Showing posts with label Book Review. Show all posts

Hardcover, 288 pages January 16th, 2020 by Flame Tree Press A group of motorists become stranded on a lonely stretch of highwa...



Hardcover, 288 pages
January 16th, 2020 by Flame Tree Press
A group of motorists become stranded on a lonely stretch of highway during a Christmas Eve blizzard and fight for survival against an unnatural force in the storm. The gathered survivors realize a tenuous connection among them means it may not be a coincidence that they all ended up on this highway. An attempt to seek help leads a few of the travelers to a house in the woods where a twisted toymaker with a mystical snow globe is hell-bent on playing deadly games with a group of people just trying to get home for the holidays.


I love looking back at the past year's reads.  It's interesting to see what I rated them then and if that rating has chan...



I love looking back at the past year's reads. 

It's interesting to see what I rated them then and if that rating has changed in my mind now that the book has marinated in this brain of mine.  These aren't necessarily books that I rated 5 paws up, but books that I hated to finish or would definitely pick up again for a reread.

Here are the ten that made the cut:


Cold-blooded kidnappers. Long-lost magic. When things get serious, she goes full Sherlock. Ashira Cohen takes pride in being the only ...




Cold-blooded kidnappers. Long-lost magic. When things get serious, she goes full Sherlock.


Ashira Cohen takes pride in being the only female private investigator in Vancouver. With her skills, her missing persons case should be a piece of cake.

She wasn’t counting on getting bashed in the skull, revealing a hidden tattoo and supernatural powers she shouldn’t possess.

Or the bitter icing on top: a spree of abductions and terrifying ghostly creatures on a deadly bender.

And don’t even get her started on the golems.

Reluctantly partnered with her long-time nemesis Levi, the infuriating leader of the magic community, Ash resolves to keep her focus on the clue trail and off their sexual tension because WTF is up with that?

But with a mastermind organization pulling strings from the shadows and Levi’s arrogance driving her to pick out his body bag, can Ash rescue the captives and uncover the truth or will the next blood spilled be her own?






Gunslinger Anastasia Thorne won’t stay dead. Ten years ago, monsters murdered Anastasia and her children. Now, she’s back to hunt ...



Gunslinger Anastasia Thorne won’t stay dead.

Ten years ago, monsters murdered Anastasia and her children. Now, she’s back to hunt down the creatures responsible. She knows their names, their faces, and even where they’re hiding.

There’s just one problem. No one in town believes her.

After a botched bank robbery, Anastasia finds herself on the wrong side of the law, riding into the mountains in search of vengeance, notorious outlaw, Jesse Gallagher, at her side.

With the sheriff of Babylon hot on their trail, ghouls on their heels, and werewolves and skin stealing monsters in the mountains, Jesse and Anastasia quickly find out they’re outgunned and in for a long night.

It’s going to take more than silver bullets to put these monsters down.


Six stories of not-so-merry Yuletide whimsy from the authors of Black Spot Books.  A woman so cold she hardens to ice on a winter...




Six stories of not-so-merry Yuletide whimsy from the authors of Black Spot Books. 


A woman so cold she hardens to ice on a winter's eve. 

Risen from his grave before his time, a winter god alters the balance between seasons. 

A wolf's holiday season is interrupted by a strange curse. 

From a murder at the Stanley Hotel to demons of Christmas past, present, and future, and a mad elf and Santa's Candy Court, the authors of Black Spot Books share their love for winter holidays in this collection of dark winter tales, destined to chill your bones and warm your heart for the Yuletide season.

 


A Midnight Clear is a collection of six varied stories of dark yuletide cheer. This was a very diverse mix of holiday-themed stories perfect for the season. While they varied in personal ratings, each was well written and matched my desire for a great wintery read. Short story collections are so much fun because the tones and themes can vary greatly from author to author. This perfectly fantastical group of stories did not disappoint!

The Dauntless by Sam Hooker

This one was definitely unexpected. A puzzling story of courtroom justice in...the North Pole? Yes, you read that right. There's a submarine, some elvish killings, and a coal delivery to a Lovecraftian being sleeping away obvious to its Christmas stocking filling up. I probably struggled the most with this one, but Lovecraft has never been my thing. 


Tidings of a New Moon by Alca Leyva

What happens when werewolves are the civilized ones and human bites are to be feared? This was a fun read. I enjoyed seeing the tables flipped. 

Movin' on Up by Laura Morrison

In a Dante ordered hell, three inhabitants are given the opportunity for improving their circumstances (or put in time in the gladiator pits). They crawl back up from Hell in a sort of twisted Christmas Carol to show a heaven-bound human the error of her ways in attempting to show that her good deeds actually sent others on their paths downstairs. 


