This book was the perfect “plant yourself on the patio and revel in the fact that you’re not adrift at sea” kind of summer read. Think fruity cocktailThis book was the perfect “plant yourself on the patio and revel in the fact that you’re not adrift at sea” kind of summer read. Think fruity cocktail in one hand, bug zapper in the other, and a silent prayer that there are no colossal carnivorous calamari in your zip code.
Set aboard a cruise ship slicing through open ocean, Tori and Nora—two hilariously self-assured, body-positive rockstars—are prepping to open for Vampire Weekend. But when a massive, bloodthirsty vampire squid rises from the depths and turns the deck into a splatterfest buffet, the glam gig turns into a gory survival showdown.
The body count may be high, but it’s the razor-sharp sarcasm that really leaves a mark. Equal parts horror romp and dark comedy delight, this novelette had me grinning through the gore. It’s high-octane, deep-sea drama with a pulse of pure punk. I devoured it like a ravenous beast from the briny deep. More, please.
If you're into books with high campy horror vibes, like the ones Danger Slater, Stephen Kozeniewski, and Brian Allen Carr write, you should get Nico Bell on your radar. ...more
So cruise horror is becoming a thing and I highly recommend everyone read some while on vacation this summer. It's fun, it's low commitment, and 99.9%So cruise horror is becoming a thing and I highly recommend everyone read some while on vacation this summer. It's fun, it's low commitment, and 99.9% of the time, your vacation will be better than their vacation. Or at least, that will definitely be the case with Vampires at Sea.
Love bites. Especially on a luxury liner.
Rebekah and Hugh are ancient, sexually fluid vampires who sign up for a two-week cruise to unwind. What better way to feed than aboard a floating buffet of horny queer passengers trapped in the middle of the ocean? It’s indulgent, decadent, and delicious.
At least, it was—until they cross paths with Heaven, a magical, nonbinary influencer with a mysterious allure. Heaven has eyes only for Hugh, and despite Rebekah’s sultry attempts to intervene, Hugh falls hard. Rebekah, consumed by jealousy, spirals into a sex-and-feeding frenzy while trying to expose Heaven for what they truly are: something dangerous, possibly otherworldly, and definitely not part of the cruise itinerary.
It’s a bloody good time, with literally no gore, even when it loses its head a little....more
The publisher's description of the book had me running over to netgalley to request a copy asap: A woman who can’t remember her death. An island with The publisher's description of the book had me running over to netgalley to request a copy asap: A woman who can’t remember her death. An island with a terrible secret. A past that refuses to stay buried. But the sea remembers it all.
I mean… folklore, isolation, and revenge soaked in brine and blood? Don’t mind if I do.
The novel kicks off with a literal buried alive scenario—Mara wakes in a coffin and claws her way out into breathless uncertainty. She remembers nothing: not her name, not her death, and certainly not why the locals insist she belongs six feet under. Everyone seems eager to fill in the blanks, but something about their stories feels... off. Like the truth is bending just out of reach.
The island of Inishbannock is equal parts remote and rotting. The air hums with old grief and older curses, the villagers are harboring dark secrets, and as Mara searches for answers, she begins to wonder if she's not at the center of it all.
I devoured this in nearly a single sitting. The writing slinks under your skin, the mystery grips hard, and the claustrophobic setting gnaws at every page. The payoff was every bit as brutal as the buildup, if not slightly weirder than I had expected.
I wasn’t sold on Knock, Knock, Open Wide, but I’m so glad I gave him another shot. This book enchanted and unsettled me. ...more
I received this as an unsolicited review copy from the publisher and while it's not something I think I would have picked up on my own, I decided to gI received this as an unsolicited review copy from the publisher and while it's not something I think I would have picked up on my own, I decided to give it a read because I'm being more intentional with knocking out the arcs I have and saw no reason to slow that roll right now.
It's a quick read for two reasons: (1) it's barely over 100 pages and (2) it's all surface, no substance. If you're looking for something to check a box on a reading list, or you want something light that you can power through in a few hours, this would be a good choice.
