4 Stars. I listened to Connie Willis’s collection of her own Christmas stories (A Lot Like Christmas) last year and went searching for more of her work. I stumbled on this anthology that she edited and decided to give it a try. The quality of the stories was remarkably consistent! The stories are arranged […]
The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher: Book Review
4 Stars. Oh my goodness. I think I need to be friends with T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon). The book starts out pretty light and fluffy. I laughed quite a bit. Even when things start getting serious, Kara and Simon face their fears with snarky humor. They’re my kind of people. So much so that I suddenly added up a whole bunch of […]
World War Z by Max Brooks: Book Review
3 Stars. You can imagine my surprise when I listened to World War Z and discovered that I was… a little bored. There. I said it. The format is very similar to that used in Devolution, with a fictional interviewer speaking with survivors of a catastrophic event. I think the difference for me was that Devolution also included a […]
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix: Book Review
4 Stars. I generally like reading horror. I get spooked, I have fun, I move on. Demons and/or possession are too scary for me and I’m not happy with way over the top, incredibly gory violence, but otherwise I’m good. Hendrix delivers on the “spooking me” front. In the world of this book, six women survived their own real-life […]
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Book Review
Full disclosure: I requested Mexican Gothic from the library back in September or October, which is practically the only time of year that I seek out horror and/or Gothic reads. When my turn finally came up in November, I wasn’t necessarily in the mood for this kind of book but I decided to read it anyway and see what all the […]
My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix: Book Review
I loved the way this ended and I hate that I can’t say more about it because I definitely have things I want need to say. But no one likes spoilers, right? Just know that the celebration of real, true friendship surprised me and made me so happy. A horror novel made me happy? Why, yes, it did. Now that that’s out of the way, I […]
Gil’s All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez: Book Review
This book cracked me up! My best description is that it’s a version of Tucker and Dale vs Evil if Tucker was a werewolf and Dale was a vampire. I can’t watch many horror movies but that one made me laugh, just like this book did. Earl and Duke aren’t quite as hapless as Tucker and Dale since they’re very aware of their own […]
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix: Book Review
Whoa! I somehow expected this to be funny as well as scary. Look at that title. Can’t you just see the ‘80s moms with their big hair going after the bad guy? Maybe staking him with a stiletto heel after a cocktail party? It had its moments but mostly it was really, really dark. Like, really dark. And trigger-ish for some […]
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix: Book Review
This is my third Grady Hendrix novel this year and with every single one of them, I think the premise sounds like fun and then I’m surprised by how dark the book gets. You would think I’d learn, wouldn’t you? The books do start off amusingly enough but the dread and the creep factor slowly ratchet up until I’m practically […]
Maplecroft by Cherie Priest: Book Review
We meet Lizzie and her sister Emma shortly after the notorious murder of their father and stepmother. The women are living in fear of an unnamed horror that is taking over their hometown. They’re trying to research it and combat it as best they can but Emma is an invalid and Lizzie is–well, notorious Lizzie Borden. The horrors […]
Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics: Book Review
Oh my goodness. This scared me to death! I got worried that I was going to have to put it aside. I gladly read most horror but one trope in particular seriously gives me nightmares and this book went there. I soldiered on though and holy cow, what a ride this was! I keep seeing it compared to a horror version of Little House on […]