Book Reviews
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Better Living Through Alchemy by Evan J. Peterson Published by Broken Eye Books Kelly Mun is a private detective… with an uncanny sense of smell. She runs Non-Linear Investigations with her cousin Critter, using psychic and esoteric methods to try to earn a living. When a mysterious businesswoman hires them to find the source of…
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These Familiar Walls by C. J. Dotson Published by St. Martin’s Press In 1998, desperate loneliness pushes preteen Amber to ignore the misgivings of her family, particularly her younger sister, when she befriends the troubled new kid in the neighborhood—a boy with dead eyes, a fascination with fire, and no remorse. Their turbulent relationship is…
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You Will Speak for the Dead by R. A. Busby Published by Stelliform Press Paul Simard’s life is a mess. When his mother dies, and his boyfriend moves out, the only thing Paul has left is his hoarder house cleaning business, and that’s not exactly a recipe for dating success. But after Paul gets a…
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The Seventh Sister by Millie Abecassis Published by Anuci Press WELCOME TO SANCTUARY Seer Éliane is destined to a brilliant future as a servant of Aurië, the Sun-God. Everything changes when the High Seer, her superior, becomes jealous of Éliane’s abilities and chases her from the temple. Having no family, Éliane has no choice but…
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Cinderella has always been one of my favourite fairy tales. It’s classic and comforting. A beautiful girl in a difficult situation endures hardship and eventually, escapes to a better life. People often reduce it to being “rescued by a man”, but it is Cinderella’s kindness, strength, and endurance that make this story timeless. One consequence…
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While this is only the second work by Ioanna Papadopoulou that I have read, she has already become one of the authors I keep an eye out for. Her debut was a wonderfully vicious retelling of the Demeter and Persephone myth from the POV of Demeter, Winter Harvest, which I previously reviewed for The Horror…
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I thoroughly enjoy horror stories set in the deep north. There is something about the icy cold isolation that just heightens the tension for me. Even if I am reading the book in the midst of summer, I always feel a chill. We Like it Cherry by Jacy Morris delivers on the chills, for sure.…
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This book is a fever dream of vampires, blood, and toxicity, and I loved it. I devoured it as quickly as my schedule would allow. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is my second V. E. Schwab book (first was The Invisible Life of Addie Larue), and the one that has cemented me as…
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Theatre Macabre is a short collection of speculative poetry all centered on the stage. The book is cleverly laid out like a stage performance itself, beginning with the aptly named “Curtain Up” a poem about anticipating that moment just before the curtain rises and a play begins. I was in a number of productions during…
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Vampire Hunters combines several things that I love – found fiction, creepy atmosphere, history, and monstrous vampires. This collection is dark, gripping, and genuinely scary. Beginning in ancient Greece and continuing to the modern day, these twenty-two tales offer a rich variety of vampire lore told through a collection of letters and diary entries compiled…