Tag: horror

Kate’s Review: “Hark the Herald Angels Scream”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Hark the Herald Angels Scream” by Christopher Golden (Ed.)

Publishing Info: Anchor, October 2018

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon| Indiebound

Book Description: That there is darkness at the heart of the Yuletide season should not surprise. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is filled with scenes that are unsettling. Marley untying the bandage that holds his jaws together. The hideous children–Want and Ignorance–beneath the robe of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The heavy ledgers Marley drags by his chains. In the finest versions of this story, the best parts are the terrifying parts.
Bestselling author and editor Christopher Golden shares his love for Christmas horror stories with this anthology of all-new short fiction from some of the most talented and original writers of horror today.

Review: I have sort of made it a tradition to try and read and review some kind of holiday horror in the days leading up to the Solstice/Christmas here on the blog, and I actually had a harder time finding something this year. Unlike the previous two years we didn’t have a brand new collection of holiday horror tales (at least none I could find), so I went back to 2018 with the anthology “Hark the Herald Angels Scream”, edited by Christopher Golden. I do like Golden’s books for the most part, and the collection does boast a good deal of pretty fun horror authors. I settled into it, getting into the Christmas spirit in a spooky kind of way! And it was a pretty okay read, all things considered. One that definitely got me in the spirit.

Footage of me getting into said spirit. (source)

You guys no doubt know the drill, but here it is again. I will review in detail my three favorite stories in the collection, and then review the collection as a whole.

“Absinthe and Angels” by Kelley Armstrong: I love it when a short stories collection starts off with a bang, and did it ever with this first tale in the anthology. Michael and Ava are spending a solitary Christmas Eve in an isolated cabin, miles from any other person, hoping to have peace and quiet and to read Dickens over drinks. But then a group of mummers knock on the door, singing carols and demanding food and wine. And they aren’t so willing to leave without getting what they want. The building dread and uncanny weirdness of the Christmas Eve visitors was deeply unsettling, feeling like we were on the brink of an home invasion or something worse, and I really liked the creepiness. It’s a great way to start us off!

“It’s A Wonderful Knife” by Christopher Golden: Christopher Golden contributed a story to the collection and it was definitely a fun one that didn’t HAVE to be Christmas-y, but benefited from it because of a puntastic title. A young woman named Cassie has the opportunity to not only attend an elite Hollywood Christmas party, she also has the chance to tour a strange collection of Hollywood artifacts owned by a powerful (and predatory) producer. In this collection is a strange knife… This was a cathartic and satisfying read, with scummy Hollywood predators getting some comeuppance along with some nostalgic Hollywood factoids. Not super scary, but definitely very wicked and gratifying.

“Hiking Through” by Michael Koryta: This was probably my favorite story of the lot, because man oh man does it hit so many sub-genres and tropes that I love. A young man hiking the Appalachian trail in Maine during the winter hears story around the campfire with fellow hikers of a strange woman who may be a witch. I mean come on. I love a witch story, I really like wilderness horror, and the winter setting in Appalachia made it all the more weird and eerie. I also loved the way that it flowed, feeling both incredibly tense but also somewhat lackadaisical. And the final line? WOW.

There were a couple other stand outs (I was laughing out loud repeatedly at the story “Good Deeds” by Jeff Strand because it just EVISCERATES that stupid “Christmas Shoes” song, which I have hated forever), but there were also a few that really didn’t work for me. I also kind of found a repetitive theme of children coming to harm, which just felt a bit repetitive as time went on. This whole ‘it’s the most wonderful time of year that children look forward to, so let’s make children suffer’ vibe just kind of felt unoriginal every time it happened, and I feel like you can do more to subvert a favorite children’s holiday than by just doing child death and injury.

But that said, if you are looking for some Christmas horror tales as we inch closer and closer to the big day, “Hark the Herald Angels Scream” is a pretty good place to start! The ones I liked I really liked.

Rating 7: There are some really fun holiday horror tales here, as well as some middling ones, but there is almost certainly something for every kind of horror fan in these pages.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Hark the Herald Angels Scream” is included on the Goodreads lists “Creepy Christmas”, and “Holiday Horror Books”.

Kate’s Review: “Dark Sisters”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Dark Sisters” by Kristi DeMeester

Publishing Info: St. Martin’s Press, December 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Three women. Three centuries. One legacy of fury, love, and a power that refuses to die

In this fiercely captivating novel, horror meets historical fiction when a curse bridges generations, binding the fates of three women. Anne Bolton, a healer facing persecution for witchcraft, bargains with a dark entity for protection—but the fire she unleashes will reverberate for centuries. Mary Shephard, a picture perfect wife in a suffocating community, falls for Sharon and begins a forbidden affair that could destroy them both. And Camilla Burson, the rebellious daughter of a preacher, defies conformist expectations to uncover an ancient power as her father’s flock spirals into crisis.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!

Every year around the holidays when I’m doing my shopping, I try to grab some goodies from the Etsy shop Scent from Hell. It’s a candle store that is inspired by horror movies. I have a few of the candles that have been available over the years, with scents inspired by such wonderful things as “The Witch”, “Dracula”, “The Blair Witch Project”, and more. And to make things even better, the owner, Kristi DeMeester, is a horror author that I really enjoy! And her newest novel “Dark Sisters” is out, and I was VERY excited to read it! I love stories with dark magic, witches, and horror as a metaphor for generational trauma already, and when you add in a critique of a zealous religious fervor? Oh gosh yes I am all about it.

