Tabitha's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 24 Apr 2025 17:03:26 -0700 60 Tabitha's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science]]> 50188782 336 Erika Engelhaupt 1426220979 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.08 2021 Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science
author: Erika Engelhaupt
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Play Nice 222419303 A woman must confront the demons of her past when she attempts to fix up her childhood home in this devilishly clever take on the haunted house novel from the USA Today bestselling author.

Clio Louise Barnes leads a picture-perfect life as a stylist and influencer, but beneath the glossy veneer she harbors a not-so glamorous secret: she grew up in a haunted house. Well, not haunted. Possessed. After Clio’s parent’s messy divorce, her mother, Alex, moved Clio and her sisters into a house occupied by a demon. Or so Alex claimed. That’s not what Clio’s sisters remember or what the courts determined when they stripped Alex of custody after she went off the deep end. But Alex was insistent; she even wrote a book about her experience in the house.

After Alex’s sudden death, the supposedly possessed house passes to Clio and her sisters. Where her sisters see childhood trauma, Clio sees an opportunity for house flipping content. Only, as the home makeover process begins, Clio discovers there might be some truth to her mother’s claims. As memories resurface and Clio finally reads her mother’s book, the presence in the house becomes more real, and more sinister, revealing ugly truths that threaten to shake Clio’s beautiful life to its very foundation.]]> 336 Rachel Harrison 0593642570 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.65 2025 Play Nice
author: Rachel Harrison
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Night Watchman 43721059
Thomas Wazhashk is the night watchman at the jewel bearing plant, the first factory located near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota. He is also a Chippewa Council member who is trying to understand the consequences of a new “emancipation� bill on its way to the floor of the United States Congress. It is 1953 and he and the other council members know the bill isn’t about freedom; Congress is fed up with Indians. The bill is a “termination� that threatens the rights of Native Americans to their land and their very identity. How can the government abandon treaties made in good faith with Native Americans “for as long as the grasses shall grow, and the rivers run�?

Since graduating high school, Pixie Paranteau has insisted that everyone call her Patrice. Unlike most of the girls on the reservation, Patrice, the class valedictorian, has no desire to wear herself down with a husband and kids. She makes jewel bearings at the plant, a job that barely pays her enough to support her mother and brother. Patrice’s shameful alcoholic father returns home sporadically to terrorize his wife and children and bully her for money. But Patrice needs every penny to follow her beloved older sister, Vera, who moved to the big city of Minneapolis. Vera may have disappeared; she hasn’t been in touch in months, and is rumored to have had a baby. Determined to find Vera and her child, Patrice makes a fateful trip to Minnesota that introduces her to unexpected forms of exploitation and violence, and endangers her life.

Thomas and Patrice live in this impoverished reservation community along with young Chippewa boxer Wood Mountain and his mother Juggie Blue, her niece and Patrice’s best friend Valentine, and Stack Barnes, the white high school math teacher and boxing coach who is hopelessly in love with Patrice.

In the Night Watchman, Louise Erdrich creates a fictional world populated with memorable characters who are forced to grapple with the worst and best impulses of human nature. Illuminating the loves and lives, the desires and ambitions of these characters with compassion, wit, and intelligence, The Night Watchman is a majestic work of fiction from this revered cultural treasure.]]> 464 Louise Erdrich 0062671200 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.05 2020 The Night Watchman
author: Louise Erdrich
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Frontiers of Fright: A Southwestern Horror Anthology]]> 220383072 302 A.E. Santana Tabitha 0 to-read 4.50 Frontiers of Fright: A Southwestern Horror Anthology
author: A.E. Santana
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration]]> 59366223 �The Great Displacement is closely observed, compassionate, and far-sighted.� —Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Under a White Sky

The untold story of climate migration in the United States—the personal stories of those experiencing displacement, the portraits of communities being torn apart by disaster, and the implications for all of us as we confront a changing future.

Even as climate change dominates the headlines, many of us still think about it in the future tense—we imagine that as global warming gets worse over the coming decades, millions of people will scatter around the world fleeing famine and rising seas. What we often don’t realize is that the consequences of climate change are already visible, right here in the United States. In communities across the country, climate disasters are pushing thousands of people away from their homes.

A human-centered narrative with national scope, The Great Displacement is “a vivid tour of the new human geography just coming into view� (David Wallace-Wells, New York Times bestselling author of The Uninhabitable Earth). From half-drowned Louisiana to fire-scorched California, from the dried-up cotton fields of Arizona to the soaked watersheds of inland North Carolina, people are moving. In the last few decades, the federal government has moved tens of thousands of families away from flood zones, and tens of thousands more have moved of their own accord in the aftermath of natural disasters. Insurance and mortgage markets are already shifting to reflect mounting climate risk, pricing people out of risky areas.

Over the next fifty years, millions of Americans will be caught up in this churn of displacement, forced inland and northward in what will be the largest migration in our country’s history. The Great Displacement compassionately tells the stories of those who are already experiencing life on the move, while detailing just how radically climate change will transform our lives—erasing historic towns and villages, pushing people toward new areas, and reshaping the geography of the United States.]]> 368 Jake Bittle 1982178256 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.27 2023 The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration
author: Jake Bittle
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)]]> 228177199 A brand new series. An iconic new detective duo. And a puzzling new murder to solve...

Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.

Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. As a private security officer, she doesn’t stay still long enough for habits or routines. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Which was meant to be an easy job...

Then a dead body, a bag of money, and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending an SOS to the only person she trusts. A breakneck race around the world begins, but can Amy and Steve stay one step ahead of a lethal enemy?]]> 400 Richard Osman 0593653246 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.00 2024 We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)
author: Richard Osman
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> How to Survive a Horror Story 219542927 Seven authors enter the manor

Can they survive the story within?

When legendary horror author Mortimer Queen passes, a group of writers find themselves invited to his last will and testament reading expecting a piece of his massive fortune. Each have their own unique connection to the literary icon, some known, some soon to be discovered, and they've been waiting for their chance to step into the author's shoes for some time.

Instead, they arrive at his grand manor and are invited to play a game. The rules are simple, solve the riddle and progress to the next room. If they don't, the manor will take one of them for itself.

You see, the Queen estate was built on the bones of Mortimer's family, and like any true horror story, the house is still very, very hungry.

With the clever, locked-room thrills of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone with the ghostly horror of The Fall of the House of Usher, How to Survive a Horror Story is a bright, biting, thrill-ride that begs us to contemplate how the best horror stories come to be.]]> 368 Mallory Arnold 1464227403 Tabitha 0 3.74 2025 How to Survive a Horror Story
author: Mallory Arnold
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: currently-reading, from-netgalley
review:

]]> Stag Dance 215362032 In this collection of one novel and three stories, bestselling author Torrey Peters’s keen eye for the rough edges of community and desire push the limits of trans writing.

In Stag Dance, the titular novel, a group of restless lumberjacks working in an illegal winter logging outfit plan a dance that some of them will volunteer to attend as women. When the broadest, strongest, plainest of the axmen announces his intention to dance as a woman, he finds himself caught in a strange rivalry with a pretty young jack, provoking a cascade of obsession, jealousy, and betrayal that will culminate on the big night in an astonishing vision of gender and transition.

Three startling stories surround Stag Dance: “Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones� imagines a gender apocalypse brought about by an unstable ex-girlfriend. In “The Chaser,� a secret romance between roommates at a Quaker boarding school brings out intrigue and cruelty. In the last story, “The Masker,� a party weekend on the Las Vegas strip turns dark when a young crossdresser must choose between two guides: a handsome mystery man who objectifies her in thrilling ways, or a cynical veteran trans woman offering unglamorous sisterhood.

Acidly funny and breathtaking in its scope, with the inventive audacity of George Saunders or Jennifer Egan, Stag Dance provokes, unsettles, and delights.]]> 304 Torrey Peters 0593595645 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.06 2025 Stag Dance
author: Torrey Peters
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Carnival Kills: A Novel 231468644 🎡🔪 📖 "Perfect for fans of Texas Chainsaw, Clown in a Cornfield, and Saw, this retro slasher thriller delivers nonstop suspense, gruesome kills, and �80s horror nostalgia."

In 1965, the infamous Red Hook Jack turned a small-town carnival into a blood-soaked nightmare, leaving behind a legacy of terror. His name became legend in Hollow Creek.

Now, nearly twenty years later—Spring Break, 1986—Maddie and her friends set out for a lakeside getaway, for a weekend of fun. However, on the last night of the trip, their dream vacation is turned into a waking nightmare when they visit the local run-down park, Hollow Creek's Carnival.

A copycat killer has emerged, reviving Red Hook Jack’s reign of terror. Trapped in a twisted carnival of death, Maddie and her friends find themselves unwilling players in a sinister game—one where every attraction hides a gruesome fate, and every game comes with deadly stakes.

As the body count rises and the carnival transforms into a slaughterhouse, Maddie must confront a horrifying this isn’t just random massacre. The motive? Revenge. And she’s stuck at the heart of it.

🎪 Step right up� if you dare. Welcome to Hollow Creek's Carnival�if the rides don’t kill you, the killers will.]]> 144 Caesar Daniels Tabitha 0 to-read 4.50 Carnival Kills: A Novel
author: Caesar Daniels
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Graveyard Apartment 30164422 The Graveyard Apartment is arguably Koike’s masterpiece. Originally published in Japan in 1986, Koike’s novel is the suspenseful tale of a young family that believes it has found the perfect home to grow into, only to realize that the apartment’s idyllic setting harbors the specter of evil and that longer they stay, the more trapped they become.

This tale of a young married couple who harbor a dark secret is packed with dread and terror, as they and their daughter move into a brand new apartment building built next to a graveyard. As strange and terrifying occurrences begin to pile up, people in the building start to move out one by one, until the young family is left alone with someone... or something... lurking in the basement. The psychological horror builds moment after moment, scene after scene, culminating with a conclusion that will make you think twice before ever going into a basement again.]]> 334 Mariko Koike 1466865822 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.39 1988 The Graveyard Apartment
author: Mariko Koike
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.39
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shadow of the Titanic: The Extraordinary Stories of Those Who Survived]]> 13036369 391 Andrew Wilson 1847377300 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.92 2011 Shadow of the Titanic: The Extraordinary Stories of Those Who Survived
author: Andrew Wilson
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Run the Storm: A Savage Hurricane, a Brave Crew, and the Wreck of the SS El Faro]]> 37588359 In the bestselling tradition of The Perfect Storm and The Finest Hours, “an exquisitely written and dramatic book…a literary page-turner� (Doug Stanton, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Horse Soldiers)—the 2015 mysterious disappearance of the SS El Faro, a gigantic American cargo ship that sank in the Bermuda Triangle, taking with it thirty-three lives.

On October 1, 2015, the SS El Faro, a massive American cargo ship disappeared in Hurricane Joaquin, a category 4 storm. The ship, its hundreds of shipping containers, and its entire crew plummeted to the bottom of the ocean, three miles down. It was the greatest seagoing US merchant marine shipping disaster since World War II. The massive ship had a seasoned crew, state-of-the-art navigation equipment, and advance warning of the storm. It seemed incomprehensible that such a ship could sink so suddenly. How, in this day and age, could something like this happen?

Relying on Coast Guard inquest hearings, as well as on numerous interviews, George Michelsen Foy brings us “the most insightful exploration of this unthinkable disaster� (Outside), a story that lasts only a few days, but which grows almost intolerably suspenseful as deep-rooted flaws leading to the disaster inexorably link together and worsen. We see captain, engineers, and crew fight for their lives, and hear their actual words (as recorded on the ship’s black box) while the hurricane relentlessly tightens its noose around the ship. We watch, minute by minute, all that is happening on board—the ship’s mysterious tilt to one side, worried calls to the engine room, ship-to-shore reports, the courage of the men and women as they fight to survive, and the berserk ocean’s savage consumption of the massive hull. And through it all, the pain and ultimate resilience of the families of El Faro’s crew. Now with a new afterword, this “tour de force of nautical expertise� (Ocean Navigator) is a masterwork of stunning power.]]> 272 George Michelsen Foy 150118489X Tabitha 0 to-read 3.91 2018 Run the Storm: A Savage Hurricane, a Brave Crew, and the Wreck of the SS El Faro
author: George Michelsen Foy
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Husband Stitch 55452104 "‘I have heard all of the stories about girls like me, and I am unafraid to make more of them.�

If you read this story out loud, please use the following voices:
Me: as a child, high-pitched, forgettable; as a woman, the same.
The boy who will grow into a man, and be my spouse: robust with his own good fortune.
My father: Like your father, or the man you wish was your father.
My son: as a small child, gentle, rounded with the faintest of lisps; as a man, like my husband.
All other women: interchangeable with my own.

Carmen Maria Machado is the celebrated author of the memoir In the Dream House and the vibrant story collection Her Body and Other Parties. She has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the winner of the Bard Fiction Prize, the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction, the Brooklyn Public Library Literature Prize, a Shirley Jackson Award and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize.]]> 45 Carmen Maria Machado Tabitha 0 to-read 4.32 The Husband Stitch
author: Carmen Maria Machado
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.32
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> We Should All Be Feminists 22738563 We Should All Be Feminists, a personal, eloquently-argued essay—adapted from her much-viewed TEDx talk of the same name—by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the award-winning author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun.

With humor and levity, here Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century—one rooted in inclusion and awareness. She shines a light not only on blatant discrimination, but also the more insidious, institutional behaviors that marginalize women around the world, in order to help readers of all walks of life better understand the often masked realities of sexual politics. Throughout, she draws extensively on her own experiences—in the U.S., in her native Nigeria, and abroad—offering an artfully nuanced explanation of why the gender divide is harmful for women and men, alike.

Argued in the same observant, witty and clever prose that has made Adichie a bestselling novelist, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman today—and an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.]]> 52 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Tabitha 0 to-read 4.42 2012 We Should All Be Feminists
author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Monstrilio 62888191 A literary horror debut about a boy who transforms into a monster, a monster who tries to be a man, and the people who love him in every form he takes

Grieving mother Magos cuts out a piece of her deceased eleven-year-old son Santiago’s lung. Acting on fierce maternal instinct and the dubious logic of an old folktale, she nurtures the lung until it gains sentience, growing into the carnivorous little Monstrilio she keeps hidden within the walls of her family’s decaying Mexico City estate. Eventually, Monstrilio begins to resemble the Santiago he once was, but his innate impulses—though curbed by his biological and chosen family’s communal care—threaten to destroy this fragile second chance at life.

