Tabitha's bookshelf: read en-US Thu, 15 May 2025 13:47:47 -0700 60 Tabitha's bookshelf: read 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![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¡ªfeaturing trolls, goblins, and a warrior queen missing her swordhand and weapon¡ªa 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¡ªand their sisterly bond¡ªif they¡¯re not too late!]]> 104 Cullen Bunn 1637158386 Tabitha 4
I am a Cullen Bunn fan, so I am perhaps a little biased - The Sixth Gun remains one of my most favorite comics EVER. I know that he can be a bit of a slow burn as well, and this volume is very much an introduction to a new story.

Sisters Sommer and Winter find themselves in Sweden, their writer father bringing the family to a remote cabin for writing inspiration. While there they run into some mysterious statues and then... things happen. The world of their father's stories seems to come to life here, and the parents end up kidnapped with just the kids around to save them. With a mysterious and powerful sword, they find their way to the Autumn Kingdom, a land of fae.

The story is just an introduction so far (it is Volume 1) and I don't mind that because it's a wonderful, magical, creepy introduction. I know what Bunn is capable of and I am really looking forward to reading further issues.

The art by Christopher Mitten is decent - not my favorite style but still good. The coloring was beautiful.

I loved this! Magical and creepy are always a great combination!]]> 3.46 The Autumn Kingdom Vol. 1: Through the Blight (The Autumn Kingdom, #1)
author: Cullen Bunn
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.46
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/15
date added: 2025/05/15
shelves: from-netgalley, graphic-novels-comics
review:
Thanks to NetGalley and Oni Press for the advanced copy.

I am a Cullen Bunn fan, so I am perhaps a little biased - The Sixth Gun remains one of my most favorite comics EVER. I know that he can be a bit of a slow burn as well, and this volume is very much an introduction to a new story.

Sisters Sommer and Winter find themselves in Sweden, their writer father bringing the family to a remote cabin for writing inspiration. While there they run into some mysterious statues and then... things happen. The world of their father's stories seems to come to life here, and the parents end up kidnapped with just the kids around to save them. With a mysterious and powerful sword, they find their way to the Autumn Kingdom, a land of fae.

The story is just an introduction so far (it is Volume 1) and I don't mind that because it's a wonderful, magical, creepy introduction. I know what Bunn is capable of and I am really looking forward to reading further issues.

The art by Christopher Mitten is decent - not my favorite style but still good. The coloring was beautiful.

I loved this! Magical and creepy are always a great combination!
]]> <![CDATA[Unthinkable: A Queer Gothic Anthology]]> 61311043 Unthinkable: A Queer Gothic Anthology collects nineteen original Gothic tales primed to unsettle and entertain.

From a Southern Gothic tale of destruction and revenge, to haunted houses and cursed lovers, to an eco-Gothic saga, Unthinkable¡¯s tales present undying themes of love and tragedy, life and death, all suffused with queerness.

Following on from the success of its predecessor Unspeakable: A Queer Gothic Anthology, Unthinkable features stories from a fresh batch of authors, showcasing the depth and breadth of queer Gothic literature.

Edited by Celine Frohn and featuring an introduction by A Dowry of Blood author S.T. Gibson, Unthinkable promises to haunt the reader long after the final page has been turned.]]> 352 Celine Frohn 1915691028 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.11 2022 Unthinkable: A Queer Gothic Anthology
author: Celine Frohn
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Your Body is Not Your Body 60834364
Two medieval monks react to their transformation and demonic pregnancy in very different ways.

A resourceful trans teen destroys sports bigots through the power of pluckiness...and abundant body horror.

A stellar cathedral crosses galaxies to dump the corpse of God into a star before the mission devolves into a panoply of psychedelic orgies.

A doxxed teen falls victim to violent assault and dishes out some
harrowing retribution of their own.

Over thirty Trans and Gender Nonconforming creators unite to voice their rage, and the rules of conventional Horror go out the f$%&ing window in this collection featuring murderous pleasure-bots; proselytizing zombies; acid-filled alien cops;
science run amok; sorcerers, ghouls, cannibals...and that barely scratches the grave-dirt.

YOUR BODY IS NOT YOUR BODY
Table of Contents

Introduction by M. Belanger

The Flensing Lens¡ªLC von Hessen
Tonsilstonespunksplatter666!¡ªRain Corbyn
High Maintenance¡ªS.A. Chant
The Infinite Being¡ªF. Tullia Catulla
Brother Maternitas¡ªViktor Athelstan
The Same Thing That Happened to Sam¡ªM. Lopes da Silva
Ballad of the Pest¡ªMeagan Hotz
Playing House¡ªZiggy Schutz
Hybrid¡ªRose Sable
Cholesterol-Monoxide¡ªW.N. Derring-Judith
Why We Keep Exploding¡ªHailey Piper
We've Been Trying to Reach You¡ªCharles Maria Tor
Lost in Reincarnation¡ªDevaki Devay
Because My Mother Tells Me So¡ªDayna Ingram
Seaflowers¡ªOri Jay
Fencing Chestplate¡ªAvi Burton
Gender Envy¡ªGabriel Valentine
Rest, my head.¡ªCosmin-Mihai B?rsan
The Divine Carcass¡ªBitter Karella
Chironoplasty¡ªJoe Koch
#MOTHERMAYHEM¡ªJei D. Marcade
The Lives of Scavengers¡ªRhiannon Rasmussen
The Simulacrum¡ªMax Turner
The Roots They Pull¡ªTaylor J. Pitts
Stench¡ªVincent Endwell
The Pearl Diver¡ªBri Crozier
Tiny Magic¡ªG.E. Woods

Cover art
Mx Morgan G Robles

Featuring illustrations
Harrison Webb
Lex
Lillian Hochwender
Becca Snow
Rieroo
Cori Walters
William Taylor]]> 263 Alex Woodroe Tabitha 0 to-read 4.04 2022 Your Body is Not Your Body
author: Alex Woodroe
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Untitled (Shadow of the Leviathan, #3)]]> 102615935 Robert Jackson Bennett Tabitha 0 to-read 4.80 Untitled (Shadow of the Leviathan, #3)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.80
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Shy Girl 224065871
For fans of Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder and Lisa Taddeo's Animal, Shy Girl is a harrowing tale of girlhood, survival, autonomy, and revenge.]]> 237 Mia Ballard Tabitha 0 to-read 4.40 2025 Shy Girl
author: Mia Ballard
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Everlasting 225653560
It begins where it ends: beneath the yew tree ¨C a girl not yet a knight, and a boy without a story.

It is where she pulls a sword from the heartwood and becomes a legend.

And it is where, more than a thousand years later, he will find her ¨C and lose her ¨C and find her ¨C and lose her again.

It is where a new story will be written ¨C but whose will it be?]]> 400 Alix E. Harrow 1529061172 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.80 2025 The Everlasting
author: Alix E. Harrow
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.80
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Muted: Volume 1 (Muted, #1) 220239025
It has been thirteen years since the mysterious fire at the Severin family manor that killed Camille¡¯s mother and twin sister, and the last thing Camille wants to do is return to her old home deep in the swamps of Louisiana. But she doesn¡¯t have a choice. Deeply ingrained family tradition and Matriarch Athalie¡ªCamille¡¯s coldhearted aunt and head of the Severin household¡ªdemand it.

When the time comes for Camille to perform the demon-summoning blood ritual that every prospective matriarch in her family must complete, she is fearful of making a mistake. No matter how hard she tries to be a witch worthy of the Severin name, nothing is ever good enough for her aunt. Camille has practiced and practiced, but instead of the beat of demonic wings or the snap of talons, her blood calls forth evergreen vines and leaves. Terrified, she flees into the swamps.

But her failed ritual gives her something precious: time away from Aunt Athalie. Time to spend with her beloved familiar Toben and kindly cousin Silvia. And¡ªunbeknownst to her¡ªtime to fall in love, discover the truth of her magic, reunite with long lost family, work through her grief, and solve the mystery of who killed her mother and sister.

Complete with an exclusive bonus chapter, this first volume includes episodes 1-27 of the greatly successful Webtoon webcomic Muted.]]> 320 Miranda Mundt 0593836804 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.36 2025 Muted: Volume 1 (Muted, #1)
author: Miranda Mundt
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Howl: An Anthology of Werewolves from Women-in-Horror]]> 223497505
The synchronicity of woman and wolf has long been buried. Ruled by the moon and her cycles of blood, rage, and transformation, the desire and pull to shapeshift and transmute runs deep beneath her skin. She is a beacon of duality, the divine and the monstrous, the deep glow of wolfsbane and the indent of fresh bite marks on skin.

We fear her because we are her: the feral, the wild, the mad.

From Angela Carter's The Company of Wolves to Rachel Harrison's Such Sharp Teeth, women have been dancing with the wolf and teasing it out of the woods for centuries. We feed the untamed, hoping to release the beast inside, giving us strength, sisterhood, and the confidence to howl. The animal releases us from shame and permits us to seek out and accept our truth. With the wolf, we are free; with freedom, we are empowered.

In a world where silver is the least of our worries, Howl seeks to give voice to the wolves and women of contemporary horror as they shed their skin, unhinge their jaws, and bare their teeth for all to see.

From award-winning editors Lindy Ryan and Stephanie M. Wytovich comes Howl, a brand-new anthology of original stories and poems from women of contemporary horror who give voices to wolves as they shed their skin, unhinge their jaws, and bare their teeth for all to see.

