Bark At The Ghouls

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...

         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. My post is late this week because I spent my blogging hours finishing my gothic nightgown instead. Now I'm fully ready to run screaming into the night! That's my little shadow wolf howling in the corner, lol. HORROR, H ORROR-adjacent & THRILLERS An Impossibility of Crows by Kirsten Kaschock A story of mothers, monsters, and the science of longing In this daring and evocative tale, Agnes Krahn, a chemist trained in Philadelphia, returns to her childhood home after the death of her father. Just a stone's throw from the haunted fields of Gettysburg, the small town of Letort, Pennsylvania is where the Krahn family has lived for six generations—bound by twisted folk wisdom and an uncanny kinship wi...