Hood Academy starts out with Mia's father being killed by a huge wolf. It actually wasn't that much of a hardship because her father was abusive. Her long lost uncle shows up to take her in, but instead of taking her to his home, takes her to the boarding school/academy that he is headmaster of. It's a very confusing change because her uncle doesn't really seem to want to enjoy a newfound relationship with her. There are all kinds of secrets that her uncle and the academy are hiding. Mainly that all the students are training to be werewolf hunters!


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Our initial account is that of a group of travelers who are stuck in the middle of a snow-covered deserted highway. It seems innocuous enough, though discouraging for those stuck. Snowball, however, is one of those books that takes a sharp left turn on you when you aren't expecting it. There's a snowplow up ahead, but where has the driver gone? And why is there blood in the cab?

As the snow deepens and no other help in sight, the motorists start to focus on coming together to combat the feeling of isolation created by the storm. When they congregate with the elderly Volkman's in their RV, weirdly the older gentleman suggests they all share their "worst winter memory", because this is obviously what you should do while trapped in the middle of a snowstorm on Christmas Eve. Mr. Volkman shares a remarkably disturbing Krampus story of his childhood, Francine's account of the killer known as "The Iceman", and in each and every dark story — shared or unshared. These stories, while shockingly horrible, seem entirely unrelated...until they aren't.

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After reading all The City Between books, I was excited to get another peek into that world. Pet is up to her same old tricks. It was amusing seeing her from a completely different perspective of this new character introduction. Zul is a half-human/merman interacting with the world by "hacking" magic. It was also an interesting way to write a person with disabilities in this urban fantasy world. This little novella didn't let me down.

At first glance, Those Who Came Before seems like typical horror slasher fare. A group of teenagers goes trespassing on a closed campground with complete disregard for rules and an obvious lack of respect for authority. Said teenagers then get slaughtered in a "red mist" kind of way. Not super original right? Except that's not the end of this story. What comes next is not only a deeper look into the Native American folklore of the wendigo but also a brazen look at the socio-political issues that Native Americans faced and continue to face.

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Having read City of Broken Magic, of course, I wanted to pick up #2, The Monstrous Citadel!

What I liked:
Great characters
Pugnacious protagonist
Fast paced and full of action

What didn't work for me:
I was surprised at how political The Monstrous Citadel was
The inability of Okane to say "you". I'm not sure I understand it and it made for a weird read.
Too much going on and not enough "flashbacking" to further comprehension

"Whatever set foot out there and made those heavy steps had to be far stronger and heavier than any eleven-year-old girl in the world.

And each step brought it closer."

In this horror novella, Natalie's mother, Heather, having exhausted medical reasoning for her daughter's strange nocturnal behavior and stuporous daylight affection, consults paranormal expert, Margaret. Natalie starts stalking the hallways of her home, a strange nightly occurrence of a child that is comatose during the daylight hours. Her mother, understandably, locks herself in her bedroom each night while Natalie, if it even is Natalie, roams in search of sustenance—red meat, the rarer the better. Margaret confronts her during one of these dark nights, trying to determine exactly what is hiding inside Natalie's skin.

When the blurb describes this as a "tight, tense novella", they aren't kidding. The tension is elevated from the first few pages and it continues throughout. Within five minutes of starting to read, the hackles on the back of my neck stood up. There's real fear experienced in The Haunting of Natalie Glasgow and the author commands it to rise off the pages and wrap itself around you, coating you in anxiety and unease.

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"The lady. She looks hungry, like maybe she's not a lady at all, but a monster wearing a lady face. That's how they trick you, monsters. They put normal faces on so you think they're real, but they're not. And when you get too close to run away, they show you their real ones," she says, eyes serious and far too knowing.

From the outside looking in, Dr. Heather Cole has it all together, until the day she receives half of a best friends heart necklace in the mail. The same half heart that she last saw around the neck of her childhood best friend. The night she killed her.

Told in successive flashbacks of the past and the present day, The Dead Girls Club weaves paranoia and threats of evil effortlessly until you are unsure exactly what the real truth is. Centering on the bond between young Heather and best friend Becca, The Dead Girls Club keeps its secrets close and the truth even closer. The author doles out these snippets of knowledge bit by bit, always giving you just enough to make you think you have it all figured out.

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Food. That’s really what women spend a lot of their day thinking about. (“Ugh, two hours until lunch?” “What am I doing for dinner?”) So really, can we blame Salem for being hangry and mad about dying…and not even being able to eat her cupcakes? After all, Salem herself says she has three modes: angry, hungry, and super angry. Totally worth crawling back into the car after her Hostess cupcakes to fix at least one of those problems. Right?

Salem could totally be my BFF. She’s brash, ballsy, totally has no filter, and why would she, as she experiences several WTF moments per day on her way to Reaperdom. Speaking of… let’s just get this out of the way now.

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Welcome to Blackwood: Small town, nothing to do, bored teens. Ah, but near Halloween, this little dull as dishwater town transforms. With their own urban legend of Benny Rose, the Cannibal King, Halloween is "Blackwood's thing".

Piper excels at setting the stage for horror. No time is wasted in creating a brutal backstory, nor is there any anticipating action. Piper cleverly gives us just a taste of what's to come before she redirects our attention to the characters, a group of high school juniors deciding to prank the new girl in town. The trap is set swiftly as new girl, Gabrielle, is roped into having a slumber party at her house while her grandma's away. However, the Glade Street Retirement Community, the only street in Blackwood not decorated for Halloween, has its own secrets to tell.

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A quick search of Google will tell you that 64% of people have a fear of insects. Some so much even that they encounter an irrational gripping terror. What is it about these creatures that our feelings of dread are so closely tied up with feelings of disgust? What is it about them that makes them so fear-inducing? Is it their alien appearance? Or that they make us feel unclean or our territory invaded? Infested takes that almost primal rejection response and lets it crawl all over you

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