Featuring Delilah S. Dawson, Christina Henry, Gwendolyn Kiste, Ai Jiang, and many more, with an introduction by Rachel Harrison.]]> Lindy Ryan 1645481425 Tabitha 0 to-read 0.0 Howl: An Anthology of Werewolves from Women-in-Horror
author: Lindy Ryan
name: Tabitha
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Man, F*ck This House (And Other Disasters)]]> 219578969 A collection of delightfully terrifying tales by indie horror darling Brian Asman

In Man, F*ck This House, Sabrina Haskins and her family have just moved into their dream home. At first glance, the house is perfect. But things aren¡¯t what they seem. Sabrina¡¯s hearing odd noises, seeing strange visions. Their neighbors are odd or absent. And Sabrina¡¯s already-fraught relationship with her son is about to be tested in a way no parent could ever imagine. Because while the Haskins family might be the newest owners of this house, they¡¯re far from its only residents ¡­

In Seven Years, a man falls in love with a woman, but grows increasingly concerned when she only wants to hang out at her place. When he realizes that there are no mirrors in her apartment, he may regret learning why ¡­

In In the Rushes, a woman will go to extreme lengths to save her teen daughter from a monster in the foothills of California ¡­

These and more are ahead in this brilliant, and petrifying, collection of stories.]]> 383 Brian Asman Tabitha 4 from-netgalley, horror
I'll be honest, my initial impression of this collection wasn't a good one. I really did not enjoy the title story, nor the one that immediately followed (Beware the Hurlyburly). I found them mostly boring, with the title story feeling much too long for what it was.

But.

The rest of the stories? Highly enjoyable. Usually for anthologies I just focus my review on the few I really liked but there aren't many in the collection so I'll go over each:

Man, F*ck This House - too long, with characters I didn't care about. The ending was good though, and went off the rails in the best way haha

Beware the Hurlyburly - a take on the Slenderman murder a while back... I don't always feel gross reading stories inspired by real events but this one upset me a bit. I just don't know what I think of it truly but leaning towards dislike. I really enjoy urban legends generally so I was initially torn but, yeah, I've also read a lot on the Slenderman murders, which are also deeply upsetting, and this one was just a little too close to truth.

Seven Years - probably my favorite of the bunch, honestly. It's a modern urban legend and a fun story at that. I really liked this one and one of the few I wish had been just a little longer.

In the Rushes - a truly spooky ghost story. I was reminded of Bora Chung's The Frozen Finger from her Cursed Bunny collection, which I really enjoyed. This one got me as it's a "sunny" horror story.

Razor Bill - tied for my second favorite story, this is another fun urban legend set in an old wild west town, which is one of my favorite ghost story settings.

Line of Sight - tied for my second favorite story, this one is one I'd happily read a full-length novel for. I wanted more at the end. I really, really enjoyed the suspense leading up to the reveal and the reveal was fun. I hope Asman writes a sequel for it for his next collection! I don't want to say much more because it's a short story and I don't want to spoil it.

The Tire Swing - an exceedingly scary story, probably the scariest story in the collection, and another urban legend like story. I really liked the atmosphere in this one, as it kicks off pretty quickly and keeps up the spooks really well. Everything is just unsettling.

An overall cool collection of short horror stories that, in the end, I am glad to have read. A few of these will stick with me for a while. I really, really want more of Line of Sight lol.

This is a great collection for fans of "sunny day" horror and urban legends.]]> 4.00 2021 Man, F*ck This House (And Other Disasters)
author: Brian Asman
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/14
date added: 2025/05/14
shelves: from-netgalley, horror
review:
Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone publishing for the advanced copy. 3.5 stars.

I'll be honest, my initial impression of this collection wasn't a good one. I really did not enjoy the title story, nor the one that immediately followed (Beware the Hurlyburly). I found them mostly boring, with the title story feeling much too long for what it was.

But.

The rest of the stories? Highly enjoyable. Usually for anthologies I just focus my review on the few I really liked but there aren't many in the collection so I'll go over each:

Man, F*ck This House - too long, with characters I didn't care about. The ending was good though, and went off the rails in the best way haha

Beware the Hurlyburly - a take on the Slenderman murder a while back... I don't always feel gross reading stories inspired by real events but this one upset me a bit. I just don't know what I think of it truly but leaning towards dislike. I really enjoy urban legends generally so I was initially torn but, yeah, I've also read a lot on the Slenderman murders, which are also deeply upsetting, and this one was just a little too close to truth.

Seven Years - probably my favorite of the bunch, honestly. It's a modern urban legend and a fun story at that. I really liked this one and one of the few I wish had been just a little longer.

In the Rushes - a truly spooky ghost story. I was reminded of Bora Chung's The Frozen Finger from her Cursed Bunny collection, which I really enjoyed. This one got me as it's a "sunny" horror story.

Razor Bill - tied for my second favorite story, this is another fun urban legend set in an old wild west town, which is one of my favorite ghost story settings.

Line of Sight - tied for my second favorite story, this one is one I'd happily read a full-length novel for. I wanted more at the end. I really, really enjoyed the suspense leading up to the reveal and the reveal was fun. I hope Asman writes a sequel for it for his next collection! I don't want to say much more because it's a short story and I don't want to spoil it.

The Tire Swing - an exceedingly scary story, probably the scariest story in the collection, and another urban legend like story. I really liked the atmosphere in this one, as it kicks off pretty quickly and keeps up the spooks really well. Everything is just unsettling.

An overall cool collection of short horror stories that, in the end, I am glad to have read. A few of these will stick with me for a while. I really, really want more of Line of Sight lol.

This is a great collection for fans of "sunny day" horror and urban legends.
]]> Stargate 1958665 269 Dean Devlin 0451184203 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.06 1994 Stargate
author: Dean Devlin
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.]]> 40163165 New York Times bestsellers, Bren¨¦ Brown has taught us what it means to dare greatly, rise strong, and brave the wilderness. Now, based on new research conducted with leaders, change makers, and culture shifters, she's showing us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step up and lead.

Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential.

When we dare to lead, we don't pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don't see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don't avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it's necessary to do good work.

But daring leadership in a culture defined by scarcity, fear, and uncertainty requires skill-building around traits that are deeply and uniquely human. The irony is that we're choosing not to invest in developing the hearts and minds of leaders at the exact same time as we're scrambling to figure out what we have to offer that machines and AI can't do better and faster. What can we do better? Empathy, connection, and courage, to start.

Four-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Bren¨¦ Brown has spent the past two decades studying the emotions and experiences that give meaning to our lives, and the past seven years working with transformative leaders and teams spanning the globe. She found that leaders in organizations ranging from small entrepreneurial startups and family-owned businesses to nonprofits, civic organizations, and Fortune 50 companies all ask the same question:

How do you cultivate braver, more daring leaders, and how do you embed the value of courage in your culture?

In this new book, Brown uses research, stories, and examples to answer these questions in the no-BS style that millions of readers have come to expect and love.

Brown writes, "One of the most important findings of my career is that daring leadership is a collection of skills and practices that are 100 percent teachable. It's learning and unlearning that requires brave work, tough conversations, and showing up with your whole heart. Easy? No. Because choosing courage over comfort is not always our default. Worth it? Always. We want to be brave with our lives and our work. It's why we're here."

Whether you've read Daring Greatly and Rising Strong or you're new to Bren¨¦ Brown's work, this book is for anyone who wants to step up and into brave leadership.]]> 320 Bren¨¦ Brown 0399592520 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.25 2018 Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.
author: Bren¨¦ Brown
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Ding Dong Witch 228736063
The town holds dark secrets, whispered through the years¡ªa warning disguised as a nursery rhyme.

Good night, sleep tight.
Don't forget to brush your teeth.
If you eat her candy, you'll smell like treats.
If the doorbell rings thrice,
Don't look, don't peek.
She's hungry now¡­ it's Maggie Sweets.

Children vanish. Parents pretend not to remember. But Maggie never forgets. Together with a group of unlikely friends, Stephen uncovers a truth far worse than any legend. She's real. She's watching. And she's waiting.

Ding Dong Witch will make you question every knock at the door. And after the last page¡­ you'll never answer it again.]]> 335 Matt Heart Tabitha 0 to-read 5.00 Ding Dong Witch
author: Matt Heart
name: Tabitha
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 1]]> 52757827 When children begin to go missing in the town of Archer¡¯s Peak, all hope seems lost until a mysterious woman arrives to reveal that terrifying creatures are behind the chaos - and that she alone will destroy them, no matter the cost.

IT¡¯S THE MONSTERS WHO SHOULD BE AFRAID.

When the children of Archer's Peak¡ªa sleepy town in the heart of America¡ªbegin to go missing, everything seems hopeless. Most children never return, but the ones that do have terrible stories¡ªimpossible details of terrifying creatures that live in the shadows. Their only hope of finding and eliminating the threat is the arrival of a mysterious stranger, one who believes the children and claims to be the only one who sees what they can see.

Her name is Erica Slaughter. She kills monsters. That is all she does, and she bears the cost because it must be done.

GLAAD Award-winning writer James Tynion IV (The Woods, Batman: Detective Comics) teams with artist Werther Dell¡¯Edera (Briggs Land) for an all-new story about staring into the abyss.