A thought-provoking meditation on grief, acceptance, and the monstrous sides of love and loyalty, Gerardo Sámano Córdova blends bold imagination and evocative prose with deep emotional rigor. Told in four acts that span the globe from Brooklyn to Berlin, Monstrilio offers, with uncanny clarity, a cathartic and precise portrait of being human.]]> 336 Gerardo Sámano Córdova 1638930368 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.11 2023 Monstrilio
author: Gerardo Sámano Córdova
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Threshold by Caitlin R. Kiernan (2001-11-01)]]> 135656417 0 Caitlín R. Kiernan Tabitha 0 to-read 3.33 2001 Threshold by Caitlin R. Kiernan (2001-11-01)
author: Caitlín R. Kiernan
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Resurrectionist 210365385 Historical fiction, true crime, and dark academia intertwine in a harrowing tale of murder, greed, and the grisly origins of modern medicine.

Edinburgh, Scotland, 1828. Naïve but determined James Willoughby has abandoned his posh, sheltered life at Oxford to pursue a lifelong dream of studying surgery in Edinburgh. A shining beacon of medical discovery in the age of New Enlightenment, the city’s university offers everything James desires—except the chance to work on a human cadaver.

For that he needs to join one of the private schools in Surgeon’s Square, at a cost he cannot afford. In desperation he strikes a deal with Aneurin “Nye� MacKinnon, a dashing young dissectionist with an artist’s eye for anatomy and a reckless passion for knowledge. Nye promises to help James gain the surgical experience he craves—but it doesn’t take long for James to realize he’s made a devil’s bargain... Nye is a body snatcher—and James has unwittingly become his accomplice.]]> 336 A. Rae Dunlap 1496750349 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.88 2024 The Resurrectionist
author: A. Rae Dunlap
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Starling House 65213595 A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.]]> 320 Alix E. Harrow 1250799058 Tabitha 5
This is the first Alix E. Harrow book I've devoured as an audiobook, and while I plan on buying the print copy because I am that big of a fan of Harrow and her beautiful words, I deeply enjoyed Starling House as an audiobook. Natalie Naudus is an incredible narrator who imbues so much emotion into the story she's reading that it feels like a friend telling you the most interesting story (which does have a lot to do with how great of a writer Harrow is as well).

Starling House is a romantic story told through the lens of a scary Wonderland and the poverty of coal country in Kentucky. It's a story of oppression, class warfare, racism, and sexism, and the fact that while things are better, they're still not exactly good for many people - because things like racism, sexism, and classism still exist. It's a story about how insular communities get stuck in their ways, needing to be forced to evolve and adapt by tooth and nail (literally, in the case of Starling House). Everything Harrow has written that I've read is absolutely gut-wrenching, but she always seems able to tie it in a pretty, if gritty, fairy tale bow, discussing hard truths of society through fantasy.

Harrow is one of the best writers out there today, and while I used to think I was biased saying that, the more I read from her the more I think that is an objective truth - Alix E. Harrow is just a fantastic story-teller who really does know her way with words, and this newest book shows how she is only getting better.

I'll be recommending Starling House to absolutely everyone and it is easily in my top 3 of 2023. I'm just sad it's ended... but can't wait to read it again!]]> 3.77 2023 Starling House
author: Alix E. Harrow
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/12
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: from-netgalley, read-as-audiobook, horror, woods-setting
review:
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy of the audiobook.

This is the first Alix E. Harrow book I've devoured as an audiobook, and while I plan on buying the print copy because I am that big of a fan of Harrow and her beautiful words, I deeply enjoyed Starling House as an audiobook. Natalie Naudus is an incredible narrator who imbues so much emotion into the story she's reading that it feels like a friend telling you the most interesting story (which does have a lot to do with how great of a writer Harrow is as well).

Starling House is a romantic story told through the lens of a scary Wonderland and the poverty of coal country in Kentucky. It's a story of oppression, class warfare, racism, and sexism, and the fact that while things are better, they're still not exactly good for many people - because things like racism, sexism, and classism still exist. It's a story about how insular communities get stuck in their ways, needing to be forced to evolve and adapt by tooth and nail (literally, in the case of Starling House). Everything Harrow has written that I've read is absolutely gut-wrenching, but she always seems able to tie it in a pretty, if gritty, fairy tale bow, discussing hard truths of society through fantasy.

Harrow is one of the best writers out there today, and while I used to think I was biased saying that, the more I read from her the more I think that is an objective truth - Alix E. Harrow is just a fantastic story-teller who really does know her way with words, and this newest book shows how she is only getting better.

I'll be recommending Starling House to absolutely everyone and it is easily in my top 3 of 2023. I'm just sad it's ended... but can't wait to read it again!
]]> <![CDATA[The Autumn Kingdom Vol. 1: Through the Blight (The Autumn Kingdom, #1)]]> 224003147 Venture into the deathly dark fairy tale that’s been hailed as one of the year’s best new comics series from masters of horror Cullen Bunn (Harrow County, The Sixth Gun) and Christopher Mitten (Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: Saturn Returns)!

Fantasy novelist Andrew Kier takes his family on an idyllic vacation to the edge of a lush Swedish forest, where he hopes to finish writing his latest book in The Wraithbound Queen series. After his young daughters, Sommer and Winter, venture into the woods and find a clearing of statues nearby—featuring trolls, goblins, and a warrior queen missing her swordhand and weapon—a horde of fearsome fae creatures smash into their cabin and kidnap Andrew and his wife, Melissa. Sommer and Winter evade capture and flee into the forest, where they stumble upon a giant sword that mysteriously grants them the power to fight the monsters who stole their parents. As the girls slice their way to answers, centuries of horror and conflict are revealed, and they descend into the Autumn Kingdom to save their family—and their sisterly bond—if they’re not too late!]]> 104 Cullen Bunn 1637158386 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.75 The Autumn Kingdom Vol. 1: Through the Blight (The Autumn Kingdom, #1)
author: Cullen Bunn
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.75
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Night Birds 217387939 The next gripping, atmospheric horror novel from NYT bestselling author Christopher Golden, set in a deteriorated, half-sunken freighter ship off the coast of Galveston, TX.

Charlie Book and Ruby Cahill have history. After their love ended in heartbreak, they never expected to see each other again, but when terror enters Ruby’s life, Charlie Book is the only safe harbor she can believe in.

In his work for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Book has been living aboard and studying the Christabel, a 19th century freighter that lies half-sunken in Gulf waters, just off the shore of Galveston. Over many years, a massive forest of mangrove trees has grown up through the deck of the ship, creating a startlingly beautiful enigma Book calls the Floating Forest, full of birds, crabs, and snakes. Though a powerful storm churns through the Gulf, Book intends to sleep on board as usual.

But when he arrives at the dock, preparing to motor out to the Christabel, he’s stunned to find Ruby there waiting for him. And Ruby’s not alone. With her are a mysterious, terrified woman named Johanna and an infant child. They need Book to hide them safely aboard the Christabel while they're on the run, only it isn’t the police who are after them. It’s the coven of witches Johanna has fled, stealing away the helpless infant for whom they had hideous plans…or so Johanna claims.

It’s lunacy. Book wants nothing to do with it. But after the way he and Ruby ended things, and the unspoken pain between them, he can’t refuse. Yet even as he brings them out to the ruined ship and its floating forest, back in Galveston there are shadowed figures out in the storm, sniffing the air like bloodhounds. And despite the worsening wind and rain, the night birds are flying, scouring the coastline as if searching for their prey.]]> 304 Christopher Golden 1250285917 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.80 2025 The Night Birds
author: Christopher Golden
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[PTSD Radio 1 (Vol. 1-2) (Ptsd Radio Omnibus, 1)]]> 60543010
Like Junji Ito's Uzumaki, PTSD Radio takes something everyday and weaves it into a series of chilling, cryptic, twisted, repellant, and alluring manga stories that become more than what they first seem.

The hit digital series finally comes to print in three 400-page compilations!

An unseen hand tugs at your braid. You find an old box with only a tangled mess of dark hair inside. You open a door in your home only to witness a river of curls slinking away, an ominous lump at its heart.

Ogushi preys on the unprepared. Before it's too late, tune into PTSD Radio.

These episodes and more await in this acclaimed horror series, coming to print after a successful digital run in double-length omnibus editions featuring sickeningly-textured covers. From the gleefully-twisted mind that created Fuan no Tane, PTSD Radio is a necessity for fans of the masters of manga scares such as Junji Ito, Kazuo Umezz, Shintaro Kago, and Suehiro Maruo.]]> 320 Masaaki Nakayama 164651632X Tabitha 0 to-read 3.97 PTSD Radio 1 (Vol. 1-2) (Ptsd Radio Omnibus, 1)
author: Masaaki Nakayama
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.97
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> EC Cruel Universe Vol. 1 220160651 Our guides across this riveting introduction to a cosmic maelstrom of strange extraterrestrial entities, malevolent scientists, and terrifying technological catastrophe? Learn to fear the void with the irradiated imaginations of writers Corinna Bechko (Green Earth One), Christopher Cantwell (Thanos), Chris Condon (Ultimate Wolverine), Matt Kindt (BRZRKR, Mind MGMT), Stephanie Phillips (Phoenix), Ben H. Winters (The Last Policeman), and more as they collide with the wondrously destructive visions of artists Jonathan Case (Green River Killer), Kano (Gotham Central), David Lapham (Stray Bullets), Alison Sampson (Department of Truth), Artyom Topilin (I Hate This Place), Caitlin Yarsky (Black Reborn), and many more!
The unpredictable return of EC Comics continues here with the quantum comics event of the millennium! Galaxies will collapse. Space-time will be distorted. And your very will to exist, too, shall be broken. . . . Just It’s all in the name of SCIENCE!
Collecting Cruel Universe #1�5.]]> 176 Corinna Sara Bechko 1637157851 Tabitha 3
Much like EC Epitaphs from the Abyss Vol. 1, this collection is widespread and mixed in quality. Nothing stood out as terrible, with even the 'worst' story being decent, but nothing stood out as great either.

The very first story (The Champion) actually made me cry and gave me higher hopes for the rest. A few could be middling episodes of Black Mirror (Priceless, for example). Some are concepts done better in other media (ex: Organ1c and Tender Is the Flesh). Then there are a few, decently effective, super short stories that are only a page or two... but most were perhaps longer than they actually needed to be.

I still really enjoyed this collection though, and I love things like this and want to encourage it to continue.]]> 3.54 EC Cruel Universe Vol. 1
author: Corinna Sara Bechko
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.54
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/20
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: graphic-novels-comics, from-netgalley, outer-space-setting
review:
Thanks to NetGalley and Oni Press for the advanced copy.

Much like EC Epitaphs from the Abyss Vol. 1, this collection is widespread and mixed in quality. Nothing stood out as terrible, with even the 'worst' story being decent, but nothing stood out as great either.

The very first story (The Champion) actually made me cry and gave me higher hopes for the rest. A few could be middling episodes of Black Mirror (Priceless, for example). Some are concepts done better in other media (ex: Organ1c and Tender Is the Flesh). Then there are a few, decently effective, super short stories that are only a page or two... but most were perhaps longer than they actually needed to be.

I still really enjoyed this collection though, and I love things like this and want to encourage it to continue.
]]> <![CDATA[Strange Practice (Dr. Greta Helsing, #1)]]> 35540247 Meet Greta Helsing, fast-talking doctor to the undead. Keeping the supernatural community not-alive and well in London has been her family's specialty for generations.

Greta Helsing inherited the family's highly specialized, and highly peculiar, medical practice. In her consulting rooms, Dr. Helsing treats the undead for a host of ills - vocal strain in banshees, arthritis in barrow-wights, and entropy in mummies. Although barely making ends meet, this is just the quiet, supernatural-adjacent life Greta's been groomed for since childhood.

Until a sect of murderous monks emerges, killing human and undead Londoners alike. As terror takes hold of the city, Greta must use her unusual skills to stop the cult if she hopes to save her practice, and her life.]]> 353 Vivian Shaw 0356508870 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.73 2017 Strange Practice (Dr. Greta Helsing, #1)
author: Vivian Shaw
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)]]> 214331246 When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.]]> 382 Suzanne Collins 1546171460 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.63 2025 Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.63
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> When the Wolf Comes Home 211004893
As they attempt to evade the boy's increasingly desperate father, horrifying incidents of butchery follow them. At first, Jess thinks she understands what they're up against, but she's about to learn there's more to these surreal and grisly events than she could've ever imagined.

And that when the wolf finally comes home, none will be spared.]]> 304 Nat Cassidy 125035434X Tabitha 0 to-read 4.52 2025 When the Wolf Comes Home
author: Nat Cassidy
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Wild Dark Shore 211004089
Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants, packing up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground. Despite the wild beauty of life here, isolation has taken its toll on the Salts. Raff, eighteen and suffering his first heartbreak, can only find relief at his punching bag; Fen, seventeen, has started spending her nights on the beach among the seals; nine-year-old Orly, obsessed with botany, fears the loss of his beloved natural world; and Dominic can’t stop turning back toward the past, and the loss that drove the family to Shearwater in the first place.

Then, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman washes up on shore. As the Salts nurse the woman, Rowan, back to life, their suspicion gives way to affection, and they finally begin to feel like a family again. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting her heart, begins to fall for the Salts, too. But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers the sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own dark secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, the characters must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late—and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together.]]> 303 Charlotte McConaghy 1250827957 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.28 2025 Wild Dark Shore
author: Charlotte McConaghy
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Dirty Heads 59464378
You’re on the run. Marked. Don’t think about the kid you used to be when you’re homeless and dumpster-diving in the rain. Just eat whatever you find to keep your engine full. Because the shadow with too many teeth wants you tired.

You’re easier to catch when you’re tired.

It has hunted you since the summer of 1994, back when we confessed who we were through mixtapes. When every movie at the video store had dirty heads. You were thirteen and thought you knew who you were. Only the shadow with too many teeth knew you better. It still does. And it won’t stop. Not until you come home.

Back to where it all began.

Part cosmic horror, part coming-of-age monster story, DIRTY HEADS is a terrifying read from the author of HOUSE OF SIGHS, THE FALLEN BOYS, and A PLACE FOR SINNERS]]> 142 Aaron Dries 0999451987 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.57 2021 Dirty Heads
author: Aaron Dries
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Dunwich Horror 38089123 64 H.P. Lovecraft 197412438X Tabitha 0 to-read 3.59 The Dunwich Horror
author: H.P. Lovecraft
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.59
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> How to Survive a Slasher 216180339
There’s a reason CJ Smith’s hometown of Satterville is known as Slasherville: it was the site of not one, but two Friday the 13th-style massacres. CJ’s dad survived the first attack; only CJ survived the second. And thanks to the mysterious writer Moon Satter’s bestselling novels based on the events, the town—and CJ—will always be defined by this horrific past.

Then a new, unpublished Moon Satter manuscript shows up addressed to CJ. But unlike the others, this story isn’t about the past. Instead, it predicts new murders. On the day the book says the first murder will occur, CJ sets out to stop it. But in saving one classmate, the final girl ends up dead. CJ and their friends have suddenly gone from extras to leads—and they’ll have to use everything they know about the rules of horror to make it out alive.]]> 304 Justine Pucella Winans 1547616318 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.76 2025 How to Survive a Slasher
author: Justine Pucella Winans
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Haar 60840449
Muriel McAuley has lived in the Scottish fishing village of Witchaven all her life. She was born there, and she intends to die there.

But when an overseas property developer threatens to evict the residents from their homes and raze Witchaven to the ground in the name of progress, all seems lost� until the day a mysterious fog bank creeps inland.

The Haar.

To some it brings redemption� to others, it brings only madness and death. What macabre secrets lie within� The Haar.

Romantic and deranged, The Haar is a gore-soaked folk horror fairy tale from David Sodergren, author of The Forgotten Island and Maggie’s Grave.]]> 206 David Sodergren Tabitha 4 horror
I saw another review that said this is a combination of The Shape of Water and The Thing. It's also like an R-rated Goosebumps or The Haunting Hour novel, complete with cartoony villains and a twisted ending. It's that urban legend you morbid friend tells you around a campfire on the beach. You laugh and then you're a little freaked out because WTF is this wild story.

I'm glad I picked this up, it was a fun, very quick read that was a great attempt at getting myself out of a current reading slump. I'm looking forward to checking out the author's other stuff, which I've heard similarly good things about.

A very fun horror story!]]> 4.08 2022 The Haar
author: David Sodergren
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves: horror
review:
How can a book be both sentimental and disgusting? Sodergren figured it out lol

I saw another review that said this is a combination of The Shape of Water and The Thing. It's also like an R-rated Goosebumps or The Haunting Hour novel, complete with cartoony villains and a twisted ending. It's that urban legend you morbid friend tells you around a campfire on the beach. You laugh and then you're a little freaked out because WTF is this wild story.

I'm glad I picked this up, it was a fun, very quick read that was a great attempt at getting myself out of a current reading slump. I'm looking forward to checking out the author's other stuff, which I've heard similarly good things about.

A very fun horror story!
]]> <![CDATA[The Humane Society for Creatures & Cryptids (Teraglossa, #1)]]> 198905290 567 Stephanie A. Gillis Tabitha 0 to-read 4.04 2023 The Humane Society for Creatures & Cryptids (Teraglossa, #1)
author: Stephanie A. Gillis
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Strange Practice (Dr. Greta Helsing, #1)]]> 32452160
Until a sect of murderous monks emerges, killing human and undead Londoners alike. As terror takes hold of the city, Greta must use her unusual skills to stop the cult if she hopes to save her practice, and her life.]]> 320 Vivian Shaw Tabitha 0 to-read 3.82 2017 Strange Practice (Dr. Greta Helsing, #1)
author: Vivian Shaw
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Ghost Woods 216970608 A young woman sent to stay in a crumbling gothic manor will find haunting secrets creeping out of the surrounding dark woods in this new, chilling novel from the acclaimed author of The Lighthouse Witches.

In the midst of the woods stands a house called Lichen Hall. This place is shrouded in folklore—old stories of ghosts, of witches, of a child who is not quite a child.

Now the woods are creeping closer, and something has been unleashed.

Pearl Gorham arrives in 1965, one of a string of young women sent to Lichen Hall to give birth. And she soon suspects the proprietors are hiding something. Then she meets the mysterious mother and young boy who live on the grounds—and together they begin to unpack the secrets of this place. As the truth comes to the surface and the darkness moves in, Pearl must rethink everything she knew—and risk what she holds most dear.]]> 380 C.J. Cooke 0593550234 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.00 2022 The Ghost Woods
author: C.J. Cooke
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Lost Heirs (Arcana, #1) 215149257 Debut author/illustrator Sam Prentice-Jones explores fighting against your destiny and reconciling the actions of your ancestors in Arcana: The Lost Heirs, a tarot-inspired fantasy graphic novel for young adults.

James, Daphne, Koko, and Sonny have all grown up surrounded by magic in the Arcana, an organization of witches that protects the magical world, run by the mysterious and secretive Majors. Eli Jones, however, didn’t even know other witches existed . . . until he stumbled into James. As James introduces Eli to the world of the Arcana, he finds the family he never had, and a blossoming romance with James.

The five new friends soon realize that sinister things are afoot and everything may not be what it seems at the Arcana. When the group delves deeper into the mystery surrounding the deaths of their parents and the Major’s rise to power, they discover that they’re at the center of a curse - one they’ve just unwittingly set into motion. As the friends search for answers, they’ll have to confront the cursed legacy that links them in hopes of freeing their futures.]]> 384 Sam Prentice-Jones 1250290228 Tabitha 4
The title of this new comic, Arcana, sets up this world's version of magic and witches. Witches are any gender but they mostly tend to be part of the Arcana, a sort of leadership organization that monitors and cares for magical stuff and people. To introduce the reader to the world we first encounter Eli, a new young witch just discovering who they are, where they're from, and what they're capable of.

The book is organized in parts sectioned by Tarot, with each card start insinuating the content of that section, which is always a fun concept when done. It's not deep like tying together the meaning of the cards with the section content necessarily, but it's still a fun concept I really enjoy - for example there is a section called The Lovers that focuses on two of the characters as a couple.

Each of these card parts tend to focus on a particular character but the story is an interconnected one and there is the character of Eli that helps bind the stories and characters together, until you find out the true story and then I think they all kind of become main characters? I found this a little confusing at first, as it's not immediately clear that these slices of life are connected by plot. I would have preferred the connecting plot point staying present through each section of the book because the whole first half of the book comes off a series of cute vignettes -and they really are cute- in this magical world. The second half is then laid out with story and it's almost like whiplash, going from casual to serious and finally making the title make sense.

This book is also mainly art, with minimal writing (particularly in the first half). Not that I was looking for a novel but I would've liked a few more words to flesh out the story and the rules of this new world of magic that the author sets up. You don't even really learn what the Arcana is until halfway through. I'm always fascinated by magical systems so I want to know more. But I really enjoy Prentice-Jones unique artwork as well and the panels do add to the story as they should, I just wanted more!

And then... it all ends on a cliffhanger! Just as we're learning what's going on!! Yeah, I plan on buying this and following it lol I look forward to having it on my shelves for sure, but I'm also a sucker for a witchy story no matter lmao I also really love the representation in the story!

Following the artist on instagram now though, because really the art is adorable and unique and color grading is fun and pretty.]]> 3.92 The Lost Heirs (Arcana, #1)
author: Sam Prentice-Jones
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.92
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves: from-netgalley, graphic-novels-comics
review:
Thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan, and Feiwel & Friends for the advanced copy.

The title of this new comic, Arcana, sets up this world's version of magic and witches. Witches are any gender but they mostly tend to be part of the Arcana, a sort of leadership organization that monitors and cares for magical stuff and people. To introduce the reader to the world we first encounter Eli, a new young witch just discovering who they are, where they're from, and what they're capable of.

The book is organized in parts sectioned by Tarot, with each card start insinuating the content of that section, which is always a fun concept when done. It's not deep like tying together the meaning of the cards with the section content necessarily, but it's still a fun concept I really enjoy - for example there is a section called The Lovers that focuses on two of the characters as a couple.

Each of these card parts tend to focus on a particular character but the story is an interconnected one and there is the character of Eli that helps bind the stories and characters together, until you find out the true story and then I think they all kind of become main characters? I found this a little confusing at first, as it's not immediately clear that these slices of life are connected by plot. I would have preferred the connecting plot point staying present through each section of the book because the whole first half of the book comes off a series of cute vignettes -and they really are cute- in this magical world. The second half is then laid out with story and it's almost like whiplash, going from casual to serious and finally making the title make sense.

This book is also mainly art, with minimal writing (particularly in the first half). Not that I was looking for a novel but I would've liked a few more words to flesh out the story and the rules of this new world of magic that the author sets up. You don't even really learn what the Arcana is until halfway through. I'm always fascinated by magical systems so I want to know more. But I really enjoy Prentice-Jones unique artwork as well and the panels do add to the story as they should, I just wanted more!

And then... it all ends on a cliffhanger! Just as we're learning what's going on!! Yeah, I plan on buying this and following it lol I look forward to having it on my shelves for sure, but I'm also a sucker for a witchy story no matter lmao I also really love the representation in the story!

Following the artist on instagram now though, because really the art is adorable and unique and color grading is fun and pretty.
]]> Cuckoo 61884778 Cuckoo is a vicious new novel about a group of teens who must stay true to themselves while in a conversion camp from hell.

Something evil is buried deep in the desert.
It wants your body. It wears your skin.

In the summer of 1995, seven queer kids abandoned by their parents at a remote conversion camp came face-to-face with it. They survived � but at Camp Resolution, everybody leaves a different person.

Sixteen years later, only the scarred and broken survivors of that terrible summer can put an end to the horror before it’s too late.

The fate of the world depends on it.]]> 342 Gretchen Felker-Martin 1250794668 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.51 2024 Cuckoo
author: Gretchen Felker-Martin
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Blue Sisters 223927246 Three estranged siblings return to their family home in New York after their beloved sister's death in this unforgettable story of grief, identity, and the complexities of family.

The three Blue sisters are exceptional—and exceptionally different. Avery, the eldest and a recovering heroin addict turned strait-laced lawyer, lives with her wife in London; Bonnie, a former boxer, works as a bouncer in Los Angeles following a devastating defeat; and Lucky, the youngest, models in Paris while trying to outrun her hard-partying ways. They also had a fourth sister, Nicky, whose unexpected death left Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky reeling. A year later, as they each navigate grief, addiction, and ambition, they find they must return to New York to stop the sale of the apartment they were raised in.

But coming home is never as easy as it seems. As the sisters reckon with the disappointments of their childhood and the loss of the only person who held them together, they realize the greatest secrets they've been keeping might not have been from each other, but from themselves.]]> 368 Coco Mellors 0593723783 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.08 2024 Blue Sisters
author: Coco Mellors
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Her Majesty's Royal Coven (Her Majesty's Royal Coven, #1)]]> 59088433
At the dawn of their adolescence, on the eve of the summer solstice, four young girls--Helena, Leonie, Niamh and Elle--took the oath to join Her Majesty's Royal Coven, established by Queen Elizabeth I as a covert government department. Now, decades later, the witch community is still reeling from a civil war and Helena is now the reigning High Priestess of the organization. Yet Helena is the only one of her friend group still enmeshed in the stale bureaucracy of HMRC. Elle is trying to pretend she's a normal housewife, and Niamh has become a country vet, using her powers to heal sick animals. In what Helena perceives as the deepest betrayal, Leonie has defected to start her own more inclusive and intersectional coven, Diaspora. And now Helena has a bigger problem. A young warlock of extraordinary capabilities has been captured by authorities and seems to threaten the very existence of HMRC. With conflicting beliefs over the best course of action, the four friends must decide where their loyalties lie: with preserving tradition, or doing what is right.

Juno Dawson explores gender and the corrupting nature of power in a delightful and provocative story of magic and matriarchy, friendship and feminism. Dealing with all the aspects of contemporary womanhood, as well as being phenomenally powerful witches, Niamh, Helena, Leonie and Elle may have grown apart but they will always be bound by the sisterhood of the coven.]]> 448 Juno Dawson 014313714X Tabitha 0 to-read 3.79 2022 Her Majesty's Royal Coven (Her Majesty's Royal Coven, #1)
author: Juno Dawson
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Fingersmith 8913370
One day, the most beloved thief of all arrives—Gentleman, an elegant con man, who carries with him an enticing proposition for Sue: If she wins a position as the maid to Maud Lilly, a naïve gentlewoman, and aids Gentleman in her seduction, then they will all share in Maud’s vast inheritance. Once the inheritance is secured, Maud will be disposed of—passed off as mad, and made to live out the rest of her days in a lunatic asylum.

With dreams of paying back the kindness of her adopted family, Sue agrees to the plan. Once in, however, Sue begins to pity her helpless mark and care for Maud Lilly in unexpected ways...But no one and nothing is as it seems in this Dickensian novel of thrills and reversals.]]> 592 Sarah Waters 1101057025 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.05 2002 Fingersmith
author: Sarah Waters
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Man With No Shadow (How to Survive Camping, #1)]]> 53897456
Every year, campground manager Kate sends out a pamphlet titled “How to Survive Your Camping Experience.� In it is a list of rules to help campers have an enjoyable experience and hopefully survive any encounters with the campground’s� other� inhabitants.

This has produced lackluster results and so Kate begins posting her experiences online so that people will understand why it is so important to drink from the skull cup or to not follow the lights. However, what begins as merely stories about her campground quickly becomes a struggle for Kate to maintain control of her land against the schemes of one of the campground’s residents - the man with no shadow.]]> 212 Bonnie Quinn Tabitha 0 to-read 4.60 2019 The Man With No Shadow (How to Survive Camping, #1)
author: Bonnie Quinn
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Killing November (Killing November, #1)]]> 35053980 406 Adriana Mather 0525579087 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.14 2019 Killing November (Killing November, #1)
author: Adriana Mather
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Bewitching 220458657 Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multigenerational horror saga from the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic.

“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches�: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva—stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales.

In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay’s most famous novel, The Vanishing, was inspired by a true story: Decades earlier, during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

As Minerva descends ever deeper into Tremblay’s manuscript, she begins to sense that the malign force that stalked Tremblay and the missing girl might still walk the halls of the campus. These disturbing events also echo the stories Nana Alba told about her girlhood in 1900s Mexico, where she had a terrifying encounter with a witch.

Minerva suspects that the same shadow that darkened the lives of her great-grandmother and Beatrice Tremblay is now threatening her own in 1990s Massachusetts. An academic career can be a punishing pursuit, but it might turn outright deadly when witchcraft is involved.]]> 368 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0593874323 Tabitha 0 4.36 2025 The Bewitching
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: currently-reading, from-netgalley, horror
review:
Just got the arc and I'm so, so, SO excited! Silvia Moreno-Garcia is tied with Alix E. Harrow as my favorite modern writer. They both write like story-tellers and I love it.
]]> The Green Night 199021766 “In our town, once every five years, the bugs come.
They swarm us by the millions,
in clouds thick enough to block out the entire sky…�

When a storm of mysterious green insects appears from nowhere, a seemingly ordinary Halloween night becomes a desperate bid for survival.

Forced to seek refuge at the twenty-four hour gas station at the edge of town, a motley group of strangers must work together to make it through the night. But with the swarm cutting them off from the outside world, tensions rise, patience wanes, and madness creeps in.

As secrets come to light, they soon discover that the bugs outside are not the only threat they face. A killer lurks in their midst, and everyone is a suspect. With their very lives hanging in the balance, the group must race against time to uncover the terrifying truth at the center of the storm before they all end up dead� or worse.

From the author of the legendary horror-comedy creepypasta “Tales from the Gas Station,� The Green Night is a spine-tingling story of survival, paranoia, the supernatural... and lots and lots of bugs.]]> 189 Jack Townsend Tabitha 5 horror, woods-setting Tales from the Gas Station series! In this tale, which takes place between books 3 and 4, centers on a Halloween night in which a swarm of mysterious green bugs takes over the gas station, leaving Jack, Jerry, and their few customers trapped inside - the story starts and moves quickly, making for a very quick and easy read. I spent 5-10 minutes each night reading a chapter or two before bed, and had TFGS dreams/nightmares the whole time haha

Nothing felt out of place, it all felt very Jack and very TFGS. Highly recommend for fans of the series! Also, while it technically takes place between books 3 and 4 (and before Bedside Manor), it really can be read as a standalone at any point. It's a snippet in the life of Jack while working at the gas station.

For the full reading order, according to the author, check out:

Absolutely loved this, it was so much fun and genuinely gross and creepy as well!]]> 4.46 The Green Night
author: Jack Townsend
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.46
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/09
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: horror, woods-setting
review:
Another banger entry in the Tales from the Gas Station series! In this tale, which takes place between books 3 and 4, centers on a Halloween night in which a swarm of mysterious green bugs takes over the gas station, leaving Jack, Jerry, and their few customers trapped inside - the story starts and moves quickly, making for a very quick and easy read. I spent 5-10 minutes each night reading a chapter or two before bed, and had TFGS dreams/nightmares the whole time haha

Nothing felt out of place, it all felt very Jack and very TFGS. Highly recommend for fans of the series! Also, while it technically takes place between books 3 and 4 (and before Bedside Manor), it really can be read as a standalone at any point. It's a snippet in the life of Jack while working at the gas station.

For the full reading order, according to the author, check out:

Absolutely loved this, it was so much fun and genuinely gross and creepy as well!
]]> <![CDATA[A Dowry of Blood (A Dowry of Blood, #1)]]> 60521937
This is my last love letter to you, though some would call it a confession. . .

Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things.

Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband's dark secrets. With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death.]]> 292 S.T. Gibson 0316501077 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.91 2021 A Dowry of Blood (A Dowry of Blood, #1)
author: S.T. Gibson
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Exorcism at 1600 Penn 220460366
Kelly Doyle has just been elected the first female president of the United States of America, and boiling political tension could spill over at any second. Having to balance being a mother to two teenagers and navigating the shifting media landscape, all while preventing World War III, has Kelly spread thin, but she could never predict that the nation’s hallowed halls would soon become a demonic battleground for good versus evil.

From the pen of rising comics writer Hannah Rose May (Rogues� Gallery) and acclaimed artist Vanesa Del Rey (Scarlet Witch) comes this psychological tale perfect for fans of Nice House on the Lake and The Haunting of Hill House.]]> 128 Hannah Rose May Tabitha 3
Firstly, the watermark on the ARC was a little too opaque and got in the way of the words and art that made it difficult for me to read through this with my dyslexia but I persevered and managed to finish, and what I read wasn't bad!

IDW usually puts out some interesting horror and horror adjacent comics, and The Exorcism at 1600 Penn is another for the collection... just not my personal collection. I'm not normally big on religious horror but the setting of this one, the White House, intrigued me.

Hannah Rose May tries to do a lot and mostly succeeds - there's commentary around doomscrolling, negative thoughts, bullies, politicking, reactionaries, religion, etc nothing annoyed me though I think a stronger focus on one or two of these things rather than a whole bunch would have made the story stronger. Her President is newly elected as the first female president (and while the political parties aren't mentioned at all, it's pretty clearly a JFK-type Catholic democrat) and she turns out to actually be a side character lol

The main characters in this comic are the President's kids, Kevin and Mara. Mara, pretty early on, starts showing signs of possession, which is mistaken as a number of other things due to the new situation the family finds themselves in, shortly after the new President takes office. Aside from one of the potential reasons for Mara's behavior being linked to Havana Syndrome, I don't think the setting makes much of a difference and this story would have been the same if it were just like, a student at the school.

Overall it felt very much like a filler episode of Evil. Which, Evil is one of my favorite tv shows so I'm not mad, it's just that I hoped for and wanted more. If you like possession or religious horror, it's not a bad story to check out though. The art is reminiscent of Ben Templesmith's work as well, which I enjoyed. ]]> 3.38 The Exorcism at 1600 Penn
author: Hannah Rose May
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.38
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: from-netgalley, graphic-novels-comics, horror
review:
Thanks to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for the advanced copy.

Firstly, the watermark on the ARC was a little too opaque and got in the way of the words and art that made it difficult for me to read through this with my dyslexia but I persevered and managed to finish, and what I read wasn't bad!

IDW usually puts out some interesting horror and horror adjacent comics, and The Exorcism at 1600 Penn is another for the collection... just not my personal collection. I'm not normally big on religious horror but the setting of this one, the White House, intrigued me.

Hannah Rose May tries to do a lot and mostly succeeds - there's commentary around doomscrolling, negative thoughts, bullies, politicking, reactionaries, religion, etc nothing annoyed me though I think a stronger focus on one or two of these things rather than a whole bunch would have made the story stronger. Her President is newly elected as the first female president (and while the political parties aren't mentioned at all, it's pretty clearly a JFK-type Catholic democrat) and she turns out to actually be a side character lol

The main characters in this comic are the President's kids, Kevin and Mara. Mara, pretty early on, starts showing signs of possession, which is mistaken as a number of other things due to the new situation the family finds themselves in, shortly after the new President takes office. Aside from one of the potential reasons for Mara's behavior being linked to Havana Syndrome, I don't think the setting makes much of a difference and this story would have been the same if it were just like, a student at the school.

Overall it felt very much like a filler episode of Evil. Which, Evil is one of my favorite tv shows so I'm not mad, it's just that I hoped for and wanted more. If you like possession or religious horror, it's not a bad story to check out though. The art is reminiscent of Ben Templesmith's work as well, which I enjoyed.
]]> <![CDATA[The Orc's Sweetheart (Creatures & Cottages, #1)]]> 224005638
Bodin enjoys his peaceful lifestyle, supportive community, and fulfilling job. But when Tilly blows in from Cape Easton, a place he’s sworn he’ll never set foot in again, his uncomplicated existence is turned upside down.

With awkward misunderstandings aplenty, can Tilly and Bodin conquer her pride and his prejudice and find love? Will the sweet meddling of Starry Hill’s residents help them embrace their attraction to one another, or will the ghosts of their pasts overshadow their future?

The Orc’s Sweetheart is a sweet and spicy, small town monster rom-com. It’s the first book in the Creatures & Cottages series. Each book can be read as a standalone. For readers 18+]]> 293 Elle Sterling Tabitha 0 to-read 4.42 The Orc's Sweetheart (Creatures & Cottages, #1)
author: Elle Sterling
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.42
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hack/Slash Omnibus Volume 1 2371219 Collects: Hack/Slash (Euthanized), Girls Gone Dead, Comic Book Carnage, Hack/Slash vs Evil Ernie, Land of Lost Toys 1-3, Trailers, “Slashing through the Snow�, Slice Hard Prequel, Slice Hard, and Hack/Slash vs. Chucky

TPB Equivalent: First Cut (volume 1), Death by Sequel (volume 2) and a portion of Friday the 31st (volume 3). Omnibus 1 is the only place Hack/Slash vs. Evil Ernie is collected.

Extras: Sketchbook, cover and pin-up gallery, article about the Hack/Slash play, and Psychofiles of The Lunch Lady, Bobby, Laura and Father Wrath, Lloyd and Jimmy, Acid Angel, Ashley, Blackfin, Hibachi Devil, Mortimer Strick, Waking Man, X-O, Dr. Gross, Chucky, Six Sixx, and Evil Ernie.

]]> 300 Tim Seeley 1934692085 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.87 2008 Hack/Slash Omnibus Volume 1
author: Tim Seeley
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sweet Bean Paste 33376821
Until, that is, Tokue comes into his life. An elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past, she makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. The unlikeliest of friendships blossoms, but it will take all of their resolve � and plenty of pancakes � to protect themselves when Tokue's dark secret comes to light.]]> 216 Durian Sukegawa 1786071959 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.07 2013 Sweet Bean Paste
author: Durian Sukegawa
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tomb of the Sun King (Raiders of the Arcana #2)]]> 210164407 Respectable lady scholars shouldn’t be dodging evildoers, escaping lost tombs, and chasing down magical artifacts.

Archivist and suffragette Ellie Mallory always dreamed of putting her scholarly skills to work in the ancient sands of Egypt. She never imagined she would be doing so in order to save an object of legendary power from a batch of ruthless villains.

Racing baddies to an arcanum of Biblical proportions is only one of Ellie’s problems. Her hopelessly academic and perpetually mortified step-brother, Dr. Neil Fairfax, is about to learn that she’s been gallivanting around the globe with his danger-magnet best friend, Adam Bates—the roguish surveyor for whom Ellie harbors increasingly complicated feelings. Add the petite and terrifyingly fearless Constance Tyrrell to the mix, and Ellie either has a crack team of artifact-saving experts to hand� or a recipe for disaster.

Together, they’ll need to follow a trail of three-thousand-year-old clues from the necropolis of Saqqara to the temples of Luxor and beyond, where the ruined capital of a heretic pharaoh hides a secret with the potential to upend history.

To keep an earth-shattering magic from falling into the wrong hands, Ellie will need to pull out all the stops—even if that means resorting to fisticuffs, ignoring proper archaeological processes� and facing a terrible choice between doing what she knows is right or breaking her own heart.

Dive into Tomb of the Sun King now to experience the next action-packed historical fantasy adventure in the Raiders of the Arcana series!

Praise for the Raiders of the Arcana

“Sassy banter and sizzling romantic tension sparkle throughout the fast paced action! � Fans of Indiana-Jones style historical fantasies will be eager for the next adventure.� - ALA Booklist

“Fun, female-led mystical adventure with unexpected themes and oodles of heart!� - Five star ŷ reviewer]]> 498 Jacquelyn Benson 1959050141 Tabitha 0 4.41 2024 Tomb of the Sun King (Raiders of the Arcana #2)
author: Jacquelyn Benson
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: currently-reading, read-as-audiobook
review:

]]> The Stonekeeper (Amulet, #1) 1238684
After the tragic death of their father, Emily and Navin move with their mother to the home of her deceased great-grandfather, but the strange house proves to be dangerous. Before long, a sinister creature lures the kids' mom through a door in the basement. Em and Navin, desperate not to lose her, follow her into an underground world inhabited by demons, robots, and talking animals.

Eventually, they enlist the help of a small mechanical rabbit named Miskit. Together with Miskit, they face the most terrifying monster of all, and Em finally has the chance to save someone she loves.]]> 192 Kazu Kibuishi 0439846803 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.17 2008 The Stonekeeper (Amulet, #1)
author: Kazu Kibuishi
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> ܲ³ 58243480
We think a lot of things. It was perhaps inevitable that some of them would turn out to be wrong.

When the great incursion occurred, no one was prepared. How could they have been? Of all the things physicists had predicted, "the fabric of reality might rip open and giant monsters could come pouring through" had not made the list. But somehow, on a fine morning in May, that was precisely what happened.

For sisters Susan and Katharine Black, the day of the incursion was the day they lost everything. Their home, their parents, their sense of normalcy...and each other, because when the rift opened, Susan was on one side and Katharine was on the other, and each sister was stranded in a separate form of reality. For Susan, it was science and study and the struggle to solve the mystery of the altered physics inside the zones transformed by the incursion. For Katharine, it was monsters and mayhem and the fight to stay alive in a world unlike the world of her birth.

The world has changed. The laws of physics have changed. The girls have changed. And the one universal truth of all states of changed matter is that nothing can be completely restored to what it was originally, no matter how much you might wish it could be.

Nothing goes back.]]> 144 Mira Grant 1645240533 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.87 2021 ܲ³
author: Mira Grant
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Nameless 26138086 Nameless tells the story of a down-at-heel occult hustler known only as "Nameless" who is recruited by a consortium of billionaire futurists as part of a desperate mission to save the world. A massive asteroid named Xibalba � the "Place of Fear" in Mayan mythology � is on collision course with the planet Earth.

If that wasn't trouble enough, the asteroid has an enormous magical symbol carved into its side and is revealed to be a fragment of our solar system's lost fifth planet, Marduk, destroyed sixty-five million years ago at the end of an epic cosmic war between the inhabitants of Marduk and immensely powerful, life-hating, extra-dimensional "gods."

One of those beings is still alive, imprisoned on Xibalba, dreaming of its ultimate revenge on all that exists. When Nameless and his teammates inadvertently unleash this malignant soul-destroying intelligence, the stage is set for a nightmarish, nihilistic journey to the outer reaches of human terror.]]> 192 Grant Morrison 1632155273 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.50 2016 Nameless
author: Grant Morrison
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Root Rot 219874871 Nine children travel with their families to their Grandfather's vacation property, where strange things begin to happen: eyes blink from the bottom up, mushrooms ooze blood, people's faces don't hang right anymore-except they do, once you look more closely. Transformations warp the children's sense of time and place, the very land itself seeming to encroach upon them.
As The Liar watches the children succumb one by one to an unknown fate, she must make sense of absent stars in the night sky, vials of amber liquid that taste of milk, a funny little rope tied in knots. She's faced with a choice: join or resist, only the choice is not so simple.
Set in The Grandfather's Lake House as he continues to extend his property lines and told in the eerie we of the children, Root Rot explores predatory family dynamics, the boundaries of bodies and home, and how individuals choose to participate in or push back against structures that would harm them.]]> 142 Saskia Nislow 1951971256 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.73 2025 Root Rot
author: Saskia Nislow
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> When Devils Sing 214438358 This deluxe edition is printed with stenciled edges!

In this Southern gothic horror novel, four unlikely allies in a small town investigate a local teen's disappearance, and what they discover festering at the core of their community is far more sinister and ancient than they could’ve ever imagined. For fans of She is a Haunting, True Detective, Mexican Gothic, and Midsommar.

When Dawson Sumter goes missing, all he leaves behind is a smattering of blood in room 4 of the debt-ridden motel owned by Neera Singh's family. Disappearances like this aren't uncommon in the rural Georgia town of Carrion, especially every thirteen years when a periodical cicada brood returns from underground, shrieking their deafening screams.

For Neera, Dawson is another reminder that in this corner of the South, the rich only get richer, and the poor―well, nothing good comes their way.

Neera sets out to investigate Dawson’s whereabouts―if he even still lives―along with three other teens: Isaiah, son of a prominent judge and clandestine true crime podcaster; Reid, son of the wealthiest man in the region; and Sam, estranged daughter of the local hitman. As they find themselves entangled in a messy web of secrets and lies, they discover the riches of the adjacent Lake Clearwater community may have a terrifying source of power dating back to the town’s founding and an ancient urban legend about three devils, each more sinister than the next. How deep does the rot go, and can they find a way to escape its reach?]]> 400 Xan Kaur 1250357179 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.14 2025 When Devils Sing
author: Xan Kaur
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Ghost Woods 216970864
This place is shrouded in folklore—old stories of ghosts, of witches, of a child who was not quite a child.

Now the woods are creeping closer, and something has been unleashed.

Pearl Gorham arrives in 1965, one of a string of young women sent to Lichen Hall to give birth. And she soon suspects the proprietors are hiding something.

Then she meets the mysterious mother and young boy who live in the grounds—and together they begin to unpick the secrets of this place.

As the truth comes to the surface and the darkness moves in, Pearl must rethink everything she knew—and risk what she holds most dear.]]> 384 C.J. Cooke 0593550226 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.16 2022 The Ghost Woods
author: C.J. Cooke
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Buffalo Hunter Hunter 214565614 A chilling historical horror novel set in the American west in 1912 following a Lutheran priest who transcribes the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice.

A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.]]> 448 Stephen Graham Jones 1668075083 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.25 2025 The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Incandescent 217387935 Naomi Novik's Scholomance series meets Plain Bad Heroines in this sapphic dark academia fantasy by instant national and international bestselling author Emily Tesh, winner of the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.

"Look at you, eating magic like you're one of us."

Doctor Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy and one of the most powerful magicians in England. Her days consist of meetings, teaching A-Level Invocation to four talented, chaotic sixth formers, more meetings, and securing the school's boundaries from demonic incursions.

Walden is good at her job―no, Walden is great at her job. But demons are masters of manipulation. It’s her responsibility to keep her school with its six hundred students and centuries-old legacy safe. And it’s possible the entity Walden most needs to keep her school safe from―is herself.]]> 432 Emily Tesh 1250835011 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.31 2025 The Incandescent
author: Emily Tesh
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Beginner's Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death]]> 42202807 The first-ever practical, compassionate, and comprehensive guide to dying - and living fully until you do.

“There is nothing wrong with you for dying,� palliative care Doctor BJ Miller and Shoshana Berger write in A Beginner’s Guide to the End. “Our ultimate purpose here isn’t so much to help you die as it is to free up as much life as possible until you do.�

Theirs is a clear-eyed and big-hearted action plan for approaching the end of life, created to help listeners feel more in control of an experience that so often seems anything but. Their audiobook offers everything from step-by-step instructions for how to do your paperwork and navigate the health-care system to answers to questions you might be afraid to ask your doctor, like whether or not sex is still okay when you’re sick. You’ll be walked through how to break the news to your employer, whether to share old secrets with your family, how to face friends who might not be as empathetic as you’d hoped, and how to talk to your children about your will. (Don’t If anyone gets snippy, it’ll likely be their spouses, not them.) There are also lessons for survivors, like how to shut down a loved one’s social media accounts, clean out the house, and write a great eulogy.

An honest, surprising, and detailed-oriented guide to the most universal of all experiences, A Beginner’s Guide to the End is the one audiobook that everyone needs.]]> 576 B.J. Miller 1508282102 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.30 A Beginner's Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death
author: B.J. Miller
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.30
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Dreadful 63051209 A sharp-witted, high fantasy farce featuring killer moat squid, toxic masculinity, evil wizards and a garlic festival - all at once. Perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, K. J. Parker and Travis Baldree.

It’s bad enough waking up in a half-destroyed evil wizard’s workshop with no eyebrows, no memories, and no idea how long you have before the Dread Lord Whomever shows up to murder you horribly and then turn your skull into a goblet or something.
It’s a lot worse when you realize that Dread Lord Whomever is� you.
Gav isn’t really sure how he ended up with a castle full of goblins, or why he has a princess locked in a cell. All he can do is play along with his own evil plan in hopes of getting his memories back before he gets himself killed.
But as he realizes that nothing � from the incredibly tasteless cloak adorned with flames to the aforementioned princess � is quite what it seems, Gav must face up to all the things the Dread Lord Gavrax has done. And he’ll have to answer the hardest question of all � who does he want to be?
Dread Lord Gavrax has had better weeks.]]> 344 Caitlin Rozakis 1803365471 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.66 2024 Dreadful
author: Caitlin Rozakis
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Pedro Páramo 38787
As one enters Juan Rulfo's legendary novel, one follows a dusty road to a town of death. Time shifts from one consciousness to another in a hypnotic flow of dreams, desires, and memories, a world of ghosts dominated by the figure of Pedro Páramo - lover, overlord, murderer.

Rulfo's extraordinary mix of sensory images, violent passions, and unfathomable mysteries has been a profound influence on a whole generation of Latin American writers, including Carlos Fuentes, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Gabriel García Márquez. To read Pedro Páramo today is as overwhelming an experience as when it was first published in Mexico back in 1955.]]> 124 Juan Rulfo 0802133908 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.06 1955 Pedro Páramo
author: Juan Rulfo
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1955
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Isolation: The Horror Anthology]]> 61660451 A chilling horror anthology of 18 stories about the terrifying fears of isolation, from the modern masters of horror.

Featuring Tim Lebbon, Paul Tremblay, Joe R. Lansdale, M.R. Carey, Ken Liu and many more.

Lost in the wilderness, or shunned from society, it remains one of our deepest held fears. This horror anthology calls on leading horror writers to confront the dark moments, the challenges that we must face alone: hikers lost in the woods; astronauts adrift in the silence of deep space; the quiet voice trapped in a crowd; the prisoner, with no hope of escape. Experience the chilling terrors of Isolation.

Featuring Paul Tremblay, Joe R. Lansdale, Ken Liu, M.R. Carey, Jonathan Maberry, Tim Lebbon, Lisa Tuttle, Michael Marshall Smith, Ramsey Campbell,
Nina Allan, Laird Barron, Angela Slatter, John Langan, Mark Morris, Alison Littlewood, Brian Evenson, Lynda Rucker and Chikodili Emelumadu.]]> 427 Dan Coxon Tabitha 0 to-read 3.30 2022 Isolation: The Horror Anthology
author: Dan Coxon
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[First-Time Caller (Heartstrings, #1)]]> 213243908 A hopeless romantic meets a jaded radio host in this cozy, Sleepless in Seattle-inspired love story from beloved author B.K. Borison.

Aiden Valentine has a secret: he's fallen out of love with love. And as the host of Baltimore's romance hotline, that's a bit of a problem. But when a young girl calls in to the station asking for dating advice for her mom, the interview goes viral, thrusting Aiden and Heartstrings into the limelight.

Lucie Stone thought she was doing just fine. She has a good job; an incredible family; and a smart, slightly devious kid. But when all of Baltimore is suddenly scrutinizing her love life-or lack thereof—she begins to question if she's as happy as she thought. Maybe a little more romance wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Everyone wants Lucie to find her happy ending... even the handsome, temperamental man calling the shots. But when sparks start to fly behind the scenes, Lucie must make the final call between the radio-sponsored happily ever after or the man in the headphones next to her.]]> 448 B.K. Borison 0593641191 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.06 2025 First-Time Caller (Heartstrings, #1)
author: B.K. Borison
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Cold Eternity 211003824 Cold Eternity is the newest action-packed space horror from S.A. Barnes perfect for fans of Severance, where desperation for eternal life leads to a fate worse than death...

Halley is on the run from an interplanetary political scandal that has put a huge target on her back. She heads for what seems like the perfect place to lay low: a gigantic space barge storing the cryogenically frozen bodies of Earth’s most fortunate citizens from more than a century ago�

The cryo program, created by trillionaire tech genius Zale Winfeld, is long defunct, and the AI hologram "hosts," ghoulishly created in the likeness of Winfeld’s three adult children, are glitchy. The ship feels like a crypt, and the isolation gets to Halley almost immediately. She starts to see figures crawling in the hallways, and there’s a constant scraping, slithering, and rattling echoing in the vents.

It’s not long before Halley realizes she may have gotten herself trapped in an even more dangerous situation than the one she was running from�.]]> 293 S.A. Barnes 1250884950 Tabitha 5
SA Barnes knows what she likes and she writes precisely that. And I love it, lol.

Cold Eternity is probably the creepiest of her books, taking place on a mostly empty ship with a mysteriously absent caretaker, messed up AI, and a whole lot of frozen, mostly dead people. The creepy stuff starts up basically right away.

I enjoyed the tense loneliness, and the supremely creepy descriptions of the weirdness the MC encounters during the book. Barnes is good at description and suspense in my opinion.

I was occasionally annoyed by the MC, Haley/Katarina, who makes some questionable decisions at times. Her reactions don't always make sense either, which can be frustrating. She continually needs sense talked into her, and rarely does that sense come from her own internal voice, which is mainly "what's the worst decision I can make?!" I can see this frustrating some readers and making this one of her more divisive books but... personally, I didn't mind that much?

The story flies by though (in the best sense) and so whatever criticisms I have feel minor and easily overcome for the fun of the story. It's the most Dead Space-like of all Barnes' books and I am forever on the search for more media like Dead Space.

Overall I really enjoyed this book! It really satisfied my craving for some creepy, scary space horror, haha]]> 3.86 2025 Cold Eternity
author: S.A. Barnes
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: from-netgalley, read-as-audiobook, outer-space-setting, horror
review:
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy of the audiobook.

SA Barnes knows what she likes and she writes precisely that. And I love it, lol.

Cold Eternity is probably the creepiest of her books, taking place on a mostly empty ship with a mysteriously absent caretaker, messed up AI, and a whole lot of frozen, mostly dead people. The creepy stuff starts up basically right away.

I enjoyed the tense loneliness, and the supremely creepy descriptions of the weirdness the MC encounters during the book. Barnes is good at description and suspense in my opinion.

I was occasionally annoyed by the MC, Haley/Katarina, who makes some questionable decisions at times. Her reactions don't always make sense either, which can be frustrating. She continually needs sense talked into her, and rarely does that sense come from her own internal voice, which is mainly "what's the worst decision I can make?!" I can see this frustrating some readers and making this one of her more divisive books but... personally, I didn't mind that much?

The story flies by though (in the best sense) and so whatever criticisms I have feel minor and easily overcome for the fun of the story. It's the most Dead Space-like of all Barnes' books and I am forever on the search for more media like Dead Space.

Overall I really enjoyed this book! It really satisfied my craving for some creepy, scary space horror, haha
]]> Murder Kingdom #1 219339151
Once upon a time, in a strange land called Florida, a masked psycho starts murdering cast members of the Storybook Kingdom theme park in ways identical to the gory original Grimms� Fairy Tales. Princess-turned-detective Tanith is the only person who can unmask the killer before she and her friends are all Dying Unhappily Never After!

Toon-themed terror from six-time New York Times bestselling writer Fred Van Lente (Marvel Zombies), artist Chris Panda (Chocklit Shoppe of Night Shift, First Strike), and letterer Becca Carey (Radiant Black, Golden Rage).]]> 32 Fred Van Lente 1545819475 Tabitha 3
Somewhere between Six Flags and Disney is the fairy-tale theme park at the heart of Murder Kingdom. I loved the idea of this one, a serial killer terrorizing the Magic Kin- I mean, Charmingshire? Sign me up! But it mostly left me wanting.

Tanith is a fun protagonist. She's clever, determined, and brave, occasionally to the point of stupidity, but mostly tries to make the best decision in every outrageous situation she finds herself in. The deaths are fun and cheesy, and I spent most of the book imagining this as a fun cheesy b-film, which only made me want more humor, of which there isn't much. But for such a cheesy story, humor would have benefited it.

I'm actually confused over the tone of this. It's obviously all very tongue-in-cheek, but then it also seems to take itself too seriously at times, before again jumping to something silly. I mostly think it would have benefitted from being a little bit longer. I think it needed another 15-20 pages of Tanith investigating, and playing cat and mouse with the killer.

Mad Cave always puts out interesting books though and I like picking up things from them randomly and always being surprised. Like, I wouldn't hate this book on my shelves at all, and I'll probably reread this again sometime (it's very quick). I'm just sad it didn't quite reach it's potential... but then, there is set up for a sequel, which I would definitely read.]]> 3.11 Murder Kingdom #1
author: Fred Van Lente
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.11
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: graphic-novels-comics, horror, from-netgalley
review:
Thanks to NetGalley and Mad Cave Studios for the advanced copy.

Somewhere between Six Flags and Disney is the fairy-tale theme park at the heart of Murder Kingdom. I loved the idea of this one, a serial killer terrorizing the Magic Kin- I mean, Charmingshire? Sign me up! But it mostly left me wanting.

Tanith is a fun protagonist. She's clever, determined, and brave, occasionally to the point of stupidity, but mostly tries to make the best decision in every outrageous situation she finds herself in. The deaths are fun and cheesy, and I spent most of the book imagining this as a fun cheesy b-film, which only made me want more humor, of which there isn't much. But for such a cheesy story, humor would have benefited it.

I'm actually confused over the tone of this. It's obviously all very tongue-in-cheek, but then it also seems to take itself too seriously at times, before again jumping to something silly. I mostly think it would have benefitted from being a little bit longer. I think it needed another 15-20 pages of Tanith investigating, and playing cat and mouse with the killer.

Mad Cave always puts out interesting books though and I like picking up things from them randomly and always being surprised. Like, I wouldn't hate this book on my shelves at all, and I'll probably reread this again sometime (it's very quick). I'm just sad it didn't quite reach it's potential... but then, there is set up for a sequel, which I would definitely read.
]]> Eyes Guts Throat Bones 64645834
Is it someone you love wearing your face, or a good old fashioned inter-dimensional summoning?

Does it sound like a howl outside the window, or does it look like coming home?

This startling and irresistibly witty collection from the phenomenally talented Moïra Fowley is an exploration of all our darkest impulses and deepest fears.]]> 304 Moïra Fowley-Doyle 1399600516 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.92 2023 Eyes Guts Throat Bones
author: Moïra Fowley-Doyle
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Full Moon Coffee Shop (The Full Moon Coffee Shop, #1)]]> 202468425 Translated from the Japanese bestseller, this charming and magical novel, inspired by the myth of cats returning favors to those who care for them, reminds us that it’s never too late to follow our stars.

In Japan cats are a symbol of good luck. As the myth goes, if you are kind to them, they’ll one day return the favor. And if you are kind to the right cat, you might just find yourself invited to a mysterious coffee shop under a glittering Kyoto moon. This particular coffee shop is like no other. It has no fixed location, no fixed hours, and seemingly appears at random to adrift young people at crucial junctions in their lives.

It’s also run by talking cats.

While customers at the Full Moon Coffee Shop partake in cakes, coffees, and teas, the cats also consult them on their star charts, offer cryptic wisdom, and let them know where their lives have veered off course—because every person who visits the shop has been feeling more than a little lost. And for a down-on-her-luck screenwriter, a romantically stuck movie director, a hopeful hairstylist, and a technologically challenged website designer, the feline guides will set them back on their fated paths. After all, there is a reason the shop appeared to each of them…]]> 240 Mai Mochizuki 0593726820 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.60 2020 The Full Moon Coffee Shop (The Full Moon Coffee Shop, #1)
author: Mai Mochizuki
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Noro 223783400
Then Con’s German Shepherd gets out in the middle of the storm after a mysterious meteor crashes out in the woods, forcing Jonah and Con to learn that there’s far more to fear than the cold and the snow piling up outside there doors...

John Carpenter’s THE THING meets CUJO and THE TROOP in NORO, a horror novella about two men’s fight for survival against an alien parasite searching for its perfect host.]]> 150 William F. Gray Tabitha 0 to-read 4.44 Noro
author: William F. Gray
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.44
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Overgrowth 217387964 Annihilation meets Day of the Triffids in this full-on body horror/alien invasion apocalypse.

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 been willing to listen.

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?]]> 480 Mira Grant 1250768233 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.15 2025 Overgrowth
author: Mira Grant
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Starving Saints 217896248 From the nationally bestselling author of The Luminous Dead and The Death of Jane Lawrence, a transfixing, intensely atmospheric fever dream of medieval horror.

Aymar Castle has been under siege for six months. Food is running low and there has been no sign of rescue. But just as the survivors consider deliberately thinning their number, the castle stores are replenished. The sick are healed. And the divine figures of the Constant Lady and her Saints have arrived, despite the barricaded gates, offering succor in return for adoration.

Soon, the entire castle is under the sway of their saviors, partaking in intoxicating feasts of terrible origin. The war hero Ser Voyne gives her allegiance to the Constant Lady. Phosyne, a disorganized, paranoid nun-turned-sorceress, races to unravel the mystery of these new visitors and exonerate her experiments as their source. And in the bowels of the castle, a serving girl, Treila, is torn between her thirst for a secret vengeance against Voyne and the desperate need to escape from the horrors that are unfolding within Aymar’s walls.

As the castle descends into bacchanalian madness—forgetting the massed army beyond its walls in favor of hedonistic ecstasy—these three women are the only ones to still see their situation for what it is. But they are not immune from the temptations of the castle’s new masters� or each other; and their shifting alliances and entangled pasts bring violence to the surface. To save the castle, and themselves, will take a reimagining of who they are, and a reorganization of the very world itself.]]> 352 Caitlin Starling 0063418819 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.04 2025 The Starving Saints
author: Caitlin Starling
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Black Squirrel: and other winter stories]]> 213579506 Within these pages, you will embark on a journey through four narratives, each tinged with elements of horror, mystery, and the supernatural. Yet, looming over them all is the mysterious presence of the Black Squirrel, an omen of impending darkness weaving its way through the fabric of each tale.
Prepare to be hooked by unexpected twists and turns as you traverse the snow-laden landscapes of Massachusetts, where the chilling whispers of the Black Squirrel echo through the winter air, foretelling tales of darkness and intrigue.]]> 118 Luan Araujo Tabitha 0 to-read 5.00 The Black Squirrel: and other winter stories
author: Luan Araujo
name: Tabitha
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hungerstone 212342605 Hungerstone is a thrillingly seductive sapphic romance for fans of S.T. Gibson’s A Dowry of Blood and Emilia Hart’s Weyward.

For what do you hunger, Lenore?

Lenore is the wife of steel magnate Henry, but ten years into their marriage, the relationship has soured and no child has arrived to fill the distance growing between them. Henry's ambitions take them out of London and to the imposing Nethershaw manor in the countryside, where Henry aims to host a hunt with society’s finest. Lenore keeps a terrible secret from the last time her husband hunted, and though they never speak of it, it haunts their marriage to this day.

The preparations for the event take a turn when a carriage accident near their remote home brings the mysterious Carmilla into Lenore's life. Carmilla who is weak and pale during the day but vibrant at night; Carmilla who stirs up a hunger deep within Lenore. Soon girls from local villages begin to fall sick before being consumed by a bloody hunger.

Torn between regaining her husband's affection and Carmilla's ever-growing presence, Lenore begins to unravel her past and in doing so, uncovers a darkness in her household that will place her at terrible risk . . .

Set against the violent wilderness of the moors and the uncontrolled appetite of the industrial revolution, Hungerstone is a compulsive feminist reworking of Carmilla, the book that inspired Dracula: a captivating story of appetite and desire.]]> 336 Kat Dunn 1638932166 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.02 2025 Hungerstone
author: Kat Dunn
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Breathe In, Bleed Out 221490948 It's a Midsommar night's Scream in this blood-soaked thriller set at a remote healing retreat from horror author Brian McAuley.

Hannah has been running from her demons ever since she emerged from a harrowing wilderness trip without her fiancé. No one knows exactly what happened the day Ben died, and Hannah would like to keep it that way... even if his ghost still haunts her with vivid waking nightmares that are ruining her life. So when her friend group gets an exclusive invitation to a restorative spiritual retreat in Joshua Tree, Hannah reluctantly agrees in search of a fresh start.

Despite her skepticism of the strange Guru Pax and his belief in the supernatural world, Hannah soon finds healing through all the yoga, sound baths, and hot springs offered at the tech-free haven. But this peaceful journey of self-discovery quickly descends into a violent fight for self-preservation when a mysterious killer starts picking off retreat attendees in increasingly gruesome ways. As the body count rises and Hannah’s sanity frays, she’ll have to confront her dark past and uncover the true nature of a ruthless monster hellbent on killing her vibe for good.]]> 304 Brian McAuley 1464238200 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.52 Breathe In, Bleed Out
author: Brian McAuley
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.52
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Chlorine 61387386 In the vein of The Pisces and The Vegetarian, Chlorine is a debut novel that blurs the line between a literary coming-of-age narrative and a dark unsettling horror tale, told from an adult perspective on the trials and tribulations of growing up in a society that puts pressure on young women and their bodies... a powerful, relevant novel of immigration, sapphic longing, and fierce, defiant becoming.

Ren Yu is a swimmer. Her daily life starts and ends with the pool. Her teammates are her only friends. Her coach, her guiding light. If she swims well enough, she will be scouted, get a scholarship, go to a good school. Her parents will love her. Her coach will be kind to her. She will have a good life.

But these are human concerns. These are the concerns of those confined to land, those with legs. Ren grew up on stories of creatures of the deep, of the oceans and the rivers. Ones that called sailors to their doom. Ones that dragged them down and drowned them. Ones that feasted on their flesh. Ones of the creature that she's always longed to become: mermaid.

Ren aches to be in the water. She dreams of the scent of chlorine--the feel of it on her skin. And she will do anything she can to make a life for herself where she can be free. No matter the pain. No matter what anyone else thinks. No matter how much blood she has to spill.]]> 256 Jade Song 0063257602 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.67 2023 Chlorine
author: Jade Song
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Ministry of Time 220160351 A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all:

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats� from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge�: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as �1847� or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,� “Spotify,� and “the collapse of the British Empire.� But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.]]> 368 Kaliane Bradley 166804515X Tabitha 0 to-read 3.59 2024 The Ministry of Time
author: Kaliane Bradley
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Witch Tape: A Scary Short Story (Horror Story)]]> 56202138 49 Stories From The Attic Tabitha 0 to-read 3.58 The Witch Tape: A Scary Short Story (Horror Story)
author: Stories From The Attic
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.58
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Vampires at Sea 221211448

A smutty, super-queer horror-comedy featuring unbridled narcissism, Vampires at Sea is a hilarious and satisfying snack!]]> 168 Lindsay Merbaum 1951971221 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.55 2025 Vampires at Sea
author: Lindsay Merbaum
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> You Are Fatally Invited 213243937 An exclusive thriller writer’s retreat hosted on a private island turns lethal when one of the authors is found murdered in this twisty locked room mystery.

When renowned anonymous author J. R. Alastor hires former aspiring writer Mila del Angél to host a writing retreat at his private manor off the coast of Maine, she jumps at the chance—particularly since she has an ax to grind with one of the invitees. The guest list? Six thriller authors, all masters of deceit, misdirection, and mayhem.

Confess the crimes, survive the tropes.

Alastor and Mila have masterminded a week of games, trope-fueled riddles, and maybe a jump scare or two—the perfect cover for Mila to plot a murder of her own. But when a guest turns up dead—and it’s not the murder she planned—Mila finds herself trapped in a different narrative altogether.

One by one, you’ll lose your turn.

With a storm cutting off the island, and the body count rising, Mila must outwit a killer who knows literally every trick in the book.

Until only one of us remains�]]> 371 Ande Pliego 059387157X Tabitha 0 to-read 3.58 2025 You Are Fatally Invited
author: Ande Pliego
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Katabasis 210191773 Two graduate students must set aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul, perhaps at the cost of their own.

Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality—her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world—that is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault.

Grimes is now in Hell, and she’s going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her very future in his now incorporeal hands, and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams. Nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the same conclusion.]]> 560 R.F. Kuang 0063021471 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.26 2025 Katabasis
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Love and Fury 54860577 288 Samantha Silva 1250159113 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.13 2021 Love and Fury
author: Samantha Silva
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone]]> 61941251
Before the storm stranded us at the mountain resort.

The thing is, us Cunninghams don't really get along.

We've only got one thing in common: we've all killed someone.

When they find the first body in the snow, it's clear that only a Cunningham could have committed the crime - and it's up to me to prove it.

There are plenty of killers in my family. But only one murderer . . .]]> 383 Benjamin Stevenson 1405953284 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.86 2022 Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone
author: Benjamin Stevenson
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Pam Kowolski Is a Monster! 228175373 If Janet Chow hadn’t been such a jerk to everyone at Sewanhaka High, they might have voted her Most Likely to Succeed. Twenty-plus years later, life hasn’t turned out how Janet expected. She’s rudderless, her career in journalism crashed, burned, and buried. How did it come to this?



But then one day, Janet recognizes her mortal enemy from high school—Pam Kowolski! Somehow, Pam’s become America’s manic pixie sweetheart, an online psychic predicting the end of the world. Pam’s rich, hawt, and famous, meanwhile Janet looks...middle aged. How did this happen? How did Pam Kowolski steal Janet’s life?



Janet knows the truth: there’s no way a dumb ass like Pam earned her success. She’s lying about her powers. The world isn’t ending. Pam’s a FRAUD. It’s time for Janet to wake up and claim what’s hers by writing an article that TAKES PAM DOWN.


But to reveal Pam, she’s got to dig deep into their shared past. There’s bad stuff back there, scary stuff, and the more Janet learns, the more she worries: what if Pam Kowolski is right?

]]> 120 Sarah Langan 194787991X Tabitha 5 horror, from-netgalley
This novella caught my eye with a fun cover and intriguing blurb. I normally wait for a few reviews first but given this was a novella I figured it couldn't be a big waste of time at least - and I'm glad to say it wasn't at all!

Sarah Langan has written something special here. It's a work on memory and self-esteem, and how getting lost in your head, in your own thoughts, can make you your own worst enemy. The horror is multi-layered and very effective, as we see the effects of Pamela's "big reveal". It's difficult to discuss without giving away too much - this story is short enough to be consumed within an hour, and meaty enough to leave you thinking about it for days. Or weeks. I know it'll be on my mind for a long time.

Langan is an excellent writer as well, with vivid descriptions in the now and murkier in the past, only getting clearer as the main character learns the truth as well.

This kind of gives some things away but it's similar to: Nightbitch, American Psycho, Pulse/Kairo (the films)]]> 4.16 2025 Pam Kowolski Is a Monster!
author: Sarah Langan
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves: horror, from-netgalley
review:
Thanks to NetGalley and RDS Publishing for the advanced copy.

This novella caught my eye with a fun cover and intriguing blurb. I normally wait for a few reviews first but given this was a novella I figured it couldn't be a big waste of time at least - and I'm glad to say it wasn't at all!

Sarah Langan has written something special here. It's a work on memory and self-esteem, and how getting lost in your head, in your own thoughts, can make you your own worst enemy. The horror is multi-layered and very effective, as we see the effects of Pamela's "big reveal". It's difficult to discuss without giving away too much - this story is short enough to be consumed within an hour, and meaty enough to leave you thinking about it for days. Or weeks. I know it'll be on my mind for a long time.

Langan is an excellent writer as well, with vivid descriptions in the now and murkier in the past, only getting clearer as the main character learns the truth as well.

This kind of gives some things away but it's similar to: Nightbitch, American Psycho, Pulse/Kairo (the films)
]]> The Creepy School Bus 228685590
Chloe missed her bus home thanks to the terrible Miss Langley. Thankfully, she's able to catch the back-up bus. Unfortunately for Chloe � there is no back-up bus.

As more and more students go missing without explanation and the authorities are stumped, Kaitlin and her friends become entangled in this deeply unsettling mystery that goes far deeper than any of them expected.

Featuring Christina Hendricks as "Langley," Eddie McGee as "Agent Warren," and Erika Alexander as "Agent Alexander." Narrated by Dacey Else as "Kaitlin" with performances by Devin Breaux as "Jamie," Finn Egan-Liang as "Ping," Mecca Rogers as "Chloe," Katelynn Kennedy Staggs as "Alison," James J. Johnson as "The Pole," Jefferson A. Russell as "Director Harris" and "Chris Davenport," and Joe Mallon, Dawn Ursula, Julie-Ann Elliott, Todd Scofield, Samantha Cooper, Khaya Fraites, Alysia Beltran, Ryan H. Reid, Nickolette Kong, Sara Matsui-Colby, Sam Carpenter, Tim Carlin, David Jordan, Rayner Gabriel, Matthew Schleigh, Mark Harrietha, Adrian Garcia, Renee Dorian, Richard Rohan, and Ken Jackson.

Includes sound effects and music!]]> 5 Paul Hough Tabitha 3
An ok Goosebumps-esque horror story. The kids are kids, so annoying at times, and the grownups are mainly all the absolute worst, minus one.

Presenting it as an teleplay-like audiobook definitely helps with overlooking the fact the story is stretched for most of it and rushed in the last 30 minutes, and then ends on a cliffhanger for part 2. It's short as it is and while I haven't listened to part 2 yet, I think this would've been better if they'd been combined and part 1 was more aggressively edited in the first half. We even get a whole bio break scene, absolutely unnecessary and didn't do anything to show us character growth or move the plot. It felt like an intermission, but it wasn't interrupting much to begin with.

The horror is effective though, and there are some good spooks in the story. The content in general skews older actually: what's happening to the kidnapped kids, when revealed, is shocking, the kids deal with various insecurities like food, shelter, and money, they deal with drug addicted parents and living in poverty. It's heavy stuff. One of the scarier scenes in the story was when the main character, Kaitlin, encounters her mom looking for money. Heartbreaking and horrendous. So, while Hough wrote this like it's a middle grade novel, the content is more YA. Also, without it being a whole story (since its conclusion cuts off for pt 2), Hough doesn't get a chance to make any real meaningful commentary on these serious subjects he brings up, with makes it all feel gratuitous in an icky way, like lets just makes these kids lives the worst because it's entertaining. That's how it felt at least, without pt 2.

Anyway, you can see it left me torn. I did like the horror, the story feels incomplete but it's not terrible, and the teleplay aspect with the full cast was fun. Overall The Creepy School Bus is an ok story, but not one I'll be sharing with my niblings, it's just a bit too dark for them.]]> 4.09 The Creepy School Bus
author: Paul Hough
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.09
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: from-netgalley, horror, middle-grade, read-as-audiobook
review:
Thanks to NetGalley and RBmedia for an advanced copy of the audiobook.

An ok Goosebumps-esque horror story. The kids are kids, so annoying at times, and the grownups are mainly all the absolute worst, minus one.

Presenting it as an teleplay-like audiobook definitely helps with overlooking the fact the story is stretched for most of it and rushed in the last 30 minutes, and then ends on a cliffhanger for part 2. It's short as it is and while I haven't listened to part 2 yet, I think this would've been better if they'd been combined and part 1 was more aggressively edited in the first half. We even get a whole bio break scene, absolutely unnecessary and didn't do anything to show us character growth or move the plot. It felt like an intermission, but it wasn't interrupting much to begin with.

The horror is effective though, and there are some good spooks in the story. The content in general skews older actually: what's happening to the kidnapped kids, when revealed, is shocking, the kids deal with various insecurities like food, shelter, and money, they deal with drug addicted parents and living in poverty. It's heavy stuff. One of the scarier scenes in the story was when the main character, Kaitlin, encounters her mom looking for money. Heartbreaking and horrendous. So, while Hough wrote this like it's a middle grade novel, the content is more YA. Also, without it being a whole story (since its conclusion cuts off for pt 2), Hough doesn't get a chance to make any real meaningful commentary on these serious subjects he brings up, with makes it all feel gratuitous in an icky way, like lets just makes these kids lives the worst because it's entertaining. That's how it felt at least, without pt 2.

Anyway, you can see it left me torn. I did like the horror, the story feels incomplete but it's not terrible, and the teleplay aspect with the full cast was fun. Overall The Creepy School Bus is an ok story, but not one I'll be sharing with my niblings, it's just a bit too dark for them.
]]> Bedside Manor 59355650 When Jack’s car breaks down in the middle of a cross-country road trip, the mysterious house at the top of the hill is a beacon of hope. If he can borrow a phone to call for help, he’ll be on his way in no time. But someone - or something - has other plans. Soon, Jack finds himself trapped in a nightmare that defies logic, where a depraved killer on the loose is the least of his problems. Will Jack escape before it’s too late?
A house full of strangers. An unsolvable mystery. A night that won’t end.
Welcome to Bedside Manor.]]> 153 Jack Townsend Tabitha 0 to-read 4.35 Bedside Manor
author: Jack Townsend
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.35
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Drop of Corruption (Shadow of the Leviathan, #2)]]> 213618143 The brilliant detective Ana Dolabra may have finally met her match in the gripping sequel to The Tainted Cup—from the bestselling author of The Founders Trilogy.

In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, an impossible crime has occurred. A Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—abducted from his quarters while the door and windows remained locked from the inside, in a building whose entrances and exits are all under constant guard.

To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial investigator, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.

Before long, Ana’s discovered that they’re not investigating a disappearance, but a murder—and that the killing was just the first chess move by an adversary who seems to be able to pass through warded doors like a ghost, and who can predict every one of Ana’s moves as though they can see the future.

Worse still, the killer seems to be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud. Here, the Empire's greatest minds dissect fallen Titans to harness the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the destruction would be terrible indeed—and the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn.

Din has seen Ana solve impossible cases before. But this time, with the stakes higher than ever and Ana seemingly a step behind their adversary at every turn, he fears that his superior has finally met an enemy she can’t defeat.]]> 465 Robert Jackson Bennett 0593723821 Tabitha 5 from-netgalley
Obsessssssssed. That's the best word to describe my feelings for this book, honestly. Robert Jackson Bennett has done it again and, really, somehow wrote something even better than the first book, The Tainted Cup.

A Drop of Corruption is meatier and more in every aspect compared to the first book in this new series. We follow Ana and Din once more, as they're now being sent to the Yarrow canton to investigate the mysterious murder of a treasury officer. Sounds simple, right? Nope - of course things aren't that simple! This book expands heavily on the mythology and cultures of this world but it never feels overwhelming or like an info dump because Bennett weaves in everything so expertly that it barely registers you've just read five new words and learned three new things about this world. I'm also endlessly fascinated by the leviathans of the world and hope we learn more about them in future books.

I love that even though there is a lot of the Empire's politics in these books (Ana and Din are employed by the Empire of course), we're kept to the outer rings of the empire where things are wilder and messier and scarier. Particularly this new area in this book, Yarrowdale, a 'free' kingdom the Empire has been in talks of acquiring for many years. Being in Yarrowdale forces Din to walk a fine line between his role for the Empire and as a visitor to the canton. I really enjoyed him as an outsider to this world that feels so foreign, freeing him to make observations of their ways and ask questions the reader has.

We got a lot of Din in the last book and not nearly enough Ana, in my opinion, but in this book Bennett finally gives us a deeper and more curious look into his unusual Sherlock Holmes-esque protagonist. I'm not going to spoil anything but I LOVED all the reveals for her and cannot wait to read more and see where these new revelations take us in future books. We also get to learn more about Din as well, though as the Watson to Ana's Sherlock, I'm not as interested in him haha

This is my current favorite fantasy world and I never want to leave and only want more. I dream of this in an animated way similar to The Last Unicorn or the cartoon The Hobbit. What a dream it would be to have a film of these books in that style!

I know it's still early in the year but I feel safe in claiming A Drop of Corruption as one of my top favorites for 2025. Unless I encounter a slew of bangers after this, I'm certain it'll make my top 5 for sure. I'm also aware it looks like it took me 3 months to finish this - I could have finished this in a day for sure but I wanted to savor it rather than devour, because I just didn't want it to end.

For fans of: Dishonored, Game of Thrones, Sherlock Holmes, medieval/Victorian-ish fantasy with giant mysterious kaiju/leviathan creatures :P]]> 4.55 2025 A Drop of Corruption (Shadow of the Leviathan, #2)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves: from-netgalley
review:
Thanks to NetGalley and RandomHouse for the advanced copy.

Obsessssssssed. That's the best word to describe my feelings for this book, honestly. Robert Jackson Bennett has done it again and, really, somehow wrote something even better than the first book, The Tainted Cup.

A Drop of Corruption is meatier and more in every aspect compared to the first book in this new series. We follow Ana and Din once more, as they're now being sent to the Yarrow canton to investigate the mysterious murder of a treasury officer. Sounds simple, right? Nope - of course things aren't that simple! This book expands heavily on the mythology and cultures of this world but it never feels overwhelming or like an info dump because Bennett weaves in everything so expertly that it barely registers you've just read five new words and learned three new things about this world. I'm also endlessly fascinated by the leviathans of the world and hope we learn more about them in future books.

I love that even though there is a lot of the Empire's politics in these books (Ana and Din are employed by the Empire of course), we're kept to the outer rings of the empire where things are wilder and messier and scarier. Particularly this new area in this book, Yarrowdale, a 'free' kingdom the Empire has been in talks of acquiring for many years. Being in Yarrowdale forces Din to walk a fine line between his role for the Empire and as a visitor to the canton. I really enjoyed him as an outsider to this world that feels so foreign, freeing him to make observations of their ways and ask questions the reader has.

We got a lot of Din in the last book and not nearly enough Ana, in my opinion, but in this book Bennett finally gives us a deeper and more curious look into his unusual Sherlock Holmes-esque protagonist. I'm not going to spoil anything but I LOVED all the reveals for her and cannot wait to read more and see where these new revelations take us in future books. We also get to learn more about Din as well, though as the Watson to Ana's Sherlock, I'm not as interested in him haha

This is my current favorite fantasy world and I never want to leave and only want more. I dream of this in an animated way similar to The Last Unicorn or the cartoon The Hobbit. What a dream it would be to have a film of these books in that style!

I know it's still early in the year but I feel safe in claiming A Drop of Corruption as one of my top favorites for 2025. Unless I encounter a slew of bangers after this, I'm certain it'll make my top 5 for sure. I'm also aware it looks like it took me 3 months to finish this - I could have finished this in a day for sure but I wanted to savor it rather than devour, because I just didn't want it to end.

For fans of: Dishonored, Game of Thrones, Sherlock Holmes, medieval/Victorian-ish fantasy with giant mysterious kaiju/leviathan creatures :P
]]> A Lonely Broadcast: Book Two 227811507


Hidden between tall trees and snowy mountains is the village of Pinehaven, a quaint town with a horrifying secret. For years, the Operators at 104.6 FM have protected the village from ravenous, mutated beasts that live deep in the forest and emerge every time the fog rolls in. The current radio hosts - Evelyn, Daniel, and Finn - have been keeping watch for over a year.



But suddenly, things are changing. A hypnotic light has appeared between the trees, earthquakes have been putting the radio tower in danger, and something massive has moved into the Pinehaven coal mines. The forest is getting smarter. A blight is spreading. And this year, the winter is colder and more vicious than ever.]]> 247 Kel Byron Tabitha 0 to-read 4.36 A Lonely Broadcast: Book Two
author: Kel Byron
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.36
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Lonely Broadcast: Book One (A Lonely Broadcast, #1)]]> 174039481
The village of Pinehaven has a secret of monstrous proportions. Evelyn McKinnon, a radio host falling on hard times, finds herself utterly unprepared when she learns that the radio station isn't just for entertainment. It's a watchtower.

She's stalked by a bird with human eyes. Her new co-host won't stop singing show tunes. And when the fog rolls in, the beasts of Pinehaven Forest begin their brutal hunt. Evelyn and her friends are suddenly face-to-face with something much scarier than ravenous flesh-giants and vengeful responsibility.




'A Lonely Broadcast' is a darkly comedic tale that mixes elements of cosmic horror, gruesome gore, and a touching story about friendship, grief, and finding hope when all seems lost. It's also the story of an unhinged woman's personal war with a goddamn bird.]]> 318 Kel Byron Tabitha 4
What I liked: the setting is fabulous, a spooky radio tower in the middle of the woods on the edge of a mountain. There's some minor liminal-ness to the setting. The monsters were creepy and well described, and the threat they represent felt intense, and the effect their presence has on the operators (not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well) is well done. Byron does great with descriptions of the world and monsters in general, creating a very atmospheric creepy story. I mostly read this at night before bed and it infected my dreams more than once.

What I disliked: the plot is very simple but there's not a lot of side story to pad this out, so it altogether feels like it would have been better as a novella, which has me very curious about the fact there's apparently a sequel (which I will be checking out, mostly out of curiosity more than a desire to read more in this world). The padding in between caused some portions of the story to drag a bit. Also, Byron is great at describing her world but gave far less attention to the characters. I cannot picture them for the life of me. I know their names only because the chapters alternated their viewpoints and were titled with their names lol Byron also seemed to struggle (or maybe change her mind?) on her characters' personalities. Characterization is kind of all over the place, which means Evelyn and Danny occasionally make decisions that don't feel like they fit who they are. The things they see and go through are a lot but they don't seem to even consider... just getting a different job? I get the story has to have a story, but I wanted this to be addressed a bit more. Evelyn is running away and also looking for redemption, but Danny? WHY IS HE STILL THERE? The timeline can also be confusing.

Overall though, like I said before, this hit a craving I had for something, anything, like Tales from the Gas Station: Volume One. If you're a fan of either of these books you're very likely to like the other, though Tales From the Gas Station is the superior of the two. Other similar books (also done better imo) include Scarewaves and The Dead Woods. The latter two are technically YA/Middle Grade but definitely worth the time for some really well done, effective nature/radio horror.

Super curious about the sequel.]]> 4.01 A Lonely Broadcast: Book One (A Lonely Broadcast, #1)
author: Kel Byron
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.01
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/06
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves:
review:
I'm kind of torn on this. I enjoyed it a lot, it hit the spot for what I was craving and looking for, but it had some issues.

What I liked: the setting is fabulous, a spooky radio tower in the middle of the woods on the edge of a mountain. There's some minor liminal-ness to the setting. The monsters were creepy and well described, and the threat they represent felt intense, and the effect their presence has on the operators (not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well) is well done. Byron does great with descriptions of the world and monsters in general, creating a very atmospheric creepy story. I mostly read this at night before bed and it infected my dreams more than once.

What I disliked: the plot is very simple but there's not a lot of side story to pad this out, so it altogether feels like it would have been better as a novella, which has me very curious about the fact there's apparently a sequel (which I will be checking out, mostly out of curiosity more than a desire to read more in this world). The padding in between caused some portions of the story to drag a bit. Also, Byron is great at describing her world but gave far less attention to the characters. I cannot picture them for the life of me. I know their names only because the chapters alternated their viewpoints and were titled with their names lol Byron also seemed to struggle (or maybe change her mind?) on her characters' personalities. Characterization is kind of all over the place, which means Evelyn and Danny occasionally make decisions that don't feel like they fit who they are. The things they see and go through are a lot but they don't seem to even consider... just getting a different job? I get the story has to have a story, but I wanted this to be addressed a bit more. Evelyn is running away and also looking for redemption, but Danny? WHY IS HE STILL THERE? The timeline can also be confusing.

Overall though, like I said before, this hit a craving I had for something, anything, like Tales from the Gas Station: Volume One. If you're a fan of either of these books you're very likely to like the other, though Tales From the Gas Station is the superior of the two. Other similar books (also done better imo) include Scarewaves and The Dead Woods. The latter two are technically YA/Middle Grade but definitely worth the time for some really well done, effective nature/radio horror.

Super curious about the sequel.
]]> <![CDATA[Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees]]> 202104245 Live, laugh, shed blood. Dexter meets Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy Town in this twisted debut graphic novel.

Don’t murder the locals—this is small-town serial killer, upstanding citizen, and adorable brown bear Samantha Strong’s cardinal rule. A sea of potential victims is in the city just beyond the forest, but when you’ve worked as hard as Sam to build a cozy life and a thriving business in a community surrounded by friendly fellow animal folk, warm decor, and the aroma of cedar trees and freshly baked apple pie, the last thing you want is to disturb the peace. So imagine Sam's indignation when one of Woodbrook’s own meets a grisly, mysterious demise. You wouldn’t blame her for doing anything it takes to hunt down her rival before the town self-destructs and Sheriff Patterson starts barking up the wrong tree.]]> 152 Patrick Horvath Tabitha 0 to-read 4.20 2024 Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees
author: Patrick Horvath
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Liminal Zone, Vol. 2 214151520 A group of four university students stumbles upon a deserted, decaying village deep in the mountains only to find an enormous perpetual motion machine still at work there. Before they can answer the questions of who made it and to what end, the friends begin to disappear, one after the other. Another story sees the return of the strange Hikizuri siblings! A girl weighed down since birth by an invisible burden meets the odd siblings and moves in with them in order to understand the truth about herself. But after a string of bizarre occurrences, the siblings� uncle appears on the scene…]]> 224 Junji Ito 1974752259 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.99 2020 The Liminal Zone, Vol. 2
author: Junji Ito
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hungerstone 220456036 For what do you hunger . . .?

