Bark At The Ghouls

I read this for the first time a little bit ago and I liked it 💗  What's not to like about dark love?!



Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le FanuReleased 1872 (!)
Horror Fiction |  Goodreads | Amazon A classic Victorian vampire novella, which influenced Bram Stoker's later treatment of the vampire mythos in Dracula.
These Are My Thoughts This was my first reading of this classic tale of dark secrets written in 1872. 1872?! That fact stuns me after finally giving this a novella read. There is a quite a surprising amount of sexuality for such an ancient tome or did the world get ever more prudish as the years went by? There were lesbian kisses and touches and I think I even detected a wee bit of some non-consensual touchy-feely too! But, man, is it ever flowery in its telling. The purple prose is oh-so-strong but it really does throw one back in time and allow the atmosphere to drip off the page so I’m not complaining. Just prepare yourself for some unrestrained writing. There are trembling …

I pressed my sarcasm button and this spewed out.



Pound of Flesh by Jessa Kane
Erotica Released December 2016
Goodreads | I Know You Want To Buy A Copy So Do It Here
Beast saw Beauty. And the hunt was on. 

A beast has just kicked down my front door. 
He’s massive, scarred, just out of prison and refuses to budge. 
Unless I go with him. 

He’s made it clear what he wants—my untouched body beneath his giant, damaged one. 
If I run, he’ll hunt me down and take it. 

But when he slips and shows me his desperation… 
I’m no longer sure whether I want to run to him or away from him. 
These Are My Thoughts I read this a little while ago but someone told me my blog has been boring lately and they are probably right. I figured this review might perk up your eyeballs or send you running screaming as far away from me and my blog as possible. I aim to do both but apparently have been failing. Sorry, life has been sucking the joy and sarcasm right out of me. 
This little story is about a recently released bulldog…

Here's all the horror I've been reading recently with mini reviews and links to the Horror After Dark full reviews (if I didn't DNF).



We Are Wormwood by Autumn Christian This book is gorgeously written but it might not be for everyone. The author creates a world filled with disturbing imagery and a protagonist who is unsure herself what is real and what isn't. I LOVED it and gobbled it up but you all know I have peculiar taste, lol.  4 1/2 Stars
My full review is at Horror After Dark: http://www.horrorafterdark.com/2019/05/review-we-are-wormwood-by-autumn-christian/
The Invited by Jennifer McMahon I read roughly half of this story before throwing in the towel. I don't do this lightly but I've come to the conclusion that life is far too short to struggle with a book that doesn't mesh with me. It started off on the wrong foot and never improved. I have worked in the construction industry most of my entire working life and found the fact that two teachers buil…

I haven't read the others (I know, I know!) but this one stands alone just fine.



In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire
Audiobook , 4+ Hours Released January 2019
Goodreads | Buy A Copy Here
This is the story of a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should.

When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she's found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the goblin market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well.

For anyone . . .
These Are My Thoughts In An Absent Dream is a prequel to a series of books I have not read so I’m walking in cold here.
The tale begins when a young girl spots a tree where previously there wasn’t one. The tree does some twists and contortions and a little door appears. On that door it says only, “Be Sure”.
Katherine is pretty s…

This book tells a horrible story that is so awful because it's true.



Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
Audiobook , 9+ Hours Released April 2017
Goodreads | Buy A Copy Here

From New Yorker staff writer David Grann, #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Lost City of Z, a twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history

In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.

Then, one by one, they began to be killed off. One Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, watched as her family was murdered. Her older sister was shot. Her mother was then slowly poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more Osage began to die under mysterious circumstances. 

In this last remnant of the Wild West—where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortun…

I must stop neglecting my own blog! Here's another backlog review - eeeeh - someday I will catch up here.



An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
AudiobookDeceptive Fiction, 11+ Hours Released January 2019
Goodreads | Buy A Copy Here

The next novel of psychological suspense and obsession from the authors of the blockbuster bestseller The Wife Between Us

Seeking women ages 18–32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed. 

When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave. But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she’s thinking…and what she’s hiding. As Jess’s paranoia grows, it becomes clear that she can no longer trust what in her life i…

I've been reading a lot of horror related things but posting them to Horror After Dark and The Ladies of Horror Fiction. I recently learned that a blog's SEO can take a terrible hit if the same review is cross-posted to more than one blog so I can't do that anymore. I don't care so much about my little personal blog here but I don't want to screw up things for the other two that I work on with other people. I'm going to combine the horror books in one post from here on out.

Here's what I've been reading (with one movie thrown in), in no particular order. Please let me know if like or dislike this new format and thanks for sticking with me while I figure all of this out!



While You Sleep by Stephanie Merritt This is a gorgeously atmospheric story about a woman who takes a little vacation to escape her life and ends up in a rented home on the cliffs. It may or may not be haunted but there are certainly weird things happening! I didn't care for the pro…

After my mini hiatus, I am back and sooo backed up on reviews!Argh but here's a good one:


The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald
AudiobookDeceptive Fiction, 10+ Hours Released February 2019
Goodreads | Buy A Copy Here

In the vein of Big Little Lies and Reconstructing Amelia comes an emotionally charged domestic suspense novel about a mother unraveling the truth behind how her daughter became brain dead. And pregnant.

A search for the truth. A lifetime of lies.

In the small hours of the morning, Abi Knight is startled awake by the phone call no mother ever wants to get: her teenage daughter Olivia has fallen off a bridge. Not only is Olivia brain dead, she’s pregnant and must remain on life support to keep her baby alive. And then Abi sees the angry bruises circling Olivia’s wrists.

When the police unexpectedly rule Olivia’s fall an accident, Abi decides to find out what really happened that night. Heartbroken and grieving, she unravels the threads of her daughter’s life. Was Olivia’s…

My ongoing archive project continues with another romance.



About the Book

Wicked Lies by Karina Cooper
M/M Romance, 192 pages, released March 2013
Goodreads | Better World Books  | Amazon

In this Dark Mission novella, Jonas Stone emerges from the shadows into his own story, and finally allows himself to have the same shot at love he's given his friends. 

Jonas Stone has been given his first independent operation: rescue the insurrection leader's imprisoned grandson from the Mission. Getting the job done means more than getting Danny Granger out--it means staying with him while he heals. Staying too close, for way too long. 

Danny is everything Jonas isn't: confident, optimistic, honest--a man to be reckoned with. If only it didn't mean going against everything Jonas has planned. He's kept his secrets for years, hid behind a mask no one could see through...until now. Danny isn't the kind of man Jonas deserves. But he might be exactly the man he needs... 
These Are My T…