Foe is the first book by Iain Reid that I have come across. I was not part of an awesome crowd before where I would have known of books like this or like I’m Thinking Of Ending Things. With that being said, I also really had no insight into who Reid is or what his writing style is like. Until now.

First off, the cover is STUNNING. I am in love with the colors and everything it’s got going on! Now for the story. Foe is broken into three parts or “acts,” but not because it is written in play format. Reid uses compact and direct sentences throughout and when paired with the short chapters, it makes for an extremely quick and easy surface read. I read it so fast that I almost didn’t give myself time to absorb what was going on or what I thought was going to happen.

I really enjoyed this book! It is one that left me with a slight open jaw, scratching my head, and looking around for someone to talk to it about! But I was home alone and the only conversation partner I had was my cat… and she did not do much to balance my excitement.

As described on the back of the book, Foe is a psychological mind-bending puzzle. By knowing that, you might get the impression up front that something is amiss and there is more going on than you know. But what?! There could be so many things happening and there will obviously be only one answer/solution to this so-called puzzle. That aspect also adds to being able to devour this book so quickly.

I highly recommend this atmospheric and unsettling read and I am going to give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. I am now a HUGE Iain Reid fan and cannot wait to pick up I’m Thinking Of Ending Things and seeing what he has to develop in the future! Thanks so much to Gallery Books / Scout Press for sending the Night Worms advance copies of this to read and review.

I immediately wanted to read Girls' Night Out once I saw the cover and then scampered over to Amazon and Goodreads to read the synopsis. A trip to Mexico that ends in a missing person? YES, PLEASE!

At first I got a little confused with the narration - it is told in multiple POVs at multiple points of time (past and present). I thought there were 4 girls on this trip for about 20% of the book and then it hit me like a ton of bricks that there were, in fact, only three! I sighed with relief because I can handle three varying POVs much easier than four!

I *did* get slightly annoyed at one of the characters for her actions and found them somewhat unbelievable largely due to the way she had said she's always been in the past combined with her age and then these super dumb, ridiculous, irrational decisions she was making as if her back wasn't aching, she wasn't exhausted since dinner, etc like I know she really should have been! LOL

The ending though... makes me take a double look at the entire book. Did I miss signs? Was I too wrapped up in all the little issues that the characters were going through to notice what was right in front of my face? Or was it all supposed to be just a complete and total shock to the reader? I like that's how it ends, though. Because I find myself still thinking of it from time to time. This is a book I will be recommending to my friends and family who enjoy this type!

Thanks so much to the publisher/authors for an advance copy in exchange for a review. I am going to finalize with a 4 out of 5 rating. I enjoyed the story, I felt like I was on vacation, and I felt like I was right in the middle of a murder/mystery investigation party!

Camp Carnage was initially a book that I bought when I was in this "slasher" book mode (but let's face it, I am ALWAYS in that mode!) I buddy-read this with a friend and we both seemed to enjoy it. It was like I was reading an 80's movie set at summer camp. The main difference with this camp: it is a gay-conversion camp! So the stress and hormones are all already a little bit higher than just your average summer camp.

What I enjoyed most were the death scenes because they were so reminiscent of how great, cheesy, and sudden they can be in some of the 80's slasher films like Friday the 13th, The Burning, and Slumber Party Massacre.

This book was interesting to me because I was always afraid I would be sent to a camp like this if my parents or family ever knew the truth about me when I was young enough to still be under their parental and legal control. I can't imagine what these kids must go through, but in this book they seem to take it all in stride.

This book did a great job at making me feel like I was at a camp - and I know that because I have never actually been to one and while reading ALL I could think about was how cool it would be to spend a summer at camp (minus the gay-bashing and converting at this one...) So if you can make me long and crave for something I never had or got to experience, you are doing something right by me!

4 out of 5 stars for this one!

Toroa is Erik Hofstatter’s debut novel and it soars! On the surface, this book focuses on a girl named Mahi. Mahi does not know her dad, her mother is the opposite of ideal, and she just met a fire-breather at a local festival who turns her world upside down in a sense. All we know up front is that her dad is from a small island in the Pacific and that her mother had a one-night stand with him. Things start to get troublesome, tragic, and crazy for Mahi and she ultimately goes on a mini-quest to find her father. Is she prepared to learn the truth of it all?

Toroa was a quick read for me, partly because it is somewhat dialogue-heavy. And the dialogue came across naturally and real to me. I enjoyed the back and forth between characters and how their conversations just seemed so real.

My favorite parts of the book upon reading were the beginning and the end. What about the middle, you say? I got a little bothered in the middle due to a HUGE twist in the plot that we were exposed to (which I will not go into here; you will need to read it to find out for yourself!) I just could not believe the way a couple of characters were reacting to what was happening! As I kept reading and got closer to the end (THAT ENDING!!) it all made sense and I was no longer irked by what bothered me mid-way.

Ok. That ending! We get hit with a big sack of truth bombs in the face at the end and I am still recovering. There was so much revealed… and then that last paragraph and those final sentences are chilling and haunting to me. I love when a book makes me visualize how I would experience the story as if I was watching a movie… I start imagining what music would be playing, the cinematography and setting, the character facial expressions… all of it… and this book did that once I got to the end! The ending just changed me. Still reeling…

A huge thanks to Sinister Grin Press and Erin Al-Mehairi for this copy in exchange for a read and review! Always great things happening over at Sinister Grin Press! 4.5 out of 5 stars for me!

I really had high hopes for this book and thought I would love it. But I should have been a little warned by all the reviews that sort of have issues with the same things I ran across. But ultimately, for me, I feel this is one of those rare times where a YA book should stay read by a YA audience. On the surface this book just bored me, and aside from the opening couple chapters, nothing really ever ramped up enough for me or happened. Additionally, this is a book I enjoyed on my Libby app, and the narrator sounds almost like a female Speak-N-Spell from the 80s. So she basically ruined the book as being enjoyable at ALL for me. I may (??) have given this one 3 stars had the narration not been so putrid, boring, and suicide-inducing, but I will never know. I didn't hate it, but I just didn't like it and could not get into it. Wompwompwompppppp...

I loved this show on Netflix so I thought, "Why not see what the book is all about, too!" Spoiler alert: I really liked the book, too! And the fact that this book was released in 2007 impresses me. Asher wrote a good mini-thriller while focusing on teen issues very well. The character of Hannah was definitely more likable in the show. In the book, she was super whiny and super annoying. In the book, I was just wanting to know what was on all the tapes, whereas in the show I actually cared about her and was saddened each episode by what would ultimately happen to her. Asher did a good job of going back and forth between Hanna via the tapes, Clay narrating/reading, and then the flashbacks with all the other characters. I will definitely read more of him whenever I need a YA fix!

5 out of 5!! Janz does it again to me! Just... wow! Full review to come

Behind The Door by Mary SanGiovanni captivated me from the synopsis that mentions an occult specialist. It also helped that the cover was so creepy, eerie, and menacing with these hands reaching out behind a door like they were coming for me. This is the first time I have read a book by SanGiovanni and it will most definitely NOT be my last.

There is a rural town in Pennsylvania called Zarephath. And deep in the woods of this town there is a solitary door that has always been there. And no one knows how it got there. All the townspeople know is that they can write a wish down, seal it in an envelope with wax and a little bit of their blood, slide it under the door, and then in three days the wish will come true. You can only have one wish. And you must never, ever open the door. Sounds… pretty awesome and easy, right?

But just as Stephen King probed our curiosity in Pet Sematary, the Door tempts someone in Zarephath that maybe someone close to them can return to the living. That one parallel being made, this book is highly original and fresh.

The author did a great job at creating a lot of characters whose stories become intertwined as we follow along. Each character had their pasts, their sins, their wishes, and their own trip to the Door. I loved all the reasons that people went to the Door and how they all became affected by it as the story progressed. SanGiovanni did an awesome job freaking me out with these parts!

I really liked the main character, occult specialist, Kathy Ryan. She was a strong lead and had a fun personality. She makes her voice heard and is seen as someone in control with good authority from the town early on. The town already believes in the powers of the Door, so it was not super hard for them to believe there was someone like Kathy Ryan who could come in and help them. It was really cool seeing a woman take this leading role and completely dominate it! I am a fan of Kathy Ryan and will be rooting for her as her story continues to unfold in later books. I read online that this is a series and I am excited for more!

Lastly, I will always be a fan of books that have evil in a small, rural town. It’s always fun for me to see evil try to sneak in the backdoor, of a small town with what one would expect to have small-minds and inhabitants who seem simple or lack ambition. I love how they pull together and how they become strong and we get to see the growth of those characters. So if that is your thing, then this book will not disappoint.

One of the themes I will leave with after reading this book is that some things are worth surviving instead of changing. 4 out of 5 stars to this book and I am already excited to see where SanGiovanni takes me next.

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Husk by Dave Zeltserman opens up with a young man on the prowl for some meat to bring back to his clan.  Little do we know that the meat he is looking for is that of a living human and he's stalking the rest areas off the interstate.  CANNIBALS! Le gasp!  But what happens when he unexpectedly falls in love with one of the potential victims and decides to assimilate to a new life void of his clan's diet, background, and rituals?  

At the beginning we get lots of uncomfortable talks about how someone looks like there "is not enough meat on the bones" or "how much meat can we trim off them."  There are jokes about skinning people alive and more.  At this point, the book could go one of two ways: it could become a gore fest of slaughtering/skinning people alive and eating them OR it could go the way it did.

I WAS looking forward to lots of gore, but I actually enjoyed the route the story went.  Our protagonist was trying to assimilate to the real world, fight off his cravings, and escape the ways of his clan.  He fell in love and it was fun watching him learn about the ways of the real world in the landscape of New York City.  There were a couple scenes that gave me enough gore to keep MY cravings at bay!

This book gets 4 out of 5 stars from me and I am thankful to NetGalley and Severn House Publishers for the advance copy.  Crittically acclaimed author Paul Tremblay is quoted as saying this about Husk: "Dave Zeltserman’s Husk is a compelling, quirky, twisty, smart, page-turner mix of horror, satire, and even a little romance with (yeah, I’ll say it) bite. A brutal love story perfect for our dark times."  And I couldn't agree more!

Gonna have to go with 2.5 out of 5 stars for this one. The book seemed to lack some depth and action for me. It was a pretty short book and maybe if it were longer it could have expanded upon some things and made the overall story better? Additionally, the narrator for this is a hard pass. She sounds like a poor man's Jennifer Tilly who is learning to read for the first time with this book. So I am sure that deterred a better rating (ONLY slightly) as well. I really wanted to like this one a lot more, too! C'est la vie...