The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch

Title: The Nightmare Before Kissmas (Royals and Romance #1)

Author: Sara Raasch

Publisher: Bramble 2024

Genre: Romance

Pages: 357

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Romanceopoly - The Holiday Spectacle (Holiday Theme)

Where I Got It: Library

Nicholas “Coal” Claus used to love Christmas. Until his father, the reigning Santa, turned the holiday into a PR façade. Coal will do anything to escape the spectacle, including getting tangled in a drunken, supremely hot make-out session with a beautiful man behind a seedy bar one night.

But the heir to Christmas is soon commanded to do his duty: he will marry his best friend, Iris, the Easter Princess and his brother’s not-so-secret crush. A situation that has disaster written all over it.

Things go from bad to worse when a rival arrives to challenge Coal for the princess’s hand…and Coal comes face-to-face with his mysterious behind-the-bar hottie: Hex, the Prince of Halloween.

It’s a fake competition between two holiday princes who can’t keep their hands off each other over a marriage of convenience that no one wants. And it all leads to one of the sweetest, sexiest, messiest, most delightfully unforgettable love stories of the year.

A random library find to bridge Spooky Season and Holiday Reads. Thank goodness it worked out. We get an alternate reality where all the holidays are embodied by ruling families. We meet the Princes of Christmas and Halloween and the Princess of Easter. From there we get some great situational romance opportunities and an underlying conspiracy. I loved the romance aspect. Seeing Coal and Hex get together was oh so cute and delightful. My issue came from the underlying conspiracy. Things just didn’t get revealed or come to a head until the last 20 pages. And then the book left off at a bit of a cliffhanger. I am interested in continuing to read the series with the sequel. Hopefully some of that plot line gets resolved in the next book.

Royals and Romance

• #1 The Night Before Kissmas

• #2 Go Luck Yourself

Next up on the TBR pile:

A Land So Wide by Erin A. Craig

Title: A Land So Wide

Author: Erin A. Craig

Publisher: Pantheon 2025

Genre: Horror

Pages: 352

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; I Read Horror - Cryptid

Where I Got It: Library

Like everyone else in the settlement of Mistaken, Greer Mackenzie is trapped. Founded by an ambitious lumber merchant, the village is blessed with rich natural resources that have made its people prosperous—but at a cost. The same woods that have lined the townsfolks’ pockets harbor dangerous beasts: wolves, bears, and the Bright-Eyeds—monsters beyond description who have rained utter destruction down on nearby settlements. But Mistaken’s founders made a deal with the mysterious Benevolence: the Warding Stones that surround the town will keep the Bright-Eyeds out—and the town’s citizens in. Anyone who spends a night within Mistaken’s borders belongs to it forever.

Greer, a mapmaker and eccentric dreamer, has always ached to explore the world outside, even though she knows she and her longtime love, Ellis Beaufort, will never see it. Until, on the day she and Ellis are meant to finally begin their lives together, Greer watches in horror as her beloved disappears beyond the Warding Stones, pursued by a monstrous creature. Determined to rescue Ellis, she figures out a way to defy Mistaken’s curse and begins a trek through the cold and pitiless wilderness. But there, Greer is hunted, not only by the ruthless Bright-Eyeds but by the secret truths behind Mistaken’s founding and her own origins.

I went into this book completely blind and was so grateful for that fact. I didn’t even read the summary on the back past the first paragraph. Something told me to just wait and dive in! Ultimately, I really enjoyed this creepy adventure tale. We get a strange village in a strange land (it’s never revealed exactly where although I have some suspicions). where “things” lurk outside of the Wandering Stone. What happens outside of those stone? And what does it have to do with Greer? I really enjoyed following the slow reveals of the mysteries of Mistaken. I called a few of the twists, but not all of them. I do enjoy when a book pleasantly surprises me. Be advised that this book does involve death, some gory moments, and body horror aspects.

