Bark At The Ghouls

Recent Mini Reviews I'm putting some "lovely" back into my blog today. Here's the rest of what I've read sorta recently (this has been sitting in my drafts for far too long!) in mini review form because life has been crazy and I might also still be a little lazy.   Red, White & Royal Blue  by  Casey McQuiston ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I apologize in advance to this book because I have no mental energy left today to compose a thought. I read this book to escape from the world and let me tell you it worked. This is the most adorable, sexy-sweet romance and I LOVED it. It's set in some sort of alternate world where a woman is the president and her son falls in love with a prince and there isn't a lot of pain and suffering (not that there's anything wrong with the pain and the suffering!) but seriously, right now, I could read this sort of thing all the live long day. T he Herd  by  Andrea Bartz ⭐⭐⭐ I think maybe I've read one too many of these "

This is a quirky and creepy read with an amazing ending. Horrid by Katrina Leno Published September 2020 Dark Fiction   |   Goodreads   |   Amazon   Source: Received for Review Consideration  From the author of You Must Not Miss comes a haunting contemporary horror novel that explores themes of mental illness, rage, and grief, twisted with spine-chilling elements of Stephen King and Agatha Christie. Following her father's death, Jane North-Robinson and her mom move from sunny California to the dreary, dilapidated old house in Maine where her mother grew up. All they want is a fresh start, but behind North Manor's doors lurks a history that leaves them feeling more alone...and more tormented. As the cold New England autumn arrives, and Jane settles in to her new home, she finds solace in old books and memories of her dad. She steadily begins making new friends, but also faces bullying from the resident "bad seed," struggling to tamp down her own worst nature

This one sneaks up on you! The Possession of Natalie Glasgow Published August 2019 Dark Fiction   |   Goodreads   |   Amazon  Source: Received for Review Consideration  Margaret Willow has never met an eleven-year-old as dangerous as Natalie Glasgow. Natalie spends her days comatose, but at night she prowls her mother’s home, unnaturally strong and insatiably carnivorous. With doctors baffled, Natalie’s mother reaches out to Margaret, an expert in the supernatural. But even Margaret is mystified and terrified by Natalie’s condition. She’s dying, and before she dies, she might kill someone. Has a demon clawed its way inside an eleven-year-old girl? Or does the source of this nightmare lie with Natalie’s dead father? A tight, tense novella, The Possession of Natalie Glasgow twists the exorcism tale at every turn down to its final grave confrontation. My 2 Cents For Free! A desperate widow is at her wits end. Her young daughter is acting s

Free creepy stories for your ears! Come Join Us By The Fire Season 2 Published October 2021 Dark Fiction   |   Goodreads   |  GooglePlay   Source: Freebie! Come Join Us by the Fire Season 2 is the second installment of Nightfire's audio-only horror anthology, featuring a wide collection of short stories from emerging voices in the horror genre as well as longtime fan favorites. The collection showcases the breadth of talent writing in the horror genre today, with contributions from a wide range of genre luminaries including Laird Barron, Indrapramit Das, Shaun Hamill, Daniel M. Lavery, Matthew Lyons, T. Kingfisher, Seanan McGuire, Nibedita Sen, and Nightfire’s own Cassandra Khaw and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.  My 2 Cents For Free! I don't know if I have it in me to review this collection in any proper way so I'm throwing a 3.5 at it (bumping up for GR) It is huge and there so many stories and though I'm thankful for all of th

Gruesome and hard to put down! The Fourth Whore by EV Knight Published March 2020 Dark Fiction   |   Goodreads   |   Amazon   Source: Received for Review Consideration  Kenzi Brooks watched The Scribble Man collect her brother’s soul after a hit and run when she was seven. He gave her a present that day - a lucky rabbit’s foot. Sixteen years later, she no longer believes in The Scribble Man, she believes in survival and does what she has to in the slums of Detroit. When thugs kill her mother and beat Kenzi to near death, she accidentally releases Lilith from her prison within the time-worn keychain. And Hell hath no fury… Lilith is out for revenge. Revenge against God, Sariel (Angel of Death and Kenzi’s Scribble Man), and all of mankind for relegating her to nothing more than a demoness for refusing to submit to her husband. She’s put together an apocalyptic plan to destroy everyone who has forsaken her. Forget the Four Horsemen, Lilith is assembling the Four Whores. Will Ke

