C. J. Daley

This one is sadly a DNF at 84%. I usually am really against ratings or reviews if you (me) don’t read the full story. (If you aren’t me, please gladly do whatever you want!).

I received the audio to judge for the Indie Ink Awards, so I did really want to finish it in full. The narrator, Magnus Carlssen, did do a fantastic job. I wouldn’t say it was a struggle or anything, as I enjoyed a great deal of it, but there was definitely some issues, one of which, I could not come back from.

For one, I was asked to judge LGBTQ rep. Lago, our teenage main character, is announced as gay from the start. He paints his nails and has a female best friend he plays and swims naked with (because obviously he isn’t interested in her, we’re actually TOLD this), and he has a weirdly conservative dad even though we are set in a fantasy world? Other than that set up, the gayness of the character did little more than allow for some very overly depicted sex scenes.

That’s number two. We know this is a fantasy world and that our perceptions and morals and thoughts on age simply “don’t” exist there, but come on, clearly it was written in the real world. The sad but very real truth is teens do explore and have sex, but I do not want, need, or should have any involvement—and this author very clearly chose the age of his protagonist (much of the writing reads as very young adult) and then had MULTIPLE explicit scenes. In some aching, horrifying detail. While their world is described as not wholly accepting of gay people, Lago still manages to have a really weird one night stand in the middle of no where with a full grown man? Then the final scene made me throw in the towel. A character that is described as a 9ft tall immortal being, one that has already existed for time untold, has decided it’s okay to want to have sex with the teenager and then does. The character is very much so parts Beorn and Gandalf, Hagrid and Dumbledore, a wise and knowledgeable character I quite liked at first. But then he’s like those characters only if they were actually groomers.

Number three is the story itself. While the worldbuilding is interesting with the cataclysmic past that ended the ancient times making it feel as if this could be a primitive, yet futuristic and magical earth, every opportunity taken to build is entirely an info dump. Every single time. While it did make parts of the world feel super fleshed out and real, nothing ever seemed to come of it. Part one is basically all about Lago being a child and doing work, there’s not much there and it kind of does drag. Part two is basically Lago fulfilling his entire promise from the opening of the book, seeing as the author decides to subvert expectations by just making all of the characters important to the initial quest die. Part three goes into another subverted journey, but then it just becomes all about development and training, in the style you’d almost expect from a book two in a trilogy. This goes into the third part, where I decided I’d had enough. Lago uses his magical mask, which has only come to him specifically because the author decided to kill everyone else it belonged to, and it helps him change into a kind of half man half Timberwolf that seemingly just suffices to pay off as a sort of voyeuristic furry fantasy of some kind. The use of a teen and weird sex scenes felt almost exploitative and problematic even.

Huge thanks to Flatiron Books for the physical ARC. I love the cover and colors and this was a cool one to receive.

This novel spans genres in a pretty solid and unique way. It’s deeply rooted in grief, with three of four best friends (whose names start with letters that make up The L.O.V.E. Club) dealing with the loss of the fourth. The story is shown through O, and she can’t really remember anything about what happened. That helps the author pepper in some mystery, and also allows for all the cards to not be present on the table at the start. Their love of video games, which is part of what brought them together, is exploited as they are all transported into their lost best friend, E’s, game-world. It kind of brought to mind the sequel/reboot of Jumanji, but that’s where the similarities stopped. That meshes scifi into the otherwise real-world Calendula, California, but then the levels of the video games present an almost fantasy-style layer on top of the settings the characters know from the world. This is also helped by L and V getting a bow and arrow and a sword, too. Then with the grief, and when some of the information about E comes to light, there is a tinge of horror there.

So there were some things in this that just didn’t work for me. While the bulk of this novel takes place in a video game, none of the actual descriptions of the levels felt like a video game to me. If anything, it could have been a portal fantasy and that might have been sold better. O’s gifted power is a notebook, as of course she is a writer. She is able to elicit help from L and V by writing out what they want to do, and while this may have actually been incredibly well done writing (as in an author pretending to write like a high schooler that thought they were a great writer) a lot of it was confusing and wordy, and seriously cringey. There is also a thread throughout about how much E loved flowers. While there is payoff for its inclusion in the end, as someone that doesn’t know about flowers, it felt like a chunk of this book was using descriptors that brought nothing to mind. Flower names used to enhance mentioned colors felt kind of forced and left me confused.

There were also things that continued to reel me in over and over in how well they were done. Calendula is a Chinese American suburb and the author does a great job of painting exactly what that means. The culture bled into everything around them, their intricacies and secrets, the dos and don’ts (if you will) that are (not so) quiet expectations, the challenges of thriving—or even surviving—there. It felt like a perfect glimpse into a world that wasn’t mine, and It was just enough. I’m all for the representation here as well. The layered in grief really hit for me. While the club had each other, E was truly O’s best-best friend. The kind of friendship where it’s hard to tell where one person begins and the other ends. So when she lost her, she just kind or crumbled, lost herself. I also thought it was clever to show how each girl was grieving separately, because each person carries it differently.

Then what really shone are the friendships. This author allows them to be natural, to be hectic, to be anything but cut and dry and nice and neat. They felt real, and every time they have some kind of revelation together I felt for them. The emotion described is powerful and felt almost like a tangible thing you could hold. These friends love each other. They have lost and they have grown. They may never be the same, but that’s still okay. The writing is imbued with a beautiful take on the world, even though their world is not wholly beautiful itself, and I loved the messiness. There are no even lines or comfy finishes here.

The author very kindly offered me a physical copy for review, and I’m very sorry I’m late. With my last year being what it turned out to be (a dumpster fire) I have been racing to catch up and realized I have no idea where the book was in my storage unit. So I decided to buy the audio to ensure I got to it. Scott Fleming was a great choice for narration, but did an almost Massachusetts/Boston accent (wah-rrior, dah-ughter, Coop-uh). Not at all an issue for me, I just noticed! Or imagined it…?

