8 More Amazing Book Recommendations from the Reading Experts (2)
This is post #2 in my Twitter fueled Amazing Book Recommendations series. If you missed the first one you can read it here.
These posts celebrate the amazing people that make up the book loving community on Twitter. These readers generously shared their most recent five star reads so the rest of us can go buy more books! I think it's safe to say that there is likely something for everybody here. Please visit their links and befriend them and also hold on tight to your wallets because we are here to tempt away all of your money! Click on any cover to go to the Goodreads page.
So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—both of whom have lived amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.
And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist . . .
Recommended by my blogging friend Magdalena who gives it 5 ★'s! Magdalena reads a LOT of books - 160 so far this year alone and knows her stuff! She also recommends the tv series. You can catch her on the Twitter's at https://twitter.com/Marablaise.
Recommended by my horror-sister Char. She says, "Usually, weird fiction doesn't work that well for me. While I can appreciate and enjoy ambiguous stories, certain authors considered masters of the form leave me a bit cold. (Robert Aickman, I'm looking at you!) I am unsettled by and enjoy the work of Tom Ligotti, but it often comes across as too nihilistic for my tastes. In this volume, Paul Tremblay appears to master the form, but in his own unique and brave style.
That's not to say this collection features only weird tales, because it doesn't. What it does feature is an author willing to experiment with all different types of dark fiction and nearly every one of them was a beauty to behold!."
Recommended by Read by Dusk who says, "The book deftly explores class differences, gender disparity, religion, superstitions and madness. There are hints of the supernatural but it's almost secondary. The real horrors are the unwavering beliefs of a madman and the desperate life of a teenage girl yearning to be free. When the truth of the murder is finally revealed, it feels inevitable, like pieces falling into place. But the effect is still devastating. A gothic slow burn that is as chilling as it is heartbreaking."
Recommended by M.Not Shymyman (Mike) who says, "I’m a sucker for stories that involve the bonds of childhood friendships and also for stories that take place (at least in part) in forests. Both of these boxes get checked when reading TTS."
Recommended by YouTuber Ben Walker who says,"Invisible Chains is heartbreaking and horrifying, bringing in slavery, vampires and loup-garous."
Visit his YouTube channel HERE!
Beers and Fears: The Haunted Brewery consists of four interconnected novellas.
No Fortunate Son - A Vietnam veteran comes home and finds a job at the local brewery. Between the shady, backroom business dealings and the menacing visions he’s experiencing, Blaze finds himself in a fight for his sanity… and his life.
Have a Drink on Me - A barfly discovers his new favorite spot might be harboring dark secrets… and a doorway to Hell.
Alternative - A motivated business owner tries to turn a derelict spot into a thriving craft brewery, but an eerie presence aims to end his progress… and lay claim to his soul.
The Last Taproom on the Edge of the World - A journalist investigates the history of the infamous haunted brewery. Each round could be his last as he discovers the terrible truth of Bayberry Bluff. The authors (Chuck Buda, Frank Edler, Tim Meyer, Armand Rosamilia) embark on an annual book signing tour, BEERS AND FEARS, where they visit small craft breweries to promote their books. And drink beer. Mostly to drink beer, though.
Author Don Gillette recommends One By One. You can find out more about Don's work on his website HERE!
I hope this post helps you find some new book loving friends and a few must-read books to add to your collection. Let me know all of your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading, book friends!
These posts celebrate the amazing people that make up the book loving community on Twitter. These readers generously shared their most recent five star reads so the rest of us can go buy more books! I think it's safe to say that there is likely something for everybody here. Please visit their links and befriend them and also hold on tight to your wallets because we are here to tempt away all of your money! Click on any cover to go to the Goodreads page.
Fantasy/Humor
GOOD OMENS by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaimen
According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world's only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—both of whom have lived amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.
And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist . . .
Recommended by my blogging friend Magdalena who gives it 5 ★'s! Magdalena reads a LOT of books - 160 so far this year alone and knows her stuff! She also recommends the tv series. You can catch her on the Twitter's at https://twitter.com/Marablaise.
Fiction
THE STING by Kimberley Chambers
TWO CHILDHOOD FRIENDS
Best friends Tommy Boyle and Scratch always had each other’s backs. Dragged up in care, and cruelly betrayed by everyone they trusted, they made a pact to fight their way out of the gutter – together.
TWO SIDES OF THE LAW
Old loyalties die hard on the streets of London. Tommy throws his lot in with the notorious Darling family – even if it means leaving Scratch to the wolves. She’s destined for a different path, reinventing herself as copper Kim Regan.
ONE DEADLY SHOWDOWN
Now they’re on opposite sides of the law. Running Operation Sting, Kim will rip the heart out of the Darling’s empire – and only her old pal Tommy stands in her way.
As gritty and dangerous as the London streets in which it’s set, this is No.1 bestseller Kimberley Chambers at her best. Get ready for a shocking read with a STING in the tail . . .
TWO CHILDHOOD FRIENDS
Best friends Tommy Boyle and Scratch always had each other’s backs. Dragged up in care, and cruelly betrayed by everyone they trusted, they made a pact to fight their way out of the gutter – together.
TWO SIDES OF THE LAW
Old loyalties die hard on the streets of London. Tommy throws his lot in with the notorious Darling family – even if it means leaving Scratch to the wolves. She’s destined for a different path, reinventing herself as copper Kim Regan.
ONE DEADLY SHOWDOWN
Now they’re on opposite sides of the law. Running Operation Sting, Kim will rip the heart out of the Darling’s empire – and only her old pal Tommy stands in her way.
As gritty and dangerous as the London streets in which it’s set, this is No.1 bestseller Kimberley Chambers at her best. Get ready for a shocking read with a STING in the tail . . .
Best friends Tommy Boyle and Scratch always had each other’s backs. Dragged up in care, and cruelly betrayed by everyone they trusted, they made a pact to fight their way out of the gutter – together.
TWO SIDES OF THE LAW
Old loyalties die hard on the streets of London. Tommy throws his lot in with the notorious Darling family – even if it means leaving Scratch to the wolves. She’s destined for a different path, reinventing herself as copper Kim Regan.
ONE DEADLY SHOWDOWN
Now they’re on opposite sides of the law. Running Operation Sting, Kim will rip the heart out of the Darling’s empire – and only her old pal Tommy stands in her way.
As gritty and dangerous as the London streets in which it’s set, this is No.1 bestseller Kimberley Chambers at her best. Get ready for a shocking read with a STING in the tail . . .
Recommended by blogger SMBSLT, " I started it and wanted to sink it in one sitting, I got vested in the characters so quickly and gasped out loud a few times. 5/5 for me, it isn't many times you can say you feel for the "bad guy" but I think reading these books you do get to glimpse the other side of the coin and how they get to be the people they become and in The Sting how we can never really outrun our past or decisions! An absolute belter of a read, emotional roller coaster, action packed and for me hooked from the opening chapters!"
Recommended by blogger SMBSLT, " I started it and wanted to sink it in one sitting, I got vested in the characters so quickly and gasped out loud a few times. 5/5 for me, it isn't many times you can say you feel for the "bad guy" but I think reading these books you do get to glimpse the other side of the coin and how they get to be the people they become and in The Sting how we can never really outrun our past or decisions! An absolute belter of a read, emotional roller coaster, action packed and for me hooked from the opening chapters!"
Horror
GROWING THINGS by Paul Tremblay
A chilling collection of psychological suspense and literary horror from the multiple award-winning author of the national bestseller The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts.
A masterful anthology featuring nineteen pieces of short fiction, Growing Things is an exciting glimpse into Paul Tremblay’s fantastically fertile imagination.
In “The Teacher,” a Bram Stoker Award nominee for best short story, a student is forced to watch a disturbing video that will haunt and torment her and her classmates’ lives.
Four men rob a pawn shop at gunpoint only to vanish, one-by-one, as they speed away from the crime scene in “The Getaway.”
In “Swim Wants to Know If It’s as Bad as Swim Thinks,” a meth addict kidnaps her daughter from her estranged mother as their town is terrorized by a giant monster... or not.
Joining these haunting works are stories linked to Tremblay’s previous novels. The tour de force metafictional novella “Notes from the Dog Walkers” deconstructs horror and publishing, possibly bringing in a character from A Head Full of Ghosts, all while serving as a prequel to Disappearance at Devil’s Rock. “The Thirteenth Temple” follows another character from A Head Full of Ghosts—Merry, who has published a tell-all memoir written years after the events of the novel. And the title story, “Growing Things,” a shivery tale loosely shared between the sisters in A Head Full of Ghosts, is told here in full.
From global catastrophe to the demons inside our heads, Tremblay illuminates our primal fears and darkest dreams in startlingly original fiction that leaves us unmoored. As he lowers the sky and yanks the ground from beneath our feet, we are compelled to contemplate the darkness inside our own hearts and minds.
A masterful anthology featuring nineteen pieces of short fiction, Growing Things is an exciting glimpse into Paul Tremblay’s fantastically fertile imagination.
In “The Teacher,” a Bram Stoker Award nominee for best short story, a student is forced to watch a disturbing video that will haunt and torment her and her classmates’ lives.
Four men rob a pawn shop at gunpoint only to vanish, one-by-one, as they speed away from the crime scene in “The Getaway.”
In “Swim Wants to Know If It’s as Bad as Swim Thinks,” a meth addict kidnaps her daughter from her estranged mother as their town is terrorized by a giant monster... or not.
Joining these haunting works are stories linked to Tremblay’s previous novels. The tour de force metafictional novella “Notes from the Dog Walkers” deconstructs horror and publishing, possibly bringing in a character from A Head Full of Ghosts, all while serving as a prequel to Disappearance at Devil’s Rock. “The Thirteenth Temple” follows another character from A Head Full of Ghosts—Merry, who has published a tell-all memoir written years after the events of the novel. And the title story, “Growing Things,” a shivery tale loosely shared between the sisters in A Head Full of Ghosts, is told here in full.
From global catastrophe to the demons inside our heads, Tremblay illuminates our primal fears and darkest dreams in startlingly original fiction that leaves us unmoored. As he lowers the sky and yanks the ground from beneath our feet, we are compelled to contemplate the darkness inside our own hearts and minds.
Recommended by my horror-sister Char. She says, "Usually, weird fiction doesn't work that well for me. While I can appreciate and enjoy ambiguous stories, certain authors considered masters of the form leave me a bit cold. (Robert Aickman, I'm looking at you!) I am unsettled by and enjoy the work of Tom Ligotti, but it often comes across as too nihilistic for my tastes. In this volume, Paul Tremblay appears to master the form, but in his own unique and brave style.
That's not to say this collection features only weird tales, because it doesn't. What it does feature is an author willing to experiment with all different types of dark fiction and nearly every one of them was a beauty to behold!."
You can read the rest of Char's review at Char's Horror Corner.
1906: A large manor house, Wake's End, sits on the edge of a bleak Fen, just outside the town of Wakenhyrst. It is the home of Edmund Stearn and his family – a historian, scholar and land-owner, he's an upstanding member of the local community. But all is not well at Wake's End. Edmund dominates his family tyrannically, in particular daughter Maud. When Maud's mother dies in childbirth and she's left alone with her strict, disciplinarian father, Maud's isolation drives her to her father's study, where she happens upon his diary.
During a walk through the local church yard, Edmund spots an eye in the undergrowth. His terror is only briefly abated when he discovers its actually a painting, a 'doom', taken from the church. It's horrifying in its depiction of hell, and Edmund wants nothing more to do with it despite his historical significance. But the doom keeps returning to his mind. The stench of the Fen permeates the house, even with the windows closed. And when he lies awake at night, he hears a scratching sound – like claws on the wooden floor...
Wakenhyrst is a terrifying ghost story, an atmospheric slice of gothic, a brilliant exploration of the boundaries between the real and the supernatural, and a descent into the mind of a psychopath.
During a walk through the local church yard, Edmund spots an eye in the undergrowth. His terror is only briefly abated when he discovers its actually a painting, a 'doom', taken from the church. It's horrifying in its depiction of hell, and Edmund wants nothing more to do with it despite his historical significance. But the doom keeps returning to his mind. The stench of the Fen permeates the house, even with the windows closed. And when he lies awake at night, he hears a scratching sound – like claws on the wooden floor...
Wakenhyrst is a terrifying ghost story, an atmospheric slice of gothic, a brilliant exploration of the boundaries between the real and the supernatural, and a descent into the mind of a psychopath.
Recommended by Read by Dusk who says, "The book deftly explores class differences, gender disparity, religion, superstitions and madness. There are hints of the supernatural but it's almost secondary. The real horrors are the unwavering beliefs of a madman and the desperate life of a teenage girl yearning to be free. When the truth of the murder is finally revealed, it feels inevitable, like pieces falling into place. But the effect is still devastating. A gothic slow burn that is as chilling as it is heartbreaking."
You can read the rest of the review at Read by Dusk.
THE THRUMMING STONE by Brhel & Sullivan
Could you prevent a major disaster if you knew it was coming? Would your friends and family even believe you? What if you were an average high school freshman and seemingly the only person who could save your town from utter destruction? THE THRUMMING STONE is a sci-fi horror novella (with interior illustrations by Ryan Sheffield) about teen siblings who discover a nightmare-inducing monolith in the woods near their home. Once unleashed, premonitions and apocalyptic visions spread throughout their high school like a plague.
Recommended by M.Not Shymyman (Mike) who says, "I’m a sucker for stories that involve the bonds of childhood friendships and also for stories that take place (at least in part) in forests. Both of these boxes get checked when reading TTS."
INVISIBLE CHAINS by Michelle Renee Lane
Jacqueline is a young Creole slave in antebellum New Orleans. An unusual stranger who has haunted her dreams since childhood comes to stay as a guest in her master’s house. Soon after his arrival, members of the household die mysteriously, and Jacqueline is suspected of murder. Despite her fear of the stranger, Jacqueline befriends him and he helps her escape. While running from the slave catchers, they meet conjurers, a loup-garou, and a traveling circus of supernatural freaks. She relies on ancestral magic to guide her and finds strength to conquer her fears on her journey.Recommended by YouTuber Ben Walker who says,"Invisible Chains is heartbreaking and horrifying, bringing in slavery, vampires and loup-garous."
Visit his YouTube channel HERE!
BEERS AND FEARS: THE HAUNTED BREWERY
There’s an abandoned building in northern New Jersey with a rich, haunted history. Ghosts. Demons. Monsters of all kinds. It was once an asylum for the criminally insane, a craft brewery, and most recently - a decrepit eyesore that should have been demolished years ago. A place where evil dwells. A venue that feeds on the souls of all who enter.It’s five o’clock somewhere, but here, it’s always just after midnight. So come. Have a drink. Just don’t stay too long. Because here, there is no last call.
Beers and Fears: The Haunted Brewery consists of four interconnected novellas.No Fortunate Son - A Vietnam veteran comes home and finds a job at the local brewery. Between the shady, backroom business dealings and the menacing visions he’s experiencing, Blaze finds himself in a fight for his sanity… and his life.
Have a Drink on Me - A barfly discovers his new favorite spot might be harboring dark secrets… and a doorway to Hell.
Alternative - A motivated business owner tries to turn a derelict spot into a thriving craft brewery, but an eerie presence aims to end his progress… and lay claim to his soul.
The Last Taproom on the Edge of the World - A journalist investigates the history of the infamous haunted brewery. Each round could be his last as he discovers the terrible truth of Bayberry Bluff. The authors (Chuck Buda, Frank Edler, Tim Meyer, Armand Rosamilia) embark on an annual book signing tour, BEERS AND FEARS, where they visit small craft breweries to promote their books. And drink beer. Mostly to drink beer, though.
Recommended by reviewer Mindi AKA Gowsy33. She says,"I adored all of the stories in this book, and by the end I still wanted another round. Perhaps the contributors will eventually write a Haunted Brewery 2 anthology. I would absolutely read it."
ONE BY ONE by D.W. Gillespie
The Easton family has just moved into their new fixer-upper, a beautiful old house that they bought at a steal, and Alice, the youngest of the family, is excited to explore the strange, new place. Her excitement turns to growing dread as she discovers a picture hidden under the old wallpaper, a child’s drawing of a family just like hers.
Soon after, members of the family begin to disappear, each victim marked on the child’s drawing with a dark black X. It’s up to her to unlock the grim mystery of the house before she becomes the next victim.
Soon after, members of the family begin to disappear, each victim marked on the child’s drawing with a dark black X. It’s up to her to unlock the grim mystery of the house before she becomes the next victim.
Talk about adding to my To Read list! I totally want to read One by One and Wakenhyrst now. Stop it. ;D
ReplyDeleteDon't take my joy away Lark, lol. I am most happy pushing excellent books on everyone and helping them go broke :)
DeleteLove this feature! I'm glad you're continuing it.
ReplyDeleteKaren @ For What It's Worth
I'm glad that Growing Things is featured here, because I have a copy to read next month! Awesome feature, thanks for the recs:-)
ReplyDeleteI didn't much like Good Omens but that isn't a surprise as I'm not a fan of either author! I was quite interested in The Haunted Brewery until I realised the format was interconnected stories, which I don't enjoy. I'd have liked a group of people just getting trapped in there in one horror novel!
ReplyDeleteAll of those sound pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI am curious about the Trembly book even thought The Cabin at the End of the World wasn't my favorite. You also reminded me I need to grab The Brewery book as I had my eye on it since I first learned of it. Thanks for killing my TBR - again.
ReplyDeleteGrowing Things is on my list already and The Haunted Brewery has me most curious.
ReplyDelete