Petrified Women by Jeremy Ray is a terrifying tale that will leave readers with a terrible pit in their stomach but also a strong feeling of hope.

Heads up!
This story began with content warnings. I added a few when logging this book. Feel free to check those out.

After the content warnings, there is a killer micro story that sets the tone of the rest of the novella. And boy is it a dark tone…

Next up is an absolutely beautiful dedication. If you haven’t checked this novella out yet, but plan to, I can’t wait for you to see the lovely note.

Then we’re off and running with the novella!

In the beginning, we meet our main character, Harley, as she is technically breaking into her boyfriends apartment in order to prank him. These two have a relationship built on pranks. Some she can laugh off, but not all of them seem like they are just fun and games to Harley. Even so, she is determined to get higher up on the list of pranks the boyfriend has pinned to his refrigerator, and she thinks this prank may do it.

As she is setting up for the prank, her boyfriend arrives home and she scurries to the closet to hide, planning to jump out at him. It all seems like fun and games at first, as the prank seems to have been flipped on her. But then something happens, and Harley isn’t so sure it’s a prank this time…

PHEW. First of all, I would not have lasted in this relationship after the first prank this guy pulled. Learning more about these games and how Harley reacted to them made my blood boil. I wanted to scream at her through my kindle screen to get out of that relationship, that these pranks aren’t funny. However, thinking back to my teen and early twenties, I can absolutely relate to Harley and feeling like she needed to just laugh it off in order to keep things fun and upbeat.

There are so many lessons included in these pages, and many things that readers will recognize as red flags. But you won’t be able to turn away; you’ll be hooked and can’t wait to see how this plays out.

And let me tell you, I could have never seen where this one was going and I absolutely loved it.

This kind of dread before a practical joke was natural, right?

The stillness was alive — like a predator waiting for the perfect moment to spring out yelling: I know you’re in there, Harley, and now you’re next.

How could a liar, especially a psychopathic one, have such sincere eyes? He looked as though he cared.

This was a very difficult read for me, especially with some of the content around the relationship Harley was in. After I finished reading, I had to sit with this one for a bit to process as it brought up a lot of nastiness from my past.

Jeremey Ray has done an absolutely wonderful job with this topic and added such a fun and horrific twist. I absolutely loved it. This is a must read for horror fans that enjoy sitting with very uncomfortable horrors.

Dead Meat: Day 8 by Nick Clausen is the second to last installment in this incredible series. On day eight, one member of the crew learns information that takes the situation to a whole new terrifying level. Now they must race against the clock faster than they already were. But can they accomplish their task before it’s too late?

Day seven left us hanging on such a cliffhanger! I gotta admit that I was so nervous to pick this one up to see what was going to happen next. I was so fearful of the worst, but also hung on to a bit of hope that it would all turn out okay.

When this tale kicks off, Iver and William are both in the middle of very tense and life-threatening situations, while Dan is also in a tense situation as he is getting ready to try to end this whole thing.

I don’t want to say too much else about the storyline, as I don’t want to spoil anything where the series is so close to the end. I will mention again how much I love all of these characters! Each of them are so wonderful and so brave in their own ways. I love seeing their relationships with one another continue to grow as well.

Pick this one up when you have a nice chunk of time. I made the mistake of diving in a half hour before I wanted to go to bed two nights in a row and stayed up too late each time before forcing myself to put it back down. This book is just impossible to pick up and read just a bit! There is such great writing and a captivating plot within these pages, and of course, the way the chapters jump from one perspective to another is sure to keep readers antsy to see what will happen next.

My Favorite Passages:

This is a dream. I’m probably already dead. Then, almost making himself smile, he thinks: William must be an angel.

Dan blinks once. “I realize that. That’s not why I’m here.”
“Why then?”
“To make sure no one else loses their family.”
“That’s a ver noble cause.”
“I don’t care if it’s noble or not,” Dan says calmly. “I just really want you to give it a shot.”

“Like something more interesting. We know they can be lured away if they sense something more accessible.”
William throws out his hands. “You think a busload of naked chicks covered in barbeque sauce just rolled by out here? Come on, man. We’re in the middle of fucking nowhere. We’re definitely the closet prey.”

This addition to the series was another tense and wild ride! I absolutely loved it. I cannot wait to see what happens next as the series wraps up!

The Darkening by Chris Sarantopoulos is an eerie post-apocalyptic tale centering around a man with fading memories and a girl that seems to draw danger toward her. In this world, there are many dangers, but it’s not just the people in darkness that the survivors fear, it’s the light itself.

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.