Lenore is the wife of steel magnate Henry, but ten years into their marriage the relationship has soured, and no child has arrived to fill the distance growing between them. Henry's ambitions take them from London to Sheffield, and with his success hinged on a hunt, an old tradition looms over the home; the hunt is a time to settle old scores. If a bullet finds a human home, then it is only that they were foolish to become prey. In the weeks leading up to the hunt, a carriage accident near their remote home brings the mysterious Carmilla into Lenore's life. Carmilla, who is weak and pale during the day but vibrant at night, Carmilla who will not eat meals with the family, Carmilla who stirs up a hunger deep within Lenore. Soon girls from local villages begin to fall sick before being consumed by a terrible hunger . . .

Set against the violent wilderness of the Peaks and the uncontrolled appetite of the industrial revolution Hungerstone is a compulsive feminist reworking of Carmilla, the book that inspired a captivating story of appetite and desire.]]> 400 Kat Dunn 1786583917 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.03 2025 Hungerstone
author: Kat Dunn
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> When We Lost Our Heads 58446244 A spellbinding story about two girls whose friendship is so intense it not only threatens to destroy them, it changes the trajectory of history.

Marie Antoine is the charismatic, spoiled daughter of a sugar baron. At 12 years old, with her blond curls and her unparalleled sense of whimsey, she's the leader of all the children in the Golden Mile, an affluent strip of 19th century Montreal. Until one day in 1873, when Sadie Arnett, dark-haired, sly, and brilliant, moves to the neighborhood.

Marie and Sadie are immediately united by their passion and intensity, and they attract and repel each other in ways that light each of them on fire. Marie with her bubbly charm sees the light and sweetness of the world, whereas Sadie's obsession with darkness is all consuming. Soon their childlike games take on a thrill of danger and then become deadly.

Forced to separate, they spend their teenage years engaged in acts of alternating innocence and depravity--until a singular event unites them once more, with dizzying effects. And after Marie inherits her father's sugar empire and Sadie disappears into the city's gritty underworld, a revolution of the working class begins to foment. Each of them will have unexpected roles to play in events that upend their city--the only question is whether they will find each other once more.

Traveling from a repressive finishing school to a vibrant brothel, taking readers firsthand into the brutality of factory life and the opulent lives of Montreal's wealthy, When We Lost Our Heads dazzlingly explores gender and power, sex and desire, class and status, and the terrifying power of the human heart when it can't let someone go.]]> 448 Heather O'Neill 0593422902 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.94 2022 When We Lost Our Heads
author: Heather O'Neill
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Salt & Broom 123443274
"Salt and broom, make this room
Safe and tight, against the night."

Trunks packed with potions and cures, Jane Aire sets out on a crisp, clear morning in October to face the greatest challenge of her sheltered girls�-school existence. A shadow lies over Thornfield Hall and its reclusive master, Edward Rochester. And he’s hired her only as a last resort. Jane stumbles again and again as she tries to establish a rapport with her prickly new employer, but he becomes the least of her worries as a mysterious force seems to work against her. The threats mount around both Jane and Rochester—who’s becoming more intriguing and appealing to her by the day. Jane begins to fear her herb healing and protective charms may not be enough to save the man she’s growing to love from a threat darker and more dangerous than either of them imagined.]]> 282 Sharon Lynn Fisher 1662515685 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.12 2023 Salt & Broom
author: Sharon Lynn Fisher
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Weyward 127280850
2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.]]> 392 Emilia Hart 1250842727 Tabitha 4 read-as-audiobook The Sirens by this author and I LOVED it. Gave it 5 stars. It even made me tear up and usually I don't like that but I can get emotional during the holidays lol

I think if I'd read Weyward first I'd have given it 5 stars and Sirens 4 stars - the reason being I felt like I read the same story twice. They're not really the same but the vibes and set up were both sooooo similar, which I think was made all the more obvious that I read them within a month of each other basically lol

But then I really enjoyed the story, regardless of the similarities, it just didn't grab me in the same way as Sirens. I think if you enjoy one you'll definitely enjoy the other though. I do enjoy Hart's love of telling stories of multiple women across time and how their existences guide each other in different ways. It's very affecting. I also greatly enjoy Emilia Hart's writing style. It ebbs and flows between high detail situations and the contemplative natures of her characters in an enjoyable way. Pulling you in to the minutiae and then pushing you out to see the big picture.

If you like this you'll probably also enjoy the wonderful Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom, one of my favorite books. You may also enjoy Witchcraft for Wayward Girls and Cackle. Both of these had very similar witchy vibes to Weyward.]]> 4.02 2023 Weyward
author: Emilia Hart
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: read-as-audiobook
review:
Over Christmas I read The Sirens by this author and I LOVED it. Gave it 5 stars. It even made me tear up and usually I don't like that but I can get emotional during the holidays lol

I think if I'd read Weyward first I'd have given it 5 stars and Sirens 4 stars - the reason being I felt like I read the same story twice. They're not really the same but the vibes and set up were both sooooo similar, which I think was made all the more obvious that I read them within a month of each other basically lol

But then I really enjoyed the story, regardless of the similarities, it just didn't grab me in the same way as Sirens. I think if you enjoy one you'll definitely enjoy the other though. I do enjoy Hart's love of telling stories of multiple women across time and how their existences guide each other in different ways. It's very affecting. I also greatly enjoy Emilia Hart's writing style. It ebbs and flows between high detail situations and the contemplative natures of her characters in an enjoyable way. Pulling you in to the minutiae and then pushing you out to see the big picture.

If you like this you'll probably also enjoy the wonderful Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom, one of my favorite books. You may also enjoy Witchcraft for Wayward Girls and Cackle. Both of these had very similar witchy vibes to Weyward.
]]> The Cursed Among Us 60543883
Howie Burke and his friends decide rules are meant to be broken. That’s what fifteen-year-old kids do. On a beautiful fall day, they decide to go out in the woods to film a horror movie when they stumble across a mysterious grave. What they don’t know is that they are about to release an evil on the town unlike anything in their home-made movies. They will soon uncover the secrets of the Black Heart Killer, and what it truly means to be cursed.]]> 252 John Durgin Tabitha 0 to-read 3.86 2022 The Cursed Among Us
author: John Durgin
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Wrong Place Wrong Time 59947696
It is midnight on the morning of Halloween, and Jen anxiously waits up for her 18-year-old son, Todd, to return home. But worries about his broken curfew transform into something much more dangerous when Todd finally emerges from the darkness. As Jen watches through the window, she sees her funny, seemingly happy teenage son stab a total stranger.

She doesn’t know who the victim is, or why Todd has committed such a devastating act of violence. All she knows is that her life, and Todd’s, have been shattered.

After her son is taken into custody, Jen falls asleep in despair. But when she wakes up� it is yesterday. The murder has not happened yet—and there may be a chance to stop it. Each morning, when Jen wakes, she is further back in the past, first weeks, then years, before the murder. And Jen realizes that somewhere in the past lies the trigger for Todd’s terrible crime…and it is her mission to find it, and prevent it from taking place.]]> 416 Gillian McAllister 0063252341 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.95 2022 Wrong Place Wrong Time
author: Gillian McAllister
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Year of the Witching (Bethel, #1)]]> 49789629 A young woman living in a rigid, puritanical society discovers dark powers within herself in this stunning, feminist fantasy debut.

In the lands of Bethel, where the Prophet’s word is law, Immanuelle Moore’s very existence is blasphemy. Her mother’s union with an outsider of a different race cast her once-proud family into disgrace, so Immanuelle does her best to worship the Father, follow Holy Protocol, and lead a life of submission, devotion, and absolute conformity, like all the other women in the settlement.

But a mishap lures her into the forbidden Darkwood surrounding Bethel, where the first prophet once chased and killed four powerful witches. Their spirits are still lurking there, and they bestow a gift on Immanuelle: the journal of her dead mother, who Immanuelle is shocked to learn once sought sanctuary in the wood.

Fascinated by the secrets in the diary, Immanuelle finds herself struggling to understand how her mother could have consorted with the witches. But when she begins to learn grim truths about the Church and its history, she realizes the true threat to Bethel is its own darkness. And she starts to understand that if Bethel is to change, it must begin with her.]]> 368 Alexis Henderson 0593099605 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.79 2020 The Year of the Witching (Bethel, #1)
author: Alexis Henderson
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Boy Parts 49083140
Placed on sabbatical from her dead-end bar job, she is offered an exhibition at a fashionable London gallery, promising to revive her career in the art world and offering an escape from her rut of drugs, alcohol, and extreme cinema. The news triggers a self-destructive tailspin, centred around Irina’s relationship with her obsessive best friend, and a shy young man from her local supermarket who has attracted her attention�

Boy Parts is the incendiary debut novel from Eliza Clark, a pitch-black comedy both shocking and hilarious, fearlessly exploring the taboo regions of sexuality and gender roles in the twenty-first century.]]> 304 Eliza Clark 1910312649 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.74 2020 Boy Parts
author: Eliza Clark
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[My Year of Rest and Relaxation]]> 44279110
Our narrator should be happy, shouldn’t she? She’s young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn’t just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It’s the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong?

My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be. Both tender and blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, it is a showcase for the gifts of one of our major writers working at the height of her powers.]]> 289 Ottessa Moshfegh 0525522131 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.62 2018 My Year of Rest and Relaxation
author: Ottessa Moshfegh
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Haunting Most Cold 223434854
Thus begins Lauren Carter’s dark and affirming tale of kinship and guilt. Sabrina Crowvin is newly orphaned and staring down adulthood when she arrives on the doorstep of two distant cousins she’s never known. Over the course of one snowstorm Sabrina will learn the secrets of Dreadwood and find solace in the company of others like herself.

A twisty, ice-encrusted gothic that echoes Shirley Jackson and chills to the bone, A Haunting Most Cold is the perfect read for a snowy night when the wind howls at your windows
- Alice Scott, author of A Practical Gentleman's Guide to Cheating Death

A Haunting Most Cold is the perfect chilling read for when you're curled up by the fire. Equal parts cozy and unsettling, Carter has supplied us with a gripping read that you won't be able to put down. I most thoroughly enjoyed my stay at the Dreadwood Estate.
- Cat Voleur, author of Revenge Arc

Reminiscent of M. R. James, this chilling ghost story is a perfect read for the dead of winter.
- Sophie Ingley, author of Eeriella: Super-Fiend!]]> 36 Lauren Carter 1964932092 Tabitha 0 to-read 5.00 A Haunting Most Cold
author: Lauren Carter
name: Tabitha
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1)]]> 1525997
After hearing damning testimony, magistrate Woodward sentences the accused witch to death by burning. Desperate to exonerate the woman he has come to love, Matthew begins his own investigation among the townspeople. Piecing together the truth, he has no choice but to vanquish a force more malevolent than witchcraft in order to save his beloved Rachel and free Fount Royal from the menace claiming innocent lives.]]> 792 Robert McCammon 1416552502 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.13 2002 Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1)
author: Robert McCammon
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Someone You Can Build a Nest In]]> 182506390 Discover this creepy, charming monster-slaying fantasy romance—from the perspective of the monster—by Nebula Award-winning debut author John Wiswell

Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she's fallen in love.

Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by hunters intent on murdering her, she constructs a body from the remains of past meals: a metal chain for a backbone, borrowed bones for limbs, and a bear trap as an extra mouth.

However, the hunters chase Shesheshen out of her home and off a cliff. Badly hurt, she’s found and nursed back to health by Homily, a warm-hearted human, who has mistaken Shesheshen as a fellow human. Homily is kind and nurturing and would make an excellent co-parent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen’s eggs so their young could devour Homily from the inside out. But as they grow close, she realizes humans don’t think about love that way.

Shesheshen hates keeping her identity secret from Homily, but just as she’s about to confess, Homily reveals why she’s in the area: she’s hunting a shapeshifting monster that supposedly cursed her family. Has Shesheshen seen it anywhere?

Eating her girlfriend isn’t an option. Shesheshen didn’t curse anyone, but to give herself and Homily a chance at happiness, she has to figure out why Homily’s twisted family thinks she did. As the hunt for the monster becomes increasingly deadly, Shesheshen must unearth the truth quickly, or soon both of their lives will be at risk.

And the bigger challenge remains: surviving her toxic in-laws long enough to learn to build a life with, rather than in, the love of her life.]]> 310 John Wiswell 0756418852 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.97 2024 Someone You Can Build a Nest In
author: John Wiswell
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[I Found a Lost Hallway in a Dying Mall (I Found Horror)]]> 214566783 In a forgotten mall, reality is starting to rot.

★★★★� - "It's like the Backrooms inside a shopping mall."

Somewhere among the shuttered stores...

Lisa hears a call for help.

She finds her senile old coworker, Saswin, lost in an abandoned hallway. He's talking to a circle of mannequins, their limbs twisted and fused in unnatural ways.

When Lisa looks away, she swears the mannequins have moved...

And that this abandoned hallway has grown longer.

After Saswin disappears down the impossible hallway, Lisa goes to find him, but she’s unprepared for the horrors that await her in the mall's forgotten depths.

I Found a Lost Hallway in a Dying Mall has been compared to creepypastas like NoSleep stories or SCP entries. It's a chilling tale of identity, liminal spaces, and the horror of leaving the past behind, from Ben Farthing, "The King of Creepy" (MJ Mars, author of The Suffering).

Each book in the I Found Horror series is a STANDALONE. They can be read in any order.]]> 162 Ben Farthing Tabitha 3 horror
I did enjoy the writing though and want to check out more by the author, particularly in this I Found series.

If you're looking for liminal horror or mannequin horror though, this was a decent dose of those specific horrors! ]]> 3.62 2024 I Found a Lost Hallway in a Dying Mall (I Found Horror)
author: Ben Farthing
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves: horror
review:
A creepy story for sure, creepier in the first half than the second once more is revealed. I think the length was just a bit too long for what the story is, even though it's already a novella. I think we spent too much time going back and forth with the main characters and the JC Penny's, that the story kind of loses its steam about halfway through, with just a few spikes of intensity after that.

I did enjoy the writing though and want to check out more by the author, particularly in this I Found series.

If you're looking for liminal horror or mannequin horror though, this was a decent dose of those specific horrors!
]]>