Collects Something is Killing the Children #1-5]]> 128 James Tynion IV 1684155584 Tabitha 5 graphic-novels-comics, horror
This was really good, like a more serious Hack/Slash, which I also love. I can't wait to read the rest. ]]> 4.15 2020 Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 1
author: James Tynion IV
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/12
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: graphic-novels-comics, horror
review:
Yeah, I'm obsessed.

This was really good, like a more serious Hack/Slash, which I also love. I can't wait to read the rest.
]]> At Home with the Horrors 61334119
In this chilling collection of short fiction, Sammy Scott dares you to explore the horrors that are lurking behind your front door. In ¡°Katherine,¡± a lonely woman finds an unlikely companion when she discovers that her new house is haunted. A couple¡¯s mundane argument quickly evolves into a night of terror in ¡°What We Have Here.¡± A harried wife finds herself the victim of her husband¡¯s pranks when he launches a YouTube channel titled ¡°Scared Mary.¡± An antisocial teenager encounters a mysterious new world when he begins looking into the windows of his neighbors¡¯ homes in ¡°Peeping Tommy.¡± A mourning widow is forced to relive her husband¡¯s death when he calls her daily on her cell phone in ¡°Theresa.¡± In ¡°People You May Know,¡± a happily married man turns his life upside-down when he sends a Facebook friend request to an old college flame that no longer remembers him. A woman sets a trap for her runaway cat and is horrified to find that she has captured ¡°Something Else Entirely.¡± And in the concluding novella ¡°Emil Bones,¡± a librarian regrets the day she reads a mysterious little book left behind in the library¡¯s drop box.

Exploring both the natural and the supernatural, the alien and the ghostly, the chilling and the horrific, these fourteen diversions first root themselves in the mundanity of everyday life before extending their branches into the very things and ideas that terrify us all. In At Home with the Horrors, Scott brings the nightmares to the one place where we should all feel the safest, and shows us that when it comes to horror, grief, loss, and guilt can be just as terrifying as ghosts and goblins.]]> 338 Sammy Scott Tabitha 0 to-read 4.18 2022 At Home with the Horrors
author: Sammy Scott
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Cursed Bunny 56648660 Cursed Bunny is a genre-defying collection of short stories by Korean author Bora Chung. Blurring the lines between magical realism, horror, and science-fiction, Chung uses elements of the fantastic and surreal to address the very real horrors and cruelties of patriarchy and capitalism in modern society.

Anton Hur¡¯s translation skilfully captures the way Chung¡¯s prose effortlessly glides from being terrifying to wryly humorous. Winner of a PEN/Heim Grant.]]> 251 Bora Chung 1916277187 Tabitha 4 horror
The collection is mostly great, with a mix of different types of horror, all told like you're hearing this story around a campfire. There's a few that reminded me of urban legends I heard growing up, which amused me as this is the work of a Korean author - just shows how universal some themes and ideas can be. The collection as a whole reminded me of the likes of Black Mirror and Love, Death, + Robots. I could easily see these stories adapted for either.

My personal favorites from the collection:

The Frozen Finger - a classic urban legend sort of story with a great ending. Read this late at night with the lights off and properly freaked myself out lol

Snare - Absolutely disgusting, I loved it and it would make for a really messed up episode of Love, Death + Robots

Scars - fantasy/mythological horror, one of my favorite yet least-read genres. I think this was my favorite of the entire collection and it reminded me strongly of something Alix E Harrow (my favorite writer) would write

Ruler of the Winds and Sands - another fantasy/mythological story, it's very much a fairy tale with a moral lesson at the end. Endlessly creative, I really enjoyed this one but it is the least "horror" of all the stories. Reads like an original Grimm fairy tale. Loved it, my second favorite story for sure

But don't get me wrong, all the stories in this collection are worth a read. What a great collection of shorts from a singular author, I feel like that's rare. Every story is a 4 or 5 star read, with only one I think I'd give three stars too and that's only because it involved a very common sci-fi trope and wasn't as original as the rest of the stories in this collection.

This is an author to follow for sure.]]> 3.76 2017 Cursed Bunny
author: Bora Chung
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/09
date added: 2025/05/10
shelves: horror
review:
4.5 stars. What an exceptionally weird collection of horror stories. This came to my attention after watching GabbyReads review it on YouTube and rate it highly. I'm so glad I found it because there are some stories here that will stick with me forever.

The collection is mostly great, with a mix of different types of horror, all told like you're hearing this story around a campfire. There's a few that reminded me of urban legends I heard growing up, which amused me as this is the work of a Korean author - just shows how universal some themes and ideas can be. The collection as a whole reminded me of the likes of Black Mirror and Love, Death, + Robots. I could easily see these stories adapted for either.

My personal favorites from the collection:

The Frozen Finger - a classic urban legend sort of story with a great ending. Read this late at night with the lights off and properly freaked myself out lol

Snare - Absolutely disgusting, I loved it and it would make for a really messed up episode of Love, Death + Robots

Scars - fantasy/mythological horror, one of my favorite yet least-read genres. I think this was my favorite of the entire collection and it reminded me strongly of something Alix E Harrow (my favorite writer) would write

Ruler of the Winds and Sands - another fantasy/mythological story, it's very much a fairy tale with a moral lesson at the end. Endlessly creative, I really enjoyed this one but it is the least "horror" of all the stories. Reads like an original Grimm fairy tale. Loved it, my second favorite story for sure

But don't get me wrong, all the stories in this collection are worth a read. What a great collection of shorts from a singular author, I feel like that's rare. Every story is a 4 or 5 star read, with only one I think I'd give three stars too and that's only because it involved a very common sci-fi trope and wasn't as original as the rest of the stories in this collection.

This is an author to follow for sure.
]]> The Mistletoe Motive 59567857 From the author of THE BERGMAN BROTHERS series comes a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers holiday romance, perfect for fans of THE HATING GAME and YOU'VE GOT MAIL.

He loathes the holidays. She loves them. She¡¯s full of festive cheer. He¡¯s brimming with Bah, Humbugs. Besides unreasonably seasonable names, the only thing Jonathan Frost and Gabriella Di Natale have in common is a healthy dose of mutual contempt. Well, that and the same place of employment at the city¡¯s most beloved independent bookstore, Bailey¡¯s Bookshop. But when the store¡¯s owners confess its dire financial state, Jonathan and Gabby discover another unfortunate commonality: the imminent threat of unemployment.

With the Baileys¡¯ requests to minimize expenses, win new customers, and make record sales dancing in their heads, Jonathan and Gabby conclude¡ªbarring a financial Christmas miracle¡ªone of them will soon be cut from the payroll. Neither are willing to step down from their position, so they strike a bargain: whoever has more sales in December gets to stay on in the new year; the loser will resign. With a lifetime's worth of festive tricks up her sleeve, Gabby should easily outsell her nemesis, except the unreadable Mr. Frost¡¯s every move seems purely designed to throw her off her game.

As if that wasn¡¯t bad enough, Gabby's deceptive ex won't quit pursuing her, and her anonymous online friend suggests they take a break. Worst of all, as the pressure mounts to save the bookshop and her job, Gabby meets a new, tender side of Jonathan. Is this the same man she's called her cold-hearted enemy?

Maybe he¡¯s got a motive she just can¡¯t figure out¡ªor maybe Jonathan Frost isn¡¯t as chilly as she once thought. Maybe Jonathan and Gabby already know¡ªand love¡ªeach other in ways they never thought possible.

This is an #OwnVoices story for its portrayal of autism by an autistic author.]]> 185 Chloe Liese 1774536781 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.78 2021 The Mistletoe Motive
author: Chloe Liese
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Sixth Gun: Shadow Roads Omnibus]]> 202030683
This volume collects The Sixth Gun: Shadow Roads #1¨C10 from master storytellers Cullen Bunn (Harrow County, The Empty Man), Brian Hurtt (The Damned, Manor Black), and illustrator A.C. Zamudio.]]> 256 Cullen Bunn 1637154348 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.00 The Sixth Gun: Shadow Roads Omnibus
author: Cullen Bunn
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sorceline (#1-3) 59363628 Welcome to the Island of Vorn, where mythical creatures roam free and only the brightest students are invited to study them. In Book 1 of this riveting new middle grade graphic novel series, a gifted young cryptozoologist-in-training must learn to tame powerful beasts¡ªincluding her own inner demons.

For as long as she can remember, Sorceline has had a knack for the study of mythical creatures. Now a student at Professor Archibald Balzar¡¯s prestigious school of cryptozoology, she¡¯s eager to test her skills and earn a spot as one of Balzar¡¯s apprentices.

But for all her knowledge of gorgons, vampires, and griffins, Sorceline is mystified by her fellow humans. While she excels in her studies, she quickly clashes with her classmates, revealing her fiery temper.

When one of her rivals suddenly disappears, Sorceline must set aside her anger and join the quest to find her. But the mystery only deepens, leading Sorceline on a journey far darker and more personal than she expected . . .

(This book contains the first three volumes of the original series)]]> 144 Sylvia Douy¨¦ 1524871311 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.66 2018 Sorceline (#1-3)
author: Sylvia Douy¨¦
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich]]> 60656848 A funny, heartfelt YA romance about finding love¡ªand lots of grilled cheese sandwiches¡ªin the place you least expect it, from rising talent Deya Muniz.