This one is really unique. It’s an urban/portal fantasy that at times feels wholly scifi, then it turns and feels wholly fantasy, with zero urban. The kind of story that makes you forget all about earth and high school. It blends entire galaxies away from earth, with some advanced technology that surpasses human knowledge. It features gods that make it feel ancient, but somehow it still feels rooted in the now. Through Cooper and Reed, it’s a coming of age story, an underdog story, and certainly a reluctant hero story. It blends so many things in its own original way that I feel like I can’t even summarize it.

The best friends of Cooper and Reed were spectacular. One is book smart, less confident, but certainly not without strength. The other is an athlete, confident and although bright, less focused on the future. While in some schools or circled this would be an unlikely match, their friendship formed at a young age and they didn’t let it stop them. They are opposites, like two sides of the same coin. They need each other, balance each other, and propel each other. I loved the healthy male friendship on display, and getting both of them focused on as POVs showed the reader how little jealously was there between them. Then they both succeed in unlocking/befriending the elements of air and fire called Spreeta. Little white and red creatures that I thought of as almost angry bird style little things. I imagined them as cute, but they controlled immense power. And they unlocked that power in both of the boys, as well as functionally offering a new responsibility for them, forcing maturing.

The magic system feels old and full and yet it left some things up for interpretation. Empathic objects can be bestowed to those with certain specifically strong traits. These can be any object, including weapons. But these empathic objects are just a scrape off the surface. There’s ways to learn a multitude of powers and strengths, as well as utilizing unimaginable tech. The strength unlocked by the Spreeta help the boys to find their inner power and unleash it. Their displays of strength kind of felt almost superhero to me, kind of a la Wistful Ascending by J.C.M. Berne, but with a completely different foundation. Then you throw in a twist almost a la Terminator…this one truly has it all.

I loved the mentor figures so much. One, a misunderstood, centuries-old protector, a man that fits the trope perfectly. The other, another old character, but this one stuck inside the body of a child. The two played off each other even when they weren’t together, one the wise and understanding, the other quicker to action. It was great to see the senior-year teen Cooper go toe to toe with a kid and be forced to back down over and over. The author does a great job of twisting tropes in ways that feel fresh and familiar at the same time.

For the first time in a long time honestly, I had zero idea where a book was going to go. It was an awfully nice change.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook arc. Shoutout to the continued CJ supremacy from my fellows. Jenn Lee did a solid job with the audio, really nailing the submissive tone as well as the more solid-ground surety from later in the novel.

I’ve got to be honest, I found myself slipping during a slow day at work and was actually reading some reviews. That’s something I never do. I had already started it, so I guess I was just curious. For whatever reason, probably some Goodreads algorithm, some of the mid-negative reviews were toward the top. People claiming it wasn’t a horror, that it didn’t deliver…and I found this interesting (interesting enough to include in a review—even though the overall vibe of the book is not at all negative FYI) because it really didn’t match up with my experience. Sometimes when you aren’t getting along with a story you check the reviews and see people felt the same and it clicks. This was not that.

When Sadie finds out she’s pregnant, she knows there’s no way in hell she’s raising her child and newborn with an abusive partner. It’s the kick in the butt she’s needed to flee. Through mild planning that’s more shove-what-we-can-in-a-suitcase, she and her daughter end up outside the L’Arpin

Hotel on Erie Lake. As we can expect from a setup like this, a desperate job interview leads to new work and a place to lay low for a while. But as Sadie cleans the hotel (while an unsuspecting elderly live-in watches her daughter) she begins to question things at every turn. From seeing someone struggling in the pool, to a tentacled nuisance in the shower, things continue to get more and more odd and no one seems to be taking her seriously.

I felt that the novel really nailed the submissive personality. The abused person’s need to apologize and explain away. To accept things you’d never accept otherwise. The continuous self-sabotaging thoughts and self blame. As a person with anxiety, the train of thought felt familiar in a way, and I think the author really sold it as a layer in the novel that made each experience of Sadie’s more complex. Does she do, think, and accept things that may appear repetitive or even annoying? Absolutely. But that being engrained as her ‘normal’ is pivotal to her story. And I love a good story that can hit home on how horrific normal life and humans can be.

From there, this does have an almost cosmic twist to its horror. It reminded me of The Sundowner’s Dance in the sense that the climax also functions as a creature feature. And while your opinion on the ending is yours to feel however you’d like, this is where I really disagreed with those reviews I read. The audiobook I received was around 10 hours. The climax itself was over an hour long. For me that certainly delivers. I didn’t think it was short or underwhelming. It could have upped the gore for me, but I don’t think that was what the author was going for.

A creeping, slithering slow burn of a cosmic horror.

First saw this in the Library section of the SFF Insiders Discord and really liked the cover. A huge thanks to James for the audible code! Liz May Brice did a great job with the narration.

1920s Liverpool delivers a setting both familiar and different. Det. Amelia Dei must fight through gender roles, misogyny, and the supernatural in this murder mystery that feels both historical and fantastical. In a way it reminded me of Shadowseer: London by Morgan Rice in that it feels like a classic mystery meshed with an almost urban fantasy twist. Or Out on a Limb by Luis Paredes with its hints at a supernatural world beyond kind of a la Men in Black (although not alien).

Amelia will stop at nothing to upend Dr. Knight and his string of mysterious coma patient deaths. Her superiors don’t believe in her, and are finding it hard to believe her when she says something suspect is going on, but she refuses to relent. Her partner, Det. Reed, is the only one to have her back as the mystery unfolds into swirling darkness.