Looking for something a little different in your horrific books?  Hexis by Charlene Elsby Published February 2020 Dark Fiction   |   Goodreads   |   Amazon   Source: Received for Review Consideration  I'm not relentless. "Relentless" makes it sound like there's something called "relent" and that I'm lacking it. In that sense, I'm not relentless, but perhaps I'm unrelenting. I could relent if I wanted to. But he always has to die. I mean "always" in two senses: at all times and all of the time. I can't kill him all of the time. That would take too long. But all of the times I did, I did. I'd do it again. I could relent if I wanted to, but instead I'd do it again. If he's different, then he's the same and if he's the same, he's got to go. If he were different and not the same, then there would be two things and I'd only have to kill one of them. If only I only had to kill one of him. What a life

Sorry I dropped off the planet for a bit there. Why are there never enough hours in the day?! I hope to get back to posting reviews and features and visiting blogs again because I've missed it all so much. Anyhow, now I'm even further behind than I was previously so here's a way overdue review. Housebroken by The Behrg Published March 2015 Dark Fiction   |   Goodreads   |   Amazon   Source: Received for Review Consideration  "It was a kidnapping, but in all the wrong ways. No ransom, no demands; there was nothing they wanted -- other than to observe." When Blake Crochet and his family are taken hostage in their own home, they are forced to act out their everyday lives under the observance of two psychotic kidnappers. They soon learn that the consequences of both action and inaction are more terrifying than they imagined. As the motives behind the home invasion are revealed, Blake must sacrifice everything to hold on to the ever-shifting definition of what

This is an absolutely beautiful collection of dark poetry.  A Collection of Dreamscapes poetry by Christina Sng Published April 2020 Dark Fiction   |   Goodreads   |   Amazon   Source: Received for Review Consideration  A Collection of Dreamscapes by Christina Sng is an exploration of the darkness inside us, the shadow-self that screams and begs, forever fighting to claw itself out. It's a siren song of transformation, an uncovered diary that bleeds fairy tales and dystopias, and it reads like a grimoire full of spells and curses that bring monsters and madmen to life. Between these pages, readers will meet women who hide behind the taste of poisoned apples, who set themselves on fire, who weep at riverbanks, the taste of freedom too much to swallow, too heavy to bear. They will be whisked away to faraway lands and unimaginable worlds, the drip of fog-soaked dreams a steady flow down their throats while they choke on betrayal and bathe in the waters of tears twice cried.

It's a three from me. Malorie by Josh Malerman Published July 2020 Dark Fiction   |   Goodreads   |   Amazon   Source: Library Borrow  Now from the mind of a true master of suspense comes the next chapter in Bird Box. This time, Malorie is front and center, and she will confront the dangers of her world head-on. Twelve years after Malorie and her children rowed up the river to safety, a blindfold is still the only thing that stands between sanity and madness. One glimpse of the creatures that stalk the world will drive a person to unspeakable violence. There remains no explanation. No solution. All Malorie can do is survive. But then comes what feels like impossible news. And with it, the first time Malorie has allowed herself to hope. Someone very dear to her, someone she believed dead, may be alive. Malorie has a harrowing choice to make: to live by the rules of survival that have served her so well, or to venture into the darkness and reach for hope once more.  

Halloween never ends around here! Halloween Season by Lucy A. Snyder Published October 2020 Dark Fiction   |   Goodreads   |   Amazon   Source: Received for Review Consideration  Halloween is the most wonderful part of the year for many of us. For dedicated fans, the season begins when the leaves start turning autumn colors and doesn't finish until Hallowtide ends in November. With it comes a whole lot of fun: scary movies and stories, haunted houses, seasonal sweets, spooky decorations, costume parties, and of course trick or treat. But Halloween is also a deeply spiritual time for some; it's an opportunity to remember and honor loved ones who have passed on. Master storyteller Lucy A. Snyder has filled her cauldron with everything that Halloween means to her and distilled it into a spell-binding volume of stories. Within these pages you'll find thrills and chills, hilarity and horrors, the sweet and the naughty. One of the best things about Halloween is you don