Crisp leaves and creepy dolls, haunted houses and haunted theme parks, terrifying true Twitter threads like this one, and the fact that it's National Candy Corn day, have me in the mood to share an amazing creepy story that you need to read. I read Jennifer Donaldson's Lies You Never Told Me and I really loved the voice, the fast-pace of the book, and the tricky plot that I didn't see unraveling how it did. I love being surprised by a novel! So when I found out that Jennifer Donaldson had a new book out, I said a big HELL YES, and got to reading! I have a full[...]
Category
books
0 I'll be honest with you, I about lost my mind when I heard about Rules for Vanishing by Katie Alice Marshall. Not only does it sound like my dream book, but Penguin Random House was kind enough to send me an early copy of the book. Let me tell you, it's even BETTER than I could have hoped for. I shared a special unboxing on my Instagram page, which you can spy there on my posts and on my story highlights. What can I say? Any book listed to be in the same vein as The Blair Witch Project is exactly what we need, even if we don't deserve it. Here's a preview: Are yo[...]
On Friday the 13th, a new horror anthology entered the world, bringing light and love...and CLOWNS...okay, maybe not all light and love. But this collection of 15 stories isn't about the scary clown holding a blood-colored balloon, you know the one right outside your house...RIGHT NOW THE ONE THAT IS COMING TO KILL YOU? Just kidding! Maybe... Anyway, this book focuses on taking the creepy killer out of the clown and give us what clowns fear instead. In a world filled with menace, dare to paint on a grin. The world is full of images of scary[...]
The only thing better than a spooky book, is a spooky ghost book! Anyone who knows me, knows I live for ghost stories of any variety, which is why I'm thrilled to participate in the Dead Voices blog tour from Penguin Random House. Since I am a huge fan of good middle grade horror, it should be no surprise that I was a huge fan of Small Spaces, Katherine Arden's first book in this series. You know Small Spaces. The one that horror dreamboat RL Stine called "Terrifying and fun." True story. I love how this book starts off. It's the middle of a snow storm and anyo[...]
Pet Sematary. What a journey this story has been on, an evolution in a sense. Back in 1983 Stephen King's book entered the world. King says it's the scariest book he's written, because 'what if' is the scariest thing, especially when you're a parent and the 'what if' is the death of your child. When a truck strikes down small, baby-faced Gage, Louis can fix it, he can bring back his son because he knows a secret, a terrible secret. A tale of grief, of desperation, of being haunted by the past, of your mistakes, the book gives us a deep look i[...]
When I grow up, I want to be like my friend Mercedes M. Yardley. Not only is she amazingly talented and creative, she has cool pets like Thug Bunny (RIP) & Marsh the cat, who will melt you with one death-gaze. But her amazing book, Pretty Little Dead Girls, is being turned into a graphic novel! Pretty Little Dead Girls was published as a novel in 2014. Now, it is coming out as a graphic novel with illustrations by artist Orion Ganzara. I mean, just check out this cover art! If that didn’t entice you enough, the first line of the book is as follows: [...]
Kirkus called this book, “A swashbuckling steampunk mashup of Mark Twain and Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines Quartet.” It's on Seventeen Magazine's best novels of 2019 list. #1 New York Times BestSelling Author Sabaa Tahir calls it, "a compelling, serpetine journey into the heart of grief, the way it can threaten to destroy, and what it looks like to survive." Which book am I talking about? The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe by Ally Condie, released March 26, 2019 from Bloombury Children's Books. The cover is insanely gorgeous. The design is the creation of one[...]
I recently came across Ginger Ly and Molly Park's debut graphic novel Suee and the Shadow and oh, my heart, where has this book been all my life? As some of you recall, I absolutely judge books by the cover. So let's talk about Suee and the Shadow's cover. The first thing I noticed was the white on shadow face. This shadow is up to NO GOOD AND I WANT TO KNOW WHY. Next is that chilling contrast of the blood red lettering against an indigo background. The trend of claw-like branches on middle grade covers is one I hope stays forever and ever and ever.[...]
I recently finished reading Stephen King's latest novel The Outsider, which left an interesting thought crammed into the dark places of my mind. About the power of believing. The beginning of the book dwells in proof, in what could be touched and seen, in what must be true. No matter how wrong the reality of the evidence seemed, Detective Ralph Anderson would not let go, would not question reality. By the middle of the story, dear Ralph questions everything, but remains firm in his grip on evidence, on DNA, on fingerprints, on eyewitnesses. Though no[...]
I fell in love with horror fiction through short stories. The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe. NIGHT SHIFT, by Stephen King. My family car was littered with horror anthologies I found on bookstore racks and garage sale tables. As a writer, I love the tight structure and elegant story telling. As a reader, I love a small story that rips me apart and leaves me gasping. GUTTED: BEAUTIFUL HORROR STORIES, edited by Doug Murano and D. Alexander Ward, is a gorgeous collection. The stories delve into the dark, emotional connection we feel towards what we treasure[...]