This is written well and feels cohesive. I found myself wondering where the two authors blended, becoming this unique voice. The two POVs (Amelia and Dr. Knight) worked well for me as I enjoy a glimpse into the dark and madness. The only hang up I had were the flashback memory scenes with young Knight. I understood their need, as it shows his coming into his power and experiencing his dark reality—the Umbra Mentis, but they also felt like attempting to humanize. As the story opens with him committing SA and reveling in it, I didn’t find him redeemable.

This tackles themes of sexism, gender roles, mental illness, poverty, and sexual orientation rather well. Even in a reality that turns out to have an entirely exterior nightmarish world just beyond it, these things are still present and touched on throughout. The Umbra was creepy, intriguing in what the authors held back, and I wished to know more. The inspector finally backing Amelia, as well as hinting at his awareness of the supernatural, makes me feel like there could be an expansive series even beyond the Umbra!

I really liked the last names of Dei and Knight facing off against each other. I have to imagine it was purposeful, as they even chose spellings that were not so on the nose. As the Umbra is this kind of swirling mass of black and darkness, it really felt like Amelia was the day facing off against the night.

Book 3 of the Malitu trilogy and I have been so happy to be part of this ARC team.

Let me borrow from my review of the first book two years later and say: WOW, that is how you write an ending! The climax is just so incredibly epic and beautiful and dark at the same time. Threads that were weaved throughout the entire story coming together to make a beautiful little sweater of gut-punching, heartbreaking action and tension. I am blown away. —two books and a prequel novella later and this couldn’t be more true. I suppose that together they make a full jumpsuit of gut-punching emotional damage. Dulin pulls threads from his debut all the way until the bittersweet end of this one. Character development three books in the making finally comes together, blossoming as each character becomes their fully realized selves. Kaylo grows from an angry, shadow of a man to the caring, loving protector of Tayen. Finally capable of putting aside his regrets, his fears, and his desire for retribution. Tayen goes from a fearful ball of anger, from a consequences-be-damned and no-matter-the-cost revenge seeker, to understanding patience and the need to see the bigger picture. And I absolutely love how much her story mirrors his past, and I can’t say enough on how well the author has crafted this father-figure and daughter duo.

And then to quote myself reviewing book 2: As I did with the first (and now second), I’d again liken this to The Last of Us. Tayen is bereaved of all those in her life, she’s jaded, and she wants revenge. So when she finally lets someone in, Kaylo, she has such a hard time accepting his mistakes. Much like older Ellie and Joel. That is where the similarities end of course, as Dulin has offered us a rich world with lore, magic, culture. —I would go even further and say that Tayen has a similar revelation as Ellie in the end of Part II in this. Revenge will not bring the relief she seeks, nor will it ever make her whole. That doesn’t mean that she can’t make a difference though, that she can’t fight for what’s right.

Also from 2: of course the darker enthocentlrism, war, colonialism, and racism. I love the deep message of the story, and I really appreciate that you can also just read and enjoy it as a fantasy, too. —I also think these are quite deftly handled. When using or borrowing (or perhaps more truthful to these: highlighting) other cultures and peoples, it can be super hard to tow that invisible fine line of appropriation. I think the author’s boosting of others, including the works of others telling own-voice stories, has lended itself to him telling a story that feels wholly authentic. This is a fantasy jam packed with historical implications. Some of the not-so-small nods are messages that each and every person could do with some self reflection on.

Now when it comes to book 3 on its own, there was an incredibly tall order for it to hold up to the others. So does it? In my opinion, yes, absolutely. There are some areas where the pacing slowed for me, but even then, I was as engaged in Kaylo’s story as Tayen was. Therefore, while it may have stuck out in the back of my mind, I didn’t actually find myself consciously noticing or being bothered. Plus I expected a big action finish I think, and in that way I was maybe appeased with waiting. I do really feel like the author was successful here. Three books of weaving threads is a lot of work, and to end a book that feels satisfying is a triumph. I don’t think I’ve read many others that juggle so many side characters in a way that makes them all feel necessary. Sadly, that makes each and every loss hit like a brick to the face.

I do think there is enough emotional damage done here that a court may order reparations. I reeled myself in from messaging the author after finishing but that’s the sign of a well done ending.

Thanks to NetGalley, Tor Nightfire, and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook arc. I loved Nestlings, so I was excited to get into more from the author. Helen Laser was a solid choice for narration, and she embodied the main character well.

I went into this one completely blind. I didn’t read the blurb and even avoided seeing my fellow reviewers star ratings (let alone dodging reviews). The opening gripped me from the jump. A struggling actress just starting out turned late night waitress reminded me of Mary Jane in the second Spider-man movie. It differs from there as Jess is forced to deal with what comes her way by herself. A late night argument between neighbors and a strange naked man, a violent attack, a scared little boy, and an across country chase. Jess simply followed her instincts by saving him, but she might just live to regret it.

Of course with the cover and the first attack, I really thought I was buckling up for a werewolf novel. In a sense, it is, but then again, it also really isn’t. When I made it to the part in the hotel, where Kiddo is left alone watching tv, I was so surprised by the curveball the author threw that I actually thought it just might not be for me and maybe I needed to DNF. It bordered on goofy to me, and of course I truly had no idea what the hell was going on. But if you know me at all, you know I don’t usually DNF anything, and I’m once again glad I didn’t. Once you understand what’s happening, it all clicks into place.

This is a unique novel, and it’s certainly multilayered. It’s a child’s nightmare, it’s a family drama, it’s a body horror, it’s a reflection of what people see us as when we let our anger win, it’s a commentary on government testing even. Although the author didn’t focus much time on it, the testing on the boy’s father carried notes of Stranger Things—the boy almost becoming Eleven to my mind. The banter between Jess and the boy, and how it slowly turned to trust and familiarity, was really well done. And then of course with any adult and child on the run I always think of The Last of Us, and while this is drastically different, you’re still delivered a story that pulls at all the heartstrings by the end.

