drakaina16's Reviews (2.21k)

This is the most beautifully written gross-out book I've ever read. Every sentence is lush, but manic, pretty words telling you terrible things. It reads like the most gorgeous, terrible fever dream ever. This was my first Sara Tantlinger book, and I will absolutely be reading more of her work. Her prose is truly poetry. 4.5 stars 

Like any story collection, She Said Destroy was a mixed bag. The standout stories are fantastic, but there were a few I just didn't vibe with. Nonetheless, this collection is very strong and I'm interested in reading more by the author. 4.25 stars

Intertropical Convergence Zone ⭐⭐⭐.75
The Five Stages of Grief ⭐⭐⭐⭐
And When She Was Bad ⭐⭐⭐⭐.25
Only Unity Saves the Damned ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pugelbone ⭐⭐⭐⭐.25
Red Goat, Black Goat ⭐⭐⭐
Seven Minutes in Heaven ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Girl, I Love You ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Endless Life ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Violet is the Color of Your Energy ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Truth is Order and Order is Truth ⭐⭐.75
Absolute Zero ⭐⭐⭐.5
No Gods, No Masters ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to the author for providing a review copy. 

This is a fun little culty novella. It is quite short, and can be read in a sitting. Also, that's the main problem - I would have happily read it at twice the length. We aren't given a whole lot of backstory, but that almost makes things even more sinister. 4 stars 

Thank you to the author for providing a review copy.

I hate having to write reviews like this. I wanted to love this book, very badly, but I never seemed to really connect with it. This book doesn't reinvent the wheel when it comes to deals with devils, and I found the whole thing somewhat predictable. Parts of the book felt overwritten. Paragraphs describing the scenery just kind of bores me, although I realize it's there to set an atmosphere. I was kind of bored with it, even though it contains a bunch of elements that I usually enjoy. 2.5 stars

I'm a big sucker for coming of age horror, so there was a good chance I was gonna enjoy this one. I've yet to read a Bower book I didn't like, really. Having read The Conservator's Collection last year, it was cool to jump right back in to that world. The characters are well done and very sympathetic. I totally predicted the ending, but that only affected my enjoyment a little bit. 4 stars

Thank you to the author for providing a review copy. 

You Invited It In was one of the creepiest, most tense books I read last year. I was deeply invested in the characters, and was thrilled to hear of a sequel. Because I care about the characters so much, the awful things that happen to them but that much harder. I also loved that the book allowed you to see the aftermath of what would happen to a family after experiencing what they did in the first book. 4.5 stars

Who would have thought a book about necrophilia would be so damn good? Every year in the Books of Horror Indie Author Brawl, there's at least one book I never would have picked up on my own that I end up really enjoying. I don't read much extreme horror anymore, because all gore and no story bores me. No such problem here. The book manages to be totally subversive without losing the plot. 4.25 stars

A short chapbook of short stories, this book has some pretty solid offerings. I found some of the endings a bit trite and corny, but there are some standouts, and the book can be read in a sitting. 3.25 stars

Melungeon Spirit ⭐⭐⭐.75
Signs Following ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Heart of the Mine ⭐⭐.5
What Matters ⭐⭐⭐
The Unknown Leon ⭐⭐.5
Wolf Creek ⭐⭐⭐⭐