A blogger friend recommended The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires to me during one of my reading slumps. I jumped on it since I’m a big fan of author Grady Hendrix’s previous novel, Horrorstor. Also, as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight enthusiast (don’t judge), I have a thing for vampires. So, I figured this Hendrix story was worth a shot.
What is The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires about? This...
The Dead Girls Club is a pretty morbid book title -- so, naturally, I was immediately drawn to it. The synopsis promised a mix of psychological thriller and supernatural suspense, so I was all "Yup, yup, that's my kind of book!" I'm not usually a fan of books that blur the line between "is this a haunting or a pyschotic break?," with a very few exceptions. However, author Damien Angelica Walters did a good job with this one. Normally, I'm all...
If it’s one thing I love about Wendy Webb novels, it’s that they’re incredibly creepy. And her latest book, The Haunting of Brynn Wilder, certainly delivers all the spine-tingling, floor-creaking moments you’d expect with a title like that. That being said… this book is also incredibly heartbreaking, which is something that I did not expect. What originally drew to me to Webb’s novels is this author’s ability to weave a damn good...
House of Salt and Sorrows is aptly named: there's a heck of a lot of Salt, and there's way more sorrow than necessary plaguing the Thaumas family. The more you read, the more you're like, Sheesh, hasn't this family been through enough??? Despite having more money than Pontus, the one thing they don't have is the ability to keep their women out of harm's way: in the past few years, Annaleigh Thaumas has lost her mother and four -- four! --...
Dixie Wheeler, the main character of Theme Music, is a little odd. She gets a pass, though. You would, too, if your whole family was brutally slaughtered in front of your eyes. You heard me. The prologue of this debut novel by T. Marie Vandelly is an incredibly graphic replay of when Dixie’s father pulled a Lizzie Borden on his family, taking an axe and chopping them into pieces one Thanksgiving morning. Reader, be warned. This lil' intro is...
I devoured The Whisper Man by Alex North in one weekend. I started on a Friday night, and then I just didn't want to stop. When I finally did, I had to take several deep breaths, then shake my head to clear away the intense, mesmerizing world I'd gladly lost myself in for hours on end. Every cliché you hear about a good thriller should be applied to The Whisper Man-- because it actually deserves these accolades. "Heart-pounding."...
I feel like Blanky is a cautionary tale about trusting people who can't spell. I mean, would you buy something from a shopkeeper advertising "BABY CLOSE" (i.e., "clothes") for sale? I sure as hell wouldn't. If for no other reason than on the principle of being a proud (and snobbish) English major who mastered second grade spelling. Unfortunately, main character Steve and his wife weren't as bothered about this obvious portent of doom. They went...
I didn't think I was spooked by The Graveyard Apartment. I really didn’t. Then I had a dream that I was trying to herd my Japanese family (which I don't have) out of our high-rise apartment building (which I don't live in) that's teeming with ghosts. THAT'S when I knew this intensely creepy, Japanese horror story had really gotten to me. It's easy to understand why. The sense of dread and unease that permeates the The Graveyard Apartment...
I never wanted The Turn of the Key to end. I’ve read all of author Ruth Ware’s previous novels, save The Death of Mrs. Westaway. I liked In a Dark, Dark Wood. I really liked The Woman in Cabin 10 (though, admittedly, it did nothing to assuage my deep-seated fears of cruise ships… and/or small, confined spaces). I was pretty “meh” about The Lying Game, but I think we all were since no one really seems to talk about that one. The...
This hardly ever happens to me, but...I have no idea what to write as a book review for Lock Every Door. As I read a book, I'm usually furiously scribbling notes in my little journal; I know I won't remember bookish thoughts later on that come to me in the moment, so I make sure to jot them down as reference points for when I write my reviews. But, I didn't make any notes for Lock Every Door. Not a single one. I was too busy reading. I was...