Lady Camembert wants to live life on her own terms, without marriage. Well, without marrying a man, that is. But the law of the land is that women cannot inherit. So when her father passes away, she does the only thing she can: She disguises herself as a man and moves to the capital city of the Kingdom of Fromage to start over as Count Camembert.
?
But it¡¯s hard to keep a low profile when the beautiful Princess Brie, with her fierce activism and great sense of fashion, catches her attention. Camembert can¡¯t resist getting to know the princess, but as the two grow closer, will she able to keep her secret?
?
A romantic comedy about mistaken identity, true love, and lots of grilled cheese.]]> 256 Deya Muniz 0316538728 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.38 2023 The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich
author: Deya Muniz
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Girl from the Sea 54776523 From the author of The Witch Boy trilogy comes a graphic novel about family, romance, and first love.

Fifteen-year-old Morgan has a secret: She can't wait to escape the perfect little island where she lives. She's desperate to finish high school and escape her sad divorced mom, her volatile little brother, and worst of all, her great group of friends...who don't understand Morgan at all. Because really, Morgan's biggest secret is that she has a lot of secrets, including the one about wanting to kiss another girl.

Then one night, Morgan is saved from drowning by a mysterious girl named Keltie. The two become friends and suddenly life on the island doesn't seem so stifling anymore.

But Keltie has some secrets of her own. And as the girls start to fall in love, everything they're each trying to hide will find its way to the surface...whether Morgan is ready or not.]]> 256 Molly Knox Ostertag 1338540580 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.13 2021 The Girl from the Sea
author: Molly Knox Ostertag
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Your Utopia 173403968 By the internationally acclaimed author of Cursed Bunny, in another thrilling translation from the Korean by Anton Hur, Your Utopia is full of tales of loss and discovery, idealism and dystopia, death and immortality. These stories are suffused with Chung's inimitable wry humour and surprisingly tender moments, too ¡ª often between unexpected subjects.

In ¡®The Center for Immortality Research¡¯, a low-level employee runs herself ragged planning a fancy gala for donors, only to be blamed for a crime she witnessed during the event, under the noses of the mysterious celebrity benefactors hoping to live forever. But she can¡¯t be fired ¡ª no one can. In ¡®One More Kiss, Dear¡¯, a tender, one-sided love blooms in the AI-elevator of an apartment complex; as in, the elevator develops a profound affection for one of the residents. In ¡®Seeds¡¯, we see the final frontier of capitalism¡¯s destruction of the planet and the GMO companies who rule the agricultural industry in this bleak future, but nature has ways of creeping back to life.

If you haven¡¯t yet experienced the fruits of this singular imagination, Your Utopia is waiting.]]> 256 Bora Chung 1643756214 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.64 2021 Your Utopia
author: Bora Chung
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Fragments of Horror 23705532
Ma no Kakera (ħ¤Î¶ÏƬ, also titled Shard of Evil or Fragments of Horror), is a series of short stories by Junji Ito.
It began serialization in the first issue of the revived Nemuki+ (¥Í¥à¥­¥×¥é¥¹) magazine on April 13, 2013. It was subsequently published as a collection in Japan in June 2014, with the final story, "Whispering Woman", having been previously published in Shinkan (¥·¥ó¥«¥ó) rather than Nemuki+. In December 2014, it was licensed by VIZ Media to be released in English in June 2015, under the "Fragments of Horror" title.

Chapters:

Futon (Blanket)
Haunted Wood Mansion
Tomio: Red Turtleneck
Lingering Farewell
Dissection Girl
Black Bird
Magami Nanakuse
Whispering Woman]]> 224 Junji Ito 1421580799 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.11 2014 Fragments of Horror
author: Junji Ito
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/08
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 4.19 2025 The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves: currently-reading, horror, read-as-audiobook
review:

]]> The House Where Death Lives 195861998
Following in the footsteps of dark/horror-filled YA anthologies like His Hideous Heart and Slasher Girls and Monster Boys, and Netflix¡¯s groundbreaking adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House, this YA speculative fiction anthology explores how the permanence of a home can become a space of transition and change for both the inhabitants and the creatures who haunt them.

Each story in the anthology will focus on a different room in the house and feature unique takes on monsters from a wide array of cultural traditions. Whether it¡¯s a demonic Trickster, a water-loving Rusalka, or a horrifying, baby-imitating Tiyanak, there¡¯s bound to be something sinister lurking in the shadows.]]> 352 Alex Brown Tabitha 0 to-read 3.48 2024 The House Where Death Lives
author: Alex Brown
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Third Rule of Time Travel 215815771 Rule One: Travel can only occur to a point within your lifetime.
Rule Two: You can only travel for ninety seconds.
Rule Three: You can only observe.
The rules cannot be broken.

In this riveting science fiction novel from acclaimed author Philip Fracassi, a scientist has unlocked the mysteries of time travel. This is not the story you think you know. And the rules are only the beginning.

Scientist Beth Darlow has discovered the unimaginable. She's built a machine that allows human consciousness to travel through time¡ªto any point in the traveler's lifetime¡ªand relive moments of their life. An impossible breakthrough, but it's not perfect: the traveler has no way to interact with the past. They can only observe.

After Beth's husband, Colson, the co-creator of the machine, dies in a tragic car accident, Beth is left to raise Isabella¡ªtheir only daughter¡ªand continue the work they started. Mired in grief and threatened by her ruthless CEO, Beth pushes herself to the limit to prove the value of her technology.

Then the impossible happens. Simply viewing personal history should not alter the present, but with each new observation she makes, her own timeline begins to warp.

As her reality constantly shifts, Beth must solve the puzzles of her past, even if it means forsaking her future.]]> 325 Philip Fracassi 0316572527 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.84 2025 The Third Rule of Time Travel
author: Philip Fracassi
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/07
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¡ªstories 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: 2025/05/04
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.
]]> <![CDATA[The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1)]]> 46000520
But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?

Alternate cover edition can be found here .]]> 382 Richard Osman Tabitha 0 to-read 3.86 2020 The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1)
author: Richard Osman
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Ring Shout 49247242 In America, demons wear white hoods.

In 1915, The Birth of a Nation cast a spell across America, swelling the Klan's ranks and drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation they ride, spreading fear and violence among the vulnerable. They plan to bring Hell to Earth. But even Ku Kluxes can die.

Standing in their way is Maryse Boudreaux and her fellow resistance fighters, a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter. Armed with blade, bullet, and bomb, they hunt their hunters and send the Klan's demons straight to Hell. But something awful's brewing in Macon, and the war on Hell is about to heat up.

Can Maryse stop the Klan before it ends the world?]]> 185 P. Dj¨¨l¨ª Clark 1250767024 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.96 2020 Ring Shout
author: P. Dj¨¨l¨ª Clark
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
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 4 from-netgalley
I was pretty excited to get into this book because the description reminded me of a cross between Clue (1985) and House on Haunted Hill (1999), which are two of my favorite films and I love the plot conceits of both and the humor and cheesiness of them... so I was thrilled when I first started reading the book and it was cheesy. Then I realized the humor was lacking, but the cheese continued, and I was disappointed.

This is a very easy to read book, the action keeps you wanting to read more and the chapters are action oriented to keep up the excitement. The kills are also rather creative and gruesome in a fun way. The characters are very strong archetypes and stereotypes though, which helps a little when you have a large cast but then it was just soooo... cheesy. Overly so, even for me. I would've liked it more had it had more humor and took itself less seriously because this is literally a book about a man-eating house.

I also didn't like that we learn nothing about the house really. When did it come into the Queens' possession? How did they feed it, if they did feed it? Is it sentient. Who is Gia??? I was left with more questions than I started with, and while I don't want all the answers and everything spoon fed to me, I don't like ending with more and more questions. We even get an epilogue but without answers.

But overall I enjoyed my time with this book and it was a fast read (5-10 minutes a night for a two weeks). I would read a sequel even. And it DID technically still vibe with Clue and House on Haunted Hill, which I loved. It's also technically an escape room book, though the traps and puzzles aren't that complicated, which is something even the characters pick up on pretty quickly. I also loved the concept of all these horror writers kind of working together, and how they all specialize in different kinds of horror.

For fans of: Clue, House on Haunted Hill, escape rooms, cheese]]> 3.71 2025 How to Survive a Horror Story
author: Mallory Arnold
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/03
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: from-netgalley
review:
Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced copy. 3.5 stars.

I was pretty excited to get into this book because the description reminded me of a cross between Clue (1985) and House on Haunted Hill (1999), which are two of my favorite films and I love the plot conceits of both and the humor and cheesiness of them... so I was thrilled when I first started reading the book and it was cheesy. Then I realized the humor was lacking, but the cheese continued, and I was disappointed.

This is a very easy to read book, the action keeps you wanting to read more and the chapters are action oriented to keep up the excitement. The kills are also rather creative and gruesome in a fun way. The characters are very strong archetypes and stereotypes though, which helps a little when you have a large cast but then it was just soooo... cheesy. Overly so, even for me. I would've liked it more had it had more humor and took itself less seriously because this is literally a book about a man-eating house.

I also didn't like that we learn nothing about the house really. When did it come into the Queens' possession? How did they feed it, if they did feed it? Is it sentient. Who is Gia??? I was left with more questions than I started with, and while I don't want all the answers and everything spoon fed to me, I don't like ending with more and more questions. We even get an epilogue but without answers.