This story is told through three different perspectives in three different time periods, all within the community of Hawthorne Springs, a deeply Christian, deeply prosperous town with a devout church culture. In 2007, pastor’s daughter Camille is gearing up to finally attend her first Purity Ball, as much as her mother is reluctant to let her do so. But people in town, specifically women, are getting sick, with an illness that is thought to be due to a witches curse that is known as The Dark Sisters. In 1953, Mary Shepherd is trying to do her best to be a doting wife and loving mother as a housewife, but she falls in love with a pagan woman who makes her feel like herself. And in the 1750s, a healer woman named Anne is hoping to keep herself and her daughter Florence, who is deeply Christian and longs for her own path, safe, bargaining in a way that goes wrong and has deadly consequences. I really liked all of the stories, and enjoyed how DeMeester slowly unfolds all of these women’s paths, connecting them in ways that could be obvious, but feel fresh and interesting. I thought that the witch and magical aspects of this book were appropriately creepy while also feeling powerful and awe inspiring, and as we see the unfortunate consequences start to unravel the tension and scares go faster and faster, with the stakes high not only because of a dark magic that is dangerous and deadly, but also because of a patriarchal religious culture that does its own damage, and takes advantage of the women within it to gain more power and influence whilst causing harm to said women.

And let’s talk about those themes, because they were the most compelling part of this book. The feminine rage in this book is tied to the way that Hawthorne Springs credits its success and wealth to a good Christian devotion, so much so that those that stray (mostly women) are shunned, rebuked, sent away for reprogramming, and in some cases fall ill with an affliction that may or may not kill them. DeMeester isn’t shy when portraying such things as religious abuse, misogyny, and high control tactics used by men to control the women they wish to be subservient, but she is also very good at pointing out the differences of experience between the women, which can make them pit themselves against each other in hopes of being spared or seen as an exception. She makes sure to show it in all of the timelines, whether it’s Florence hoping that choosing a Christian path (and betraying her mother) will keep her safe, or gossip setting off a domino effect that sets Mary’s life towards ruin, or Camille being willing to be the perfect pastor’s daughter to reap the benefits whilst rebelling flagrantly when others are sent off for re-education for much less. I really found that to be upsetting, while also fully recognizing how on point it is, especially these days.

“Dark Sisters” is a creepy and angry horror novel that I really enjoyed. If you’ve been experiencing some feminine rage as of late, I highly suggest checking it out.

Rating 9: A dark and angry tale about control, men who take advantage of women’s power, and feminine rage at the breaking point, “Dark Sisters” feels unfortunately timely and brings a lot of witchy scares.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Dark Sisters” is included on the Goodreads lists “Witches, Goddesses, or Nuns”, and “Feral Women”.

Kate’s Review: “Midnight Somewhere”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Midnight Somewhere: A Short Story Collection

Publishing Info: Blackstone Publishing, December 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: From Bram Stoker Award–nominated author Johnny Compton, Midnight Somewhere is a frightening collection of thought-provoking stories perfect for fans of Stephen King’s Night Shift , Tananarive Due’s The Wishing Pool , and the work of Junji Ito.

A man gets into a car that can take him anywhere he can imagine—including the past, into the worst mistake of his life, a memory he does not want to relive, cannot escape, and is even more afraid to alter …

A seemingly harmless, forgettable film about “alien hand syndrome” inspires a wave of self-harm among viewers—and even stranger things among those who become obsessed with it …

A woman tries to bring her dead lover to life through a macabre ritual that requires attacking his corpse. Is it because she longs to be with him again … or because the two of them have unfinished business?

The assorted characters in this thrilling collection encounter horrors that range from mysterious to murderous, discovering that darkness can find anyone, anywhere, at any hour of the day. After all, it’s always Midnight Somewhere …

Review: Thank you to Blackstone Publishing for sending me an eARC of this book!

I may just have to refer to 2025 as the Year I Read ALL The Short Story Collections”, because it was a LOT this year. Even though I had great luck with all of the anthologies and collections I read this year, I was always kind of waiting for the bubble to pop, wondering if THIS one would be the one that reinforced my general wariness of the format. When Blackstone Publishing reached out with Johnny Compton’s new horror collection “Midnight Somewhere”, I was interested, but in the back of my mind I was wondering if this was when the other shoe was going to drop. After all, I read his book “The Spite House” and it didn’t really click with me. But I decided to go for it, and am I ever glad I did! Because “Midnight Somewhere” was a great short stories collection!

As I usually do for short stories collections, I will review my three favorite stories, then I will review the collection as a whole.

“The Death Grip Challenge”: This was one of the first stories in the collection and it was the one that made me really settle in with excitement about what I was reading. A girl has been noticing that her father has been starting to act strangely after he started getting really into a viral video trend involving a B-horror film with a possessed hand. This one has a slow burn build up where you just know that something is creeping up on the characters (AND the reader), and I was so tense by the time we got to the climax I was totally wrung out. It’s weird and unexplained and also taps into very real anxieties about viral trends and everyone needing to get in on the action, no matter how harmful.

