Bark At The Ghouls

I love Chuck Tingle's work but this one wasn't my favorite. My 2 Cents for Free! Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle Released August 2025 Source: Purchased See more @  Goodreads I’ve read all of Tingle’s horror novels and each and every one is a little weird, but this one definitely wins the prize for most imaginative and outrageously strange turns. It’s deeper than many books I typically read and in all honestly wasn’t my favorite of his work. I realize it’s delving into matters of identity and existence and nihilism and bi-erasure but there was so much zaniness going on at points and a few changes in tone that were disorienting to me as I was reading. It almost felt like an X-Files episode with some insane trauma, an unsupportive mother and something called the Low Propensity Event that must be investigated tossed in. It was all a little too chaotic to keep my focus at times but maybe it’s just me. Lucky Day starts out introducing Vera who is about to celebrate her first book release ...

           New Books Because You Deserve Them! This is where I spotlight the sparkling new weekly 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.  Sorry so late but still in time for the weekend! These are the books that look pretty darn good that have released this week. HORROR,   HORROR-adjacent & THRILLERS Cold Snap by Angela Sylvaine The highly anticipated sequel to FROST BITE! WORMS GONE WILD! It’s 1998, and the town of Demise, North Dakota, is recovering from the Meteor Murders, hundreds of deaths caused by alien worms but blamed on a mass poisoning by a doomsday cult. While nineteen-year-old Realene’s heroic actions saved the lives of many, she wants nothing more than to hide from the world and mourn the ones she couldn’t save. When a second half of the meteor is found north of the border where her best frie...

I didn't like this one nearly as much as I thought I would. My 2 Cents for Free! The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch Released October 2024 Source: Purchased See more @  Goodreads I thought I was going to love this one, but I only ended up liking it. The plot had too much political nonsense that was no fun at all. I picked it up to escape reality and instead I found myself reading about yet another man attempting to control the world (holidays) to enrich his holiday and make himself look like some sort of savior. Ugh. I wasn't at all in the mood for this so it's probably me not the book. And, oof, the capitalism of it all.  Anyhow, the romance was cute and the two MC's adorable although I wish Hex had been given more of a POV, but the bigger plot overshadowed it all for me and sucked a lot of the joy out of it. A 2.5 bumped up to 3 because though I was bored and annoyed by the political wrappings, the characters weren't awful and I'll probably read the ne...

I'm trying my best to keep a real schedule here for once but there will be no new book release post today because I've been sick and didn't get it finished in time. So, here's my dog Benny at work with me making his best disappointed in me face so you don't have to do it, lol.  

This was really fun on audio. My 2 Cents for Free! Dollface by Lindy Ryan Released February 2026 Source: Netgalley See more @  Goodreads This is a fun thriller/slasher with a horror writer as the main character that grabbed me from the chilling opening scene. It’s not heavy or depressing, even though it could have been due to the content, and it’s pretty fast paced and a fun slasher is always a good way to escape the world for a few hours. If you enjoy audio, it’s definitely the way to go with this one. The narrator does a fantastic job voicing all of the characters but especially the main character who sounds appropriately stressed and relatable. Jill, her husband, their young son and their golden retriever Lugosi have recently moved to a creaky not creepy house in suburbia for his job. She’s a horror writer struggling with a new story idea and has some insecurities about fitting in and being known as the horror tee wearing weirdo mom. But she is who she is, and I liked that she d...

Have you read CG Drews yet?  My 2 Cents for Free! Don't Let the Forest In by CG Drews Released October 2024 Source: Purchased See more @  Goodreads I'm not going to lie, this book tested me. I used to live for angst-filled books, the longing, the pining, oh how I LOVED it. I would've given this book every single star in the sky when I was a teen and throughout my 20's too. But now I'm crabby and my patience wears thin quickly for that kind of thing and this book has that kind of thing. A lot of it. The main character is in love with his best friend, and he believes and fears he is in love with his twin sister and oh my dogs the absolute agony of it all. It's a mess and no one bothers to communicate which can be frustrating when you're in the thick of it and as grumpy about this stuff as myself. However, I thought the writing was quite beautiful in many spots and I never wanted to quit. I was frustrated by the lack of reveals and confusion I felt and probably...

          New Books Because You Deserve Them! This is where I spotlight the sparkling new weekly 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.  Look at them all! HORROR,   HORROR-adjacent & THRILLERS After Birth by Emma Cleary For fans of Nightbitch , Motherthing , and Baby Teeth , a “mommy horror” masterpiece as hypnotic as it is terrifying, from bold new talent Emma Cleary A fractured sisterhood. A disturbing transformation. A desperate obsession. Abandoning the ruins of her stalled life after an ill-omened romance, Brooke flies to Vancouver to care for her estranged sister, Izzy, who is recovering from reproductive surgery. But Izzy’s rapidly decaying apartment building, its hallways stalked by an ominous crone known only as Medusa, offers little of the refuge Brooke craves. Seeking solace in the horror movies...

This is a good choice if you want to escape the world for a bit. My 2 Cents for Free! The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst Released July 2025 Source: Purchased Audio See more @  Goodreads Once upon a time, Terlu was lonely because people always thought her “too much” and she used magic when she wasn’t supposed to (because magic is reserved for the “well-schooled”) and created a sentient plant to keep her company. She was discovered, made an example of, and harshly turned into a statue and stuffed into a closet for years. This all happened previously and is spoken of in “ The Spellshop ” (which you don’t have to read in order to enjoy this story, but you'll probably love it if you enjoy this one). This story begins when Terlu is awakened six years later. There’s a lot of bad self talk going on in Terlu’s head. She feels she’s too much, and that she pushes her friendship on people when they don’t really want it and she beats herself up a whole damn lot. She doesn’t come acros...

This is a great horror/romance/dark fantasy blend. My 2 Cents for Free! Untethering Dark by Desirée M. Niccoli Released February 2026 Source: Netgalley See more @  Goodreads This was a lovely monster romance that was genuinely horrific, but also slightly cozy and even a little sweet without ever feeling cheesy. That’s the combo I’m always looking for in a horrormance/monster romance but it’s a hard balancing act and this author managed to do it. The plot is also well plotted. I know, I have a way with words, haha. A lot of these types of stories tend to lack a substantial plot in lieu of the characters getting together and then it’s usually dropped once the romance gets going but that doesn’t happen here. It reads like a dark fairytale with some splashes of horror, and it might not be for everyone because it does get gory, the characters are morally gray and there is some animal brutality. Fortunately, the animal deaths are not tossed in for shock value and make a lot of sense in t...