The Poetry of Snow and Stars by Cassondra Windwalker

Here we revisit the Stanley hotel and have a murder mystery to go along with it. I enjoyed the main character but it seemed a little too neatly wrapped up to me. There wasn't a lot of mystery, just an ah-ha moment and some romantic pining that felted a little immature. It was just ok for me. 


Sleep, Sweet Khors by Dalena Storm

One of my favorites out of the bunch! Ripe with Slavic mythology, Lisa is devastated at the forthcoming death of her favorite uncle. In an attempt to keep death from coming, she creates a horrible world where death doesn't come and life is stuck in a sort of half death. Its grotesque symbolism about life and death and the inability to halt the progression was well done. It's also a great anecdote on children and explaining death. 


Snow Angel by Seven Jane

Haven't we all tired of the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season? This one follows a wife and mother that is disenchanted by all the errands and to-dos of the season and for whom Christmas has lost its glow. It's a bit heavy and morose but I enjoyed the prose of Snow Angel. It's beautifully written and has wonderful imagery. 



The coven’s under investigation. Its future is in peril. And for one troubled young psychic, the coming battle will threaten her newfound f...



The coven’s under investigation. Its future is in peril. And for one troubled young psychic, the coming battle will threaten her newfound freedom—and brings back a dangerous desire . . .


Exploited as a child medium, Emily Adams escaped to grow up on the streets—and hit rock-bottom. She took shelter with the prestigious Northern Circle, intent on staying only long enough to get back on her feet. But the Circle is still reeling from a devastating supernatural attack and betrayal. And vengeful High Council of Witches investigator Gar Remillard is determined to make Em surrender the truth—and disband the Circle forever.

When Em’s psychic ability allows her to see Gar is haunted by a formidable ghost, her attempts to free him challenge Gar’s rugged French Canadian heart and rancorous loup-garou instincts. But even as their new alliance and past connection kindles into raging desire, a malevolent 
force rises up to destroy them—the Circle and even the High Council.

With all she’s grown to love on the line, Em must draw on her darkest nightmares and alliances with the dead to outwit and out magic a force who can imprison souls with a flick of the fingers and command legions of wraiths with one word. . . 

Can Cassidy and her friends find the demon box, stop the killer ghosts, and break the Pendlewood curse before Beckford’s murderous co...


Can Cassidy and her friends find the demon box, stop the killer ghosts, and break the Pendlewood curse before Beckford’s murderous cousins and the vengeful demon destroy them all?
Book four in the Deadly Curiosities series. Cassidy Kincaide runs Trifles & Folly in modern-day Charleston, an antiques and curio shop with a dangerous secret. Cassidy can read the history of objects by touching them, and she teams up with friends and allies who use magic and paranormal abilities to get rid of cursed objects and keep Charleston and the world safe from supernatural threats.
Caribbean ghosts terrorize Charleston and start racking up a body count. Then Beckford Pendlewood, the heir to a powerful family of dark warlocks, shows up raving about a bound demon locked in a lost box and begs sanctuary. Can Cassidy and her friends find the demon box, stop the killer ghosts, and break the Pendlewood curse before Beckford’s murderous cousins and the vengeful demon destroy them all?


Will she follow the pack…or destroy them? A dead mother. A violent father. A missing brother. When Mia’s father is murdered, it’s her ...


Will she follow the pack…or destroy them?

A dead mother. A violent father. A missing brother.

When Mia’s father is murdered, it’s her estranged uncle that comes to the rescue, but what he offers her in return for his help could be worse than the life she is leaving behind.

Taken to Hood Academy, a unique school deep in the forest, she discovers friendships, love, and the courage to stand on her own.

Mia takes the oath that seals her future as a werewolf hunter, but not everyone wants Mia to succeed.

Screams in the night. Secret rooms. Hidden letters. Mia becomes an important piece in a game she doesn’t want to play.

Loyalty, friendships, and family bonds are tested as Mia discovers her true identity, but will the truth set her free, or will it destroy her?

In post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, dreams come true. So do nightmares. Ever since a shift in reality twenty years ago, peopl...



In post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, dreams come true. So do nightmares.

Ever since a shift in reality twenty years ago, peoples' dreams and nightmares come alive, spreading chaos and destruction. Monsters ravage cities, bottomless chasms split roads, and gold rains from the sky - the possibilities are limitless, unpredictable and often deadly.

Eden Maybrey is a hunter of these "shades". When a friend tasks her with tracking down and eliminating an evil shade, the hunt threatens to expose Eden's deepest, darkest secret. To find her prey, she is forced to team up with Vaughn Taylor, a hunter who hates shades with a passion - and who won't hesitate to put a bullet in Eden's head should he figure out the truth.


Book 1 in a new urban fantasy series with a twist: no vamps or weres - instead, dreams and nightmares coming alive.