“Monster Bites”: As someone who loves her three cats to death (as well as all cats I’ve owned throughout my life), I was obviously going to have a special place in my heart for the scary story with the pet. Elisa hasn’t really connected with her girlfriend Grace’s dog Dandy after moving in, keeping her at arm’s length except for their evening walks. But when Elisa and Dandy run afoul something one evening, their true colors come out. This one is one of the less scary tales just because of how damn wholesome it is, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have scary bits! Some of the descriptions of the threat really, really set me on edge, and one is ALWAYS nervous when animals as involved in a horror story. But not to fret: no trigger warnings for animal harm in this one, and that’s all I will say.

“He Used to Scare Me By Accident”: This was probably my favorite story in the collection, and man does it kind of just kick you in the gut with creepiness and a quiet sadness to boot. Olivia and Stephen are a happy couple, though Olivia’s jumpiness manages to lead to Stephen scaring her by accident more often than not. Still, their marriage is solid and he is more than happy to try and warn her whenever he is coming just in case. Except the one time he doesn’t…. I can’t talk about this one TOO much without spoiling it, but I will say that I found myself deeply saddened by a few of the turns it took, if only because so much of what this story is about is regret, loss, and the things that we have done that continue to haunt us. I actually said ‘wow’ when I turned the last page.

And really, this is a very strong collection as a whole! Compton has a lot of different tones and ideas here, some of them deeply scary, others a little sweet, and even others incredibly witty and sometimes laugh out loud funny. And some of them are just so out there in the best ways (a rollercoaster coming to life and running off into the wilderness, what on EARTH?!). I don’t think that any were true clunkers, and the ones that didn’t hit as much were more about personal preference than anything the stories themselves did. It’s been a huge year of short story collections in my reading, and it’s collections like this that made me really pleased to give the format so many chances for the past year.

“Midnight Somewhere” is a lot of fun! I’m so glad that I decided to check it out, and horror fans really should too. Guess I have to go back and read Compton’s “Devils Kill Devils”!

Rating 8: A varied and incredibly entertaining collection of short horror stories with lots of different tones, vibes, and scares.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Midnight Somewhere” isn’t included on many Goodreads lists as of now, but it would absolutely fit in on “Horror: Short Stories”.

Kate’s Review: “Shadow Lab, Volume Two”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Shadow Lab, Volume Two” by Brendan Deneen (Ed.)

Publishing Info: Blackstone Publishing Inc., September 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from the publisher

Where You Can Get This Book: Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Just in time for Halloween 2025, it’s Shadow Lab, Volume Two!

In Gibbett Hill by Faith Merino, Virginia has moved with her husband to the town of Gibbet Hill, where they plan to raise their three-month-old daughter. But as a Gold Rush reenactment festival begins to blur the line between real and imaginary, Virginia finds herself the target of the town’s strange hanging ritual.

In Forty Weeks by Adam Godfrey, Sarah is transformed into a vampire after her husband’s research team finds a dormant virus buried in the arctic permafrost. When her husband is killed by his employers, Sarah flees in search of someone else who’s infected, operating on the rumor that their death would trigger an antibody surge that could save not only her, but her unborn child …

In The Retreat by Gemma Amor, a troubled military veteran tries to get her life back in order by taking an office job, and soon finds herself on the fast track to success. But when she’s invited to a corporate retreat in the middle of the wilderness, she encounters dark and mysterious forces at work, and she must use all of her skills to survive.

Find these and more horrifying tales in the second Shadow Lab anthology from Blackstone Publishing.

Review: Thank you to Blackstone Publishing for providing me with an eARC of this anthology!

I was looking back at my reviews this past year as I start thinking about what titles are going to make my Top 10 of the year (look for that reveal in December!), I noticed that I reviewed and read almost all of my short stories collections reads of 2025 in the last two months. Clearly I’ve been following a bit of a theme these past couple of months. And let’s just add another title to the mix! I was asked to check out “Shadow Lab, Volume Two”, a collection of horror stories from Blackstone Publishing that was edited by Brendan Deneen. It sounded intriguing enough, so I decided to give it a go!

Like I always do, I will first talk about my favorite three stories in the collection and then talk about the collection as a whole.

“Insatiable” by Diana Olney: This was one of the earlier stories in the collection and it helped set the stage, and really stood out. A girl has perhaps inherited something strange from her long absent mother, and as she finds more and more disconcerting changes in and behaviors in her day to day life, she has to learn to control it. Or.. not. I love a story about a girl coming into her own power, just as I like a story about not only women’s rights but also women’s wrongs, and this one was deeply satisfying.

“Hachishakusama” by Kylee Shimomura: If you throw me a horror story based on an urban legend or a creepypasta I’m almost assuredly going to want to get my hands on it, and it’s not shocking that “Hachishakusama” is probably my favorite story in this collection. A woman has to return to Japan after being away for a long time after her mother has died. But everywhere she goes she sees an impossibly tall woman with sharp teeth, getting closer and closer, until people around her start being torn to shreds. This one freaked me out but left me wanting more, and it was definitely the scariest.

“The Retreat” by Gemma Amor: This seems to be a favorite for a lot of people, at least in the reviews I found after I had finished, and I definitely see why being a solid scary story along with some fun corporate satire. A veteran is trying to fit back into everyday life, and is trying to get used to her new seemingly boring corporate job. When she stops a gunman in the office, her boss invites her on a highly coveted company retreat reserved only for the most elite, which can set its most promising attendees on a higher rung of the corporate ladder. But at what price? I liked the wild places this one went to, as well as the biting send up of toxic work environments that try to play up a familial vibe while actually exploiting its workers.