The very first sentence of this book really sets readers up with a dark tone that carries throughout the story:

“In the end, everyone died no matter what they did, be it an injury, starvation, Raiders, or the light.“

PHEW! How intense is that?!

Immediately after that opening, we’re thrown right into the action as our main character, John, is in the dark, listening to a dog bark while thinking about his family and how tonight he may finally see them again… It’s clear that something is very, very wrong here.

We soon learn that the light is to be feared. But it’s not just the light itself… it’s that shadows come to life. Shadows with pointy teeth and sharp claws.

As the story continues, we watch John struggle to survive in the darkness while he also battles his inner demons. During this time, we really get to know John as we hear both what he says out loud as well as the voices that he has in his head.

One day, a girl appears and asks for his help. There’s something very unusual about this girl and John isn’t sure what to think at first. But soon enough, they are running for their lives, attempting to find safety. But with each turn, there’s something else waiting just around the bend.

This story had me on the edge of my seat. My goodness! It took so many turns and I loved that I couldn’t anticipate what would happen next. Various scenes had me holding my breath while reading, anxious to see what would unfold. The scene in the back of a truck specifically spiked my anxiety…

The two main characters, John and the girl, were both so interesting to me. I loved learning more about each of them as the story went on. Seeing how their relationship changed over the course of what they go through was also fun to watch.

This story is beautifully written. I love the way this author moves from brutal and dark descriptions on one page to beautiful and uplifting descriptions on the next, just to jump back into the darkness! There are so many passages that I found myself highlighting to come back to again later. I added many of those in the My Favorite Passages section below, but some I left out or cut as they had spoilers in them.

And what a terrifying world this would be to live in! I couldn’t stop thinking about what I would do if I could no longer move about in the light. I don’t think I would last very long…

In the end, everyone died no matter what they did, be it an injury, starvation, Raiders, or the light.

Everything the wind touched came to life. The metal swing to his right squeaked rhythmically. Trees and bushes around his shelter rustled. The house gave voice to the wind as it entered through its numerous cracks.

Dawn crept in on the world, and like a dangerous predator, it drove the stars in hiding. Humans, too. Death was waking up.

A gaping hole opened on the featureless shadow’s face. Rows of teeth gleamed as another flash of light filled the air.

He rolled his head sideways, half the world hidden behind an eye that insisted on staying shut and demanded more from him than he could provide.

He rolled his eyes to where the voice came from, and for half a breath, he stared in awe. A glowing visage, an angel, gazed down on him. Energy strands surrounded the body and created a halo around it. The hair swayed as in a breeze, like sea anemones caught in a current. The creature shone with an inner light, and its eyes, like green stars, glimmered and sparkled.
Breathtaking.

He turned the object over in his hands. A shoe; a child’s shoe. Not empty. Not attached to anything either. A scream boiled up inside him.

He raised an arm; the skin on his chest and sides clung to the bones, outlined the ribs one by one as if something had sucked the life from the inside, and left him an empty shell. If not for the skin, the bones would clatter to the ground.

Faces materialized around the mouths, so hard and cruel only hate could have carved them.

I loved the eerie tone of this book. I never knew what to expect with this plot, but I always had a deep sense of dread that made me nervous for what was going to happen next! This one is quite the page turner!

If you enjoy post-apocalyptic tales with a lot of heart but also a large dose of darkness, you gotta check this one out!

Synchronicity by Michaelbrent Collings is an action packed thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat as this intense plot plays out!

This is such a hard one to review without giving too much away! I’ll keep things below pretty light. But if you stop here, I’ll leave you with this note- AMAZING CHARACTERS, LOADS OF ACTION, SOME BRUTAL SCENES, AND AN AWESOME SCI-FI FOCUSED AND THRILLING PLOT; YOU NEED TO GO PICK THIS UP!

From the frustrated girlfriend that played a small role, to the main characters and even the bad guys, I loved each of the characters that we met in this tale. The two characters that we focus on the most are Tyler “Book” Malcolm and a man that we simply know as Kane.

Book is a man on the run. Ever since his childhood, he has been careful to leave when he gets the slightest hint that things are about to go sideways. This has served him well so far, but there are some things he can’t run from that he’s about to face. Kane is a man that believes that he has a God of chaos, and he will do anything to get his way.

When this story begins, we jump from character to character. I was a little nervous about this format, as it usually throws me off. But soon enough, I realized that we were getting little bits of foreshadowing about what was to come as the storylines began to weave together.

Right from page one, the story was off and running! We jump in right in the middle of the action and while it doesn’t let up, it does take the time to regroup and fill the reader in on what’s happening while Book is learning what situation he has found himself in. I LOVE this format; it kept me glued to the pages of this book and I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next.