Next up on the TBR pile:

This House is Haunted by John Boyne

Title: This House is Haunted

Author: John Boyne

Publisher: Other Press 2013

Genre: Horror

Pages: 291

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season

Where I Got It: Library

This House Is Haunted is a striking homage to the classic nineteenth-century ghost story. Set in Norfolk in 1867, Eliza Caine responds to an ad for a governess position at Gaudlin Hall. When she arrives at the hall, shaken by an unsettling disturbance that occurred during her travels, she is greeted by the two children now in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There is no adult present to represent her mysterious employer, and the children offer no explanation. Later that night in her room, another terrifying experience further reinforces the sense that something is very wrong.
 
From the moment Eliza rises the following morning, her every step seems dogged by a malign presence that lives within Gaudlin’s walls. Eliza realizes that if she and the children are to survive its violent attentions, she must first uncover the hall’s long-buried secrets and confront the demons of its past. Clever, captivating, and witty, This House Is Haunted is pure entertainment with a catch.

Another random pick from the library shelves. I’m always up for a good ghost story and this one certainly delivered. We get a first person narration a la an 19th century work. I definitely got shades of Dickens and Poe in this volume. We follow Eliza as she deals with her grief and changes in life, but of course things are not quite as they seem. I loved how the story slowly unfolded with little incidences here and there ramping up the tension and suspense. There are not many creepy scenes, but we get a lot of fun scenes and circumstances. The story finally comes to a head in the last 25 pages. And it’s a doozy.

Next up on the TBR pile:

My Funny Demon Valentine by Aurora Ascher

Title: My Funny Demon Valentine (Hell Bent #1)

Author: Aurora Ascher

Publisher: Kensington 2021

Genre: Romance

Pages: 368

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Romanceopoly - Krampus Night (Monsters)

Where I Got It: Library

Spice Rating: 6

Asmodeus, Prince of Hell, just wants to make music. Jazz, specifically. Unfortunately, he’s a demon. And he’s supposed to be evil.

Clearly, for Ash, a career as a musician isn’t exactly an option. Plus, he’s cursed. Sick of playing by the rules, Ash and his three brothers escape Hell in search of freedom on Earth. But it’s harder than they thought to keep their enemies off their tails . . .

Yet everything changes for Ash when he meets a beautiful violinist who can see through his curse. No matter the risk, he has to have her.

Evangeline Gregory is just your average human. She works at a jazz bar, plays gigs on weekends . . . and, apparently, hallucinates demons.

At least that’s what Eva tells herself when, moments after she meets the man of her dreams, she sees him shift into a 7-foot-tall monster. Not believing her own eyes, Eva decides to investigate and soon finds herself in the middle of a supernatural clusterf**k.. But Ash isn’t the only one keeping secrets, and the search for answers reveals a shocking truth that will change Eva’s life forever. Or maybe just doom it. The path to love can be complete Hell.

I just… no. I was hoping for some fun enemies to lovers, some miscommunication (but keep it light), and lots of sexual tension. Instead I got a super bland insta-love story that relied way too much on clever sentences and profanity. Don’t get me wrong, I curse like a sailor in real life. But to constantly rely on profanity instead of actual dialogue is just lazy and not fun to read at all. Insta-love is one of my least favorite romance tropes because we usually are just supposed to buy these characters are perfect for each other, but we never really get to see why. I want to dive into the actual meat of relationships. Insta-love just skips over those parts. And don’t get me started on the fact that they are demons in here, but they’re all great guys. Um no. Well, at least here’s one series I can take off my TBR list.

Hell Bent

• #0.5 My Demon Romance

• #1 My Funny Demon Valentine

• #2 My Demon Hunter

• #3 Demon with Benefits

• #4 Guardian Demon

• #5 Beauty and the Demon

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Great Mortality by John Kelly

Title: The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time

Author: John Kelly

Publisher: Harper Perennial 2005

Genre: Nonfiction - History

Pages: 364

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nonfiction Reader; Spooky Season

Where I Got It: Library

The plague that devastated Asia and Europe in the 14th century has been of never-ending interest to both scholarly and general readers. Many books on the plague rely on statistics to tell the story: how many people died; how farm output and trade declined. But statistics can’t convey what it was like to sit in Siena or Avignon and hear that a thousand people a day are dying two towns away. Or to have to chose between your own life and your duty to a mortally ill child or spouse. Or to live in a society where the bonds of blood and sentiment and law have lost all meaning, where anyone can murder or rape or plunder anyone else without fear of consequence.