If you had the ability to believe something was true, and then make it so for the world, what would you do? World peace? End world hunger? World domination? Unlimited money, success, fire power? Even if you had the best intentions ever, could you really fix what’s been broken—especially when all of your fears, your shortcomings, become true as soon as you believe? I thought it was incredibly well done that at every turn, Jess continued to lose people. Anyone close. And even in her grief, nothing was truly the boy’s fault. While the implications are heavy, there’s such a well built note of hope by the end. It’s complex and confusing, but I suppose I chose to believe it was there. This one is definitely a thinker.

I won a copy of this by sharing a picture of myself and my cat Ellie…what better way to be introduced to an author.

This novelette packs an immense punch for how short it is. It’s almost inconceivably well written. Concise editing making every words’ placement reach its ultimate impact. With some well placed and cool commas, this one really stands out.

Two lone survivors of a battle take part in an incredible standoff when they come across each other in the mud and viscera. One fights for the chance to see his son again, and the other fights for his freedom and a chance at a family. They’re both exhausted, weaponless (several times over), and frantically trying to stay alive to see their dreams come to fruition.

I’m impressed at how descriptive this was. It’s not overbearing, it didn’t hinder the pacing, and yet it felt like being smacked onto the aftermath of a battle. Bodies—both human and horse alike—blood, limbs, excrement and decay. I even imagined the smell—(the filthy puddles?!). This felt like a historic level of representation.

The battle is gripping, with pacing that will shred your face off. The banter is enjoyable, as if two opposing soldiers could ever be friendly. And the most surprising of all, the story’s heart will hit you where it hurts with so much emotional damage you’ll be left checking yourself for blade wounds. While you may be able to see the twist coming in this story, it’s so deftly handled you won’t care. What an enjoyable, quick read.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for this physical ARC! I was intrigued by the cover, and I can’t resist new takes on the haunted house story.

This was pitched in the galley email as "A ghost story unlike any other." I honestly can’t sum it up any better than that. This was the most unique take on the haunted house story I’ve ever read. For the first time ever, I felt as if I read something true, real, possible, and yet it was paranormal. Of course there are notes of horror and thriller, but this really exists as its own thing. It’s not trying to chill or scare, it’s not blood pounding or jump scaring. Yet there is a sort of creeping eeriness to it, but that for me, came from the mundanity of her everyday tasks.

Cassie retreats from a shocking breakup and incident at work to her hometown. She’s crashing at her father’s old place while figuring it out when she runs into her ex best friend. Things reignite, things that had previously led to their falling out, however this time, there’s no significant other in the way. This struck me as odd, because frankly, his wife had died and I thought it was quite recent. The first 50-70 pages shocked me in that way, all the things taking place seemed to come at you far too fast, too easily. But I think their familiarity, as well as her dire straits, are what led to it reading as almost effortless. And that’s why I carried on…well that, and the fact that I was waiting for the ghostly shoe to drop.

The chapters from Beth’s somewhat-ethereal perspective gripped me the further I got into this read and I felt myself genuinely craving to know more. Cassie was interesting and dealing with a lot, but what had happened with Beth? I had to know. And honestly, who was involved—because at that point in the story, I wasn’t trusting anybody. What surprised me the most though, was how unassuming and almost laidback Beth was. It was a side to ghosts and death that I don’t feel is often portrayed. In a way it reminded me of The Ghosts of Thorwald Place by Helen Power as Beth becomes more cognizant.

I really ended up enjoying this one as it made the mundane daily tasks of a stepparent seem much more alarming than your home or person being possessed by a ghost. That, and the calming nature of her presence against that of Cassie’s harm OCD, flooding the reader with random depictions of extreme blood and bodily harm.

Mildly spoilery beneath…

I don’t know if this was an actual plot point of the author’s, but it continues to hold worth that you NEVER trust your partner’s “don’t worry about them” person. It just never seems to end well.

Also a modern book finally mentioned pop punk? Might be the first time I’ve seen it, and I respect it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for this audio arc.

A concise set of stories meshing monsters with the atrocities of WWII. Vampires, witches, werewolves, dragons, krakens, genetically modified humans and animals, and DNA-altered bears, oh my. I particularly appreciated the generous take on “monster” as well as the shaping of war being the true evil. I don’t tend to enjoy war stuff that alters historical events in any big way as I feel it takes away from the people that paid for the outcome with their lives, and I’m glad to say this one skirted that exceptionally. The editor asked each contributor to ground their story in fact, within real events, but the outcomes were the same and the supernatural elements were simply helping or layered within.

I enjoyed how each story took readers to a new place, a new perspective, a new country even. Including countries I wasn’t even aware took part in the war. We traveled the world and learned of the supernatural just under the surface. We read stories from the beginning of the war, and we read stories from the very bombing that ended the war. The variety within is really what makes this collection so special.

Particular stand outs included a story that acted as almost an unauthorized sequel to Dracula and the Demeter, a werewolf that’s helped by something else, a crazy croctopus taking out strike teams, and the farming bears. I apologize because as I did the audio, which I typically do while driving, I didn’t think to note the names/authors!

Although I own more by the author than I’ve read (can anyone really keep up with him) I naturally had to buy his latest as well.

So this book deals with ringing ears and not much to explain them. Honestly it gave me a lot of anxiety at the start (and I didn’t feel any safer after finishing) as I too have a ringing ear that I went through a bunch of testing for as a teen. Doctors said hearing loss or tinnitus but nothing ever stuck. So, I was the perfect candidate for this to be super eerie.

The beginning of this novel shows multiple peoples perspectives as they all succumb to some kind of natural, or unnatural event. These events continue throughout, and honestly they were pretty rough to get through. Firsthand accounts of terrorist attacks and losing loved ones was not what I expected. But I feel it is a testament to Towse’s writing that as a reader I almost felt like I was there, suffering.