As a collection, I thought that it was a pretty strong one. All of these authors were new to me, and outside of a couple of exceptions I felt like I enjoyed at least something about almost all of them. It’s especially cool because none of these stories have any themed connections, it’s just a group to show off their ideas of horror and it really runs a gamut.

“Shadow Lab, Volume 2” was an enjoyable horror short story collection with some promising rising voices in the genre. If you like horror short stories, give it a go!

Rating 7: A solid collection of horror short stories that had mostly well done tales of terror.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Shadow Lab, Volume Two” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “Best Horror Anthologies”.

Kate’s Review: “The Place Where They Buried Your Heart”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “The Place Where They Buried Your Heart” by Christina Henry

Publishing Info: Berkley, November 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC and a finished copy from the publicist

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: A woman must confront the evil that has been terrorizing her street since she was a child in this gripping haunted house novel, perfect for fans of The Last House on Needless Street and Tell Me I’m Worthless.

On an otherwise ordinary street in Chicago, there is a house. An abandoned house where, once upon a time, terrible things happened. The children who live on this block are told by their parents to stay away from that house. But of course, children don’t listen. Children think it’s fun to be scared, to dare each other to go inside.

Jessie Campanelli did what many older sisters do and dared her little brother Paul. But unlike all the other kids who went inside that abandoned house, Paul didn’t return. His two friends, Jake and Richie, said that the house ate Paul. Of course adults didn’t believe that. Adults never believe what kids say. They thought someone kidnapped Paul, or otherwise hurt him. They thought Paul had disappeared in a way that was ordinary, explainable.

The disappearance of her little brother broke Jessie’s family apart in ways that would never be repaired. Jessie grew up, had a child of her own, kept living on the same street where the house that ate her brother sat, crouched and waiting. And darkness seemed to spread out from that house, a darkness that was alive—alive and hungry.

Review: Thank you to Kaye Publicity for sending me an ARC and a finished copy of this book!

I am kind of embarrassed to say that even though she’s a bit of a maven in the horror writing community with MANY books under her belt, I’ve barely read anything by Christina Henry. The only book I had read of hers up until this point was “Horseman”, which was an interesting take on “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” that I didn’t really connect with too well. But when I was asked to take a look at her newest horror novel “The Place Where They Buried Your Heart” I couldn’t resist giving it a go, as the description of a woman haunted by a house that ate (yes ATE) her little brother was just so intriguing to me. And once I started I immediately kicked myself for not going and reading more Christina Henry before now because wow, it REALLY snagged me and pulled me in.

I can honestly say that there were so many horror beats in this book that really, really got under my skin. The first is the obvious theme of a child being eaten, and I mean EATEN, by a house. This isn’t your typical haunted house story, and Henry doesn’t really mince words when it comes to portraying the horrors of an elementary schooler being devoured, leaving a traumatized older sister behind to lose her father AND mother to the house as time goes on. We also have plot points about family annihilators, more missing (and presumably eaten) children, self immolation, and finally hints of a cosmic horror entity that builds up strength through the blood of its victims and hopes to spread out further and further. As Jessie has to grow up with this in her neighborhood, constantly having to see the house that has caused her so much pain and suffering (and has her worried about her own son E.J. after he is born), we have a fight of good and evil, and it goes beyond what I was expecting of the usual haunted house with a dark history trope. And like I said above, woof did it unsettle me.

The other aspect of this book that I really enjoyed was the way that Henry portrays a neighborhood that has been plagued by a horrible presence and a lurking danger that still manages to find community and support amongst each other in spite of it all. A constant theme in this story is that Jessie, in spite of the trauma of losing her entire family to this horrible and ravenous house, she stays in her neighborhood because of the connections she has made with the other people there, and doesn’t want to leave them in the shadow of the danger to make herself and her son safe. It’s a thought I’ve struggled with a bit this past year, sometimes feeling like me and my family should just pick up and flee this country as it seems to get closer and closer to a dark future. But this book did a really good job of showing the other side of that, that staying and fighting with and for the ones you love is so important, and that courage sometimes isn’t easy. I also just loved the portrayals of Jessie’s connections with her found family, whether it’s her friend Ted (who is the grandfather of E.J.), or the neighbors Sheila and Frances, or her friendship with one of the boys who was in the house when Paul was eaten (and who lost one of his arms to the house). There is always this beast of a house, but there are also Thanksgiving dinners, and hang outs in each other’s homes, and love and connections, and it’s a well written reminder that there is always room for joy and love and community even when there is a looming danger that needs to be fought against, and because it can take time to defeat the evil fostering connections is crucial. It was just a great representation of that ethos.

“The Place Where They Buried Your Heart” is a must read horror novel. I definitely need to go back and read more Christina Henry after this one.

Rating 9: A scary cosmic horror novel combines with a tale about the strength and importance of love and community under the dark clouds of long lingering danger.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Place Where They Buried Your Heart” is included on the Goodreads list “Best Haunted House Fiction That Isn’t “The Shining”.

Kate’s Review: “Let Me In Your Window”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Let Me In Your Window” by Adam Ellis

Publishing Info: Andrews McMeel Publishing, September 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: This sequel to Adam Ellis’s New York Times bestselling Bad Dreams in the Night is packed with terrifying twists, haunted houses, urban legends, and delightfully horrifying stories—like your own personal campfire ghost stories packed into a graphic novel. Each story will make you scream for more!