But overall I enjoyed my time with this book and it was a fast read (5-10 minutes a night for a two weeks). I would read a sequel even. And it DID technically still vibe with Clue and House on Haunted Hill, which I loved. It's also technically an escape room book, though the traps and puzzles aren't that complicated, which is something even the characters pick up on pretty quickly. I also loved the concept of all these horror writers kind of working together, and how they all specialize in different kinds of horror.

For fans of: Clue, House on Haunted Hill, escape rooms, cheese
]]> <![CDATA[The Firelight Apprentice: A Graphic Novel]]> 199531768 The bestselling author-illustrator of Garlic and the Vampire, Bree Paulsen, brings her fantastical storytelling and warm, sparkling artwork to this story that celebrates the bond between sisters.

In a city powered by magic and still recovering from a bloody war, Ada is concerned about her younger sister Safi¡¯s developing powers. She understands that Safi could learn how to control her magic under the apprenticeship of a king's magician. But with the memories of war still fresh, Ada is conflicted by this prospect¡ªdespite her knowing that she can¡¯t keep Safi safely at home with the threat of deadly, power-thieving liches prowling the kingdom.

When a traveling group of magicians comes to the city to perform, they immediately recognize Safi¡¯s talents and offer to take her on as an apprentice. Safi is thrilled about her new adventure¡ªeven if that means leaving behind Ada and their sickly father. And Ada is right to worry about her sister, for there may be monsters hiding behind friendly faces¡­]]> 224 Bree Paulsen 006326658X Tabitha 5 Garlic and the Vampire: A Graphic Novel) and without even looking at the description, I could tell from the cover I would love this too... I mean, just look at that art!

Ada and Safi are two sisters in a nameless magical world with an interesting history that is only touched on briefly, though I wished for more. The story follows both sisters pretty equally but the book is really centered on little sister, Safi, and her natural magical talent, and the good and bad that talent attracts.

There are also themes around parental loss, recovery from war, and grief but Paulsen is gentle as always with how she conveys her messages.

The art is, as always, soooo adorable and beautiful and just an absolute pleasure to look at.

I'm a fan of this new world and look forward to more, should we be so lucky! ]]> 3.97 2024 The Firelight Apprentice: A Graphic Novel
author: Bree Paulsen
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/02
date added: 2025/05/02
shelves: graphic-novels-comics, middle-grade, young-adult
review:
I bought this solely because I saw Bree Paulsen's name - I LOVED the Garlic books (Garlic and the Vampire: A Graphic Novel) and without even looking at the description, I could tell from the cover I would love this too... I mean, just look at that art!

Ada and Safi are two sisters in a nameless magical world with an interesting history that is only touched on briefly, though I wished for more. The story follows both sisters pretty equally but the book is really centered on little sister, Safi, and her natural magical talent, and the good and bad that talent attracts.

There are also themes around parental loss, recovery from war, and grief but Paulsen is gentle as always with how she conveys her messages.

The art is, as always, soooo adorable and beautiful and just an absolute pleasure to look at.

I'm a fan of this new world and look forward to more, should we be so lucky!
]]> Night of the Mannequins 49246963 Night of the Mannequins, a contemporary horror story where a teen prank goes very wrong and all hell breaks loose: is there a supernatural cause, a psychopath on the loose, or both?]]> 136 Stephen Graham Jones 1250752078 Tabitha 3 horror, read-as-audiobook
This felt very much like a prequel to the Indian Lake trilogy, of which I've read the first book and wasn't really a fan (so I'm unlikely to read the rest). I keep hearing his books are all so different though and I want to try to keep reading him, to find something that will grab me...

I do think this story would've been leagues better if the 'twist' was revealed later than the halfway point. Once I knew what was happening I wasn't as engaged, and then there was another twist... that wound up completely wasted. So disappointing. But I love the idea of this book tbh and I think it'd make for a really fun slasher film.]]> 3.30 2020 Night of the Mannequins
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/05/02
date added: 2025/05/02
shelves: horror, read-as-audiobook
review:
Not terrible but I still find myself not the biggest fan of Stephen Graham Jones' writing style. I don't know what it is but something just tickles me wrong.

This felt very much like a prequel to the Indian Lake trilogy, of which I've read the first book and wasn't really a fan (so I'm unlikely to read the rest). I keep hearing his books are all so different though and I want to try to keep reading him, to find something that will grab me...

I do think this story would've been leagues better if the 'twist' was revealed later than the halfway point. Once I knew what was happening I wasn't as engaged, and then there was another twist... that wound up completely wasted. So disappointing. But I love the idea of this book tbh and I think it'd make for a really fun slasher film.
]]> Water Moon 122952333 A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical journey when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike and enchanting fantasy novel.

On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones¡ªthose who are lost¡ªwill find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.

Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop¡¯s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop¡¯s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it.

Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana¡¯s father and the stolen choice¡ªby way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds.

But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own¡ªand risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.]]> 375 Samantha Sotto Yambao 0857505335 Tabitha 0 3.65 2025 Water Moon
author: Samantha Sotto Yambao
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/01
shelves: read-as-audiobook, to-read, dnf-did-not-finish
review:

]]> The Bachelorette Party 217388429 Scream meets The Guest List in this wickedly compelling and compulsively page-turning thriller of friendship and murder from the author of The Lost Village, Camilla Sten.

On a remote, craggy island nestled off the coast of Sweden, four friends¡ªTilly, Anna, Linnea and Evelina¡ªmeet every year. Best friends since childhood, the idea is to drink beer, dance by the water, and shake off the weight of life's expectations. The location of the island is a secret to everyone but them. One night of reckless fun and secret-sharing, and then they return to their normal lives.

Ten years later. Ever since she was a teenager, Tessa Nilsson has been consumed by the story of four friends who disappeared on their annual trip to a remote island together. As her true crime fervor turned into a wildly popular podcast, Tessa urgently covered Sweden¡¯s most gruesome cases, but could never find the answers behind what happened to these women who disappeared, leaving a few maddening clues but no concrete answers. Now Tessa¡¯s podcast has crashed and burned, any chance she had at uncovering the truth vanishing with it.

Anneliese is Tessa¡¯s best friend, and before she walks down the aisle, she wants to have a bachelorette party. The Baltic Vinyasa, a sleek, sophisticated yoga retreat on a small island off the coast¡ªone with such similar characteristics to the tragedy years ago that it raises the hair on Tessa¡¯s neck. The idea is to drink gallons of cava, do sunrise yoga, and get in their last chance to bond with the bride. Tessa will not pass this up. It¡¯s her last chance to find out what happened to the four women, once and for all.

And it¡¯s someone else¡¯s last chance to get revenge.]]> 304 Camilla Sten 1250868505 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.50 2025 The Bachelorette Party
author: Camilla Sten
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology]]> 75293507
Norris Black, Amber Blaeser-Wardzala, Phoenix Boudreau, Cherie Dimaline, Carson Faust, Kelli Jo Ford, Kate Hart, Shane Hawk, Brandon Hobson, Darcie Little Badger, Conley Lyons, Nick Medina, Tiffany Morris, Tommy Orange, Mona Susan Power, Marcie R. Rendon, Waubgeshig Rice, Rebecca Roanhorse, Andrea L. Rogers, Morgan Talty, D.H. Trujillo, Theodore C. Van Alst Jr., Richard Van Camp, David Heska, Wanbli Weiden, Royce Young, Wolf Mathilda Zeller.

Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief takes many forms: for instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai¡¯po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl. But what all these legends hold in common is the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear¡ªand even follow you home.

These wholly original and shiver-inducing tales introduce listeners to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds, and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples¡¯ survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things an ill-advised whistle might summon.]]> 400 Shane Hawk 0593468465 Tabitha 5
What a fantastic collection of stories! I started this last year but it got sidelined for a cross-country move and job change and I had a hard time picking it back up again solely because of how excited I was to return, because my goofy brain was telling me that if I don't finish it, then it never ends!

I am a sucker for a themed collection of short stories, especially horror. Never Whistle at Night collects horror fiction with indiginous themes and written by indigineous authors. I don't think writers should be strictly limited to writing within their own experiences but collections like this show the importance of supporting writers who chose to do so, especially writers from minority groups traditionally under-represented or lacking in "mainstream popularity" (see: Capgras by Tommy Orange in this collection).

The horror in the featured stories aren't just monsters, spirits, or homicidal assholes - it's historical atrocities, racial tension, self-hate, microaggressions, theft of culture, erasure of history, assault, etc The stories vary between misanthropic, forlorn, and hostile for the most part as the writers share the generational trauma they or their friends, families, and loved ones have endured... which does make some of these stories hard to read. I don't know if it was intentional but I feel like most of the gut-wrenching ones are in the second half, if that better prepares more sensitive readers.

So, as a lover of anthologies and thus reader of many reviews of anthologies, I love it when reviewers highlight a few gems or duds. I swear I'm honest in saying this book has NO duds. Not a one. Each of these stories is a banger, truly, but here are a few of my faves:

Kushtuka by Mathilda Zeller - the first story in the book, and it's a strong one set in the far north featuring a young woman who encounters a mythological creature while in another, different but just as terrifying, situation. (MMIWG - Missing and Murdered Indigineous Women and Girls day is May 5th but is a cause that we should all be thinking of year-round. )

Navajos Don't Wear Elk Teeth by Conley Lyons - about young man with questionable taste in other young men, this one gave me serious heebie jeebies and had me sitting in my seat wanting to yell at the MC!