Would you really want your dreams to come true?

Kindle Edition ,  240 pages Published May 21st 2019 by Unnerving From the brutal past in WHITE GHOST FUR, to...

Kindle Edition240 pages
Published May 21st 2019 by Unnerving

From the brutal past in WHITE GHOST FUR, to the painful and troubling present in PROPER FARMER, to the terrifying days that lie ahead in UNEARTHLY SYMPHONY Eddie Generous, author of the monstrous adventure stories Radio Run and Great Big Teeth, and the haunted hotel novel Camp Summit, offers up twisted takes on classic creatures, a demon hiding in a modern subdivision, human monsters destroying the sacred notion of home, a farmhouse with much more awaiting new owners than some dust and cobwebs, and all the terrifying possibilities in between.


Something in the Water is a collection of 13 violent and disturbing tales with its sights set on manufacturing sleepless nights and paranoid days. Binge read all 13 stories...if you dare.

Five years after Ashley King survived the infamous Resort Massacre, she’s found hanging in her base...






Five years after Ashley King survived the infamous Resort Massacre, she’s found hanging in her basement by her fiancé, Todd Matthews. She left behind clues as to what really happened that night, clues that may reveal the identity of the killer the press has called The Wraith. 



With the help of his friends, Todd goes back to the crumbling Hayden Resort, a death-tinged ruin in the Catskills Mountains. What they find is a haunted history that’s been lying in wait for a fresh set of victims. The Wraith is back, and he’s nothing what they expected.





The Necromancer’s Bride Kat Ross (Gaslamp Gothic, #4) Published by: Acorn Publishing Publication date: May 31st 2019 Genres: Adult, Fa...


The Necromancer’s Bride
Kat Ross
(Gaslamp Gothic, #4)
Published by: Acorn Publishing
Publication date: May 31st 2019
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, Retelling



Forgiveness is not Gabriel D’Ange’s strong suit.

A self-appointed soldier of God with a penchant for ruthlessly punishing his enemies, he vanished after Anne Lawrence stabbed him with his own dagger.

The smart thing would be to let him go.

Unfortunately, Anne’s life isn’t just lonely without Gabriel. It’s insufferably boring.

Determined to heal the rift between them, she goes in search of her tempestuous former lover, black parasol in hand and daeva magic crackling at her fingertips. But Gabriel has his own plans afoot and Anne finds herself drawn into one of his tangled webs, much against her better judgment.

Gabriel’s nemesis has reappeared in Brussels, a vile slaver who’s plundering the Congo Free State with the blessing of King Leopold. Gabriel might be willing to give Anne a second chance, but not until Jorin Bekker’s head is lying at his feet.

Back in London, the quasi-reformed necromancer Balthazar sets his sights on the same quarry. He holds a very personal grudge against Bekker — and killing him might be the only way to keep Gabriel D’Ange from Balthazar’s own throat.

When the hunters collide at a lavish gala thrown by the king, Anne learns just how far she’ll go to save the man she loves.

Note: The Necromancer’s Bride is the sequel to A Bad Breed, which should be read first.

AN ANCIENT DISEASE re-emerges in the heart of New York City—a deadly bacteria that gave rise to the Black Death. Maggie De Luca, an ep...


AN ANCIENT DISEASE re-emerges in the heart of New York City—a deadly bacteria that gave rise to the Black Death. Maggie De Luca, an epidemiologist who is fighting her own demons, works to uncover clues to contain the disease, but is always one step behind—her fate determined by the flip of a coin. Microbiologist Michael Harbinger believes he can make a vaccine that can stop the disease, but to do so would require an elusive plant that only grows in a remote region of the Amazon. 

With the help of J.D. Stallings, a paleoanthropologist, and Samantha Boutroux, a bacteriologist, they set out to find the plant that holds the key before the Red Death pandemic grips the world—or has the First Horseman of the Apocalypse, Plague, already opened the gates to our final annihilation? 

The mother of all plagues is back . . .
Let the death toll begin . . . 



“RING AROUND THE ROSIE,
POCKETS FULL OF POSIES,
ASHES . . . ASHES . . .
WE ALL FALL DOWN.”
 

I'm very excited to share this book with you all today! The Devil's Apprentice in the first book in the incredibly imaginative, a...


I'm very excited to share this book with you all today! The Devil's Apprentice in the first book in the incredibly imaginative, and wonderfully entertaining, YA Fantasy series, The Great Devil War.


There will be exclusive content and a giveaway so be sure to read on!

Philip is a good boy, a really good boy, who accidentally gets sent to Hell to become the Devil’s heir. The Devil, Lucifer, is dying and desperately in need of a successor, but there’s been a mistake and Philip is the wrong boy. Philip is terrible at being bad, but Lucifer has no other choice than to begin the difficult task of training him in the ways of evil. Philip gets both friends and enemies in this odd, gloomy underworld—but who can he trust, when he discovers an evil-minded plot against the dark throne?


Even though the story (mostly) takes place in Hell and deals with themes like evil, death and free will, it is also a humoristic tale about good and evil seen from a different perspective. A tale that hopefully will make the reader – young or old, boy or girl – laugh and think. – Kenneth B. Andersen

Aliens. They’re everywhere. If you go outside, they’ll kill you. If you try to run, they’ll kill you. Ice cream probably won't ...





Aliens.

They’re everywhere.

If you go outside, they’ll kill you.
If you try to run, they’ll kill you.

Ice cream probably won't help.

On an entirely normal summer day, the sky rips apart and aliens pour from the wound. Black, featureless pods, they are horrifying in their efficiency, killing anything that steps foot outside. Inexplicably, they don’t attack anyone indoors.

No one knows where they came from, what they want and when—or if—they’ll go away. Matt Cutler wanted to spend Sunday with his family. Now, he’s trapped in a tree fort outside his house with his neighbor, Heather Keene, and his little sister Abby.

They can’t go outside.

They’re running out of water.

If dehydration doesn’t kill them, the aliens will.

But Matt thinks he’s figured out a way to save everyone… if the aliens don’t kill him first.

We were meant to be seductive. We were designed to lure humans in.  Fortuna Sworn is the last of her kind. Her br...



We were meant to be seductive. We were designed to lure humans in. 


Fortuna Sworn is the last of her kind.

Her brother disappeared two years ago, leaving her with no family or species to speak of. She hides among humans, spending her days working at a bar and her nights searching for him. The bleak pattern goes on and on... until she catches the eye of a powerful faerie.

He makes no attempt to hide that he desires Fortuna. And in exchange for her, he offers something irresistible. So Fortuna reluctantly leaves her safe existence behind to step back into a world of creatures and power. 

It soon becomes clear that she may not have bargained with her heart, but her very life.

State Road 177 runs along the Suwannee River, between Fargo, Georgia, and the Okefenokee Swamp. Drive that route from east to west, a...



State Road 177 runs along the Suwannee River, between Fargo, Georgia, and the Okefenokee Swamp. Drive that route from east to west, and you’ll cross six bridges. Take it from west to east, and you might find seven.


But you’d better hope not.

Titus and Davina Bell leave their hotel in Fargo for a second honeymoon canoeing the Okefenokee Swamp. But shortly before they reach their destination, they draw up to a halt at the edge of a rickety bridge with old stone pilings, with room for only one car . . .

When, much later, a tow-truck arrives, the driver finds Titus lying in the middle of the road, but Davina is nowhere to be found.

A video store that transports you through time. Immortality from a microwave oven. A trip across the Atlantic, fro...


A video store that transports you through time. Immortality from a microwave oven. A trip across the Atlantic, from the comfort of an armchair. From the mind of Shawn Patrick Cooke comes a collection of stories that brush gently against reality. 

Featuring both previously published works and never-before-seen stories, this debut collection ranges from America's industrial past to a potluck at the end of the world; from windswept moors to suburban homes, from fairy tales to harsh reality—while shining a light on the core of what it means to be human.

What does carrion taste like? Andi has to know. The vultures circling outside her home taunt and invite her to come understand the s...



What does carrion taste like? Andi has to know. The vultures circling outside her home taunt and invite her to come understand the secrets hiding in their banquet of decay. Fascination morphs into an obsessive need to know what the vultures know. Andi turns to Dr. Fawning, but even the therapist cannot help her comprehend the secrets she’s buried beneath anger-induced blackouts.

Her girlfriend, Luna, tries to help Andi battle her inner darkness and infatuation with the vultures. However, the desire to taste dead flesh, to stitch together wings of her own and become one with the flock sends Andi down a twisted, unforgivable path. Once she understands the secrets the vultures conceal, she must decide between abandoning the birds of prey or risk turning her loved ones into nothing more than meals to be devoured.
 

Griffin, an expert wise-ass, has never experienced true horror until his father is killed by a foul beast that certainly seems like but is...


Griffin, an expert wise-ass, has never experienced true horror until his father is killed by a foul beast that certainly seems like but is, apparently, not a werewolf—according to the knight who saves him from the same fate, anyway. He’s also never met a real knight before. Or had superhuman speed. Or strength. Or met his soul mate. Who knew the capacity for it all was in his blood all along?

Encountering the ancient Order of the Guardians and taking his place a defender against creatures of darkness awakens Griffin to a host of experiences, both human and supernatural—and often unnerving. Between monsters, psychotic enemies, and secretive knights, can Griffin and the rest of the Order hold back evil...or even survive?