-
Review: Things She’s Seen (Northern Circle Coven #2) by Pat Esden
When I started reading this one, I didn’t know that it was part of a series. I read the summary and I thought it sounded interesting and I was totally on board with reading it. I started to notice fairly quickly that I was missing some gaps in the story and I went on to Goodreads and noticed that it was in fact the second book in a series. I decided to keep plugging away at this book though rather than go back to read the first book. While I was missing some bits of the larger story, I thought the author was doing a reasonable job keeping the reader…
-
Special Feature: A Sanctuary of Spirits (Spectral City #2) by Leanna Renee Hieber
Leanna Renee Hieber is such a strong writer when it comes to historical fiction mixed with the paranormal. I have read her Strangely Beautiful series and thought it was wonderful! I also read the first book in this series and thought it was equally exciting and well written. I was so sad that I couldn’t fit this next installment into my review calendar but I am thriller that I get to share a little about this book with all of you guys! I adore Hieber’s books, it’s like she gets me, I love the Victorian/Gothic/Gaslight Fiction so much and you can tell that she loves this time period and style…
-
Review: The Shining by Stephen King
Every year my sister and I pick a scary book for October and do a buddy read. Last year we did Frankenstein and we both hated it so much that we both DNF! This year we vowed to pick something better. We tossed around a few options but ultimately settled on this classic horror novel by the king of horror Stephen King himself. Neither of us have read King before so we thought this one would be a good starting point. Wait—I take that back. I started reading The Gunslinger and I had no idea what was going on so I stopped reading it so I don’t count that as…
-
Review: A Golden Grave (Rose Gallagher #2) by Erin Lindsey
I read the first book in this historical mystery series, Murder on Millionaires’ Row, back in 2018 and thought it was a solid beginning to her new series. This author has written other fantasy novels but the Rose Gallagher series is a new genre for her and I thought she made a nice transition but I wasn’t completely sold on the series as there were some things that I thought needed a little working out and polishing. While I had some reservations, I know that the transition from fantasy to historical fiction can be challenging so I decided to give this series another stab and see how things evolved with…
-
Review: The Ghost of Hollow House (Mina Scarletti #4) by Linda Stratmann
Everyone knows that I am a sucker for Victorian gothic novels. I just can’t get enough of that genre and the ghost element of this book totally appealed to me. An isolated mansion with a ghost—how was I supposed to say no to that? Especially going into fall? The answer is, I couldn’t. The premise sounded too intriguing and like something that was right up my alley. I don’t know that the cover was doing a whole lot for me—to me it seemed more like the cover for an adventure novel, rather than a novel with a haunted mansion, but I was open to reading it either way. Though this…
-
Review: The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon
This book was going around Bookstagram (aka Instagram), for most of December. There were a couple of IG users that were hosting read alongs and I saw quite a few posts for this book and admittedly became intrigued. This is an author that I have ever heard of before, which was actually surprising because she has written a number of ghost story thriller books so I am shocked that I haven’t come across her name before. What ultimately drew me in and made me want to read this one was all the buzz on ‘the gram’ but also the cover. It looked haunting and the stark white contrast and eerie…
-
Review: The Spectral City (Spectral City #1) by Leanna Renee Hieber
I discovered Leanna Renee Hieber way back in 2011 when I read one of her early books. I saw it in a local used book store and randomly picked it up. When I got home I started reading and couldn’t put it down. I loved the romance and the paranormal and her overall storytelling and because of that first book in the Strangely Beautiful series, I fell in love with this author. She writes a spicy romance with great brooding heroes so I was thrilled to read this new book. Her name is Eve Whitby, gifted medium and spearhead of The Ghost Precinct. When most women are traveling in a…
-
Review: Murder on Millionaires’ Row by Erin Lindsey
As soon as this book arrived at my house, I had to fight off people who wanted to borrow it with a stick. I am not even kidding. It arrived in the afternoon and by the night time, it was MIA. My mom was watching my kid and she was looking for something to read and found this one in my sea of books and refused to give it up when I got home. She was hooked on the character and story so I knew I wasn’t getting it back for at least a week. I finally got it back last week and was able to start reading it. My…
-
Review: The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox
This book has been all over my social media this October. With the word ‘witch’ in the title, its hardly a surprise that it would be trending throughout the most ‘haunted’ month of the year. Sometimes with books that receive so much hype, it’s hard to decide if it’s worth the read or not. I was intrigued by the combination of historical fiction and fantasy/paranormal. The early nineteenth century isn’t really my favorite period, but I was interested enough in the mixture of genres that I was eager to read this one and find out of the hype was indeed worth it. New Oldbury, 1821 In the wake of a…
-
Review: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Right now, The Haunting of Hill House is everywhere thanks to the Netflix mini series. My sister and I do a buddy read for October/Halloween every year and each of us pick a book to read for the month and then we read it together. My pick was Frankenstein and The Haunting of Hill House was her pick. I wasn’t terribly excited about this book, but I’ve been looking for something similar to Crimson Peak (the movie) and this one sounded like it would be in the same vein—-though a more modern setting. I also picked up the Penguin Horror edition with an intro by Guillermo del Toro and I…