Snakes Are Born in the Dark by D.H. Trujillo - a fantastic Goosebumps, a classic dumb-ass teens messing with shit they don't understand and shouldn't be messing with! Totally gross and totally fun lol

Night in the Chrysalis by Tiffany Morris - a spooky haunted dollhouse story reminiscent of one of my favorite Are You Afraid of the Dark stories (take a guess which one lol). Also, just a fan of Tiffany Morris.

Scariest. Story. Ever. by Richard Van Camp - just a very satisfying read, and not in the way you'd expect.

Night Moves by Andrea L. Rogers - werewolves!! so fun, classic, love it

Capgras by Tommy Orange - about a writer lost in translation.

The Scientist's Horror Story by Darcie Little Badger - a decent scary story and then the actual scariest story ever. "Her friends didn't respond, instead choosing to drink." Me to, friends, me to.

Collections by Amber Blaeser-Wardzala - Terrifying. Jordan Peele approved.

Time well spent! I am still sad that I've finished it tho :(]]> 3.89 2023 Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology
author: Shane Hawk
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/28
date added: 2025/05/01
shelves: from-netgalley, horror, snowy-setting, woods-setting
review:
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the advanced copy.

What a fantastic collection of stories! I started this last year but it got sidelined for a cross-country move and job change and I had a hard time picking it back up again solely because of how excited I was to return, because my goofy brain was telling me that if I don't finish it, then it never ends!

I am a sucker for a themed collection of short stories, especially horror. Never Whistle at Night collects horror fiction with indiginous themes and written by indigineous authors. I don't think writers should be strictly limited to writing within their own experiences but collections like this show the importance of supporting writers who chose to do so, especially writers from minority groups traditionally under-represented or lacking in "mainstream popularity" (see: Capgras by Tommy Orange in this collection).

The horror in the featured stories aren't just monsters, spirits, or homicidal assholes - it's historical atrocities, racial tension, self-hate, microaggressions, theft of culture, erasure of history, assault, etc The stories vary between misanthropic, forlorn, and hostile for the most part as the writers share the generational trauma they or their friends, families, and loved ones have endured... which does make some of these stories hard to read. I don't know if it was intentional but I feel like most of the gut-wrenching ones are in the second half, if that better prepares more sensitive readers.

So, as a lover of anthologies and thus reader of many reviews of anthologies, I love it when reviewers highlight a few gems or duds. I swear I'm honest in saying this book has NO duds. Not a one. Each of these stories is a banger, truly, but here are a few of my faves:

Kushtuka by Mathilda Zeller - the first story in the book, and it's a strong one set in the far north featuring a young woman who encounters a mythological creature while in another, different but just as terrifying, situation. (MMIWG - Missing and Murdered Indigineous Women and Girls day is May 5th but is a cause that we should all be thinking of year-round. )

Navajos Don't Wear Elk Teeth by Conley Lyons - about young man with questionable taste in other young men, this one gave me serious heebie jeebies and had me sitting in my seat wanting to yell at the MC!

Snakes Are Born in the Dark by D.H. Trujillo - a fantastic Goosebumps, a classic dumb-ass teens messing with shit they don't understand and shouldn't be messing with! Totally gross and totally fun lol

Night in the Chrysalis by Tiffany Morris - a spooky haunted dollhouse story reminiscent of one of my favorite Are You Afraid of the Dark stories (take a guess which one lol). Also, just a fan of Tiffany Morris.

Scariest. Story. Ever. by Richard Van Camp - just a very satisfying read, and not in the way you'd expect.

Night Moves by Andrea L. Rogers - werewolves!! so fun, classic, love it

Capgras by Tommy Orange - about a writer lost in translation.

The Scientist's Horror Story by Darcie Little Badger - a decent scary story and then the actual scariest story ever. "Her friends didn't respond, instead choosing to drink." Me to, friends, me to.

Collections by Amber Blaeser-Wardzala - Terrifying. Jordan Peele approved.

Time well spent! I am still sad that I've finished it tho :(
]]> <![CDATA[In the Company of Witches (Evenfall Witches B&B, #1)]]> 222460117 When a guest dies in the B&B she helps her aunts run, a young witch must rely on some good old-fashioned investigating to clear her aunt's name in this magical and charming new cozy mystery.

For four hundred years, the Warren witches have used their magic to quietly help the citizens of the sleepy New England town of Evenfall thrive. There's never been a problem they couldn't handle. But then Constance Graves--a local known for being argumentative and demanding--dies while staying at the bed and breakfast Brynn Warren maintains with her aunts. At first, it seems like an accident...but it soon becomes clear that there's something more sinister at work, and Aunt Nora is shaping up to be the prime suspect.

There's nothing Brynn wants more than to prove Nora's innocence, and it hurts her to know that even two years ago that might have been easier. Brynn, after all, is a witch of the dead--a witch who can commune with ghosts. Ghosts never remember much about their deaths, but Constance might remember something about her life that would help crack the case. But Brynn hasn't used her powers since her husband died, and isn't even sure she still can. Brynn will just have to hope that her aunts' magic and her own investigative skills will lead her to answers--and maybe back to the gift she once thought herself ready to give up forever.]]> 352 Auralee Wallace 0593956370 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.50 2021 In the Company of Witches (Evenfall Witches B&B, #1)
author: Auralee Wallace
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Once There Were Wolves 54860573 From the author of the beloved national bestseller Migrations, a pulse-pounding new novel set in the wild Scottish Highlands.

Inti Flynn arrives in Scotland with her twin sister, Aggie, to lead a team of biologists tasked with reintroducing fourteen gray wolves into the remote Highlands. She hopes to heal not only the dying landscape, but Aggie, too, unmade by the terrible secrets that drove the sisters out of Alaska.

Inti is not the woman she once was, either, changed by the harm she¡¯s witnessed¡ªinflicted by humans on both the wild and each other. Yet as the wolves surprise everyone by thriving, Inti begins to let her guard down, even opening herself up to the possibility of love. But when a farmer is found dead, Inti knows where the town will lay blame. Unable to accept her wolves could be responsible, Inti makes a reckless decision to protect them. But if the wolves didn¡¯t make the kill, then who did? And what will Inti do when the man she is falling for seems to be the prime suspect?

Propulsive and spell-binding, Charlotte McConaghy's Once There Were Wolves is the unforgettable story of a woman desperate to save the creatures she loves¡ªif she isn¡¯t consumed by a wild that was once her refuge.]]> 258 Charlotte McConaghy 1250244145 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.07 2021 Once There Were Wolves
author: Charlotte McConaghy
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Blanks (The Shivers Collection, #3)]]> 229214159 New York Times bestselling author Grady Hendrix¡¯s thrilling short story, one boy can¡¯t look away¡ªand pays the price.

Jeckle Island offers Rachel¡¯s children the chance to spend summers roaming wild and free, as long as they follow the rules. But when her son comes face to face with a terror they dare not speak of, she must prepare for their perfect world to change. Forever.

Grady Hendrix¡¯s The Blanks is part of The Shivers, a collection of haunting stories that reveal the otherworldly terrors all around us. Once you know, there¡¯s no going back. Read or listen to each story in one unsettling sitting.]]> 36 Grady Hendrix 1662532407 Tabitha 4 horror, read-as-audiobook 4.01 2025 The Blanks (The Shivers Collection, #3)
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/30
date added: 2025/04/30
shelves: horror, read-as-audiobook
review:
An effectively creepy, and sad, short horror story. Grady Hendrix is good at making you FEEL things and in The Blanks it's grief and desperation (and fear, of course). Not his best short but worth listening to or reading, particularly if you're a fan of the author.
]]> <![CDATA[Mother Knows Best: Tales of Homemade Horror (A Women in Horror Anthology)]]> 199597647 From mama trauma to smother mother, this all-new women in horror anthology features stories about the scariest monster of them all¡ª our mothers.]]> 300 Lindy Ryan 1645481395 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.30 2024 Mother Knows Best: Tales of Homemade Horror (A Women in Horror Anthology)
author: Lindy Ryan
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Helloween 220800071 Halloween comes once a year. HELLoween lasts forever!
On October 31st, 2001, five teens set out to make a horror film for a school project at a Halloween haunt in the small town of Crooks Corner.

When all hell breaks loose, a powerful entity emerges, able to control inanimate objects and use them to kill. The carnage is swift and deadly, a vicious attack that quickly overwhelms the town and its citizens.

Fighting for their lives, the teens - along with their teachers and the local sheriff - must use all of their skills and wit to survive the night and possibly even save the world.

...Or die trying.

Dean Koontz's Phantoms meets Stephen King's Desperation in this epic new horror novel from the twisted mind behind Woom and the Ghostland Trilogy.]]> 574 Duncan Ralston 1988819466 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.34 Helloween
author: Duncan Ralston
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.34
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/29
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¡ªthe 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¡ªeven 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 Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ reviewer]]> 498 Jacquelyn Benson 1959050141 Tabitha 5 read-as-audiobook Empire of Shadows, a LOT. It was a fun, rollicking, magical (literally), adventure with a dash of romance. It was everything I miss from The Mummy, and even for someone who rewatches their favorites over and over, I still wanted more. Jacquelyn Benson is giving us more.