This brand-new collection of delightful horror comics includes nine new thrilling and terrifying stories that will keep readers on the edge of their seats and peering out their windows in fright. Adam Ellis, one of the biggest stars in webcomics, brings his unique blend of humor and horror to life with stunning illustrations and gripping narratives. Stories include Sleepwalker, about a terrifying and unexplained incident at a youth hostel, Old Machines, about receiving instant messages from a friend who has been dead for years, and Sunken Express, which chronicles a paranormal journey on a phantom subway car. Whether it’s a ghostly encounter, a creepy urban legend, or a supernatural mystery, Let Me In Your Window is guaranteed to give you the creeps.

Review: This past summer I reviewed Adam Ellis’s horror graphic collection “Bad Dreams in the Night”, and had mentioned that he had a new collection coming out this Fall. It probably comes as no surprise that I decided that I wanted to pick this one up as well given that I enjoyed the first one so much, and now that “Let Me in Your Window” is here I once again devoured the entire thing in one sitting. I just couldn’t help myself! Ellis’s horror stories are so quick and fun!

Like I do with most short stories collections I will talk about my three favorite stories first, then look at the collection as a whole.

“Little Kingdom”: We once again have the first story in the collection roping me in from the jump, which is always a great way to start. Two documentarians travel to a remote island that has a community that wanted to stay away from modern society, but birthed strange children who don’t seem like they are of this world. Unable to find success after this first film, they decide to go back to recapture another hit, but find something horrific instead. I love a documentary gone wrong story, and enjoyed the references and inspiration points, from North Sentinel Island to “Grey Gardens” to “Cannibal Holocaust”. Also an interesting question is raised about the ethics of making documentaries that could tread towards exploitation.

“Sunken Express”: I’m kind of seeing a similar pattern in the stories that stood out to me in this collection, as I first talked about the first story that really set the scene, and now I’m talking about the least horror-oriented story that had a little more bittersweetness to it. A man has heard an urban legend about an old subway stop that could possibly get you a ticket on a mysterious train that can take you to wherever your heart most desires. If you mess up the ritual, you may be stuck forever. You are supposed to be alone on the train…. except when he boards, he isn’t. Again, this isn’t a super scary story, it’s more about isolation, loneliness, the hope for redemption, and connection when you least expect it. I love a little emotion with my spooky stories.

“ReBrand”: AGAIN, following the same pattern as the first collection, as this was the last story in the book and it ended on a SUPREMELY CREEPY note! An aspiring model is frustrated when a mysterious digital billboard goes up across from her apartment, as the lights are keeping her awake at night. But one of the advertisements catches her eye: a youtube channel for a woman named Maarja Verine, who doesn’t seem to have much of a presence…. But she just has to keep checking back on her…. This one genuinely caught me off guard by the ending, and I was so shocked I immediately felt a need to go back and see if the clues were there. And they sure were! I really liked this one. It may have been my favorite in the collection.

An as a whole, I think that the stories in this book were all pretty solid! There were a couple that didn’t really connect with me (“Apple Head” felt a bit hokey, honestly), but none of them were BAD, per se. Ellis also has a fun style for his stories, able to have a charming and cute aesthetic that can shift into the grotesque on a dime. He has a real talent for these kinds of collections.

“Let Me in Your Window” was another enjoyable bundle of horror comics from Adam Ellis! It’s two for two for me, and I am going to manifest that we get more as time goes on!

Rating 8: Another fun horror comic collection from Adam Ellis! So fun and twisted.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Let Me in Your Window” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “Horror Comics Anthologies”.

Book Club Review: “My Best Friend’s Exorcism”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

We are part of a group of librarian friends who have had an ongoing book club running for the last several years. Each “season” (we’re nerds) we pick a theme and each of us chooses a book within that theme for us all to read. Re-visiting some of our past themes, we’re once again pulling genres from a hatch and matching them together in one book. For this blog, we will post a joint review of each book we read for book club. We’ll also post the next book coming up in book club. So feel free to read along with us or use our book selections and questions in your own book club!

Book: “My Best Friend’s Exorcism” by Grady Hendrix

Publishing Info: Quirk Books, May 2016

Where Did We Get This Book: Kate owns it

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Mix-and-Match Genres: Horror and Humor

Book Description: Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fifth grade, when they bonded over a shared love of E.T., roller-skating parties, and scratch-and-sniff stickers. But when they arrive at high school, things change. Gretchen begins to act….different. And as the strange coincidences and bizarre behavior start to pile up, Abby realizes there’s only one possible explanation: Gretchen, her favorite person in the world, has a demon living inside her. And Abby is not about to let anyone or anything come between her and her best friend. With help from some unlikely allies, Abby embarks on a quest to save Gretchen. But is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil?

Kate’s Thoughts

This was a re-read for me, and I was VERY curious to see how book club would like it given that I’m one of the few people who likes horror in our group. Well, it wasn’t a favorite, but it gave me an excuse to go on long diatribes about possession horror and demon horror and how its heydays line up with times of religious anxiety in this country, whether it’s Satanic Panic or the implementation of Vatican II or countless other examples. So, I had a fun time re-reading it and going into a TED talk for all of my oh so patient friends.