Wow! This has been on my TBR pile for years and now I understand why it kept popping up as a recommendation for me. We get a detailed, and I do mean detailed, examination of the the Black Death as it swept through Asia and Europe in the mid-1300s. Kelly goes region by region showing how the plague affected the people of the area. We get interesting insights from contemporary plague chroniclers as well as interpretations from modern scientists. I was fascinated to learn from the primary sources as well as analysis. This is a hard read. Obviously there are graphic depictions of death and suffering in here. But I think it is an essential read to understand history and gain insights into the changes following the plague.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

Title: Kingdom of the Wicked (Kingdom of the Wicked #1)

Author: Kerri Maniscalco

Publisher: Jimmy Patterson Books 2020

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 372

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; Spooky Season

Where I Got It: Flagship Books, Kansas City, MO, June 2025

Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe - witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family's renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin...desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister's killer and to seek vengeance at any cost--even if it means using dark magic that's been long forbidden.

Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked--princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia's side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women's murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems...

I had such high hopes for this book. It’s starts off strong with a very creepy prologue and then dives into world of Princes of Hell and witches. I was hoping for some high-paced tension filled romance and suspense. I was hoping for a strong female character attempting to avenge her sister’s death. And a dark, sexy male character forced into helping her. Instead, we get a whiny teenager who constantly questions everything, but lets other people make decisions for her. And a practically nonexistent male lead who randomly shows up to save Emilia from time to time. I was just so bored and annoyed. Definitely will not be continuing on with this series.

Kingdom of the Wicked

• #1 Kingdom of the Wicked

• #2 Kingdom of the Cursed

• #3 Kingdom of the Feared

Next up on the TBR pile:

Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch by Rivka Galchen

Title: Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch

Author: Rivka Galchen

Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 2021

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 275

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; Spooky Season

Where I Got It: The Raven Bookstore, Lawrence KS June 2022

The story begins in 1618, in the German duchy of Württemberg. Plague is spreading. The Thirty Years' War has begun, and fear and suspicion are in the air throughout the Holy Roman Empire. In the small town of Leonberg, Katharina Kepler is accused of being a witch.

Katharina is an illiterate widow, known by her neighbors for her herbal remedies and the success of her children, including her eldest, Johannes, who is the Imperial Mathematician and renowned author of the laws of planetary motion. It's enough to make anyone jealous, and Katharina has done herself no favors by being out and about and in everyone's business.

So when the deranged and insipid Ursula Reinbold (or as Katharina calls her, the Werewolf) accuses Katharina of offering her a bitter, witchy drink that has made her ill, Katharina is in trouble. Her scientist son must turn his attention from the music of the spheres to the job of defending his mother. Facing the threat of financial ruin, torture, and even execution, Katharina tells her side of the story to her friend and next-door neighbor Simon, a reclusive widower imperiled by his own secrets.

I desperately wanted to love this book, but it really fell flat for me. I didn’t realize when I bought it that this was a fictionalized account of a real witch trial. I did not get the connection to famed scientists Johannes Kepler until almost halfway through the book. I completely missed that point! Beyond my lack of understanding, I found the plot and pacing to be very dull and plodding through most of the pages. We get a few fun paragraphs of Katharina’s commentary about her neighbors and the society she lives in. We get some wit and wisdom in there. But most of the chapters are just slow and meandering. This was definitely not the book for me this year.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Fiend by Alma Katsu

Title: Fiend

Author: Alma Katsu

Publisher: GP Putnam 2025

Genre: Horror

Pages: 243

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; I Love Horror - Katsu

Where I Got It: Library

Imagine if the Sackler family had a demon at their beck and call.

The Berisha family runs one of the largest import-export companies in the world, and they’ve always been lucky. Their rivals suffer strokes. Inconvenient buildings catch on fire. Earthquakes swallow up manufacturing plants, destroying harmful evidence. Things always seem to work out for the Berishas. They’re blessed.