We're back with Ellie (Evie) and Adam (Rick) on a new adventure that takes them to my favorite country for history, Egypt. We get more and more of Ellie and Adam and their burgeoning romance in the early pages but then finally, in this book, we get to better meet Neil, Ellie's brother (and Adam's best friend), and Ellie's best friend, Constance. In fact, we get several chapters from their POV. The POV change admittedly annoyed me at first because I wanted just more and more of Ellie and Adam, but the more time I spent with Neil and Connie the more I found myself really enjoying them as well.

The villains from the first novel also return, but bigger, badder, and even more well funded this time around. We also spend more time getting to know them and their complexities, including an interesting twist near the end where we learn something very interesting about the main foe they've been up against since Empire of Shadows. We also get to learn a lot more about the Arcanum, which are what Benson calls the magical historical artifacts that Ellie and Adam are trying to keep out of the hands of those who would abuse them.

I really liked allllll the history that Benson weaves into her stories. It's not just an adventure story, there are some mysteries to be solved, and in this book Neferneferuaten is the topic de jour. I freaking LOVE Egyptian history, so I was ALL OVER this book's historical references. Many of the revelations Ellie gets to have in the book are of course now known, but because this takes place in the age of explorers, we get to experience these characters learning these things for the first time, and Benson weaves in allegories for today.

In fact, Benson's books are very liberal for the setting, with Ellie and Constance being "modern" women - there's a whole half storyline where Constance hunts for a lover instead of a husband, hahaha Many of the side characters are native Egyptians who experience mistreatment under the British. There's a minor storyline about insurrection and rising against tyranny. I appreciated that, lol. I also deeply appreciate Benson's love for people and culture, displayed in the care she takes to depict these people fairly and kindly.

Overall this book was bigger and better than the first, and I cannot wait for the third! We're going to India next time, folks! So excited!]]> 4.39 2024 Tomb of the Sun King (Raiders of the Arcana #2)
author: Jacquelyn Benson
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/29
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves: read-as-audiobook
review:
I really enjoyed the first book, Empire of Shadows, a LOT. It was a fun, rollicking, magical (literally), adventure with a dash of romance. It was everything I miss from The Mummy, and even for someone who rewatches their favorites over and over, I still wanted more. Jacquelyn Benson is giving us more.

We're back with Ellie (Evie) and Adam (Rick) on a new adventure that takes them to my favorite country for history, Egypt. We get more and more of Ellie and Adam and their burgeoning romance in the early pages but then finally, in this book, we get to better meet Neil, Ellie's brother (and Adam's best friend), and Ellie's best friend, Constance. In fact, we get several chapters from their POV. The POV change admittedly annoyed me at first because I wanted just more and more of Ellie and Adam, but the more time I spent with Neil and Connie the more I found myself really enjoying them as well.

The villains from the first novel also return, but bigger, badder, and even more well funded this time around. We also spend more time getting to know them and their complexities, including an interesting twist near the end where we learn something very interesting about the main foe they've been up against since Empire of Shadows. We also get to learn a lot more about the Arcanum, which are what Benson calls the magical historical artifacts that Ellie and Adam are trying to keep out of the hands of those who would abuse them.

I really liked allllll the history that Benson weaves into her stories. It's not just an adventure story, there are some mysteries to be solved, and in this book Neferneferuaten is the topic de jour. I freaking LOVE Egyptian history, so I was ALL OVER this book's historical references. Many of the revelations Ellie gets to have in the book are of course now known, but because this takes place in the age of explorers, we get to experience these characters learning these things for the first time, and Benson weaves in allegories for today.

In fact, Benson's books are very liberal for the setting, with Ellie and Constance being "modern" women - there's a whole half storyline where Constance hunts for a lover instead of a husband, hahaha Many of the side characters are native Egyptians who experience mistreatment under the British. There's a minor storyline about insurrection and rising against tyranny. I appreciated that, lol. I also deeply appreciate Benson's love for people and culture, displayed in the care she takes to depict these people fairly and kindly.

Overall this book was bigger and better than the first, and I cannot wait for the third! We're going to India next time, folks! So excited!
]]> <![CDATA[Arrow of Fortune (Raiders of the Arcana, #3)]]> 231358524 A well-behaved lady historian ought to avoid haunted Indian forests¡­ not plunge into them seeking an invincible weapon of the gods.

Ellie Mallory didn¡¯t exactly volunteer to prevent the most dangerous artifact of the Ramayana from falling into the wrong hands¡ªbut if one has been coerced into an adventure, the least one can do is bring along a few friends.

Constance Tyrrell has new daggers stuffed in her garters, a thirst to discover everything India has to offer¡­ and absolutely no interest in Dr. Neil Fairfax, Ellie¡¯s scholarly stepbrother. Meanwhile, Neil finds himself wrangling a magical sword along with his increasingly tangled feelings about a certain doe-eyed danger gnome.

Then there¡¯s Adam Bates¡ªhandy with a machete, perpetually shirtless, and about to face some unsettling ghosts of his past.

Together, they must follow the footsteps of an ancient hero from the festivals of Puri to the shadowy depths of a legendary forest, racing a brutal colonial administrator with allies of his own¡ªincluding the complicated and mysterious Mr. Jacobs.

It will take all Ellie¡¯s resources¡ªfrom a working knowledge of practical chemistry to a highly excitable dog¡ªto beat a new sort of demon to the place where a holy power has lain hidden for two thousand years¡­ alongside the secret history of the woman at the heart of India¡¯s greatest story.]]> Jacquelyn Benson Tabitha 0 to-read 5.00 Arrow of Fortune (Raiders of the Arcana, #3)
author: Jacquelyn Benson
name: Tabitha
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Christmas Guest 122778202
And for Ashley - who records it all in her diary - there's the added romantic potential of her friend's twin brother, Adam, who she thinks could be her wildest dream come true.

But is there something strange about the old house, both stately and rundown? What could the motives of the mysterious Chapman family be? And what holiday horrors might be lying in wait?]]> 124 Peter Swanson 0571378773 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.57 2023 The Christmas Guest
author: Peter Swanson
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dating After the End of the World]]> 226943312 There¡¯s nothing like the undead to bring the living together in an action-packed and apocalyptically romantic genre-shattering novel by a New York Times bestselling author.

Casey Pearson grew up with a doomsday-prepping father. At eighteen, tired of living an unconventional life, she left home, vowing never to return.

More than a decade later, a mysterious viral outbreak changes everything, including the people it infects, turning them into zombielike creatures. It¡¯s the end of the world, and no one saw it coming¡ªwell, except for Casey¡¯s father. With no place left to run and danger lurking around every corner, Casey is forced to return home.

Upon arrival, she¡¯s surprised to find that her dad has hunkered down with a group of survivors, including her archnemesis, Blake Morrison, the high school bully who made Casey¡¯s teenage years a living hell.

While struggling to live on the compound, face outside threats, and survive alongside her handsome enemy, Casey will learn that although the world has ended, hers is just beginning.]]> 303 Jeneva Rose 1662520204 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.40 2025 Dating After the End of the World
author: Jeneva Rose
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[An Amateur Witch's Guide to Murder: A Novel]]> 223641742 A wannabe witch tries to break a curse on a clueless client in this laugh-out-loud debut for fans of queer fantasy like TJ Klune and Tamsyn Muir.

Mateo Borrero has ninety-nine problems, and all of them hinge on the fact that his terrifying and currently-missing bruja mother trapped a demon in his body when he was born. His mother forbade him from ever using magic, but now that she¡¯s gone, magic¡¯s his only marketable skill, and he¡¯d really like an exorcism¡ªwhich costs money he doesn¡¯t have. What¡¯s the harm in making a quick buck by calling himself an Occult Specialist and chanting a few half-remembered spells in his crappy Spanish?

Enter Topher, a naive nepo baby with a curse that keeps killing people around him. Most importantly, he¡¯s rich, and too clueless to clock that Mateo¨Cand his (absolutely-not-the-assistant) astral-projecting best friend Ophelia¨Chave never actually had a client before. Lifting Topher¡¯s bad luck curse should be simple, but as luck would have it, nothing is simple, and Topher¨Cwho Mateo sort of, kind of likes¨Cmight be at the center of a deadly magical conspiracy.?

To make matters worse, the more magic Mateo does, the stronger the demon inside him grows and the more he wants to eat people. But would caving to the urges of an ancient evil really be that bad if it helps him get a payday?

Legends and Lattes meets A Grim Reaper¡¯s Guide to Catching a Killer in this hilarious and charming contemporary fantasy readers won¡¯t want to miss.]]> 336 K. Valentin Tabitha 0 to-read 4.85 2025 An Amateur Witch's Guide to Murder: A Novel
author: K. Valentin
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.85
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Death on the Caldera 213798189 A blend of fantasy and Golden Age crime, set in an unforgiving landscape that steams with sulphur and bubbles with lava.
The Linde siblings¡ªKellen, Davina, and Morel¡ªare anxious to return to the kingdom of Halgyr before their father dies, leaving Kellen to assume the throne as king. They book tickets on a luxury express train, expecting a swift journey home¡ªbut disaster strikes when the train engine explodes, stranding the siblings atop a caldera bubbling with volcanic magic.
The crash triggers Davina's latent witch powers, but her magic disrupts her ability to remember what she was doing when the explosion took place. While a witch would be the prime suspect for the explosion, the only ones who knew Davina might become one are her brothers¡ªwho never warned her, driving her away from them. And, to add insult to injury, somebody is bumping off the surviving train crew and passengers. But it can't be Davina, can it?

