teaandtales1's reviews
918 reviews

𝓐𝓾𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓻: Nick Roberts
𝓟𝓵𝓸𝓽: Daniel finds an absolute steal of a property that he hopes to flip for profit while his family stays there over the summer. Unfortunately the house used to be home to an exorcist and may or may not have a portal to Hell in the basement.
𝓟𝓪𝓰𝓮𝓼: 288
𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓻𝓮: Horror
𝓑𝓮𝓬𝓱𝓭𝓮𝓵 𝓽𝓮𝓼𝓽: yes
𝓣𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓸𝓭: contemporary
𝓞𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓫𝓸𝓸𝓴𝓼 𝓘'𝓿𝓮 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓭 𝓫𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓪𝓾𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓻: first time reading this author
𝓕𝓸𝓻 𝓯𝓪𝓷𝓼 𝓸𝓯: Exorcism/demonic/possession stories, haunted houses
𝓡𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/4

You know how some horror movies are poorly written, but still manage to scare you and give you the creeps as you're drifting off to sleep? This is that sort of book.

I wouldn't go so far as to say the book is poorly written, but there are definitely some issues and the characters make *so many* terrible choices. I suppose you could write those choices off as them being possessed or tormented by demons, but it'd still be a stretch.

That being said, once people start crab walking or climbing walls like spiders, you've hooked me into enjoying a scary, demonic book. The Exorcist is still the scariest movie I've ever watched (and one I don't ever plan to watch again), and Nick Roberts' book had some similar, yet satisfying terrors. 

𝓐𝓾𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓻: Jenny Kiefer
𝓟𝓵𝓸𝓽: On a quest to find and claim a new climber's haven, four people set out to study and mysterious part of the Kentucky woods. It goes poorly.
𝓟𝓪𝓰𝓮𝓼: 304
𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓻𝓮: Horror
𝓑𝓮𝓬𝓱𝓭𝓮𝓵 𝓽𝓮𝓼𝓽: yes
𝓣𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓸𝓭: contemporary
𝓞𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓫𝓸𝓸𝓴𝓼 𝓘'𝓿𝓮 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓭 𝓫𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓪𝓾𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓻: debut novel
𝓕𝓸𝓻 𝓯𝓪𝓷𝓼 𝓸𝓯: Isolation horror, wilderness horror, stories about being trapped
𝓡𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀: ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

I love a good isolation horror. I also really enjoy wilderness horror when it's done well, though I seem to be hit and miss on those books lately. This book has all that and a bag of chips... Or bags of Clif bars as it were.

Despite some tepid reviews online, I'd seen a lot of people recommend this book on TikTok. Overall I did enjoy the book, though I think it is evident this is a debut novel. Heavily inspired by the Dyatlov Pass mystery, this book details four super mysterious deaths/disappearances and the time that led up to it.

I do think it was successful, but got a bit convoluted in the last third - almost like the author had a really great finishing line, but maybe wasn't sure how to get there once the writing started. 

 

Horror sub-genre: Vampires, Small-town horror

Plot: David Hunter, the son of a recently, (presumably) deceased famous author, moves to his father's home town in hopes of learning more about the man he didn't know very well. At the same time, a vampire moves into the creepy house on the hill.

Review: ⭐⭐⭐1/2
Did the plot sound familiar to you? What if I told you that this young man met a young, scholarly woman in the park that instantly became his love interest and then the two of them met a kindly older man, and the three characters band together to fight off the new vampiric threat...? Am I actually describing 'Salem's Lot? No, which makes this a thinly-veiled plagiaristic attempt, a not-so-secret homage, or a surprise re-telling of the famous King book. I will say it veers off in the last third of the story, but I could not get past the blatant similarities without some criticism. I did end up enjoying it and liked a lot of Massey's character work, but the copycat nature and the fact that it was about 150 pages too long, made me dock it down to three stars. 

This was the weirdest book I have ever read.