Then there’s Malcolm Turner, a bereaved parent and my ear ringing counterpart, that features as the main character. He’s always felt the ringing, more than just hearing it, almost like it’s alive, but lately it’s gotten worse. These episodes are keeping him from sleep, forcing him further away from coping with the loss and causing his performance at work and as a husband to suffer. If only he could get some rest he’d be better, but the ringing has other plans for him. Now, at the risk of losing both his wife and job, he’s forced to seek help from elsewhere, desperate for someone to understand. A little internet search finds an entire group of people suffering from the same condition, and more, they even claim it’s getting worse for them too.

What follows is perhaps some of Towse’s best yet. A meditation on grief, human nature, and the impact of lack of sleep on the human brain. I especially appreciated how the husband and wife were such polar opposites on grieving. Malcom needs to talk about their daughter, to feel her still there, and his wife can’t handle it, can’t treat it as real. It really goes to show how much of a journey it is and how it takes a lot of forgiveness. I can only imagine the depths the author went to to give us such a visceral and real examination. And such real dialogue during their arguments…

The ending left a lot to the imagination. Not it a bad way, but I did find myself wishing for more. Whether that be more writing or more explanation, I’m not sure. But as it stands this was a very well paced and well developed novel!

The author very kindly sent me an audible code for this one, and my last year being what it was, it took me longer than I expected. I’m so glad I got to it though. “God this was fantastic,” was my mini review as I clicked 5 stars and that pretty much sums up how I felt the entire read.

In this novel we follow Grahme on his journey to become a druid. Through personality clashes, disagreements and deceptions, as well as some outright tampering, he finds himself filtering through multiple mentors. These clashes get so severe that he is appointed leader of his own quest to prove himself just so the option isn’t taken away from him. He must return with a ghost orchid, a little know flower with heavy implications. Family issues, the druid council on his heels, and a mind-controlling mage in play, this is a multi-layered, coming-of-age, sprawling epic fantasy.

The main character of Grahme was absolutely stellar. His personality feels spot on, and even with all his flaws and mistakes, he still has enough hero built in to carry a story. He shapes up to be a pretty awesome reluctant hero, and as you experience his growth, his power even surprises you. The author gives the reader heavy emotional scenes, tasking revelations and payoffs, and still enough wit and humor to keep the reader grounded. The narration by James Meunier was fantastic, and his portrayal of Grahme gripped me from the jump.

The way the druid magic works felt reminiscent of the Animorphs series, but in a way that tickled nostalgia but also felt like its own thing. It also felt much more adult, and although it’s a fantasy, it felt almost real in its explanation. Grahme and the other druids can take the shape of various animals. All they have to do is know the animal’s shape as well as allowing themselves to truly become them. That’s not to say there aren’t some shocking limitations, but I loved reading through all of their differing choices.

The action sequences are spaced well, with gripping descriptions, and I found that I cared for everyone as I felt for them through Grahme. The scene of the druids holding off the approaching attack until they could escape under the cover of night was so tensely plotted that I had to finish it even though I had made it home…just sat and listened in the parked car. You have to give this one a go

Been meaning to read something from the author for a bit, so I grabbed a paperback to give it a go.

Two new friends are taking a cross-country road trip. They foresee booze, laughs, and some time with the ladies. Unfortunately, they get lost and end up in a small town, one with a bit of a sinister twist. It seems as if everyone is trying to lure them somewhere, and the eerie atmosphere builds. When they try to help someone in need, things take a turn. The chaos that ensues is exactly what you’d expect, oh, except for those things you don’t see coming. And it’s nothing short of your favorite horror classics and horror tropes.

To me this was like an epic amalgamation of horrors. The road trip, getting lost, the fateful warning that goes ignored, the car trouble. It’s The Descent meets Saw meets The Devil’s Rejects meets The Hills Have Eyes meets (very specifically) The Walking Dead S11E6 ‘On the Inside’ where there are feral humans living in the walls. Oh and on top of all that, it’s bringing you right into the heart of the good old 80s satanic panic. This was gruesome and gory, with some killer contraptions and traps, more cannibalism and ritualism. It also features a strong female fighting for survival, and two male best friends that give emotional beats to the piece. And although you hope for all three of them to escape together, they certainly end up having a devil of a time.

This felt like coming home and popping a tape in the old VCR. Like catching an old favorite on cable—I could see myself watching the screen with all its low budget grainy goodness. Like the kind of thing that would be getting its own legacy sequel in theaters right now.

Thanks to Atria/Primero Sueno Press. I absolutely love this cover design so I’m so happy I have one.

People always say that novelists fall in to some common pitfalls in their debuts, and as someone that just released their own debut, it was interesting to really read one and kind of understand that. While I enjoyed the overall plot and vibe of this story, it had some issues. For one, it is repetitious, and for a book so short, that kind of hurt it. The opening of the book had the character flitting back to memories so often I was confused for over fifty pages. Some of these flashbacks/past commentary happened on almost every page. This might have been a chosen voice for the novel, but I felt it truncated the actual story, the length just coming from the past and repeating.

The main characters felt real—emotional, dynamic, traumatized even. I just would have wanted them to open up into their own even more, and as this book reads as standalone, it just doesn’t happen. There is also a scene where Antonia and her love interest are trying to go incognito with masks that cover half their faces. It killed some of the realism for me as the person they didn’t want seeing them knew them both very well. It just felt kind of like pretending you wouldn’t know who Batman was regardless of the jawline? Or maybe I just notice peoples’ features more than others.

Overall, I didn’t dislike the mystery. Finding her mother’s journal entries and sneaking through an abandoned childhood home felt almost like watching a video game play out.

Thanks to Tor Nightfire for a physical arc of this beautiful rerelease!