Me going on about Vatican II, the Warrens, and how the book version of “The Exorcist” was basically saying Reagan was taken over by a demon because Blatty wanted the world to know her Mom was a WHORE BECAUSE SHE WAS DIVORCED! (source)

This was a re-read for me, as I originally read it back in 2016 when it first came out, and it was fun to go back to it for a few reasons. For one, I still enjoy the story, and think that it’s a really enjoyable deconstruction of the possession trope by making the hero of the day not a religious authority, but a teenage girl who loves her best friend and wants to help her. I also still enjoy how Hendrix can capture the voice of teen girl characters, and how he made interesting comparisons between demons being cruel and teenage girls doing the same. And the 80s aesthetic is still fun (these days it may be a bit more played out than it was nine years ago). But it’s also interesting because after a re-read I realized that “My Best Friend’s Exorcism” probably isn’t my favorite Hendrix novel anymore even though up until my re-read I thought that it was. It’s still fun! It’s also very much a Gen X white guy fumbling some themes, but it’s also interesting because I noticed this because of the growth we’ve seen in his stories when it comes to these things. And it still has some truly scary beats while also being a bit bubblegum and joyful. It’s still a fun read.

“My Best Friend’s Exorcism” was a fun choice for book club that fostered a fair amount of conversation in our group.

Kate’s Rating 8: A fun re-read that still does a solid deconstruction of the possession trope with the power of female friendship at the forefront.

Book Club Questions

  1. How does this book compare to other demonic possession stories you have read or seen?
  2. What did you think of Gretchen and Abby’s friendship in the way it was written? Did it feel like a realistic teen girl relationship?
  3. Did the time period of the 1980s and the references bolster the story up, or did you find it to be a hindrance to the story overall?
  4. Hendrix has said that he rooted this story in the time of his youth. What do you think this story would look like if it had been set in a different time period?
  5. This book was picked because of the prompts horror and humor. What parts stood out as scariest to you? What parts did you find funny?
  6. Who would you recommend this book to?

Reader’s Advisory

“My Best Friend’s Exorcism” is included on the Goodreads lists “80s Flashback (Current Books with 1980s Settings)”, and “Horror With Retro Vibes”.

Next Book Club Pick: “The Bletchley Riddle” by Ruta Sepetys & Steven Sheinkin

Kate’s Review: “Man, F*ck This House (And Other Disasters)”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Man, F*ck This House (And Other Disasters)” by Brian Asman

Publishing Info: Blackstone Publishing, October 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received a finished copy from the publicist

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: In the titular “Man, F*ck This House,” Sabrina Haskins and her family have just moved into their dream home. At first glance, the house is perfect. But things aren’t what they seem. Sabrina is hearing odd noises, seeing strange visions. Their neighbors are odd or absent. And Sabrina’s already-fraught relationship with her son is about to be tested in a way no parent could ever imagine. Because while the Haskins family might be the newest owners of this house, they’re far from its only residents …

In “The Hurlyburly,” a troubled teen loses his grip on reality after checking out the wrong internet meme …

In “In the Rushes,” a coastal cycling trip turns terrifying for a feuding mother and daughter …

Malevolent doppelgangers, bizarre murders, ancient evils, Western ghosts, mirror monsters, poisonous playthings, and more populate the pages of this brilliant—and petrifying—collection of stories.

Review: Thank you to Kaye Publicity for sending me a finished copy of this novel!

I never stay away from horror stories for too long after a brief lull post Horrorpalooza, and I’m back into the genre with a short stories collection that is by an author that is new to me! “Man, F*ck This House” by Brian Asman had a interesting title which hooked me in, as well as a promise of a couple more short stories beyond the titular novella. I’ve been having more luck with short stories collections as of late, after all!

There were definitely some standout stories in this collection, which has fewer stories than I am used to when it comes to short story anthologies (that’s neither here nor there, just an observation). I especially loved “In The Rushes”, a story about a mother and her teenage daughter on a cycling trip that has been rife with tension and animosity that eventually becomes a story of terror. I thought that the relationship between mother Carol and daughter Becca was poignant and realistic, with a harried divorcée mother and her surly teenage daughter butting heads in ways that feel true to life. Carol hates feeling like she’s the bad guy when she has to put her foot down, Becca craves for independence and her own choices, and I really liked how Asman gave us a superb backstory that makes the tension when they encounter something supernatural all the more palpable. I’m obviously biased when it comes to mother and daughter stories but this one just worked for me on every level, especially when the horror elements shifted into gear. I also liked the story “The Hurlyburly”, as urban legend/creepypasta meme horror tales are lots of fun and a favorite of mine when it comes to tropes.

I think that my biggest hang up was more to do with the titular story, the novella “Man, F*ck This House”. I had really high hopes for it, as I do love a haunted house story, especially if a dysfunctional family is involved at the heart of it. But I think that this one had a strange tone to it (the title makes it sound a little tongue in cheek but it isn’t really), and had very few people to root for. I felt like Sabrina, the harried Mom, was probably the most fleshed out, but on the flip side we had an incredibly precocious and psychopathic for no reason son named Damien who felt like Stewie Griffin come to life as he tries to plan his mother’s downfall. His reasons were difficult to parse through, and he was SO precocious and vicious that I just couldn’t quite suspend my disbelief for him. And if I can’t suspend my disbelief in a story about a literal haunted house, that says something. The rest of the stories were fine!

So it’s a mixed back of a collection. If you like horror short story collections you could check it out for sure. It was a bit middle of the road for me. But if you like to have stories to work through at your own pace it could be a good pick.