Blood spurts once, brightly. The man called Enzo marcels at the arc of reds that vary in hue and saturation. He has, like another god before him, created a rainbow.

He is a new god indeed: a god of chaos. He has no true allegiance, he adheres to no creed – other than this: anarchy. Confusion. Turmoil. Madness.

Book started twitching, trying to regain control of his body. He thought it was working, and even managed to get to his feet.
Foot.
One of his legs went out from under him and he was down for the count again.

That is the only problem with chaos; once it takes over, the train kind of runs itself off the tracks and there isn’t much anyone can do about it.

Politics was always ugly, and maybe the ugliest part of it was that it tended to attract the worst of humanity. The power-hungry, the sociopathic. And the advent of social media and the glorification of fame for its own sake, politicians could get away with bigger and bigger atrocities, with worse and worse behavior.

Now he heard Axel saying, “We mustn’t judge books by their covers, Jade.”
“I was going off the first few chapters,” came her reply.

Silence fell, somber and still as the night.

But does it matter if it’s counterfeit? Even if it’s an artificial brightness, it still lights the darkness a bit, doesn’t it?

This book had everything I look for in a thriller; killer characters, a balance between good and evil, brutal and fast-paced action, and humor. If you enjoy thrilling sci-fi reads, you definitely need to check this one out!

The ABC’s of D&D by Ivan Van Norman, illustrated by Caleb Cleveland is absolutely precious.

I love that each letter has its own word attached to it that relates to the world of D&D.

To be totally honest, I haven’t played games in this genre because they tend to go over my head. Even though I didn’t necessarily understand all the connections, I still thought it was super cute!

It was also really fun to see my husband, who has played, flip through the pages and enjoy it. I couldn’t wait to see my Sister in Law open this up at their baby shower! My husband and I are also so excited to gift this to their little one who will be arriving soon!

The structure of this book is really fun and the artwork is incredible. This is a must-buy for adult fans of D&D with little kiddos.

Cruel Works of Nature by Gemma Amor is a haunting collection of 11 illustrated horror novellas. While absolutely terrifying, each of these tales were connected by the element of grief.

This is a must read for horror novella fans!

I absolutely loved this entire collection. Each story was so different from the next, but they all had dark and heart-wrenching elements. There were also many scenes that were heartfelt and even humorous! I loved that I never knew what to expect, not only from story to story, but also within the plots of each individual novella.

Per usual, here are my notes on each tale:

Foliage – 5/5
When a man struggling through the grief of losing his wife decides to take a job at the famous manor in his town, he is excited to do manual labor to keep his mind off things. The house and property is in rough shape. He’s expecting a challenge, but he has no idea what the job has in store for him… 

When a  flower pod was opened and our main character finds a ring inside, I was nervous to see where this was going. It was darker than I could have imagined. Phew! This had a bit of a Color Out Of Space vibe to it that was super eerie. It also had a lot of heartbreaking moments as the characters coped with their grief. 

Jack In The Box – 4/5
When a man bring his wife an odd gift he got from a yard sale, the wife flies off the handle. We soon learn that this couple is still muddling through their grief… but now something else has the husbands attention.

Phew this couple was difficult to read about. I can’t imagine what they were going through, but the relationship had clearly turned toxic. 

Black Sand - 4/5
When a woman who just wants some solitude takes a vacation, her peace is interrupted when she comes across a body on the beach during her morning jog. But that’s not the only body she will see on this trip… and some will be fresher than others.

My goodness this one was eerie! I felt so bad that this poor woman couldn’t find her peace for very long. 

Back Alley Sue - 4/5
A homeless man begs for spare change. One day, a woman appears and everything changes. 

This one was equally eerie and heartbreaking! I loved learning more about this man, but also not being able to tell what was accurate. 

Girl On Fire – 5/5
I love this tale! It’s a heartbreaking story about a young woman that just wants a better life. Check out my full review for the novella here: https://www.ericarobynreads.com/book-review-girl-on-fire-by-gemma-amor/  

Scuttlebug – 5/5
When the end of the world comes, it’s not with a bang or zombies. It’s giant spiders. Man, the number of times I said “Nope!” out loud while reading this one was out of control. I am petrified of spiders so this one really got me. Nooooo thank you. 

The Path Through Lower Fell – 4/5
While on a walk one day, a woman gets news that changes things forever. But that news isn’t top of mind for long… there’s something off about the field they’re in. 

This one was so unsettling! 

His Life’s Work – 4/5
When a doctor pays a visit to a rather strange home, he expects to treat a patient with early Alzheimer’s. But this man isn’t what the doc was expecting… 

This one had some brutal body horror. One scene specifically made me queasy. Phew! And that ending!! 

