Tag Archives: paranormal

Book Title:
The Stroke of Winter
Book Author:
Wendy Webb
Page Count:
303
Publishing Date:
November 1st, 2022
Publisher:
Lake Union
Date Read:
September 27th, 2023
Format:
Paperback
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

In the tourist town of Wharton, on the coast of Lake Superior, Tess Bell is renovating her old family home into a bed-and-breakfast during the icy dead of winter…

As the house’s restoration commences, a shuttered art studio is revealed. Inside are paintings Tess’s late grandfather, beloved and celebrated artist Sebastian Bell, hid away for generations. But these appear to be the works of a twisted mind, almost unrecognizable as paintings she and others familiar with his art would expect. The sinister canvases raise disturbing questions for Tess, sparking nightmares and igniting in her an obsession to unearth the truth around their origins.

What evil has been locked away for so many years? The ominous brushstrokes, scratching at the door, and moving shadows begin to pull Tess further and further into the darkness.

My Review

I’ve never read anything else by Wendy Webb (although my Kindle tells me I have a few of her other books already, so I better get reading), so I wasn’t sure what to think of this one when I bought … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
Stolen Tongues
Book Author:
Felix Blackwell
Page Count:
320
Publishing Date:
January 1st, 2017
Date Read:
June 25th, 2023
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

A romantic cabin getaway doesn’t go exactly as planned. High up on the windswept cliffs of Pale Peak, Faye and Felix celebrate their new engagement. But soon, a chorus of ghastly noises erupts from the nearby the screams of animals, the cries of children, and the mad babble of a hundred mournful voices. A dark figure looms near the windows in the dead of night, whispering to Faye. As the weather turns deadly, Felix discovers that his terrified fiancée isn’t just mumbling in her sleep – she’s whispering back. Originally a contest-winning story on reddit.com’s horror community NoSleep, Stolen Tongues has received widespread acclaim and has been optioned for film.

My Review

Stolen Tongues was not what I was expecting. To be honest, I didn’t know what I was expecting, but I have seen this book around and it has gotten a lot of glowing reviews among those who enjoy the horror … Continue reading

5 stars
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Book Title:
What Big Teeth
Book Author:
Rose Szabo
Page Count:
394
Publishing Date:
February 2nd, 2021
Publisher:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Date Read:
December 20th, 2021
Format:
Hardcover
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

Rose Szabo's thrilling debut is a dark and thrilling novel about a teen girl who returns home to her strange, wild family after years of estrangement.

Eleanor Zarrin has been estranged from her wild family for years. When she flees boarding school after a horrifying incident, she goes to the only place she thinks is safe: the home she left behind. But when she gets there, she struggles to fit in with her monstrous relatives, who prowl the woods around the family estate and read fortunes in the guts of birds.

Eleanor finds herself desperately trying to hold the family together — in order to save them all, Eleanor must learn to embrace her family of monsters and tame the darkness inside her.

My Review

I started reading this book when I was in a reading slump, and because of that it took me a good amount of time to finish it. We’re talking like a month. Which is completely unlike me, but it wasn’t … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
Come Closer
Book Author:
Sara Gran
Page Count:
196
Publishing Date:
July 1st, 2003
Publisher:
Soho Press
Date Read:
March 1st, 2022
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

A recurrent, unidentifiable noise in her apartment. A memo to her boss that's replaced by obscene insults. Amanda—a successful architect in a happy marriage—finds her life going off kilter by degrees. She starts smoking again, and one night for no reason, without even the knowledge that she's doing it, she burns her husband with a cigarette. At night she dreams of a beautiful woman with pointed teeth on the shore of a blood-red sea.

The new voice in Amanda's head, the one that tells her to steal things and talk to strange men in bars, is strange and frightening, and Amanda struggles to wrest back control of her life. Is she possessed by a demon, or is she simply insane?

My Review

“What we think is impossible happens all the time.” Come Closer by Sara Gran is one of those books that I took a chance on – it sounded interesting and it was available to read for free on Prime Reading, … Continue reading

5 stars
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Book Title:
Miao Dao
Book Author:
Joyce Carol Oates
Book Series:
Dark Corners, #4
Page Count:
66
Publishing Date:
September 27th, 2018
Publisher:
Amazon Original Stories
Date Read:
February 27th, 2021
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

A girl comes of age with a vengeance—and help from a friend—in a tale of unnerving suspense from National Book Award winner and literary master Joyce Carol Oates.

Bad things have been happening since Mia began to mature. Her dad left. Boys at school can’t keep their hands to themselves. A lecherous stepfather has moved in. Her only refuge is an abandoned lot on her suburban cul-de-sac, crawling with feral felines—one of which follows Mia home. Ghostly white and affectionate, she is Mia’s new companion and—as Mia’s tormenters will soon discover—her fierce protector.

Joyce Carol Oates’s Miao Dao is part of Dark Corners, a collection of seven heart-stopping short stories by bestselling authors who give you so many new reasons to be afraid. Each story can be read in a single sitting. Or, if you have the nerve, you can listen all by yourself in the dark.

