Voices in the Snow by Darcy Coates

Title: Voices in the Snow (Black Winter #1)

Author: Darcy Coates

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press 2019

Genre: Horror

Pages: 352

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Winter TBR - Snowy Setting; Cover Lover - Ice in some form

Where I Got It: Library

Clare remembers the cold. She remembers abandoned cars and children's toys littered across the road. She remembers dark shapes in the snow and a terror she can't explain. And then... nothing. When she wakes, aching and afraid in a stranger's gothic home, he tells her she was in an accident, a crash in the snow. He claims he saved her. Clare wants to leave, but a vicious snowstorm has blanketed the world in white, trapping them together, and there's nothing she can do but wait.

At least the stranger seems kind... but Clare doesn't know if she can trust him. He promised they were alone here, but she sees and hears things that convince her something else is creeping about the surrounding woods, watching. Waiting. Between the claustrophobic storm and the inescapable sense of being hunted, Clare is on edge... and increasingly certain of one thing:

Her car crash wasn't an accident. Something is waiting for her to step outside the fragile safety of the house... something monstrous, something unfeeling.

Something desperately hungry.

I wanted something wintery. I wanted something propulsive. I wanted something creepy and maybe even a bit scary. I got everything I wanted in this book. I loved the mounting tension through the majority of the chapters. We really do not know if Clare is a reliable narrator for almost the entire time. It created a sense of unease that I ate up! And Dorran was such a mystery. I kept going back and forth about him until the end. As it stands, the creepy appearances were perfectly creepy. My only complaint was the reveal of who was controlling the “people.” I didn’t love that. But I will keep reading in this series.

Black Winter

#1 Voices in the Snow
#2 Secrets in the Dark
#3 Whispers in the Mist
#4 Silence in the Shadows

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Next up on the TBR pile:

Overgrowth by Mira Grant

Title: Overgrowth

Author: Mira Grant

Publisher: Tor Nightfire 2025

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 469

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Winter - Speculative Fiction

Where I Got It: Library

This is just a story. It can't hurt you anymore.

Since she was three years old, Anastasia Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that she's an alien disguised as a human being, and that the armada that left her on Earth is coming for her. Since she was three years old, no one has believed her.

Now, with an alien signal from the stars being broadcast around the world, humanity is finally starting to realize that it's already been warned, and it may be too late. The invasion is coming, Stasia's biological family is on the way to bring her home, and very few family reunions are willing to cross the gulf of space for just one misplaced child.

What happens when you know what’s coming, and just refuse to listen?

I was so disappointed in this book… I have loved Grant’s previous books, especially Drowning in the Deep, but this one was boring and lacked any punch or horror. I was pulled in by the comparison to Day of the Triffids and Annihilation. It is neither of those things. Instead, we get almost 400 pages of Anastasia warning of the invasion and people talking about how weird she is. That’s about it. The actual invasion seems super anti-climatic after all those pages. I wanted action. I wanted horror. Instead, this read like a young adult novel where the main character repeats how unlikeable they are and how people don’t understand them. I was thoroughly bored.

Next up on the TBR pile:

What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher

Title: What Stalks the Deep (Sworn Soldier #3)

Author: T. Kingfisher

Publisher: Tor Nightfire 2025

Genre: Horror

Pages: 179

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Winter TBR - Horror; Cover Lover - Compound word in title or author’s name

Alex Easton does not want to visit America.

They particularly do not want to visit an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia with a reputation for being haunted.

But when their old friend Dr. Denton summons them to help find his lost cousin―who went missing in that very mine―well, sometimes a sworn soldier has to do what a sworn soldier has to do...

Another really good novella featuring the indomitable Alex Easton! This time finds our hero deep in an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia searching for a friend’s cousin. Of course Easton is going to find something creepy and probably dangerous down in that mine. I love how Kingfisher can ramp up the tension throughout the chapter until the big reveal to Alex and the audience. This one wasn’t quite as terrifying as the first one or as atmospheric as the second one, but it was definitely a solid horror novella. I cannot wait to see what Kingfisher dreams up next for our favorite Sworn Soldier.

Sworn Soldier

#1 What Moves the Dead
#2 What Feasts at Night
#3 What Stalks the Deep

Next up on the TBR pile:

Tourist Season by Brynne Weaver

Title: Tourist Season (Seasons of Carnage #1)

Author: Brynne Weaver

Publisher: Slowburn 2025

Genre: Horror Romance

Pages: 368

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Seasonal Winter - Romance; Romanceopoly - Secret Stacks Club (Plot Twist Pages); Cover Lover - Weapon from the board game Clue

Where I Got It: Library

Spice Rating: 6

Welcome to Cape Carnage! Visit Once, Stay Forever.

