Bark At The Ghouls

I have a bit of a backlog of these since I've been doing my best to get through some of my tbr pile. So anyhow, here's another post that everyone loves to see (lol and yikes).  However, I've always reviewed what I consider the good, the meh and the not-so-great and seeing books others have DNF'd also helps people decide what they'd like to read next. We can't all love the same things and someone might read my words and say "Hey, I love that thing you hate. Thanks for the recommendation!" But it's all helpful as long as it's not hateful. So here goes another batch!  Ooops, nope. That's totally not what this post is about. It's your last chance to turn back! DNF #1 When the Weaver Met the Gargoyle by Lila Appleton I borrowed this from Kindle Unlimited because it sounded fun and the cover caught my eye but yikes, I can’t with this one. It feels very much like a first draft and it’s giving me secondhand cringe. Why, you ask? Well, maybe you...

This was such a good read! My 2 Cents for Free! My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna Van Veen Released May 2024 Source: Library Borrow See more @ Goodreads Ahhh I loved this one. It gives off old-school gothic everything. It tells the haunting tale of a young woman named Roos who has been taken advantage of her entire life by a mother who cares more about money and herself than her child's safety. Roos can see spirits and allows herself to be inhabited by one named Ruth to bilk people out of money. After years of torment, Roos becomes a companion to a woman named Agnes and moves into an old manor, complete with a woman dying of consumption and another resident spirit. The story is told after all the dreadful things have happened. A doctor interviews Roos, giving the reader tiny hints about what is coming. I enjoyed this format because I’m nosy and it kept me guessing about what really happened in that dreary old home. “Some things are so horrible that the only sane response is a bi...

Don't start this or you might not be able to put it down (even though you know you probably should!) My 2 Cents for Free! The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden Released October 2024 Source: Library Borrow See more @ Goodreads I get the appeal of these books. They are fun to read but they are like Pringles. You eat one and you can't stop. I recommend eating something else before you get sucked in. Anyhow, this one features a woman named Sydney who is desperate for a man so she can have babies "before she's 90" because her mother keeps nagging her and going so far as to send her an article about a woman who had a baby in her 90's. WTF?  I mean, maybe just have a baby and forget about the man but fine. Ok. Whatever. At least this heroine doesn't have a designer bag/clothes/shoe fetish so it could've been worse. She just dates and dates and dates some more even though most of the dates are dreadful. Honestly, she should've just adopted some dogs. They'l...

Not as marketed but still good! My 2 Cents for Free! Marion by Leah Rowan Released June 2026 Source: Netgalley See more @ Goodreads This a book inspired by Hitchcock’s Psycho, but it twists things around and a modern-day Marion survives and does so with a vengeance! From there it is a completely different story. It’s more thriller than any kind of creepy horror so keep that in mind if you’re looking for an atmospheric slow burn horror tale like Psycho because this isn’t it. But what it is is fun. It’s not quite what I was expecting from the blurb - it’s not any kind of “alternate history” but I thought it was imaginative, over the top and fun in a very dark way. The “Marion” in this book was raised to fight back, to survive, and to protect. When she discovers her sister is married to a man who abuses her it sets off a chain of events that lead her to Norm’s motel/cabin rental b&b kind of thing and from there she sort of goes into a murder spiral. “Marion wasn’t someone to be fucked...

 If you enjoy modern day retellings of fairytales you might want to check this one out. My 2 Cents for Free! How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann Released May 2022 Source: TBR Pile See more @ Goodreads This is a fiendishly weird book that takes several known fairytales and puts a modern spin on them. It adds in a story that twists up “The Bachelor” as a bonus, weirdly enough. That inclusion felt strange but it makes a sort of sense because all of these women become famous for their very public run-ins/relationships/downfalls with men and the public's perception of them turns out to be not at all the full story, of course. The women, all dealing with various trauma, answer an email which leads them to group therapy sessions where they share their stories. Each story seems stranger than the last or at least as strange as each other with the exception of “The Bachelor” one. That one didn’t really work for me and Ashlee (ignore my spelling if it’s wrong as I listened to the audio) got on ...

This is where I spotlight the sparkling new releases that are tempting me so you can succumb to temptation too. The focus will be on dark fiction and romance with the occasional thriller tossed in that catches my eye.  I hope you're all enjoying the summer and able to get some reading done. I'm doing my best to start working my way through my tbr pile as well as getting to some newer book via audio. Here are 6 new horror books releasing today (or in the next few days) that I hope to read soon(ish).  New Books This Week! Carry Me to My Grave by Christopher Golden From New York Times bestselling author Christopher Golden comes a high concept horror novel about a man trying to protect his dead mother's body from the evil that is hunting them. Maggie Wise will take your eyes. When Malcolm was growing up, the local kids made up that chant about his mother, claiming she was a witch. He and his siblings did their best to ignore it. Now, Maggie is dying, and those same siblings hav...

Dummies meet ancient monsters and chaos ensues! My 2 Cents for Free! The Forgotten Island by David Sodergren Released October 2018 Source: TBR Pile See more @ Goodreads I’m pretty sure I’m finished with ARC reading for a good long while (once I finish my last one, that is). You people can have at ‘em. They have put me in a slump for the last time. I have a ton of books sitting here that have been sitting here for years and years collecting dust and sadness because I keep thinking I need to read the newest books for some ridiculous reason. I started reading The Forgotten Island while also reading some ARC’s and had to keep putting this down to finish those first when all I really wanted to do was finish this one. My family bought this for me when it was first released in 2018. 8 damn years ago. Ugh. Anyhow, don’t be me. Read the books you’ve been gifted and the books that you own instead of forcing yourself to read books because you feel like you have to. These slightly older releases n...

Haunting and well-paced and great on audio. Finally, a book that lived up to its blurb! My 2 Cents for Free! Arrowood by Laura McHugh Released June 2016 Source: Library Borrow See more @ Goodreads This was a great atmospheric, slow burn story about a family that is destroyed when their twin toddlers are kidnapped. Arden was only a child when her sisters disappeared and were never found and her family became forever fractured. She left them alone only for a moment and was a child herself and swears she saw a gold car drive away with them. But memories are tricky things. She returns to the childhood estate she's inherited and tries to rebuild a new life while reconnecting with old friends (and new) but finds herself digging further into the past and ends up unearthing devastating secrets. Everything is done so well here. The pacing, the messy complicated characters, the mystery, the trauma. It's definitely a good book to dig into on a hot summer day. I don't know how I missed...

I have a bit of a backlog of these since I've been doing my best to get through some of my tbr pile. So anyhow, here's another post that everyone loves to see (lol and yikes).  However, I've always reviewed what I consider the good, the meh and the not-so-great and seeing books others have DNF'd also helps people decide what they'd like to read next. We can't all love the same things and someone might read my words and say "Hey, I love that thing you hate. Thanks for the recommendation!" But it's all helpful as long as it's not hateful against the writer. So here goes the first batch!  Ooops, nope. That's totally not what this post is about. It's your last chance to turn back! DNF #1 The Fury by John Farris I realize this is a horror classic but I had to quit at page 50 because it was boring me to death. 💀 I don’t know why I have so many books in my tbr that are so damn slow and aren’t things I love to read. I’m trying to fix that one ...