Special Delivery – 4/5
When a package is brought to this man’s home, the delivery gal helps him bring it inside. After a little small talk, they decide to take a peek at what’s in the box… 

This one was so unsettling! I had a bad gut feeling the second we learned the box had to be delivered to the recipient and out right in his hands. This was so intense! 

It Sees You When You’re Sleeping – 5/5
My goodness I love holiday horror, and this one sure served up a brutal dish! 

This illustration for this one is also my favorite! It’s so foreboding. 

Sketchbook – 5/5
This final tale is about a woman who is on her deathbed, but she’s remembering things about her sons past. We learn about the sketchbook he acquired, and now he must draw one more thing for his mom. 

This one was heartbreaking and terrifying! What an incredible tale!

The sound the gates made as they opened was indescribable, like the whole place was in pain, and shouting at me.

I was going to turn this motherfucker into grass clippings. 

A promise passed between us. The contract, signed in love. A promise to protect you, no matter what the cost, no matter what the risk.

Each tale in this collection was a 4 or 5 star read for me. I had so much fun reading! I loved not knowing what would happen next within each tale. Many of these threw me for a massive loop with the twists and turns they took, so I was certainly always on the edge of my seat!

This is a collection that you won’t want to miss! Horror fans, go pick this one up today!

Bigfoot in the Bronx by Hunter Shea is an action-packed story about two hunters that have the bright idea of taking a bigfoot, who they think is dead, into the city in hopes to show their discovery to the media and get rich. Turns out, the big guy wasn’t dead…

With a title like that, I knew we were in for a wild ride. The story begins with two hunters that are determined to bag a deer. As things are really tight with one family, the venison will go a long way. The two are sure that this hunting trip will be different than the rest where they had to return home empty handed. But boy, they never could have guessed how this was going to end up!

One thing leads to another, and then they have a bigfoot in the back of their truck and they’re headed home. Rather than sharing the news of the discovery right away, they go to sleep. In the morning, Mr. Bigfoot isn’t where they left him.

From there the story is non-stop action right up until the very end! The two men try to find and follow bigfoot, and he’s pretty easy to follow on his path of destruction.

This cryptid tale had it all! The humor made me chuckle, the chase had me anxious, the deaths were brutal, and the emotional elements hit perfectly. This is definitely a story I will be returning to!

He stepped backwards into the RV, closing the door slowly, quietly, cursing the rusty hinge that didn’t give a whit about stealth.

“Hey, you bring a bigfoot to the Bronx, you have to expect shit to get weird.”

Their driver must have gotten her license from nascar. She drove like a demon, just missing pedestrians, cars, a mailbox and a light pole, blowing past red lights with glee. 

This was such a fun read! While there was plenty of humor, it also touched on an important message about how quick we are to judge, and just how fast things can spiral out of control.

Go pick this one up today!

Jedi Summer With the Magnetic Kid by John Boden is a coming-of-age story told from the perspective of a man looking back on his childhood and sharing memories with the readers. While there is plenty of fun within these pages, there is also a lot of stark reality that takes you back a step, as well as a bit of spookiness.

In this tale, we follow brothers Johnny and Roscoe who are just beginning summer vacation. Their mom, who is doing her best to raise these two as a single mom, isn’t around much because she works three jobs to keep them fed and sheltered. Because of this, the boys are on their own and Johnny has been moved into a parental role for his younger brother, Roscoe. The two are your typical brothers; they tease one another, they argue, they fight physically, but they are still best friends who are there for one another through thick and thin.

In each chapter of the main section of the book, we see day to day stories that share everyday life events, stories, and lessons. These aren’t really in a specific order timeline wise, they all just flow like memories of childhood summers do. But all the while, readers also get notes from the author as he’s looking back on these memories that will either make you smile or break your heart.

But as for my favorite element of the book… Occasionally the author suddenly drops in something that makes you do a double take to reread and find out if that’s indeed what you just read. That’s where the light horror elements came in.

That first week of summer vacation was always the best. We were up with the sun and outside playing until after dusk. We ran the woods like something out of Lord of the Flies.

Words are boomerangs. 

Rumors flew about her like bats. 

Sometimes real life is much weirder than anything a person could write or rent to watch. 

While reading this, I really enjoyed the ride. There wasn’t much that set it up and there wasn’t really a great wrap up, but it just works as is. It was like sitting down with the author and having him talk to you about his childhood.

If you enjoy coming of age stories that are a bit nostalgic, I would recommend this one to you!

Coyote Songs by Gabino Iglesias is a gut-wrenching and heavy mosaic novel that focuses on the lives of various characters as they all go through tragic events.

Content Warnings: This one is very heavy. If you are worried about any specific triggers, feel free to message me! I would be happy to chat. If you are easily triggered by things, I would definitely caution you here. However, the things that could be triggering are here for a reason.

In this novel, we have a boy who witnessed his fathers sudden death, a mother having a really hard time with something growing inside her, a coyote struggling to do what’s right, a man just out of jail that doesn’t want to go back, an artist with intrusive thoughts that just wants to be remembered, and a woman who goes through something truly horrific who is set on revenge.

On the first pass through with these characters, I was worried I was going to get their storylines confused because there were so many of them and I don’t have much experience with mosaic novels. But that was absolutely not the case here. Each of these stories are all so powerful; they are sure to stick with you.

While each of these storylines shared a thread that tied them all together, I was also interested to see that each followed a different horror theme; there’s coming of age horror, body horror, real world horror, violent horror, extreme horror, and paranormal horror. The range here was incredible.

I don’t want to spoil anything as this is definitely a book to just dive into, but I do have one more note before moving on to my favorite passages. I had to put this book down numerous times because of how tragic some of the scenes are. What makes this one even more of a gut-punch is knowing that a lot of this stuff really happens and it’s not something that we can all just close our eyes to. It’s happening every day. We need to do better.

My Favorite Passages:

Those stories, at least the parts he could understand, had fed the boy’s imagination like gasoline thrown into a raging campfire.

Facts are harder to swallow than rocks, but just as solid.

If society was going to push him into the shadows, he was going to become a shark in those shadows. 

Confidence was a fragile thing dangling over a sea of crushing teeth by thread of shadow tied to a beam of hope.

When fury diminishes, the space it used to occupy is filled by sorrow or dissatisfaction, or it remains empty, like an abandoned house ready to be invaded by vermin. 

While there are many things that may be triggering in this content, that was the point. This is a very dark and difficult read. This will likely make you very uncomfortable, but it’s important to sit in that discomfort to understand why novels like this are so important to get on everyone’s radar.

Go pick this one up today.

The House By The Cemetery by John Everson is a brutal slasher set in an abandoned and rundown house that the town decides to turn into a haunted house attraction. But there’s one main problem, this house is already haunted.

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.

When this story begins, we meet a man named Mike Kostner who is down on his luck. His wife had left him for another man, his work is very sporadic, and money is tight. When he’s approached by a wealthy friend to rehab an old abandoned house to be able to open it as a haunted house attraction for Halloween, he’s hesitant, but can’t turn down the work.

From the initial walk through, Mike isn’t thrilled with the space and how much work needs to be done, but he has to admit that the bones of the house are sturdy. He reminds himself that he doesn’t need to make the space live-able, it just needs to hold up for a halloween haunt.

As he works over the next couple of weeks, various things occur in the house and Mike almost bails multiple times. But there’s a woman that has started randomly showing up, and not only does she help out a bit, she also serves as his motivation to finish the job.

Little does Mike know, this job isn’t going to end with the construction project…

I loved that the story begins with a bang before backing up to set the scene from day one of the project. There were so many creepy things that occurred here and there, but then when the story takes a brutal turn, there’s no going back.

And boy does it get brutal!

Right from page one, I was totally hooked. I read through this one in less than 24 hours because I needed to see what was going to happen next!

This story is organized centering mainly on poor love-struck Mike, but there are many chapters from the perspective of other side characters, some of whom added interesting depth and further twists to the overall plot. Some of these characters I definitely enjoyed more than others as some scenes really didn’t add much to the story other than having me wish they would get wacked next.

My only other slight complaint was the use of description between the characters of Katie and Emery. It felt as though the readers were bashed over the head with mentions of how pretty one of them was, and how un-pretty the other was. This just got really old for me very quickly.

But overall, this was a really fun ride!

Then he opened the door and stepped into the foyer. The sunlight slipped away and the temperature dropped about ten degrees. Part of him whispered that this wasn’t simply because the house was holding the cool air still from overnight. He remembered the things in the room behind the bookcase. Bad shit had happened here. Of that, he had no doubt. 

The sun had disappeared behind the house and the upper leaves of the forest before them glowed with the rays of the setting sun. Bird noise colored the breeze that shivered through the trees, making the leaves shimmer with light and shadow.

“Human beings, those are the monsters that you’ve gotta fear.”

One part ghost story, one part romance, and one part slasher, this book was a hit for me! I had so much fun while reading and I found myself totally spooked and a few times, repulsed! I’m glad that I won’t be going into any haunted attractions any time soon…

This is a read I would recommend for fans of b-movie horror films and halloween haunted attractions.