A unique haunted house story unlike anything else I’ve read. Someone (or something) passing a doorway. A reflection caught out of the corner of the eye. A shadow where there shouldn’t be. We’ve all heard or seen or read stories like these. But what Stephen Graham Jones is offering isn’t a boy haunted by the ghost he thinks he’s seen, but a boy encouraging the ghost it could have been.

After the death of his father, his mother moved him and his brother away from the reservation. But if his father died elsewhere, how could he find them here? Is his father returning to save him? His brother? To make his mother less lonely? To make them whole again? He certainly thinks so, and will waste away the nights just praying for another glimpse of his hero.

As much as this story is gut wrenching, it’s also about the boy’s hope, and regardless of whether or not that can be perceived as naive, that’s what hit me so strongly in this one. A novelette length examination on the lengths in which hope can bind us to the past, to the need of a father, to the almost vampiric nature of holding on.

Huge thanks to Scholastic Press for the physical arc of this one! I was drawn right in with the cover art.

This was fantastic. I expected to like it, as middle grade horror is usually a hit for me, but I really loved this. It’s a novel told in verse, which I did not know until I got it in the mail! It really cuts down on things we usually find necessary and proves that they aren’t always. Really concise, engaging, and moving.

Vee, after getting into trouble at school, is left to spend the summer with her neat-manners-and-all-other-things-freak grandmother, Jojo. As Vee is different, neurodivergent and trying to find her own way, she’s always butted heads with Jojo, so being left feels like torture. Especially when Vee finds out her older cousin, Cat, who also doesn’t get along with Jojo, isn’t allowed over. You see, jojo wants everything perfectly prim, otherwise, what would the neighbors think? Yet Vee just wants to make art and wear silly, fancy socks. Most of all though, Vee wants to be accepted and understood.

So when Vee finds a ghost of a girl living in Jojo’s walls, one who has been stockpiling her grandmother’s secrets, she finds it hard to say no to playing pranks with her. Even when the girl presses for darker and more intense pranks, disagreements between them push Vee toward giving in to the anger. If Jojo thinks so low of Vee, why shouldn’t she get back at her?

Although the ghost ties back into the storyline itself in a ‘history coming back to haunt you’ way, I found that she served as a really good voice for Vee’s fears, angers, anxieties and even darker processing. Because of how in your face her harsh pranks are, she begins to serve more and more as the big meanie for young readers, doubling down on how wrong anger can be. And while the short pay off may feel good, what Vee really wants is her grandmother’s love.

I found myself actually connecting things the grandmother said and did behaviorally to someone I’ve dealt with in the past. Especially the part about appearances. And this was a really unique way to see different sides to someone that maybe I didn’t think possible in real life. Everyone is multifaceted, and everyone has a past that influenced their present. It actually hit home for me, as I wasn’t allowing myself to view them as what they are just like Jojo didn’t view the real Vee. This one is light on the scary/horror side of things and real heavy on the emotional family turmoil side.

Thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Tor Nightfire for the audiobook arc.

Halley, a young woman on the run, takes a job off a sketchy forum. The offer is for far below the established minimum wage, which will force her to work for longer just to scrape up enough for passage somewhere, but at least it’s on a ship that’s so unlikely to be visited that it’s almost a home run. And where her boss is unlikely to come face to face with her, and the people that may or may not be after her are unlikely to find her, there’s no way she can refuse.

The job seems easy, patrol the corridors, keep things need, clean, functional, and press a single button every three hours—every three on the dot. If she doesn’t, a warning alarm will go off and her boss’s superiors may visit to see why HE wasn’t pressing the button. She’s to remain a complete secret. You can sleep for two hours and fifty minutes every three hours, but you’ll never sleep through the night. I guess I didn’t really think about it while reading, but could you imagine the pressure of that? It would start as an annoyance, maybe a small headache or pain behind the eyes, then over time it would change into irritability, outright anger, paranoia—perhaps hallucinations? That sort of aching, growing atmosphere in the background was almost like The Shining to me. Creeping-insanity-esque.

Outside of atmosphere, I really liked how quickly this one got off the ground. Halley’s past is left unresolved enough to be intriguing and her immediate scare on the new ship draws the reader right in. The AI projections are startlingly creepy at times, and although I wouldn’t liken them to M3gan (especially as they aren’t solid) it was a somewhat unique and futuristic addition to the book. I also enjoyed that they were not just thrown in, their inclusion is tied directly to the story.

As for the twist, which I will not ruin, it worked for me. It was eerie and unique and ultimately paid off in a way I found more enjoyable than Ghost Station. I did feel like it could have gone on for a tad longer, but that’s okay. In a story that felt like a creepy haunting or even creature story, the landing was a bit different.

Thank you to Angry Robot for the physical review copy!

A group of four have been genetically and surgically modified with traits and scales from our prehistoric apex predators. This is meant to be the next step in warfare, a way to up the ante, but also a way to ultimately protect lives. Naturally, there are so rather strange side effects when you attempt to turn humans into something else.

As the blurb mentions, the novel opens up with a bit of a mishap. Eddie Boka, the poster boy for Project Saurian, has accidentally given into his T-Rex-infused DNA and cannibalized an enemy solider during his first live mission. In the fear of the information leaking, or the project missing its launch date, extreme therapist Addi LaTour is brought in. The hope is that her method of shock therapy will be enough to train Eddie out of it. But Eddie’s upbeat, overcome-it-all attitude has created a spark that transcends typically patient-doctor transference. There’s something more between them, and although romance isn’t the focal point, it does propel this journey.

To be honest, other than the use of dino DNA, I think the “perfect for fans of Jurassic Park” may be a bit out there. It doesn’t go so heavy on the actual science it took to get the dino-humans to the stage their at, so this falls more into the realm of thriller. Although the later fights definitely have the vibe. But also, how do you even classify something like this? It doesn’t even really follow the natural flow of a novel at times either, and yet I found it works. It is intriguing enough that even when it isn’t fast it’s good, and when it took off it didn’t stop until it ended. Fast, brutal, and with intriguing deception I really was not expecting.