While the surviving passengers try to determine who sabotaged the engine and catch the killer, the fractured siblings attempt to stay one step ahead, concealing not only Davina's powers but their own secrets. Luckily, they aren't the only shifty characters on the train. But that small degree of good fortune quickly sours when powerful men turn up dead, suggesting the saboteur is still at work. And who better a mark for the murderer than the heirs to a foreign throne?]]> 447 Emily Paxman 1835411592 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.45 Death on the Caldera
author: Emily Paxman
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.45
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Midnight Shift 217387819 A bestseller in Korea, a biting, fast-paced vampire murder mystery exploring queer love and the consequences of loneliness.

When four isolated elderly people commit suicide back-to-back at the same hospital by jumping out of the sixth-floor window, Su-Yeon doesn¡¯t understand why she¡¯s the only one at her precinct that seems to care. Dismissing the case as a series of unfortunate events due to the patients¡¯ loneliness, the police force doesn't engage. But Su-Yeon doesn¡¯t have the privilege of looking her dearest friend, Grandma Eun-Shim, lives on the sixth floor, and Su-Yeon is terrified that something will happen to her next.

As Su-Yeon begins her investigation alone, she runs into a mysterious woman named Wanda at the crime scene. Wanda, hot on the trail of her ex-lover, Lily, gives Su-Yeon the answer to her a vampire did it. Su-Yeon is skeptical at first, but then a fifth victim jumps from the window and her investigation reveals the body was completely drained of blood. Desperate to discover the cause of the deaths, Su-Yeon considers Wanda¡¯s explanation¡ªthat something supernatural is involved.

The Midnight Shift is a gripping mystery, overflowing with commentary about societal isolation and loneliness, the sharp knife of grief, and the effects of marginalization, perfect for readers of Cursed Bunny; Woman, Eating; and A Certain Hunger.]]> 304 Cheon Seon-ran 1639735763 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.31 2021 The Midnight Shift
author: Cheon Seon-ran
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.31
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror]]> 221739726 The ultimate story of the Scream movie franchise, featuring interviews from more than eighty key players and an in-depth exploration of the creation and legacy of the films that revived a dying genre

In Your Favorite Scary Movie, entertainment journalist Ashley Cullins examines the making and impact of the Scream films with behind-the-scenes insight from cast, creators, and crew, as well as sharp analysis on how the movies¡¯ special blend of gruesome violence and humorous self-awareness rewrote the horror playbook. This intimate and thorough history includes brand-new interviews from Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Kevin Williamson, Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard, Jack Quaid, Parker Posey, Hayden Panettiere, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Radio Silence, Roger L. Jackson, and so many more.

Perfect for fans of Scream, horror lovers, and cinephiles, this is the story of how a little movie about a ghost-faced killer terrorizing high schoolers overcame countless obstacles to become an historic success that still has audiences screaming to this day.
]]> Ashley Cullins 0593474716 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.32 2025 Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror
author: Ashley Cullins
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Fan Service 214537762 The truth is stranger than fan fiction in this sexy paranormal rom-com.

The only place small-town outcast Alex Lawson fits in is the online fan forum she built for The Arcane Files, a long-running werewolf detective show. Her dedication to archiving fictional supernatural lore made her Internet-famous, even if she harbors a secret disdain for the show¡¯s star, Devin Ashwood. (Never meet your heroes¡ªsometimes they turn out to be The Worst.)

Ever since his show went off the air, Devin and his career have spiraled, but waking up naked in the woods outside his LA home with no memory of the night before is a new low. It must have been a coincidence that the once-in-a-century Wolf Blood Moon crested last night. The claws, fangs, and howling are a little more difficult to explain away. Desperate for answers, Devin finds Alex¡ªthe closest thing to an expert that exists. If only he could convince her to stop hating his guts long enough to help....

Once he makes her an offer she can¡¯t refuse, these reluctant allies lower their guards trying to wrangle his inner beast. Unfortunately, getting up close and personal quickly comes back to bite them.]]> 415 Rosie Danan 0593437160 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.81 2025 Fan Service
author: Rosie Danan
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories]]> 60859347
Ages- 16+

Includes some explicit content.]]> 184 Aviaq Johnston 1772273317 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.55 2019 Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories
author: Aviaq Johnston
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![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 4.36 2025 Play Nice
author: Rachel Harrison
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.36
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.¡± ¡ªElizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize¨Cwinning author of Under a White Sky

The untold story of climate migration in the United States¡ªthe 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¡ªwe 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¡ªerasing 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 4.08 2024 We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)
author: Richard Osman
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Stag Dance 215362032 The kaleidoscopic follow-up to the bestselling Detransition, Baby

In this collection of one novel and three stories, 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. 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.]]> 288 Torrey Peters 0593595645 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.02 2025 Stag Dance
author: Torrey Peters
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.02
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¡ªSpring Break, 1986¡ªMaddie 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¡ªone 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¡ªif the rides don¡¯t kill you, the killers will.]]> 144 Caesar Daniels Tabitha 0 to-read 3.96 Carnival Kills: A Novel
author: Caesar Daniels
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.96
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)¡ªthe 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¡ªthe 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 3.90 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: 3.90
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¡ªadapted from her much-viewed TEDx talk of the same name¡ªby 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¡ªone 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¡ªin the U.S., in her native Nigeria, and abroad¡ªoffering 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¡ªand 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¡ªthough curbed by his biological and chosen family¡¯s communal care¡ªthreaten to destroy this fragile second chance at life.

A thought-provoking meditation on grief, acceptance, and the monstrous sides of love and loyalty, Gerardo S¨¢mano C¨®rdova 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 S¨¢mano C¨®rdova 1638930368 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.11 2023 Monstrilio
author: Gerardo S¨¢mano C¨®rdova
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 Caitl¨ªn R. Kiernan Tabitha 0 to-read 3.33 2001 Threshold by Caitlin R. Kiernan (2001-11-01)
author: Caitl¨ªn 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. Na?ve 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¡ªexcept 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¡ªbut it doesn¡¯t take long for James to realize he¡¯s made a devil¡¯s bargain... Nye is a body snatcher¡ªand James has unwittingly become his accomplice.]]> 336 A. Rae Dunlap 1496750349 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.87 2024 The Resurrectionist
author: A. Rae Dunlap
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.87
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¨Dand its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling¨Dgo 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!
]]> 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 3.69 2025 The Night Birds
author: Christopher Golden
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.69
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¨C5.]]> 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.]]> 3.59 EC Cruel Universe Vol. 1
author: Corinna Sara Bechko
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.59
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.]]> 387 Suzanne Collins 1546171460 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.59 2025 Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.59
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 4.38 2025 When the Wolf Comes Home
author: Nat Cassidy
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.38
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¡ªand 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 4.25 2025 Wild Dark Shore
author: Charlotte McConaghy
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.25
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¡ªand CJ¡ªwill 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¡ªand 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 3.70 2025 How to Survive a Slasher
author: Justine Pucella Winans
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.70
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 4.07 2023 The Humane Society for Creatures & Cryptids (Teraglossa, #1)
author: Stephanie A. Gillis
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.07
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¡ªold 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¡ªand 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¡ªand risk what she holds most dear.]]> 380 C.J. Cooke 0593550234 Tabitha 0 to-read 3.86 2022 The Ghost Woods
author: C.J. Cooke
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.86
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.]]> 3.94 The Lost Heirs (Arcana, #1)
author: Sam Prentice-Jones
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.94
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 ¨C 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 3.50 2024 Cuckoo
author: Gretchen Felker-Martin
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.50
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¡ªand 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 3.92 2024 Blue Sisters
author: Coco Mellors
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.92
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¡ªGentleman, 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 na?ve 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¡ªpassed 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 4.59 2019 The Man With No Shadow (How to Survive Camping, #1)
author: Bonnie Quinn
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.59
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 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!]]> 4.45 The Green Night
author: Jack Townsend
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.45
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. ]]> 3.60 The Exorcism at 1600 Penn
author: Hannah Rose May
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.60
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 4.37 The Orc's Sweetheart (Creatures & Cottages, #1)
author: Elle Sterling
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.37
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 ¨C and plenty of pancakes ¨C 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:

]]> 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:

]]> Square? 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 3.81 2021 Square?
author: Mira Grant
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.81
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 ¡ª the "Place of Fear" in Mayan mythology ¡ª 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 3.75 2025 Root Rot
author: Saskia Nislow
name: Tabitha
average rating: 3.75
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 and a stunning foil-stamped case!

A Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Most Anticipated Horror Novel

"A true blood-soaked Southern Gothic for the modern age.¡± ¡ªAndrew Joseph White, New York Times¨Cbestselling author of Hell Followed With Us and The Spirit Bears its Teeth

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¡ªwell, nothing good comes their way.

Neera sets out to investigate Dawson¡¯s whereabouts¡ªif he even still lives¡ªalong 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 4.09 2025 When Devils Sing
author: Xan Kaur
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.09
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¡ªold 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¡ªand 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¡ªand risk what she holds most dear.]]> 368 C.J. Cooke 0593550226 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.09 2022 The Ghost Woods
author: C.J. Cooke
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/27
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¨Dno, 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¨Dis herself.]]> 432 Emily Tesh 1250835011 Tabitha 0 to-read 4.17 2025 The Incandescent
author: Emily Tesh
name: Tabitha
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>