At least that is what Zef, the patriarch, has always told his three children. And each of them knows their place in the family—Dardan, as the only male heir, must prepare to take over as keeper of the Berisha secrets, Maris’s most powerful contribution, much to her dismay, will be to marry strategically, and Nora’s job, as the youngest, is to just stay out of the way. But when things stop going as planned, and the family blessing starts looking more like a curse, the Berishas begin to splinter, each hatching their own secret scheme. They didn’t get to be one of the richest families in the world without spilling a little blood, but this time, it might be their own.

I love love loved Katsu’s previous book The Hunger and was really hoping for lots of creepiness and suspense. Instead, we get a book were nothing happens for like 70% of the pages. Seriously there wasn’t enough supernatural or creepy things in this one to keep my attention. Also, the summary of the book gives away the big reveal, even if I figured it out about 40 pages into the story. Beyond the actual plot, every one of these characters are completely terrible people. I was rooting for the demon to turn and kill all of them. Seriously.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Tomes of Terror by Mark Leslie

Title: Tomes of Terror: Haunted Bookstores and Libraries

Author: Mark Leslie

Publisher: Dundurn Press 2014

Genre: Nonfiction - Horror

Pages: 272

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Nonfiction Reader

Where I Got It: Library

Throughout history, books have inspired, informed, entertained, and enriched us. They have also kept us up through the night, thrilled us, and lured into their endless depths. Tomes of Terror is a celebration and an eerie look at the siren call of literature and the unexplained and fascinating stories associated with bookish locations around the world.

Mark Leslie's latest paranormal page-turner is a compendium of true stories of the supernatural in literary locales, complete with hair-raising first-person accounts. You may even recognize a spectre of your local library lurking in these true stories and photographs. If you have ever felt an indescribable presence hanging about a quiet bookshop, then you’ll enjoy these fascinating and haunting tales.

Not that scary. Not that interesting. I am really striking out on books lately. The author’s writing style annoyed me. Not sure as to why, but it did.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Carrow Hunt by Darcy Coates

Title: The Carrow Hunt

Author: Darcy Coates

Publisher: Poisoned Press 2018

Genre: Horror

Pages: 379

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Quarter of a Century - 2018

Where I Got It: Library

Some houses are merely haunted. Carrow House is something else entirely.

Dark corridors. Whispering walls. A history soaked in blood. In The Carrow Haunt, USA Today bestseller Darcy Coates delivers a pulse-pounding tale of isolation, terror, and the secrets we invite when we chase the dead.

Remy, a tour guide for the notoriously haunted Carrow House, hasn't seen any proof of the paranormal―yet. But when she's offered a week-long residency alongside a handful of guests and a professional medium to investigate the home's disturbing reputation, curiosity wins. Finally, a chance to prove―or debunk―the chilling legends she's been sharing as truth.

At first, it's everything they dreamed of. Mysterious sounds. Cold spots. Doors that creak open on their own. But when a storm cuts them off from the outside world and one of the guests dies under bizarre circumstances, fascination gives way to dread.

As panic spreads, Remy can no longer ignore the chilling thought that something once human is still here… and it remembers how to kill.

I’m always up for a quick spooky Darcy Coates story in the fall. She writes fast-paced thrillers always with lots of creepy scenes. I really enjoyed this whole locked room style ghost horror story. I care less about the characters and more about the plot with these ones. We start strong with a tour of the haunted house and then dive right into the actual plot. My favorite scenes were the ones including the seances. Perfectly creepy and suspenseful. Coates’s books aren’t high literature. But they sure are fun to read!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

Title: Heartless Hunter (Crimson Moth #1)

Author: Kristen Ciccarelli

Publisher: Wednesday Books 2024

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pages: 406

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Retreat Recommendation

Where I Got It: Library

On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.

Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe - a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution - who she can't help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

Multiple people at the retreat in June told me that I needed to read this book and the sequel that came out this year. I finally picked this up and flew through it quickly. It’s a very fast paced story with lots of action scenes and suspense. I enjoyed the plot even if the few “twists” were telegraphed very early on. I mean this is a young adult novel. I was expecting a fast moving plot. I was very interested in the magic system and wished that we could have learned a bit more about it. But my biggest issue with this book I the love triangle and romance. It just doesn’t land like a swoony romance. Alex is too much of a wet blanket. Gideon is too full o hate. And then Rune is just a girl who doesn’t quite inspire the great romantic feelings from two brothers. But I did enjoy story and world enough to want to read the sequel.

Crimson Moth

• #1 Heartless Hunter

• #2 Rebel Witch

Next up on the TBR pile:

Rosen Blood Vol. 5

Title: Rosen Blood Vol. 5

Author: Kachiru Ishizue

Publisher: VIZ Media 2022

Genre: Manga

Pages: 192

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Finishing the Series

Where I Got It: Library

After a horrific carriage accident, Stella Violetta awakens in a Gothic mansion to find that her saviors are gorgeous young men. The manor’s residents let her stay as a maid, but Stella soon realizes that their allure hides a savage thirst.

Claude and Friedrich take desperate measures as they vie for Stella’s affection, but she only has eyes for Levi. This frantic battle for her heart leads to further bloodshed and forces Stella to make a big decision. Can her love for Levi last in the face of unrelenting obstacles?

Oh goodness! That was one wild ride of a conclusion. We get to see Yoel serve his purpose, Friedrich attempt to change his colors, and Gilbert’s steady protection all while Levi attempts to save Stella and her heart. I would have liked to see a bit more of conclusion, there are so many unanswered questions, but I am glad that they have become a family again. Overall, a fun little series.

Rosen Blood

• Volume 1

• Volume 2

• Volume 3

• Volume 4

• Volume 5

Next up on the TBR pile:

Rosen Blood Vol. 3

Title: Rosen Blood Vol. 3

Author: Kachiru Ishizue

Publisher: VIZ Media 2020

Genre: Manga

Pages: 160

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Finishing the Series

Where I Got It: Library

After a horrific carriage accident, Stella Violetta awakens in a Gothic mansion to find that her saviors are gorgeous young men. The manor’s residents let her stay as a maid, but Stella soon realizes that their allure hides a savage thirst.

Gilbert reappears to warn Stella about sweet and friendly Yoel. Can she trust the man who attacked her? Stella also fends off Friedrich’s advances while deepening her relationship with Levi. As the beautiful men Stella lives with reveal their secrets, her life depends on protecting herself from their dark impulses.

Why do I love Gilbert so much? Of course he ends up being a misunderstood character all the while protecting Stella from Yoel. I should have seen this all coming. Thankfully this volume gives us more answers to all the questions surrounding the boys. We find out more about their mysterious creator and each of their purposes. I do wonder about Friedrich’s purpose though…

Rosen Blood

• Volume 1

• Volume 2

• Volume 3

• Volume 4

• Volume 5

Next up on the TBR pile:

Rosen Blood Vol. 2

Title: Rosen Blood Vol. 2

Author: Kachiru Ishizue

Publisher: VIZ Media 2019

Genre: Manga

Pages: 162

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Finishing the Series

Where I Got It: Library

After a horrific carriage accident, Stella Violetta awakens in a Gothic mansion to find that her saviors are gorgeous young men. The manor’s residents let her stay as a maid, but Stella soon realizes that their allure hides a savage thirst.

Yearning leads to danger when mansion resident Levi starves himself for Stella’s sake. To save him, Stella must journey into his soul while he’s unconscious and confront the nun Luchia’s grasp on his past. Then, even wakefulness may bring no reprieve from nightmares when another nonhuman, Friedrich, reveals a horrifying secret…

We finally get some answers about the “statues” and those strange crystals. Most of this volume is taken up by an entire dream sequence which does at least move the plot forward, These volumes are a fun respite from much heavier and longer reads.