Rating 6: There were a couple of stand out stories (I really loved “In the Rushes”), but I found it to be a bit of a mixed bag overall, with the title story feeling all over the place.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Man, F*ck This House” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “Horror Short Stories”.

Kate’s Review: “King Sorrow”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “King Sorrow” by Joe Hill

Publishing Info: William Morrow, October 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC at ALAAC25

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Arthur Oakes is a reader, a dreamer, and a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters, exceptional library, and beautiful buildings. But his idyll—and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot—is shattered when a local drug dealer and her partner corner him into one of the worst crimes he can imagine: stealing rare books from the college library.

Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for comfort and help. Together they dream up a wild, fantastical scheme to free Arthur from the cruel trap in which he finds himself. Wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren suggests using the unnerving Crane journal (bound in the skin of its author) to summon a dragon to do their bidding. The others—brave, beautiful Alison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen—don’t hesitate to join Colin in an effort to smash reality and bring a creature of the impossible into our world.

But there’s nothing simple about dealing with dragons, and their pact to save Arthur becomes a terrifying bargain in which the six must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow every year—or become his next meal.

Review: Thank you to William Morrow for giving me an ARC of this novel at ALAAC25 and to Joe Hill for signing it!

Ever since I was a kid I have loved dragons. I think it was the dragon in “Sleeping Beauty” that really solidified my hyperfixation at 2 years old, I used to collect dragon figurines, and well into my adulthood I have just loved these creatures. Hell, my absolute devotion to Daenerys Targaryen on “Game of Thrones” even after she did the whole ‘burn King’s Landing to the ground’ thing probably had to do with the fact Targaryens have dragons. And of course “The Hobbit”‘s Smaug has always been a favorite. When I heard that Joe Hill’s newest novel (his first in nearly ten years!) “King Sorrow” had a dragon in it, I was already sold. I mean, it’s one of my favorite authors and one of my favorite magical creatures. And we had waited so long. Let me tell you right now: it was well, WELL worth the wait. And WHAT A DRAGON!

He’s beauty and he’s grace…. (source)

Hill takes the reader on an epic dark fantasy/horror journey in “King Sorrow”, following a group of friends who, in hopes of helping group member Arthur in an hour of desperate need (i.e. he is forced to steal books from his employer by a couple of low life drug dealers, or else his imprisoned mother will be hurt or even killed), summon a dragon named King Sorrow from a mystical book (part of the library collection Arthur has been caring for/stealing from) to dispose of his tormentors. The only issue is that King Sorrow will require a human sacrifice every year. The set up is classic fantasy, but the way that Hill approaches it combines coming of age, shifting friendship themes, trauma, connection, changing technology, and a broad scope of decades to create a masterpiece of dark fantasy/horror. We mostly focus on Arthur at first, but we also get the perspectives of the other friends in the group, whether it’s steadfast and empathetic Gwen, the rage filled and snide Donna, her twin Van who is far more lackadaisical but also addiction prone, the sweet but secretive Alison, or the confident and ambitious Colin. Hill takes his time exploring all of the characters, fleshing them out and giving them time to grow, changing motivations, and evolving connections as the power of King Sorrow either overwhelms or corrupts each of them as they all have to pick a sacrifice every year.

I loved the ethical explorations of this book as well, as many of them try to pick their sacrifices based on the potential for reducing harm and death, though more often than not things never quite work out they way they want them to. I loved seeing all of these characters go through their various journeys, especially Gwen and Arthur, and loved seeing some of them shift from well meaning to downright villainous due to the way that this kind of power will corrupt a person. They are such a well rounded group of characters with nuances, intricacies, and flaws, and I enjoyed all of them (even Donna, who basically represents everything I stand against in terms of her values).

And as for the horror and dark fantasy aspects of this book, it’s no shock that Hill nails every single theme and every single plot point. Not only do I love King Sorrow as a snarky and imposing villain (with a dark sense of humor to book), I also loved the other fantastical beats of this book, whether it’s magic books, literal trolls who then turn into Internet trolls, or magical objects like dragon tears. Hill puts a unique spin on the fantasy beats, and I found myself grinning from ear to ear one moment, then feeling my heart race as we jumped to an extended action or horror sequence. There is an entire extended sequence on a plane where a character is hoping to prevent disaster while other passengers are seeing King Sorrow bolting through the air outside their windows, and the intensity of this section was basically hovering around a 10 the entire time. I also just loved King Sorrow himself. At one point he is described to sound like Quint from “Jaws” and my GOD if that isn’t wholly inspired. He’s scary and menacing but also, at times, incredibly hilarious, and it just captures the essence of a smug and cruel dragon in the perfect way. Hill is truly at his best in this book when it comes to how he can meld horror, thriller, and fantasy together, and this truly feels like an opus. I was amazed that a book that is almost one thousand pages doesn’t feel like it has a wasted moment or page. It’s so well conceived and it kept me fully hooked until I turned the last page.

“King Sorrow” is phenomenal. A masterwork from Joe Hill, who already has so many masterworks to his name. I was completely blown away. This will surely be a top three read of the year for me.

And with that, Horrorpalooza 2025 comes to an end on the highest note possible. Thank you all so much for coming along on this horror based journey, and I hope that you all have a happy, safe, and spooky Halloween!!!

Rating 10: Simply brilliant. A masterwork. I absolutely loved every bit of it.

Reader’s Advisory:

“King Sorrow” is included on the Goodreads list “Horror Books 2025”.

Kate’s Review: “The Brood”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “The Brood” by Rebecca Baum

Publishing Info: Thomas & Mercer, October 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the author

Where You Can Get This Book: Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: A fascinating blend of horror and magical realism, this spine-tingling thriller explores the complex relationship between women, their bodies, and the natural world.

Cutthroat NYC lawyer Mary Whelton just buried her problematic old mentor. But as she leaves the mourners and protesters behind, the press stays hot on her heels. Desperate to escape, she unwittingly barrels deep into a remote forest in upstate New York. Until a collision—with a buzzing, oozing throng of cicadas—stops her dead in her tracks.

She awakens in a crude cabin, held captive by Girl, a simple, hulking woman who mistakes Mary for her derelict mother and obsesses over a mysterious Brood. While tortured echoes from Mary’s past feed her growing sense of fear, it becomes clear that she’s destined to bear an unthinkable role in the cicadas’ cyclical reemergence. But when Girl’s grisly past comes back to haunt them both, Mary is thrust into a violent battle of wills.

Confoundingly creepy and atmospheric, The Brood peels back the hurt and pain of the female experience, laying bare the messy necessity for transformation and growth.

Review: Thank you to Rebecca Baum for sending me an ARC of this novel!

We are starting to wind down our Horrorpalooza celebration, as Halloween is on Friday and October is almost at its end. I’m always sad when it comes time to wrap up this fun review theme, but don’t worry. We still have two more horror focused reviews for the celebration (and obviously there will be more horror reviews from me because that’s my jam all year round). And I am coming in hot with the second to last entry for Horrorpalooza 2025! Rebecca Baum asked me if I’d be interested in reading her body horror novel “The Brood”, and I was admittedly a bit squeamish at the premise. Body horror freaks me out, and parasitic body horror REALLY freaks me out. But the premise caught my attention, and I wanted to take a chance on it because it sounded quite promising. And I’m glad that I did, because I found “The Brood” to be a well done body horror tale. And VERY disgusting.

This was basically my reaction to so much of this book. (source)

The atmosphere and building dread in this book is top notch. Mary is a high powered attorney who has become a bit of a ruthless ‘fixer’, and after a car crash while leaving a funeral in the remote backwoods she is taken captive by a hulking, strange woman who is only known as ‘Girl’. Girl is convinced that Mary is her long lost mother, and keeps her hostage so a cicada swarm she calls ‘The Brood’ can lay eggs and gestate in Mary’s body. SO, first I want to talk about the backwoods horror, as that is a sub-genre I really like. The isolation, the inability to escape, the lurking cave that may or may not have some kind of greater horror that won’t let Mary leave, it’s all creepy and strange and suffocating. Girl is both foreboding but also sympathetic for a litany of reasons, and as she and Mary (more on her in a bit) interact they spar, butt heads, but also kind of learn to understand each other. She’s more than the stereotypes of your typical ‘backwoods malevolent hillbilly’ trope, and I found her to be a scary AND sympathetic foil for Mary.

Okay. The body horror. With parasitic themes. I will come out and say first and foremost that I have a REALLY hard time with this kind of horror sub-genre, and always have. I full we knew going into this book that this was the kind of thing I was signing up for, and I knew that I was going to have a hard time with it. And I did. SO MUCH PUSS!! But I want to talk about why I still enjoyed(?) it, or at least appreciated it, as a person who has such a huge case of the willies with this kind of thing, and that is that this kind of horror story is always going to be reminiscent of losing bodily autonomy, which especially these days is a real life horror that many face (even if it isn’t cicadas taking over the body) and is terribly relevant. The way that Girl prioritizes the cicada clutch growing in Mary’s body and how that in turn leads to some pretty horrifying moments even beyond the body horror bits (case in point with few spoilers, a hunger strike Mary implements that Girl is QUICK to snuff out. I had to pause my reading for a little bit because man, force feeding is SO brutal and Baum really captures it). It’s scary enough thinking about insects growing under your skin. It’s even worse when it mirrors the way that pregnant people who don’t want to be pregnant are sometimes forced to carry a pregnancy no matter the cost to their bodies and minds. Be warned: this book goes hard. It did for me anyway.

But there was also a surprising undercurrent of ache and sorrow when it comes to Mary’s backstory that slowly bubbles up, and concludes in a way that had me crying for the last couple chapters of the book. Mary is a very cold and damaged woman when we meet her, and she doesn’t REALLY soften at all, at least not in expected ways, as the story goes on and she has to endure her kidnapping, torture, and being a reluctant vessel for an insect clutch in her body. She’s done some terrible things in her frenzy to become successful. But at the same time, we learn that she has a deep, deep trauma due to being abandoned to an orphanage as a five year old, and being abused for a lot of her life, and shows how these things affect her path. Baum is sure not to make excuses for the terrible harm she caused at one point. But she does help the reader understand why she did what she did, and it makes it a nuanced take that has a very emotional resolution.

“The Brood” is probably not for the squeamish, but for those who love some disgusting body horror that doesn’t hold back (and does lean way into the metaphors in an effective way), it will be a gross and enjoyable read.

Rating 8: Disgusting and visceral body horror combined with feminist themes of bodily autonomy make for a nasty but relevant read. It also made me cry unexpectedly!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Brood” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of yet, but it would fit in on “Books with Creepy Crawlers”!