You can hide in the farthest reaches of the deepest hell, and I will still drag you out. Even the devil can’t save you from me.

Cape Carnage is a seaside town of colorful houses, quirky shops, and an unusually high body count. With tourists comes trouble, and Harper Starling won’t let anyone ruin her picture-perfect home. A skilled gardener with killer instincts, Harper protects her sanctuary—and her aging mentor with a fading memory—at any cost. Troublesome tourists don’t check out of Carnage. They compost beneath Harper’s award-winning flowerbeds.

But Nolan Rhodes isn’t your average tourist. Devilishly handsome, disarmingly charming, and skilled with a blade, Nolan is relentless in the pursuit of revenge. On every anniversary of the hit-and-run accident that fractured his life, Nolan slays another target. And he’s saved the best for last: the undeniably beautiful Harper Starling. The problem? Harper isn’t the monster he expected. And she won’t go down without a fight.

When an amateur true crime investigator comes to Cape Carnage on the trail of a long-lost serial killer, Harper and Nolan strike an uneasy truce. If Nolan helps Harper protect her town, she’ll keep quiet about his hunting habits . . . for now. But their alliance soon spirals into obsession, one that threatens to shatter every secret in Carnage—including their fragile love.

Not quite to the level of the Ruinous Love trilogy, but I did thoroughly enjoy this book full of more murder than spicy scenes. I enjoyed the strange cat and mouse game the leads played throughout the chapters. We get to see two very broken people deal with traumatic pasts and find romance along the way. The murder scenes were delightful. My favorite was the hands clapping. Morpheus the murder bird was a great addition to all of those scenes. I loved the interactions between Harper and Arthur. The few spicy scenes were very strong. But I felt that the chemistry between Nolan and Harper was lacking a bit. I would have liked some more conversations and/or pining from either of them. The ending does have a cliffhanger, but Nolan and Harper gets a HEA or at least a happy-right-now. I will definitely be picking up the next book when it releases in June.

Seasons of Carnage

#1 Tourist Season
#2 Harvest Season
#3 TBD

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Haunting of H.G. Wells by Robert Masello

Title: The Haunting of H.G. Wells

Author: Robert Masello

Publisher: 47North 2020

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Pages: 393

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: COYER; Cover Lover - Outdated technology (typewriter, film camera, rotary telephone, etc.)

Where I Got It: Kindle Account

It’s 1914. The Great War grips the world—and from the Western Front a strange story emerges…a story of St. George and a brigade of angels descending from heaven to fight beside the beleaguered British troops. But can there be any truth to it?

H. G. Wells, the most celebrated writer of his day—author of The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man—is dispatched to find out. There, he finds an eerie wasteland inhabited by the living, the dead, and those forever stranded somewhere in between…a no-man’s-land whose unhappy souls trail him home to London, where a deadly plot, one that could turn the tide of war, is rapidly unfolding.

In league with his young love, the reporter and suffragette Rebecca West, Wells must do battle with diabolical forces—secret agents and depraved occultists—to save his sanity, his country, and ultimately the world.

I picked this up thinking that it would be a good spooky read set in a time that I don’t often see. Unfortunately, this just really fell so flat for me. The promised spooky content never really materialized. We got a great spooky prologue, but then it’s revealed later that the prologue was completely made up. Instead the spooky content was vague conspiracies and secret societies. It never really delivered on its promise. But my big problem with the book had to do with the character of H.G. Wells and his relationship with Rebecca West. I am not a fan of surprise Jesus and I am really not a fan of surprise infidelity. They were both pretty terrible characters. I just couldn’t get behind either one. I know that the book was trying to play off of the real people behind the characters, but it was still very off-putting. Such a disappointment.

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:

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 27

Title: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 27

Author: Junji Ito

Publisher: VIZ Media 2025

Genre: Manga Horror

Pages: 192

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series

Where I Got It: Library

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about. Should any demon consume Sukuna’s body parts, the power they gain could destroy the world as we know it. Fortunately, there exists a mysterious school of jujutsu sorcerers who exist to protect the precarious existence of the living from the supernatural!

Gojo has been defeated! Without time to process this loss, Kashimo takes on Sukuna, but will he stand a chance once the King of Curses completes his transformation? Meanwhile, the entertainer Takaba takes on Kenjaku one-on-one!

Um… this was a bit jumbled. Parts of this were confusing as to who actually was speaking. I got lost on several pages and really had to puzzle out what characters were saying. Blergh. I have really enjoyed this series overall, but this volume just didn’t work for me.

Jujutsu Kaisen

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:

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.