Rosen Blood

• Volume 1

• Volume 2

• Volume 3

• Volume 4

• Volume 5

Next up on the TBR pile:

Rosen Blood Vol. 1

Title: Rosen Blood Vol. 1

Author: Kachiru Ishizue

Publisher: VIZ Media 2018

Genre: Manga

Pages: 160

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Finishing the Series

Where I Got It: Library

After a horrific carriage accident, Stella Violetta awakens in a Gothic mansion to find that her saviors are gorgeous young men. The manor’s residents let her stay as a maid, but Stella soon realizes that their allure hides a savage thirst.

Levi-Ruin and the mysterious men who took Stella in have a bare kitchen…and a moaning box in the storehouse. After discovering mansion dweller Gilbert’s lifelike sculptures, the new maid faces a sinister reality. Can she survive the bloodlust? Stella must distinguish danger from passion as fear begins to feed on her!

Another random library pick. I saw it on the comic shelves and immediately grabbed the entire series. It’s a fun little series about a girl who stumbles into a house full of handsome by mysterious and potentially dangerous men. Of course she immediately falls for one of them, but then the horror begins. I loved the reveal of the “statues” in the closet. Cannot wait to see where the story goes next.

Rosen Blood

• Volume 1

• Volume 2

• Volume 3

• Volume 4

• Volume 5

Next up on the TBR pile:

Zomromcom by Olivia Dade

Title: Zomromcom

Author: Olivia Dade

Publisher: Berkley 2025

Genre: Horror/Romance

Pages: 416

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Romanceopoly — Spooky Reads

Where I Got It: Library

Spice Rating: 4

When Edie Brandstrup attempts to save her sweet, seemingly harmless human neighbor from the first major zombie breach in two decades, she’s stunned to be saved by him—and his ridiculously large sword—instead. As it turns out, he's actually a super-old, super-surly vampire. But for all her neighbor's newly revealed cynicism and lethality, Gaston "Max" Boucher (yes, Gaston) is unexpectedly protective. He wants her to stay in his safety bunker until the breach is resolved. Edie can’t risk more innocent people getting killed, though—and Max won’t let her save them alone.

As they unravel a sinister conspiracy to set zombies loose on the world (again), the duo meet a host of lovable allies and discover they're not the only ones willing to fight for the future of humanity. Despite the awful timing, Edie finds herself falling for the vampire who’s helping her save the world . . . but all their dangerous plans could end their future before it even begins. As she and Max battle side by side, Edie must decide whether having a love worth living for also means having a love you'd die for—and, in a world that grows deadlier by the minute, whether that’s a risk she’s willing to take.

Another random pick from the library New Reads shelf. I had no idea what I was going to read, but have enjoyed some of Dade’s previous books. I started this one and couldn’t put it down. It was such. fun wild ride. We jump right away into a world that has already experienced a zombie apocalupse and now we have a potential containment issue. Edie and Max are a great duo full of banter and spunk as their attempt to understand what exactly is happening and how to stop the zombies. There is a good blend of horror and romance in this one. But be forewarned that this volume ends on a cliffhanger. Guess I will have to wait until the next one to see how this story plays out.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers by Jen Campbell

Title: The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers and Other Gruesome Tales

Author: Jen Campbell

Publisher: Thames & Hudson 2021

Genre: Horror Short Stories

Pages: 120

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Cover Lover - A key

Where I Got It: Library

Do you dare read this collection of terrifyingly gruesome tales? In this gripping volume, author Jen Campbell offers young readers an edgy, contemporary, and inclusive take on classic fairy tales, taking them back to their gory beginnings while updating them for a modern audience with queer and disabled characters and positive representation of disfigurement.

Featuring fourteen short stories from China, India, Ireland, and across the globe, The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers is an international collection of the creepiest folk tales. Illustrated with Adam de Souza’s brooding art, this book’s style is a totally original blend of nineteenth-century Gothic engravings meets moody film noir graphic novels. Headlined by the Korean tale of a carnivorous child, The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers is a truly thrilling gift for brave young readers.