A military thriller meets science fiction. A blend of billionaire gone wrong and medical/scientific advancement. I really wondered how the science would make it all work. Like wouldn’t their bodies refuse the foreign changes? Never a bad job when a book intrigues you!

This novel also opened up the debate of cannibalism. The dino-humans started as naturally born human males, but since the transfusions and surgeries, they are kind of classified as something other. That includes in the public eye, with many labeling them as freaks. So it just kept standing out every time I read the word—if they aren’t being considered humans anymore, is it even really cannibalism? While it remains disturbing and unacceptable regardless, I wondered what it would be called otherwise. Where does science take that step past alteration and actual end up making something new?

When I saw this was releasing, I was already a couple of books into the series and a big fan. I bought the first book on kindle to get the newly included novella, but something didn’t feel right, and I didn’t end up reading it. Finally, I realized it was because I went with the audio for the series, and the narration from R.C. Bray is simply too good to just switch to reading the text. So I bought the audiobook for this one separately… IYKYK.

While the Hell Divers world is filled with badasses, no one even scrapes the surface to how intense X is. Almost 100 dives, a feat that no diver is even close to, and now he’s survived what the others considered to be certain death. Some may say he’s just too stubborn to die, but even so, he’s my favorite.

So what took place on earth while Tin was growing up? For the first time ever, we finally know! Well, part one of it at least. X survives the fall back down to land, and if that wasn’t harrowing enough, now he has to survive in a wasteland that’s not meant to be survived in. He’ll need batteries for his suit—or at least a charger, medical supplies, ammo, shelter, and most importantly, safe food and water. But how will he find anything safe in a red zone? How will he sleep at night with the monstrosities fighting for flesh? This is something that only X could figure out.

I was a little saddened by how long it took for readers to first meet Miles, but I’m pleased to see that it’s only a part one. And while being stranded can seem like a lot of searching and waiting, this still packed in an awful lot of scifi, post apoc goodness.

“This is commander Xavier Rodriguez, I’m still alive you motherf**kers.”

As always, my infinite thanks to Shortwave Media for the physical arc!

A novel that tackles grief and aging as much as the terrors within the small town of Fairview Acres. Jerry Campbell is a recent widower. He hopes that the sale of his family home for a new and smaller location will help him with accepting the loss. But when his realtor notifies him that his offer was accepted almost simultaneously with a buyer wanting his old place, the strangeness just keeps stacking. Welcoming neighbors, but nightly parties that always seem to start after sundown and last through the night, strange noises across his roof as he tries to sleep, a mid night warning from Katherine Dunnally that may be more than dementia delusions, and worst of all, Arthur Peterson, the association lead, giving off almost Nosferatu-level weird vibes.

This novel falls under what some may call “old people horror.” The lead is elderly, as is a majority of the cast, and it certainly contains the aches and pains of those getting on in years. I don’t have a slew of experience with this (if you’d call it) sub-genre, but it did bring to mind the likes of Mark Towse’s Nana, with its oddly over-aged community members and its cosmic twists. Sundowner’s is imbued with terror and heartfelt moments, like the tenderness that forms between Katherine and Jerry, and disfigured horrors that push cosmic into the realm of creature feature. With fantastic parallels that seamlessly blend the horrific nature of dementia with an alien withdrawal that mimics its memory losing effects.

But what I truly loved the most about the novel was Jerry. A lead that appears to be a grumpy old loner, is actually just a grieving, socially awkward and anxious man. So used to having his wife with him as a salve, he’s unsure of how to tackle this last stage of life. Not only is he dealing with the loss, his aches and pains, his uprooted life, the attempted continuous communication from Arthur, but also the absolute preternatural atmosphere of the Fairview community. And while the novel delivers on the small town feel, there’s much bigger things happening to turn the wheels. I found Jerry to be incredibly grounding throughout the read because you too may be a little grumpy and standoffish if your entire new town was giving off funky vampiric vibes. I really appreciated how he was witty, intelligent, still strong, and a cohesive lead that broke a lot of the conventional elderly tropes.

A first for me from the author, but I truly enjoyed it.

I had the chance to read this for the Indie Ink Awards, which is awesome because it was already on my mountainous TBR and I had a kindle version bought. It’s sequel, Dragon Along, just dropped btw!

A somewhat cozy fantasy, this book is filled to the gills with wit, and I found it to be quite laugh out loud funny to be honest. Which is no small feat for me as reading just does not translate that way usually. There’s humor for all ages and even the supporting cast is rich with callback jokes and witty jabs. Check out my highlights on goodreads/kindle if you want an idea…

Ailis and her brother get sent to the market for eggs, and while they do technically meet the requirement for their assignment, it isn’t exactly what their mother had in mind. You see, the inquisition has outlawed dragons, dragon paraphernalia, even dragon talk (unless you’re talking about how terrible and nasty they were). The kids never really understood why, especially with their uncle saying it was nonsense, but it didn’t matter all that much to them. That is until they brought home Pilib. Who you ask? Oh, just a dragon egg that naturally hatches almost immediately. Their mother is furious, curious, and scared out of her depths as the children don’t seem to understand the severity of the situation. Naturally, as one does, Ailis decides to throw him a birthday party.

The world the reader is presented with is rich and layered in history. I found there to be enough given away while also hinting at how much more there was. It struck me as a talent, as the author has made it accessible to children, while the extra depth can appeal to adults. The characters feel like they inhabit this world, like they’re ingrained in it, and although it’s about a little girl who has a dance recital, it feels like the world couldn’t exist without them. And although it’s unlike any fantasy I’ve ever read, I’m sure she will carve her name in its history in the stories to come all the same.

