progressively worse for our protags. Fast paced and delectably foreshadowed, this book is also an intelligent commentary on influencer culture, not merely a sassy dig against it.
Paranormal
Review: The Exorcist’s House by Nick Roberts
Synopsis: This psychological thriller follows a family to their Appalachian farmhouse, where they encounter an unimaginable horror. In the summer of 1994, psychologist Daniel Hill buys a rustic farmhouse nestled in the rolling hills of West Virginia. Along with his wife and teenage daughter, the family uproots their lives in Ohio and moves south. They […]
Review: House of Beth by Kerry Cullen
Synopsis A haunting and seductive tale of a young career woman who slides quickly into the role of stepmother, in a life that may still belong to someone else. “Vivid, addictive, and crackling with life (yes, even the ghost), House of Beth asks us to consider how and why we make the lives we make” (Lynn Steger […]
Review: Veil by Jonathan Janz
Synopsis: It begins at night. People vanish from parks and city streets. Then in broad daylight, they’re dragged screaming into the woods, into the water, into the sky. People take refuge in their homes, but still the invisible creatures come, ripping people away from their horrorstruck loved ones. Spouses. Parents. Children. Nowhere is safe and […]
Review: Stay on the Line by Clay McLeod Chapman (Audiobook)
Synopsis: “This book is a literary punch to the heart.” —New York Times After a small coastal town is devastated by a hurricane, the survivors gravitate toward a long out-of-service payphone in hopes of talking out their grief and saying goodbye to loved ones, only for it to begin ringing on its own. As more […]
Review: Acquired Taste by Clay McLeod Chapman
Synopsis: They’re feeding on you too. A father returns from serving in Vietnam with a strange and terrifying addiction; a man removes something horrifying from his fireplace, and becomes desperate to return it; and a right-wing news channel has its hooks in people in more ways than one. From department store Santas to ghost boyfriends […]
Review: Stay on the Line by Clay McLeod Chapman
Stay on the Line is a deeply human novelette about the loss of a loved one. It’s the kind of story you can’t help but finish in one sitting.
Review: Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones
Synopsis The New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians, Stephen Graham Jones, brings readers a spine-tingling journey through a young boy’s haunted home. Winner of the 2017 Bram Stoker Award for Long Fiction! “A triumph. So emotionally raw, disturbing, creepy, and brilliant.”—Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie Walking through his own house at night, […]
Review: Feeders by Matt Serafini
Synopsis: When a video depicting the brutal murder of a former classmate leaks online, Kylie Bennington’s—whose dreams of becoming a successful influencer remain frustratingly elusive—curiosity gets the better of her, leading to the discovery of an off-the-grid social media app called MonoLife. As it turns out, there are certain cryptic rules in the user agreement […]
Review: Fear by Jose Francisco Trevino Chavez
Synopsis: Fear – arguably humanity’s strongest emotion – is both a blessing and a curse. It hinders some, while it fuels others, but without it, our species would not have survived hundreds of thousands of years. However it might affect you, you’ve felt fear. We all have. Within this book, you’ll come face to face […]
Review: The Girl in the Walls by Meg Eden Kuyatt
Synopsis There’s a ghost in the walls, and V must decide if it is an ally or an enemy. The wrong decision could destroy her and her family. From Schneider Honor Award winning author Meg Eden Kuyatt comes a chilling and insightful novel-in-verse. After a hard school year, V has been sent to her Grandma […]
Review: A Spell for Change by Nicole Jarvis
A Spell for Change is everything you want in a leisurely weekend read: it is a heartfelt, intriguing, and at times eerie tale of defiant people trying to carve out space for themselves to peacefully exist true to themselves, in a world that tries to tell them they have no right to. It presents us with food for thought while also granting escapism, wonder, and supernatural phenomena that I will not spoil the exact nature of.