I picked up this slim volume of horror short stories randomly from the library. In it, we get a revised selections of classic folklore stories with some beautiful illustrations. Most of the stories were delightful and spooky. But my biggest issue is how short some of the stories are. Some of them really just end abruptly with no satisfying conclusion. I just really wanted more from this collection. The illustrations really did bring this collection up for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud

Title: The Strange

Author: Nathan Ballingrud

Publisher: Saga Press 2023

Genre: Science Fiction; Horror

Pages: 304

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; I Read Horror - Black, Gray, Orange, or Red Cove

Where I Got It: Library

Since Anabelle’s mother left for Earth to care for her own ailing mother, her days in New Galveston have been spent at school and her nights at her laconic father’s diner with Watson, the family Kitchen Engine and dishwasher, as her only companion. When the Silence came, and communication and shipments from Earth to its colonies on Mars stopped, life seemed stuck in foreboding stasis until the night Silas Mundt and his gang attacked.

At once evoking the dreams of an America explored in Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chroniclesand the harsher realities of frontier life in Charles Portis True Grit, Ballingrud’s “brilliant” (Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of The Cabin at the End of the World) novel is haunting in its evocation of Annabelle’s quest for revenge amidst a spent and angry world accompanied by a domestic Engine, a drunken space pilot, and the toughest woman on Mars.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

Title: Lone Women

Author: Victor LaValle

Publisher: One World 2023

Genre: Horror, Historical Fiction

Pages: 275

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf Project; Spooky Season; Read Around the USA - Montana

Where I Got It: The Bookworm, Omaha NE March 2024

Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk opens, people around Adelaide start to disappear.

The year is 1915, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, forcing her to flee California in a hellfire rush and make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will become one of the “lone women” taking advantage of the government’s offer of free land for those who can tame it—except that Adelaide isn’t alone. And the secret she’s tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing that will help her survive the harsh territory.

This was perfect! We dive headfirst into a bleak and unforgiving story of a women attempting to survive on her own in the wilds. We don’t know exactly why Adelaide is running from California, but we know that it was bad. We follow her to Montana where she faces a different set of struggles. Along the way, we meet a varied cast of characters, all of whom are suspicious in their motives at least once. I found myself really rooting for Adelaide to survive and come out stronger than ever. There is violence in this book. There is some spookiness in this book. But ultimately, I found a lot of strength and hope in these pages. This is my brand of feminist rage!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Dr. Mutter's Marvels by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz

Title: Dr. Mütter’s Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine

Author: Cristin O’Keefe Aptoqicz

Publisher: Avery 2014

Genre: Nonfiction - History, Medicine

Pages: 371

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Nonfiction Reader; Cover Lover - Depiction of a Famous Person

Where I Got It: Library

A mesmerizing biography of the brilliant and eccentric medical innovator who revolutionized American surgery and founded the country’s most famous museum of medical oddities
 
Imagine undergoing an operation without anesthesia, performed by a surgeon who refuses to sterilize his tools—or even wash his hands. This was the world of medicine when Thomas Dent Mütter began his trailblazing career as a plastic surgeon in Philadelphia during the mid-nineteenth century.

Although he died at just forty-eight, Mütter was an audacious medical innovator who pioneered the use of ether as anesthesia, the sterilization of surgical tools, and a compassion-based vision for helping the severely deformed, which clashed spectacularly with the sentiments of his time. Brilliant, outspoken, and brazenly handsome, Mütter was flamboyant in every aspect of his life. He wore pink silk suits to perform surgery, added an umlaut to his last name just because he could, and amassed an immense collection of medical oddities that would later form the basis of Philadelphia’s renowned Mütter Museum.

I’m always interested in micro-history books and this one did not disappoint. We dive into the life of Thomas Mütter, exploring the world of medicine in the early 1800s along the way. I loved how the author tried to explain some of the choices of Mutter by pointing to other events and trends of the day. We get a comprehensive look of the time. We get an in-depth and oftentimes gory look at medicine. Do not pick it up if you are squeamish at all. But for the rest of us, it was a fascinating journey. My only issues are that the overall story meanders some times dragging my reading speed down. If I ever go back to Philadelphia, I definitely want to visit the Mütter Museum. Unfortunately, I was last there when the twins were 10 and they were definitely a bit young for that museum. Still, the book was a very interesting biography in context.

Next up on the TBR pile: