Bark At The Ghouls

Not as marketed but still good! My 2 Cents for Free! Marion by Leah Rowan Released June 2026 Source: Netgalley See more @ Goodreads This a book inspired by Hitchcock’s Psycho, but it twists things around and a modern-day Marion survives and does so with a vengeance! From there it is a completely different story. It’s more thriller than any kind of creepy horror so keep that in mind if you’re looking for an atmospheric slow burn horror tale like Psycho because this isn’t it. But what it is is fun. It’s not quite what I was expecting from the blurb - it’s not any kind of “alternate history” but I thought it was imaginative, over the top and fun in a very dark way. The “Marion” in this book was raised to fight back, to survive, and to protect. When she discovers her sister is married to a man who abuses her it sets off a chain of events that lead her to Norm’s motel/cabin rental b&b kind of thing and from there she sort of goes into a murder spiral. “Marion wasn’t someone to be fucked...

Need a slightly spooky read? You might like this one. My 2 Cents for Free! Grave Birds by Dana Elmendorf Released July 2025 Source: Spotify Listen See more @ Goodreads Grave Birds is a decent enough rainy-day summer read but it fell a little flat for me in the end. The southern atmosphere and mysterious start hooked me in pretty good. The heroine sees "grave birds" who tell her stories about people. Dark, tortured stories mostly and she has to piece it all together. Hollis is living in a greenhouse on a property she's been doing her best to buy until a handsome stranger comes to town and swoops in to steal it out from under her. Is he the devil? Is he part of the murky history that keeps coming back to her in flashes? Or is he just a handsome devil who wanted the house? Does it even matter? This book felt more like a light(ish) spooky mystery to me with a thread of under-developed romance. It was a pleasant enough read but I don't think it's going to stick with me...

A slow burn, atmospheric tale of dread and duty. My 2 Cents for Free! The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea Released February 2019 Source: Library Borrow See more @ Goodreads I've been reading a lot of dark and dreary gothic novels lately and realized there have been quite a few that flew under my radar in the past. This is one of them and I'm glad I finally found it! It's never too late to find a book, right? Rosa is in love with her childhood friend but marries an older man with means in order to save the life of her mother who is ailing from sickness and poverty. Set in Iceland 1686 she doesn't have a lot of options. She travels to this stranger's manor with one of his gruff men when he leaves immediately after their marriage to "care for his people". This is clearly going to be mostly marriage in name only. Once she arrives at his abode, she's isolated and told to obey and to spend her days cleaning, cooking, and slaving away while he's out doing wha...

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...

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...

This was a weird one! My 2 Cents for Free! Wide Open by Jessica Gross Released August 2025 Source: Netgalley See more @  Goodreads I listened to this book on audio. Thanks to Netgalley and the author and pub! The narrator Alice Whey is very perky and sounds younger than the 30ish main character but she’s easy to listen to. Her cadence reminds me of a romance narration but since a lot of this book is about a romantic relationship (albeit a wholly unhealthy one) that makes sense. Anyhow, radio host Olive is 33 (I think, I didn’t write it down) and wants a partner real bad. Really bad. Like annoyingly, can’t-think-of-anything-else bad. I once knew someone like this, and the character portrayal felt very realistic in a story that is otherwise kind of wild. Olive quickly forms an obsessive attachment to a young surgeon she meets while volunteering. Fortunately for her, he is a happy go lucky type and seems to not mind her often too clingy affection and attention. But she has a we...

This was originally published in 6 installments. I'm reviewing it as a novel because that's how I listened to it. My 2 Cents for Free! Blackwater by Michael McDowell Released August 1983 Source: Audible Purchase See more @  Goodreads Wow, this was a long one! My attention span of late has been dismal but despite that I decided now would be the best time to tackle a 30-hour saga. I mean, it was either going to hold my attention or I could DNF yet another one. 2025 was the year for getting through my old tbr's so why not? Surprisingly, this absolute doorstopper of a book that often went on about nothing at all but daily dramas featuring a wealthy and very dysfunctional family, that was less horror than family drama, managed to grab me and hold me all the way through to the very end. It has a little weird thread running through it but it's very much a southern family drama where the women are the ones in control. Maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much. These people were...

If anyone has some patience to spare, I am in desperate need. My 2 Cents for Free! The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark Released June 2025 Source: Purchased @ Gibson's Bookstore Get it at your local library or see more @  Goodreads The Ghost Writer is a book for people who have endless patience. I’ve discovered that person is not me. This story is about Olivia who is a ghost writer who has changed her name because her father is a famous writer with murder accusations from the past that surround him like a haze. She doesn’t want anything to do with him because he was a terrible father. Can’t say as I blame her really. Anyhow, now he is penning his last book, suffering from Lewy Body Dementia and needs her assistance to bring it all together. She accepts because she needs money. Can’t blame her for that either. The book then bounces back and forth between the present day and the past as she attempts to make sense of his scribblings and clues that may or may not reveal the murderer of the u...

The Hounding is out today! My 2 Cents for Free! The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis Released August 5, 2025 Source: Netgalley Get it at your local library or see more @  Goodreads All it takes is one sonofabitch to stir up an entire village. Grrrr. The Hounding is a historical fiction novel about five sisters living on a farm in a small village filled with superstitious people. The sisters have been raised by their grandparents after being orphaned and are mourning their recently deceased grandmother. Many of the townsfolk are wary of them because they’re not demure, mild-mannered creatures. Their grandfather has allowed them to run free and wild. They’re a little loud, they laugh freely, and they keep themselves to themselves. So, OF COURSE, that makes some of the local men feel a certain way. One day their grieving is mistaken for howling and rumors spread that they are able to change into dogs. They then get blamed for everything ailing the town. It’s an infuriating look at human natu...

I purchased a copy of Bad Dolls when Audible had a very good sale a little bit ago. 80% off? Thank you very much. Anyone read this one? My 2 Cents for Free! Bad Dolls by Rachel Harrison Released September 2022 Source: Audible Purchase Get it at your local library or see more @  Goodreads These stories are what I’d call “horror adjacent” so keep that in mind if you’re expecting the creepy crawlies. They’re more about complicated, messy women (Bad Dolls, I guess?) and their complicated relationships than they are about the trad horrors. But being a woman is sometimes a horror all in itself so there’s that. Reply Hazy, Try Again This is a tale about a woman who purchases a used 8 Ball and realizes her current relationship kind of sucks. Is the 8 Ball just being spicy or is it helping her out? I didn’t like any of these people and that’s ok but the story didn’t thrill me too much either. 2.5? Bachelorette This one drives home that some friendships really need to die a natural death. It...

Evil girls doing evil girl things. Missing Dead Girls by Sara Walters Released January 2023 Source: Received for Review Consideration Goodreads  | Amazon What is friendship without a few secrets? It wasn't Tillie's choice to leave Philadelphia. But after everything that happened junior year, her mom insisted the quiet suburb of Willow Creek was the perfect place to get a fresh start, to put the trauma and rumors behind them. Madison Frank is the perfect distraction. Beautiful, fun, and from the wealthy side of town, Madison is the kind of girl who has a pull stronger than gravity. She commands attention, even inspires obsession. And by the end of summer, Tillie's forgotten everything—everyone—she left in Philadelphia. Almost. Then Madison goes missing. A photo of her bloody body is texted to the whole student body...from an account with Tillie's name on it. Tillie's caught in a tangled web of secrets that will destroy her if they surface...and will destroy everyone...

Hmmmm Devil House by John Darnielle Released January 2022 Source: Received for Review Consideration Goodreads   | Amazon From John Darnielle, the New York Times bestselling author and the singer-songwriter of the Mountain Goats, comes an epic, gripping novel about murder, truth, and the dangers of storytelling. Gage Chandler is descended from kings. That’s what his mother always told him when he was a child. Years later, he is a true crime writer, with one grisly success—and a movie adaptation—to his name, along with a series of subsequent less notable efforts. But now he is being offered the chance for the big break: to move into the house where a pair of briefly notorious murders occurred, apparently the work of disaffected teens during the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. Chandler finds himself in Milpitas, California, a small town whose name rings a bell—his closest childhood friend lived there, once upon a time. He begins his research into the murders with diligence and enthusiasm,...

I may simply be too grouchy for horror comedy 😅 Suburban Hell by Maureen Kilmer Released August 2022 Source: Library Borrow Goodreads   | Amazon A Chicago cul-de-sac is about to get a new neighbor...of the demonic kind.     Amy Foster considers herself lucky. After she left the city and moved to the suburbs, she found her place quickly with neighbors Liz, Jess, and Melissa, snarking together from the outskirts of the PTA crowd. One night during their monthly wine get-together, the crew concoct a plan for a clubhouse She Shed in Liz’s backyard—a space for just them, no spouses or kids allowed.       But the night after they christen the She Shed, things start to feel . . . off. They didn’t expect Liz’s little home-improvement project to release a demonic force that turns their quiet enclave into something out of a nightmare. And that’s before the homeowners’ association gets wind of it.       Even the calmest moms can’t justify the strange bu...