yourspookymom's reviews
217 reviews

This book was like a game of Clue on steroids. I couldn’t get enough of it from start to finish. The last few chapters were a wild ride. I thought I had it all figured out to only find out I was very, very wrong.

Each character was wonderfully crafted and I genuinely found love for them all. I know that a lot of folks feel like there was too much going on, but I loved all the twists & turns. My only critiques are that the unraveling of the end seemed to come out too easily from one character. I also wished that Kit had a bit more emotional depth. She was a fun MC to get to know, but I felt like I would have connected more had she been more introspective on other aspects of her life outside of Hope’s End. This might have revealed more of her history, not just a piece, making her more fleshed out.

This is certainly my favorite Sager book so far & I really look forward to reading more from him.

4.8/5!

A little too wacky of a story for me, but was a fun read for taking a break from the heavier stuff.

Wow. Just wow.

I got Come Closer after hearing about it on Talking Scared podcast with Sadie Hartmann & I am so glad I read. This is a beautifully haunting book.

Come Closer follows architect Amanda who has a beautiful loft & a strong marriage. She slowly falls away from herself after hearing a strange tapping in her home. Tapping turns into a strong inner dialogue that she soon comes to realize it’s not her at all. When she starts seeing and communicating with a demon, Amanda quickly looses all of her faculties.

Gran is an incredibly gifted writer. Although this was a quick read, it was wholly captivating. Much of this story, especially towards the end, is left to interpretation. Typically I wouldn’t be so fond of this, but it made this story that much scarier. This was such an eerie read. A must for any horror fans, especially those who want a twist on the classic possession story.

5/5!

My first intro to Jeff Strand and I am hooked, baby. Demonic was a howling good time.

Strand’s writing style is to the point & this makes Demonic an addictive, fast paced, story. I often thought of Diablo Cody’s witty banter when reading this. The back and forth between characters read superbly epigrammatic. I laughed out loud frequently. The imagery of a demon getting tickled is actually quite hilarious.

My only wish is that there was a little less non-stop action & a little more romance (don’t you dare roll your eyes!!). I felt like it would have been equally bad ass if there was some good old fashioned trauma bonding at the end between Quinn & Cody.

Overall, a (very) bloody good time. 4/5!

P.S: Jeff, if you’re reading this, the Scholastic Book Fair was the highlight of my LIFE in grade school. What a wonderfully hilarious way to unite your readers.

There are very few books that have left me a bit speechless this year. Brother, by Ania Ahlborn is one of them. This is NOT for the faint of heart. Please read CWs before reading.

The beginning was a bit of a slow burn, but within it a tragic story of MC Michael’s life is carefully woven together & laid out before us. Set in rural Appalachia, a family with generations of dark secrets use the desolate landscape to feed upon what they believe is rightfully theirs. The mother, as the head of the family, ropes her children into unspeakable acts. Yet, only her eldest son Reb relishes the depths of horror he lives. After meeting two young women in town, Michael’s life begins to unravel at a rapid pace & Reb is pulling the loose string. Reb is truly one of the most haunting and frightening characters I have encountered.

This book broke my heart. Ahlborn writes so well & her work is crafted with such great care. It’s so refreshing to read novels by women in this genre - the level of emotion in such a bleak story is unmatched. Brother touches on the sorrows of generational trauma, grief, true horror & complicated family dynamics.

4.8/5 - I look forward to reading much more of Ania’s work, but I’ll need to read something about rainbows and butterflies in the meantime!

I want to start off by saying how truly brilliant this book is. Leede is a hauntingly exquisite author. The women writing in this genre have truly blown my fucking socks off. Reading this after some very unsettling news in the horror book community couldn’t have come at a better time. I can think of a few authors who could learn a few things from C. J.

Maeve Fly follows Maeve - a Disney princess by day with dark and taboo interests that spill into the Los Angeles strip. A home she shares with her dying starlet grandmother holds much more than morbid curiosities. Behind Fly’s beauty lies something much more sinister and, well frankly, unhinged. An intricate and emotional story of relational dynamics and the dangers of being forced to be a puppet of yourself. The last 20% of this book is a wild fever dream of gore & madness.

Maeve Fly is the epitome of the inner turmoil that women experience - the expectations we are to keep up with, all of which contradict another and are ludicrously unrealistic. There were so many simple passages amongst these pages that yielded such power. It’s a story of love, in all its forms, & pure feminine rage. A disturbing yet important novel in the horror genre.

Leede, you are a force to be reckoned with. By far one of my favorite reads of the year.

5/5!

This was quite the novella! Post apocalyptic realms usually aren’t my favorite reads, but I really enjoyed this. Much left for the reader to ponder - which I thought worked well for this story. I liked the diary format & felt like it places the reader well into the MCs thoughts. Wonderfully unique!

4/5

A lot of themes in this book were quite interesting. I enjoyed reading about Caitlin's experiences in the death industry as well as her insight on death itself. I learned a lot about the industry, practice and process of death that I otherwise had no idea about.

I really only found this book to be alright and it was one I really wanted to love. I felt a lot of the chapters carried unnecessary judgement especially around the way that other cultures processed death. Some rituals she seemed to celebrate while others she seemed to deem unacceptable. There was a lot of language insinuating that everyone else has it wrong, including western cultures, but that her insight had given her the best understanding on processing death and grief. As someone who has watched the passing of another, gone through the funeral, grief and darkness of death, I really felt like she could have kept some of these facts as just that. Facts.

Chapter 8 on babies, born and unborn, read horribly insensitive until the end of the chapter. I found myself really overwhelmed by the blasé approach to the death of a child. There was little, somewhat belittling, commentary on the families of said deceased babies. I understand a big part of this is a coping mechanism as she states later in the chapter, but I think this could have been a great opportunity to share such a sensitive topic in a more compassionate and insightful way.

I had a hard time understanding the intention of Doughty's book. Was it a memoir? Historical Non-Fiction? A love story? I think this would have been better getting nailed down as one or the other vs a odd mix. Overall, I enjoy Doughty's YouTube videos and I do feel as if she writes well, but maybe I need to process my own emotions around death before judging the thoughts of another.

3/5

I’m a little conflicted on how to feel about this book. It’s absolutely extreme horror & really a disturbing read. Throughout I was audibly groaning at how gross some scenes were & needed to put down a few times. Definitely for more seasoned horror readers.

I feel like I would have given this a much stronger rating had there been so much less unnecessary racism, misogyny, & homophobia. The story itself is quite compelling; two college age boys, good childhood friends, stumble upon a depraved man living deep in the woods. When Rodger & Tooth go to investigate the terrorizing screams of a woman, they stumble face first into the most unimaginable days of their lives. There’s an underlying supernatural element that was a little interesting & left me guessing. The ending was well done - you could enjoy as a stand alone or read the next book in the series.

Unfortunately, it was challenging for me to cherish the friendship between the two boys because they really weren’t all that kind to one another. So many unnecessary, frankly gross, remarks about women, sex, & race. I found myself rolling my eyes at why this author thought these elements would add to the story whatsoever. In the throes of death or the fear of, I have a hard time believing someone would think “I’m so mad I’ve spent my short life as such a nerd!!! I wish I boned a bunch of chicks instead!!!!” Moments like these could’ve been much more emotionally compelling - connecting the reader to the characters had these moments been more thoughtfully written. Nothing about this really read as dark humor IMO.

Really thought this could of had great potential, but the “boys will be boys” way this story was written just gave me the ick. I’m honestly shocked to see that barely anyone talks about these topics in their reviews of this novel….

2.5/5