My Review

Miao Dao is the fourth installment in the Dark Corners series from Amazon Original Stories. The story is by Joyce Carol Oates, and while I have heard of this author before, I have not had the pleasure of reading any … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
The Beautiful
Book Author:
Renée Ahdieh
Book Series:
The Beautiful, #1
Page Count:
448
Publishing Date:
October 8th, 2019
Publisher:
G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Date Read:
February 25th, 2020
Format:
Hardcover
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she's forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city's glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group's leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien's guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.

When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface.

At once a sultry romance and a thrilling murder mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet: The Beautiful.

My Review

This is the first book by Renée Ahdieh that I have read. I have her other books, but I haven’t had the chance to read them yet. I was drawn to this one because of that absolutely stunning cover, and … Continue reading

3 stars
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Book Title:
Say Her Name
Book Author:
Juno Dawson
Page Count:
287
Publishing Date:
June 5th, 2014
Publisher:
Hot Key Books
Date Read:
October 29th, 2019
Format:
Paperback
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

Roberta 'Bobbie' Rowe is not the kind of person who believes in ghosts. A Halloween dare at her ridiculously spooky boarding school is no big deal, especially when her best friend Naya and cute local boy Caine agree to join in too. They are ordered to summon the legendary ghost of 'Bloody Mary': say her name five times in front of a candlelit mirror, and she shall appear... But, surprise surprise, nothing happens. Or does it?

Next morning, Bobbie finds a message on her bathroom mirror... five days... but what does it mean? And who left it there? Things get increasingly weird and more terrifying for Bobbie and Naya, until it becomes all too clear that Bloody Mary was indeed called from the afterlife that night, and she is definitely not a friendly ghost. Bobbie, Naya and Caine are now in a race against time before their five days are up and Mary comes for them, as she has come for countless others before... A truly spine-chilling yet witty horror from shortlisted 'Queen of Teen' author James Dawson.

My Review

WHY IS THERE NO SEQUEL FOR THIS BOOK? WHY?!? This was one of the coolest YA horror novels I have ever read. It might have even been one of the scariest ones I’ve read (at least in a long time), … Continue reading

5 stars
1 Comment
Book Title:
The Darkest Part of the Forest
Book Author:
Holly Black
Page Count:
337
Publishing Date:
January 13th, 2015
Publisher:
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Date Read:
October 15th, 2019
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for.

Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once.

At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking.

Until one day, he does…

As the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?

My Review

I bought this book for my Kindle years ago when it first came out, and I kept putting off reading it (no idea why, honestly). I guess I was never really in the mood for a story of this sort … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
The Twisted Tree
Book Author:
Rachel Burge
Page Count:
248
Publishing Date:
January 10th, 2019
Publisher:
Hot Key Books
Date Read:
March 27th, 2019
Format:
Paperback
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

Part ghost story, part Nordic thriller - this is a twisty, tense and spooky YA debut, perfect for fans of CORALINE and Michelle Paver.

Martha can tell things about a person just by touching their clothes, as if their emotions and memories have been absorbed into the material. It started the day she fell from the tree at her grandma's cabin and became blind in one eye.

Determined to understand her strange ability, Martha sets off to visit her grandmother, Mormor - only to discover Mormor is dead, a peculiar boy is in her cabin and a terrifying creature is on the loose.

Then the spinning wheel starts creaking, books move around and terror creeps in . . .

Set in the remote snows of contemporary Norway, THE TWISTED TREE is a ghost story that twists and turns - and never takes you quite where you'd expect.

My Review

The Twisted Tree caught my attention when I was browsing Goodreads. It came across as a recommendation because I loved Coraline, and upon reading the synopsis, I instantly decided that I needed to read it. Because it isn’t available on … Continue reading

4 stars
2 Comments
Book Title:
The Good Demon
Book Author:
Jimmy Cajoleas
Page Count:
320
Publishing Date:
September 18th, 2018
Publisher:
Amulet Books
Date Read:
August 25th, 2018
Source:
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review - Thank you!

Synopsis

True Detective meets The Exorcist in this gripping YA mystery debut about one girl’s exorcism—and her desperate quest to reunite with her demon.

Clare has been miserable since her exorcism. The preacher that rid her of evil didn’t understand that her demon—simply known as Her—was like a sister to Clare. Now, Clare will do almost anything to get Her back. After a chance encounter with the son of the preacher who exorcised her, Clare goes on an adventure through the dark underbelly of her small Southern town, discovering its deep-seated occult roots. As she searches for Her, she must question the fine lines between good and evil, love and hate, and religion and free will. Vivid and sharp, The Good Demon tells the unusual story of friendship amid dark Gothic horror.

My Review

You know, I love books that give me the unexpected when I read them. I love books that are completely unlike anything else I’ve read, books that completely bend my mind into thinking other ways and give me a great … Continue reading

5 stars
1 Comment