Ultimately, it's monster vs man but with a monster we've never encountered before. Oh, and there's a little monster-rom com sprinkled in there too, I guess, for funsies.
So basically, the girl is a monster who can pass as human but with magic powers and millions of teeth who, by nature and necessity, is compelled to devour men of violence, which they dub Alexanders. Her ill and aging mom teaches her to hunt so she can be self sufficient. On their first hunt together, girl and mom kill a guy who beats his family, then wipes the wife and son's memories and charms them into letting them crash at their place. The girl and the son hit it off, bff style, reading penny dreadful books in his mom's shop while her mom sleeps off the hunt and heals, because hunting and using magic drains you, and soon the girl decides she has to hunt on her own to allow her mom to conserve her energy, and to bring back the bad guys she kills so her mom can eat, because eating Alexanders replenishes their powers and strength.
Meanwhile, a bad priest and even badder cop are aware that these monsters exist and are keeping an eye out for them, and while trying to avoid being caught by them but still needing to prowl the town for Alexanders to eat, the girl befriends another of her kind, and then all kinds of hell breaks loose.
That's the book in a nutshell. Am I giving too much away? I mean, much of this is on the back cover and it's a novelette and I'm aware that I'm probably making it sound more exciting and interesting than it really was. The writing wasn't doing it for me and the whole thing was just kind of meh. The characters are flat as pancakes and so is the world they are navigating. I nearly DNFd it a few pages in but stuck with it because it wasn't like it was a huge time commitment. That sounds horrible doesn't it? But you guuuuuuys, DNFing is so haaaaard!...more
I need to be up front with you guys. I accepted this review copy with some hesitation. I wasn't crazy for the cover and the description sounded a littI need to be up front with you guys. I accepted this review copy with some hesitation. I wasn't crazy for the cover and the description sounded a little lackluster. But... it's Tor Nightfire and I usually really dig their stuff so I figured I'd give it a shot. And omg... I'm so glad I did!
It's a bit of a slow burn to start, with Livia discovering her husband has cheated her, which is the catalyst that propels her and her childhood girlfriends towards the Devil's Driveway, a 15 mile long seasonal shortcut between highways that's known for its extremely high death toll. In an attempt to escape an aggressive tow truck driver, the girls turn down the sketchy backroad and begin to experience periods of lost time and odd dizzy spells. It's not long before they start noticing the signs of previous car crashes and then begin seeing things that aren't there, creepy ass hallucinations that start out as bugs and bats, but then quickly escalate to darker and scarier things.
KC Jones periodically disrupts the tension with some flashbacks into Livia's past, her relationship with her father, and the bonds between her and her friends, which helps shine a light on what Livia and her gal pals are suffering through as the powerful visions pull them deeper and deeper into paranoia and panic. I found myself wanting to push through the flashbacks quickly so I could get back to the main story. For those of you who grew up on cable tv, those scenes started to feel like annoying commercial breaks, popping up at the most inopportune times, right as the shit started getting really good.
All they wanted was a relaxing weekend getaway and instead, what they got was a full fledged terror filled ride down a road that wasn't going to let them go now that it had them in its sights.
I am really late to the game with this one but in my defense, the jacket copy does not do it justice and whenever I saw people reviewing it, I just asI am really late to the game with this one but in my defense, the jacket copy does not do it justice and whenever I saw people reviewing it, I just assumed it was historical fiction, which really isn't my cuppa, so it totally flew under my radar. Until... I saw it sitting on the shelf in a used bookstore a few weeks back, in their sci-fi and fantasy section. Obviously that gave me pause, so I really looked it at this time and decided to bring it home with me.
I was feeling a bit under the weather today and this one called to me from the tbr and here we are, a handful of hours (and a man, I really don't feel good, nap in the middle) later...
I liked it! Three badass black women taking out their anger on a bunch of demonic monsters in human meat suits known as Ku Kluxes, not to be confused with the Klan, which are regular white assholes who haven't been infected or 'turned' yet.
The book is full of haints, an evil butcher, and a nasty boss monster that's determined to bring on the end of the world. And our leading lady Maryse discovers she's the one everyone's looking at to save the day.
It was soooo deliciously not what I expected! An incredibly unique spin on a very dark period of our history. ...more
Oh Sadie, how you really worked my last nerve, you stinker.
In The Cut, a pregnant woman escapes an abusive relationship with her three year old daughOh Sadie, how you really worked my last nerve, you stinker.
In The Cut, a pregnant woman escapes an abusive relationship with her three year old daughter in tow, and ends up taking a housekeeping job in an old hotel. The hotel manager Mr. Dryer takes pity on her and allows her to stay in one of the rooms for free, and she quickly befriends a kindly, long term guest named Gertie, who offers to help babysit her daughter while she works.
Within Sadie's first day at the hotel, there are strange wet noises in the hallway, random damp spots on the walls and hallway rugs, and she's witness to an incident from her window, where a guest appears to be drowning in the pool, though when she rushes out there to help, no one is around, the pool is calm and serene, the only evidence of anything untoward is the quickly drying wet drag mark on the concrete.
Mr. Dryer seems wholly unconcerned when Sadie reports it. She tries to put the weird experience behind her until the next day when she learns a guest has failed to check out and take their stuff, and notices dried blood in a tub during one of her routine cleaning jobs. And let's not mention the slimy little tentacled things that appear on the floor of her own tub while she's taking a shower... although, when she grabs Mr. Dryer again, all of the evidence is gone when he takes a look.
Is she losing her shit or is something horrible hiding just beneath the surface of the L'Arpin Hotel? And is Mr. Dyer and the rest of the staff behind it? And what of old lady Gertie, who always happens to show up right after the weird stuff takes place?
Dotson immediately sucks us in with all the strange shenanigans. I had so many questions, you guys. But then it just got meh and kept on meh-ing. There was so much to look forward to, yet so many annoyances kept popping up. The repetitive rehashing of the abuse she took, the constant fits and tantrums and coddling of her daughter, the whole not feeling safe but then running off to check things out and leaving her little girl alone, asleep in the hotel room, and even then when she was out there spying around, talking herself out of everything she saw, it got old quick. So when the real shit starting hitting the fan, I was more perturbed and less hanging on every word, because I had kind of figured out what was going on before we got there and just wanted to get it over with.
A solid three star. Less if I focus on the all the ways Sadie annoyed me and the overall execution of the book, but for the creepy, cosmic weird plot it certainly deserves more. ...more
I've seen mixed reviews on this one and I can see why. Though it's a bit slow, I found it to be completely engaging, and couldn't fault it for riding I've seen mixed reviews on this one and I can see why. Though it's a bit slow, I found it to be completely engaging, and couldn't fault it for riding the whole small town with strange secrets angle right up until the very end.
Here we meet Marshall, a journalist who's stuck in a funky state of grief over the recent loss of both her husband and their unborn baby. She's sent to a small town out in the middle of nowhere to report on a horse who allegedly gave birth to a human boy. She knows her boss is handing her this joke of an assignment so she can get her head back in the game, but once she arrives, she begins to realize there is a whole lot more to things that they initially thought.
Part investigative mystery, part folk horror, The Unmothers packs a solid punch. Horse lovers, men haters, and fans of sacrifices, weird rituals, and freaky things that follow you in the woods, will find lots to sink their teeth into here....more
This is a wonderful #forthcoming collection of flash and short stories about monsters of all kinds - #vampires #werewolves #witches #ghosts #ghouls #aThis is a wonderful #forthcoming collection of flash and short stories about monsters of all kinds - #vampires #werewolves #witches #ghosts #ghouls #aliens and of course, the worst monster of all... humans!
Lori's debut contains some of the most human monsters and monstrous humans I've read in a while. The relatability factor is high with this one.
The Monsters Are Here is a unique mix of horror and urban fantasy with a little bit of sci-fi thrown in for fun and that makes it the perfect halloween sidekick.
The death of her aunt causes Liz and her younger sister Mary to return to the house they were raised in. The ancestral mansion appears to have been seThe death of her aunt causes Liz and her younger sister Mary to return to the house they were raised in. The ancestral mansion appears to have been severely neglected even though there's a groundskeeper still employed on property, and when Liz runs into her childhood neighbor and friend Julian, she quickly begins to realize something dark and evil has taken root there.
The book is steeped in Mexican and Indigenous culture and folklore, leaning heavily into the ancient gods, ghosts, and cryptids like El Coco, Chupacabra, La Muerte, and Xolotl who are tied to that unforgiving desert landscape, which was a cool space to world-build in. Who doesn't like dark, calamitous, and ruinous fiction, amirite??
That said, Sundown in San Ojuela is a fairly uneven debut which suffers from pacing issues. It's told from multiple characters' viewpoints, each written in a different POV - Liz and Mary's are told in third person; Julian is in second person; the Sheriff is in first. While initially off putting, it ended up working out for the best because once each character's chapter is first introduced, Olivas doesn't really bother to let us know whose chapter it is anymore. And in most instances, the plot is driven forward by revisiting the past in the form of flashbacks.
A few things to note: Liz developed the skill of clairvoyance as the result of a traumatic car accident when she was younger which plays heavily into the storyline and I'd recommend you play close attention to the prologue, which acts more as an opening chapter, since the events that take place in it are happening nearly simultaneously to the rest of the storyline and is not, as I had originally thought, something that has happened in the distant past...
I think I was left more confused with the way the story was told than with the actual story itself, although towards the end it feels like things just became overly and unnecessarily complicated with its many moving parts....more
I saw this appear in exactly one #bookstagram reel, thought it sounded cool, realized it was by the author of The Beauty (which I loved!) so I bought I saw this appear in exactly one #bookstagram reel, thought it sounded cool, realized it was by the author of The Beauty (which I loved!) so I bought it and read this in one long afternoon. I could not put it down.
The book revolves around Skein Island, an invite-only resort. No men allowed. The chosen women get to stay for a week, free of charge, a temporary reprieve from their husbands, children, stresses and pressure of their every day lives. An opportunity to center themselves. The only thing it costs them is a declaration, a hand written story from their lives, that will be secreted away into the island's library.
Marianne receives one such invite. But it puts a bad taste in her mouth because it's the very same place her mother visited seventeen years ago, and from which she never returned. Though initially uninterested, she makes the rash decision to go after a terrifying encounter with a strange man one evening.
Once there, it doesn't take long before Marianne learns that there's more to the island, and it's reclusive owner, than meets the eye. Years of women's stories and the secret the island has been harboring will soon be violently pushed to the surface.
It was ALMOST a 5 star read, you guys. Once the good stuff gets going, there were a few weird moments where I felt like Whiteley bent things in an odd direction that kind of irked me, but otherwise... so sooo good! I don't know why it's not on more people's radar. Go and get it. Seriously!
The deeper into the book I got, the more certain I was that this was going to be a 5 star read for me but the ending messed with the pace of the book The deeper into the book I got, the more certain I was that this was going to be a 5 star read for me but the ending messed with the pace of the book and felt a little too rushed. I was one hundred percent strapped in and hanging on for dear life until those final pages. Did Cassidy always know that was how it would end, or did he sit there after the big boss fight and wonder "what now"? You know that meme /tik tok thing that's been going around where the person's looking at things and deciding "hmm, no... eh... oh hehehe yeaaah", saying yes to the worst possible choice. I dunno, I kinda felt like that's what he did there at the end.
Don't let my reaction to those final pages scare you aware though. The book as a whole was pretty bad ass. You think it's going to be your typical scary werewolf story but it's so much more than that while also not that at all. It's about jerk fathers and lonely kids and making bad choices and living with their consequences. It's part Twilight Zone, part survival horror, and a whole lot of omg I can't stop turning the pages to see what's going to happen next.
I love what Cassidy's been doing and how he kind of reinvents himself with every book he writes. Can't wait to see what's next.
I read this in anticipation of Claypool's Skull Slime Tentacle Witch War because it features Tentaclehead.
Good lord. Isn't this the most bizarre littI read this in anticipation of Claypool's Skull Slime Tentacle Witch War because it features Tentaclehead.
Good lord. Isn't this the most bizarre little 'children's book for adults' you've ever read?! It's absurdist. It's violent. It's sick and twisted. It's demented.
It reads a bit like Danger Slater's earlier work, with a splash of Joshua Mohr's Farsickness. And it reminds me of some of the weird shit that premiered on Adult Swim back in the really early aughts.
If that sounds like your cup of tea... give it a read. It's short and it's got illustrations! ...more
Aw man. I really gave this one a try but I ended up DNFing at 110 page mark.
The novelette Tentaclehead was weird and bizarre and fun in a really cheeAw man. I really gave this one a try but I ended up DNFing at 110 page mark.
The novelette Tentaclehead was weird and bizarre and fun in a really cheeky way and its length definitely worked in its favor. Skull Slime Tentacle Witch War is a whole lot of the same, only there's soooo many more pages... and the weirdness, which was kind of fun at first, kept getting weirder and weirder and I felt my brain turning to mush and my eyes starting to roll in their sockets.
I just couldn't see myself reading about a soda bottle baby who gushed brown liquid out of their mouth, nose, and eye holes or about a skullhead who vomited pink foam that dissolved anything it touched or about Tentaclehead's obsession with a store mannequin and his own suicidal thoughts or about a slimy goo thing that argued with itself over what to eat for another 200 pages.
But you never know. It might be the perfect summer read for you! And what a cover, huh?!...more
Saw this one on netgalley and requested a copy because I really enjoyed his book Man, Fuck This House. And I'm so glad I did. What a fun spin on the gSaw this one on netgalley and requested a copy because I really enjoyed his book Man, Fuck This House. And I'm so glad I did. What a fun spin on the genre!
Delia is a werewolf, though not in the sense that we've been led to believe. She wasn't bit or turned. She has a genetic disorder that makes her susceptible to The Change. She isn't a slave to the full moon. But she does change on a regular cycle. She leads a normal life as a human for most of the year, but during those change cycles, she has little to no memory of how she spends the nights as her wolf-self. Forced out of fear, and a care for others, she broke away from home and connected with other lycanthropes who, like her, are also ostracized and misunderstood.
As the unofficial den mother, it becomes her responsibility to relocate the younger members of the clan when one of them breaks through the barrier of their isolated hunting grounds and kills a human. They move to a ghost town their clan's founder purchased for just this type of crisis. But as they settle in, Delia and the others discover they are not the only ones there. And the thing that is stalking them is ancient and out for revenge.
It's a creature feature slash found family horror novel with a whole lot of blood and gore and a ton of heart, one where the werewolves are actually the good guys, which made for a very unique reading experience. There's tons of character backstory (yes, even for the 'monster'), and a great boss scene towards the end that kept me at the edge of my seat!
If you liked Glen Duncan's The Last Werewolf, you will dig Good Dogs. Brian's focus on the human side of the change is very similar and just as touching. While they might not remember what they do each time they change, their non-wolf selves struggle with the guilt and shame of what they are unable to control.
Oh hell no. This was not good despite the fact that it sounded right up my alley. Librarians identify a strange moss growing on the books in their basOh hell no. This was not good despite the fact that it sounded right up my alley. Librarians identify a strange moss growing on the books in their basement and when people eat it, they have immediate knowledge of the information contained within. But the moss, that nefarious weird ass moss, is working its evil magic on them when they do. There's a big bad moss monster called Grasshands and these little tippy tap tickling spiders that crawl into your mouth and kind of... I don't know... hibernate in there and attack you when provoked. Sounds interesting, right?
The writing was really rough. It's trippy and weird but not in a good way. I wanted to DNF it a couple times but I bought it at full paperback price so I was determined to get my money's worth. It was so not worth the money or the time.
I know it's early in the year still but I'm pretty sure this will end up on my worst-of list for 2025. Sigh....more
Aw man, what is it with me and the horror books I've been reading lately? Either I am becoming totally numb and jaded to the genre or my expectations Aw man, what is it with me and the horror books I've been reading lately? Either I am becoming totally numb and jaded to the genre or my expectations are just set ridiculously high. Add this one to the #meh pile.
A retelling of Rapunzel but make it horror. Only... it's not that horrorifying. True, there is a witch in the woods and some creepy cat things. There are some kidnapped children. There's some hair eating and some cannibalism. All the ingredients of a really good scary story were there but something about the writing style just fell flat for me.
I felt like I was reading a book geared more towards a YA audience than adults. The gory parts weren't gory enough. The jump scares felt more like peek-a-boo scenes. There was no real dread or tension.
I know I will likely be in the minority here, and I'm ok with that. Looking forward to seeing what you think if you get your hands on this one!...more
I picked this up as an ebook for a couple bucks because it sounded like it'd be a fun, campy horror novel and as long as you go in knowing that, it'llI picked this up as an ebook for a couple bucks because it sounded like it'd be a fun, campy horror novel and as long as you go in knowing that, it'll totally meet, and possibly exceed, your expectations. I really enjoyed this one.
Our narrator Ellie takes what appears to be her dream job with a mining company stationed 8,000 feet under the ocean. When one of the maintenance guys disappears while performing a routine repair on one of the drills, Ellie and a handful of others convince their chief to let them go out there and attempt to rescue him. No one seems to question the fact that he only had 8 hours of oxygen when he went out there, and didn't activate his distress signal until nearly a day later. Or that he seems to be 3,000 feet further down from where he should be... they just know he's alive and they've got to try to save him.
What initially felt like a good idea quickly becomes a chilling, claustrophic nightmare as Ellie and crew realize they may never make their way back up towards the surface. Their search finds them exploring a hollowed out underwater mountain, complete with strange obelisks and hieroglyphics on the walls. It doesn't take long for the crew to realize that they are not alone down there in the deep inky darkness. Something is out there stalking them and you'll never guess what it is!
If jellyfish and shark weren't enough to keep you out of the water, whooo boy! This book sure will! You'll be gasping for air in no time....more
Let the Woods Keep Our Bodies just released this week. I was in the mood for a quick creepy read and I had the digital review copy on my phone. This hLet the Woods Keep Our Bodies just released this week. I was in the mood for a quick creepy read and I had the digital review copy on my phone. This hit the spot! It was so good, I practically read it in one sitting.
It's a queer, small town, urband legend, cryptid cosmic horror story. I know it sounds weird but trust me on this, it fucking works!
Leo and her girlfriend Tate are no strangers to trauma. While Leo is trying to put distance between hers, Tate's all about exploring and understanding it. Scared of the forest, yet intriqued by the local disappearances and deaths that have been reported in the woods surrounding the town's cemetery, Tate convinces Leo to go on a walk that ends with Tate going missing and Leo under suspicion.
Leo refuses to believe Tate's dead but she can't remember what happened in those last moments they were together. In an attempt to jog her memory, she leverages some of Tate's recent research into the town's history, and her parents' gruesome deaths, but uncovering a unique link between that and the strange door she and Tate stumbled across while out there.
What are some of your favorite 'small town with dark secret' stories?
A 1990's conversion camp with a sinister secret? Sure, sign me up. A group of queer teens battling a horrific evil? Uhm, of course I'm all for it.
CucA 1990's conversion camp with a sinister secret? Sure, sign me up. A group of queer teens battling a horrific evil? Uhm, of course I'm all for it.
Cuckoo is simultaneously tender and cheeky but also quite dark and twisted. Imagine an 80's summer camp horror movie and Invasion of the Body Snatchers mashup and you'll get the gist. It's not write-home-to-mother good, but it's definitely worth a read. ...more