Also wow, baking? Did this story make me want sweet treats? Yes! (Except for maybe the first pie?). The bread described in the beginning was mouth watering. I could almost imagine the smells like I had stepped into a bakery. The smorgasbord of pies at their uncles, featuring sweet and savory concoctions, made me wonder why we use any other vessel to deliver food other than the pie? I’d yet to read a fantasy that made me want to bake a pie and also pet a baby dragon, but here this is. I can’t wait to get the sequel.

Thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for the audio of this one!

Considering my deep love for all things zombies, I’m actually a bit embarrassed to admit this is my first read from the Father of the Zombie Film. But I do find it to be incredibly cool that Kraus found this half-finished manuscript in the archive and was able to give it public life. That must be a daunting thing, and even though he had already done so with The Living Dead, this was definitely different for both of them.

In the Louisiana bayou, a supernatural entity known as the Piper has been disappearing children for generations. The slayings made me think of my own writing, and yet those delivered here are somehow more gruesome. This definitely made me wish I had included some of the young perspectives in my own novel. I really enjoyed the opening of the story, as I found the less I knew of the Piper made it eerie and almost nightmarish as it filtered through personas coming after a couple people. If those refusing to leave don’t accept the past, they may just end up paying the piper.

Now there was a scene between the Piper, cloaked as the school teacher and the young girl, Pontiac, that I found incredibly uncomfortable. But as a horror scene, it was certainly horrific, I just asked myself why—it did not really tie back into anything making it necessary.

As others have pointed out, I did agree that the ending felt a bit rushed, or maybe that it could have gone a bit deeper. However, I found the buildup to be really strong, and from what I understand, the social commentary was something Romero was known for. Tying the supernatural entity back to the slave trade, the story takes on race and class and carrying the sins of the father. I also found the entire cast to be interesting and engaging, especially how they all interacted and clicked (or didn’t!) together. This one’s different but definitely worth checking out.

I had a copy of this for too long, so apologies, but thanks to the author for the copy! My friend, Richard, really praises this one!

This is a reluctant hero story that is just as lighthearted at times as it is clever. Our lead, Zercian, a teacher, finds himself drafted into the Entervian military through no fault of his own (or is it?). His mind is being commandeered by an ancient legendary hero, and that hero, simply will not leave him alone. But the thing is, over time, Zercian’s fear dissipates, his anticipation rises, and suddenly, he’s not so reluctant anymore. Is this solely because of his being fogbound, or was the inner hero—not the actual legendary being inhabiting his mind—there all along?

This played with the idea of choice in a cool way. While Zercian is most definitely compelled, afraid of the danger, in the middle of teaching, and is in love and hasn’t proposed yet, hasn’t his life become just like the stories he teaches? And surely he won’t miss out on the chance to save kin and country? But still there’s the underlying debate on choice. Not only what would happen if he wasn’t compelled, but while he is, is he even the one steering the wheel anyway? It felt like a very old school trope coming to life. Making me think of Gandalf directing Frodo as they leave Rivendell in the movie, or Eragon telling Brom, "I didn't ask for any of this.” Why do we torture our fantasy folks with such journeys? What I love was the fact that Zercian has so many reasons to stay and so many to go.

The cast of characters has great banter, differing skills, personalities, and connections, and all service the novel in their own unique way. There’s tidbits of intrigue, mentions of the world beyond, and setup galore for the coming series. This is an underrated indie release for sure, bump it up in your TBR if you respect my opinion at all!

Thanks to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for this audiobook arc.

This is my first experience with the author, and I really enjoyed it. This is like a mix between ghost hunting and being a ghost medium, with Olivia having not only the sight, but abilities. She’s like a paranormal detective but also a kind of spirit weaver. The novel opens with her solving a few lesser incidents to get your blood flowing, but they all end up coming back in connection.

When hired to investigate room 904, Olivia is facing far more than just a simple haunting. The room is the place where her sister was last seen alive, before she took her own life, and it’s believed that this is directly linked to the haunting itself. Every year like clockwork a woman checks into the hotel, whether or not they try to lock up room 904 tight, without fail, three weeks later there’s another death. And Olivia’s investigation is hit with another layer of desperation when she finds out her mother has been to the hotel…

The in between is filled with a couple of repetitive beats, where she is struggling back and forth with solving the mystery. There are some shared locations that made it feel like similar things were happening. But I was a really big fan of these small sections at the beginning of chapters that served as little advertisements for different ghost hunting equipment. And as my version was narrated, it added almost a comedic beat to break things up. What was kind of strange to me though, was how much research must have gone into the equipment, when the items themselves take a serious backseat in the story. The author mentions that they are there, or that they are using them, but then it always defaulted to Olivia reaching out with her powers anyway.

The novel deals with indigenous mistreatment and culture erasure, not only in its past plot line of a massacre, but also in the way those around Olivia speak and treat her. There’s this incredibly nasty journalist after her, and she is a great example of the way people speak about American Indians in a way they feel they can claim is not a racial commentary. And I found this not only informational, but a good facsimile for readers of what people actually have to deal with. A solid first read for me.

Huge thanks to Shortwave for a physical copy of this one to review. I have to say, it’s simple, but this is one of my favorite covers from them.

A couple gets a little lost, so when they come across a bar, they figure why not stop for a beer? They’re already a bit behind, and it’s just going to be one, right? What follows will go down as one of their worst nights…ever.

This is a first read for me by the author. I have a hardcover of Boys in the Valley, it was on my desired October TBR, but I just didn’t fit it in. As I enjoyed this, this may actually function as a really nice introduction to the author for people. It’s short, concise, spooky, kooky even. There’s humor and ridiculousness thrown in that makes it something you can laugh at, while also sidestepping all jukeboxes for the foreseeable future.

Some well done eeriness in such few pages, and a bit of revenge thrown in there as well. Kind of reminded me of something you could see on The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror, especially in its almost episodic length. Check this one out, and as ever, support Shortwave Media.