A blogger friend recommended The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires to me during one of my reading slumps. I jumped on it since I’m a big fan of author Grady Hendrix’s previous novel, Horrorstor. Also, as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight enthusiast (don’t judge), I have a thing for vampires. So, I figured this Hendrix story was worth a shot.
What is The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires about? This...
The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters is a pretty morbid book title. Naturally, I was immediately drawn to it. The synopsis promised a mix of psychological thriller and supernatural suspense, so I was all "Yup, yup, that's my kind of book!" What's The Dead Girls Club about? The Dead Girls Club is told across two timelines: "Now" and "Then." The "Now" follows adult Heather, who's an anxious, nervous, borderline personality...
If it’s one thing I love about Wendy Webb novels, it’s that they’re incredibly creepy. And her latest book, The Haunting of Brynn Wilder, certainly delivers all the spine-tingling, floor-creaking moments you’d expect with a title like that. That being said… this book is also incredibly heartbreaking, which is something that I did not expect. What originally drew to me to Webb’s novels is this author’s ability to weave a damn...
House of Salt and Sorrows is aptly named: there's a heck of a lot of Salt, and there's way more sorrow than necessary plaguing the Thaumas family. The more you read, the more you're like, Sheesh, hasn't this family been through enough??? What's House of Salt and Sorrows about? House of Salt and Sorrows is author Erin A. Craig's reimagining of the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. We...
First of all, can we all just take a moment to acknowledge how much the cover for The Girl in the Mirror looks like the cover for Desperate Girls? Second of all...is it weird that I called the entire story, from beginning to end? Nothing about The Girl in the Mirror surprised me. Like, NOTHING. And I don't think it's because I'm just that brilliant (I'm not). It's because author Rose Carlyle dropped a lot of super-obvious clues throughout the...
I devoured The Whisper Man by Alex North in one weekend. I started on a Friday night, and then I just didn't want to stop. When I finally did, I had to take several deep breaths, then shake my head to clear away the intense, mesmerizing world I'd gladly lost myself in for hours on end. The Whisper Man eff'd me up Every cliché you hear about a good thriller should be applied to The Whisper Man-- because it actually deserves these...
I never wanted The Turn of the Key to end. I’ve read all of author Ruth Ware’s previous novels, save The Death of Mrs. Westaway. I liked In a Dark, Dark Wood. I really liked The Woman in Cabin 10 (though, admittedly, it did nothing to assuage my deep-seated fears of cruise ships… and/or small, confined spaces). I was pretty “meh” about The Lying Game, but I think we all were since no one really seems to talk about that one. The...
Who else pounces on a new Mary Kay Andrews book the minute it comes out? My copy of Hello, Summer arrived a few days before Memorial Day Weekend, and it made me so excited to kick off the summer season. I'd devoured another beach read last MDW, and I figured a book titled "Hello, Summer" would be a shoo-in to invoke the easy, beachy, summertime vibes. Um, no. Hello, Summer combines two things that I couldn't give two hoots about: politics and...
The Sun Down Motel gave me mixed feelings. I'd been eagerly anticipating this one for months, especially after seeing SO much love for it from readers and other book bloggers. I was so excited when it came in from my local library just before they closed down because of COVID-19. I was quarantined, but I figured, Hey, I got THE book I was waiting for, so NBD. Ehhh, not quite. The Sun Down Motel is a good book; the story it delivers is solid...
Whoever wrote the jacket copy for Catherine House should have written the actual book. Although I don't usually request ARCs, I couldn't help myself when I saw the offer for Catherine House pop up. Billed as a suspenseful, atmospheric, modern Gothic novel about a young woman who suspects her elite university is hiding a sinister secret, it sounded right up my alley. I hit "request" and eagerly awaited my copy in the mail. The ARC arrived. I...