Romanceopoly 2025 Board Light Skin Brown Hair.jpg

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:

In the Shadow of Spindrift House by Mira Grant

Title: In the Shadow of Spindrift House

Author: Mira Grant

Publisher: Subterranean Press 2019

Genre: Horror

Pages: 197

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Read Around the USA - Maine

Where I Got It: Library

Nature abhors a straight line. The natural world is a place of curves and softened edges, of gentle mists and welcoming spirals. Nature remembers deviation; nature does not forgive.

For Harlowe Upton-Jones, life has never been a straight line. Shipped off to live with her paternal grandparents after a mysterious cult killed her mother and father, she has grown up chasing the question behind the curve, becoming part of a tight-knit teen detective agency. But “teen” is a limited time offer, and when her friends start looking for adult professions, it’s up to Harlowe to find them one last case so that they can go out in a blaze of glory.

Welcome to Spindrift House.

The stories and legends surrounding the decrepit property are countless and contradictory, but one thing is clear: there are people willing to pay a great deal to determine the legal ownership of the house. When Harlowe and her friends agree to investigate the mystery behind the manor, they do so on the assumption that they’ll be going down in history as the ones who determined who built Spindrift House—and why. The house has secrets. They have the skills. They have a plan. They have everything they need to solve the mystery.

Everything they need except for time. Because Spindrift House keeps its secrets for a reason, and it has no intention of letting them go.

Nature abhors a straight line.

Here’s where the story bends.

This short novella packed a serious punch! The book dumps the reader right into an unsettling, confusing story full of mystery and horror. We meet our four characters, learn a bit about their past, and then are thrown into a very scary house. The imagery sucked me into the atmosphere. I had the sense of drowning throughout the entire book, exactly what Grant intended. As the story unfolds, you just know that things are not going to end well. But I loved seeing just how badly this situation ended. A quick read that only took me two settings, but I loved every page of it. Extra points for not belaboring the story, but telling it in the time that was needed.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson

Title: Dark Tales

Author: Shirley Jackson

Publisher: Penguin 2016

Genre: Horror Short Stories

Pages: 195

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Cover Lover -“Dark” in Title

Where I Got It: Library

After the publication of her short story “The Lottery” in the New Yorker in 1948 received an unprecedented amount of attention, Shirley Jackson was quickly established as a master horror storyteller. This collection of classic and newly reprinted stories provides readers with more of her unsettling, dark tales, including the “The Possibility of Evil” and “The Summer People.” In these deliciously dark stories, the daily commute turns into a nightmarish game of hide and seek, the loving wife hides homicidal thoughts and the concerned citizen might just be an infamous serial killer. In the haunting world of Shirley Jackson, nothing is as it seems and nowhere is safe, from the city streets to the crumbling country pile, and from the small-town apartment to the dark, dark woods. There’s something sinister in suburbia.

I have very much enjoyed many of Jackson’s stories in the past, but this collection fell pretty flat for me. Many of the stories seem to abruptly end without any satisfying conclusion. Or the stories have a twist that feels trite and boring in many cases. And then there are a few stories that are so confusing that I’m not sure what exactly happened. There are a few bright spots in the collection including the first story “The Possibility of Evil” and a later story called “A Visit.” In general I enjoy Jackson’s unsettling brand of psychological horror. I just prefer some of her other stories.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

Title: Of Monsters and Mainframes

Author: Barbara Truelove

Publisher: Bindery Books 2025

Genre: Sci-fantasy Horror

Pages: 411

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Unread Shelf

Where I Got It: Afterword Books and Tavern, Kansas City MO - Bookish Retreat June 2025

Demeter just wants to do her job: shuttling humans between Earth and Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately, her passengers keep dying—and not from equipment failures, as her AI medical system, Steward, would have her believe. These are paranormal murders, and they began when one nasty, ancient vampire decided to board Demeter and kill all her humans.

To keep from getting decommissioned, Demeter must join forces with her own team of monsters: A werewolf. An engineer built from the dead. A pharaoh with otherworldly powers. A vampire with a grudge. A fleet of cheerful spider drones. Together, this motley crew will face down the ultimate evil—Dracula.

On a whim, I picked this one up during this year’s Bookish Retreat. Something about the vibes of the summary gave me pause. I wanted to understand exactly what type of book this was. Thankfully it was an utter delight and a wild ride. I loved every single page of it. We get a cross between the Universal Monsters and the Murderbot series with a mash-up I didn’t realize I needed. Demeter and Steward are great narrators as we span time, space, and realities. We get a beautiful found family story wrapped up in horror and blood. Every chapter felt like a surprising new adventure for me. I kept turning the pages with glee. Ultimately I sped through the book desperate to find out what would happen next. Definitely going to be going onto my year’s Top 10.

Next up on the TBR pile: