Bark At The Ghouls

This collection of dark fiction has a little bit of everything. On The Night Border by James Chambers Published September 2019 Dark Fiction   |   Goodreads   |   Amazon   Source: Received for Review Consideration Dark things stir in the night. When the world sleeps and quiet settles in, shadows assume sinister shapes, guilt and regret well up from the mind’s deepest recesses, and the lonely face their greatest fears. Darkness bares the secret truths whispered on the lips of the lost and the desperate. At night, terrors come alive. For those who journey too far into the dark, no escape remains—but there is a place from which to view these nightmares, a place…on the night border. The fifteen stories collected here come from the last edge of the light and deliver glimpses into the dreadful, the mysterious, and the strange. These stories offer readers unsettling and weird visions from across the border, visions out of history and from th...

Here's a lovely little story to brighten your day. ♥  Just kidding! Full Brutal by Kristopher Triana Published June 2018 Dark Fiction   |   Goodreads   |   Amazon   Source: Purchased Kim White is a very popular cheerleader. She’s pretty, healthy, and comes from a well-off family. She has everything a girl of sixteen is supposed to want. And she’s sick to death of it. In search of something to pull her out of her suicidal thoughts, she begrudgingly decides to lose her virginity, having heard it’s a life-changing event. But Kim doesn’t want to do it the same way her peers do. She seduces one of her teachers, hoping to ruin his life just for the fun of it. This starts Kim on a runaway train of sadism, and she makes every effort to destroy the lives of those around her. But soon simple backstabbing is not enough to keep her excited, and she nosedives into sabotage, violence, and even murder. When Kim finds out she’s pregnant with h...

Even though everyone seems to adore The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor , I liked this one better. The Other People by C.J. Tudor Released January 2020 Thriller   |   Goodreads   |   Amazon   Source: Library Loan She sleeps, a pale girl in a white room . . . Three years ago, Gabe saw his daughter taken. In the back of a rusty old car, covered in bumper stickers. He was driving behind the car. He watched her disappear. But no one believes him. Most people believe that his daughter, and wife, are dead. For a while, people believed that Gabe was responsible. Three years later and Gabe cannot give up hope. Even though he has given up everything else. His home, his job, his old life. He spends his days and nights traveling up and down the motorway, sleeping in his camper van in service stations, searching for the car that took her. Searching for his daughter. Katie spends a lot of her life in service stations, working as a waitress. She often ...

I'm back with another unasked for PSA! This time I tackle how to approach a reviewer. Or, more accurately, how not to approach a reviewer. I've been doing this for a good 85 years or so it seems like, and though people come and go, there are some mistakes things that never seem to change in bloglandia. Mistake #1: Addressing me by "Reviewer", "Mr. Bark" or "Dearest Bark" (though I admit that one warms my heart a little). This tells me that you have not taken 5 minutes to read my review policy of which I agonized over. How do I know? Because I tell you my real name in the first few lines. It's the simplest test ever and you just failed.  I know we are all busy little bees but my policy is pretty brief and to the point and it's there to help you avoid wasting your time with me. Mistake #2: Attempting to personalize an email with the wrong information: I'll never be the kind of person to tell others how to condu...

It's been a little bit since I've done one of these because I have been horribly distracted but I've been doing my best to attempt to read each day and I haven't been bringing new books into the house so I don't have that guilt at least! I hope your reading lives have been better than mine. Here's what's possibly up next in my reading life (always subject to change based on mood and general flakiness):  I'm super excited to read both of these because they've received excellent reviews from people who read much faster than I ever will. Both are dark fiction and I might have to sneak something light and sexy in there as a breather - I just don't know what yet. If you have any recs let me know in the comments. Currently Reading: In Darkness Delight: Creatures of the Night is a (so far) solid collection of creepy crawly monsters with some nice surprises. It's perfect for me right now because I seem only able to read in sho...

Hi everyone, I remembered I have a blog and am back with a review. My apologies for the slacking during this apocalypse but it's been hard to find structure and motivation. The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling Published April 2019 Dark Fiction   |   Goodreads   |   Amazon   Source: Purchased A thrilling, atmospheric debut with the intensive drive of The Martian and Gravity and the creeping dread of Annihilation, in which a caver on a foreign planet finds herself on a terrifying psychological and emotional journey for survival. When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck—enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother—meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane. Instead, she got Em. Em...

This book was everything I wanted in a book right now! Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly Published July 2019 Dark Fiction   |   Goodreads   |   Amazon   Source: Purchased An utterly propulsive and unpredictable psychological thriller from stunning new talent T. Marie Vandelly For the lucky among us, life is what you make of it, but for Dixie Wheeler, the theme music for her story was chosen by another long ago, on the day her father butchered her mother and brothers and then slashed a knife across his own throat. Only one-year-old Dixie was left alive, infamously known as Baby Blue for the song left playing in the aftermath of the slaughter. Twenty-five years later, Dixie is still desperate for a connection to the family she can’t remember, so when her childhood home goes up for sale, Dixie sets aside all reason and moves in, re-creating a macabre decor with her family’s salvaged furniture. But as the ghosts of her family seemingly b...

The original #LadiesOfHorrorFiction novel that started it all for me! Flowers In The Attic by V.C. Andrews Originally Published November 1979! Dark Fiction   |   Goodreads   |   Amazon   Source: Purchased Celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the enduring gothic masterpiece Flowers in the Attic—the unforgettable forbidden love story that earned V.C. Andrews a fiercely devoted fan base and became an international cult classic. At the top of the stairs there are four secrets hidden—blond, innocent, and fighting for their lives… They were a perfect and beautiful family—until a heartbreaking tragedy shattered their happiness. Now, for the sake of an inheritance that will ensure their future, the children must be hidden away out of sight, as if they never existed. They are kept in the attic of their grandmother’s labyrinthine mansion, isolated and alone. As the visits from their seemingly unconcerned mother slowly dwindle, the four child...

I am reading a series in order. Can you believe it? Well, I can't either, ha! The Governess Game by Tessa Dare Released August 2018 Romance   |   Goodreads    |  Amazon Source:  Overdrive Borrow He’s been a bad, bad rake—and it takes a governess to teach him a lesson The accidental governess After her livelihood slips through her fingers, Alexandra Mountbatten takes on an impossible post: transforming a pair of wild orphans into proper young ladies. However, the girls don’t need discipline. They need a loving home. Try telling that to their guardian, Chase Reynaud: duke’s heir in the streets and devil in the sheets. The ladies of London have tried—and failed—to make him settle down. Somehow, Alexandra must reach his heart . . . without risking her own. The infamous rake Like any self-respecting libertine, Chase lives by one rule: no attachments. When a stubborn little governess tries to reform him, he decides to give her an ed...

It's been a heck of a few weeks, hasn't it? My apologies for abandoning my blog for a bit there. I've been reading all of your lovely comments and thank you SO much for the visits. Now that I am apparently going to be spending all of my time here at home I plan to be a better blogging friend and I hope you are all doing as well as you possibly can as our world continues to turn upside down  ♥ The Worst Is Yet To Come by S.P. Miskowski Released February 2019 Dark Fiction   |   Goodreads   |   Amazon   Source: Received for Review Consideration 2019 Bram Stoker Award® Nominee for Superior Achievement in a Novel For most of her fourteen years, Tasha Davis has languished in the rural-suburban town of Skillute, Washington. Her parents offer plenty of comfortable—if stifling—emotional support, but what she needs is a best friend. In her final year at Clark Middle School, Tasha meets a strange, new classmate. Briar Kenny is the self-st...

Here's another retro review. I loved this book but never did make time to get back to the series. Why am I like this?!! Wicked As They Come by Delilah S. Dawson Released March 2012 Romance   |   Goodreads    |  Amazon Source:  Purchased When nurse Tish Everett forced open the pesky but lovely locket she found at an estate sale, she had no idea she was answering the call of Criminy Stain, from the far off land of Sang. He’d cast a spell for her, but when she’s transported right to him, she’s not so sure she’s ready to be under the spell of another man. (It didn’t go so well last time with controlling, abusive, domineering Jeff.) If only Criminy wasn’t so deliciously rakish…. Half the inhabitants of Sang are Pinkies—human—and the other half are Bludmen, who in Tish’s world would be called vampires. But they don’t mess with any of the bat/coffin/no sunlight nonsense. They’re rather like you and me, just more fabulous, long living, and ...