ryinwonderland's Reviews (892)

The Farrow women are cursed with madness, or at least that’s what everyone says. June Farrow was raised by her gran after her mother abandoned her at 7mo old and disappeared forever. One day June discovers a red door that will upend her entire life and change her perspective on everything she’s ever known. 

Suburban moms dealing with the possession of one of their group. Silly, fun, a good Halloween read. Good for fans of Grady Hendrix who want something a little fluffy but still spooky. 

The Angel of Indian Lake opens its pages like the elevator doors in The Shining and an endless wave of blood surges out. 

This isn’t just a slasher. This is a hundred slashers. This is every slasher. This is a massacre. 

As you wade through the third act body dump, picking your way through dismembered limbs and severed heads, flinching away from axes and chainsaws and bear claws and corpses grabbing for your ankles, a hand reaches through the carnage and pulls you to relative safety (but are you ever really safe?). Jade Daniels, back in Proofrock, Idaho, returns as your tour guide for the slaughter in this finale. 

The Angel of Indian Lake is more brutal, more bloody, more horrific by far than its older siblings, going off the rails in the best possible way and taking as many lives as it can grab on the way. Through all of it, you can’t help but feel safe with Jade Daniels by your side. She’ll loudly declare that she is no final girl, has never been the final girl, can’t possibly be the final girl, but readers, Jade Daniels is my Final Girl. She will always be my Final Girl. 

This book is a perfect ending to a perfect trilogy…though if Friday the 13th Part 4: The Final Chapter has taught me anything, it’s that there’s always a chance the slasher will return… 

Horror fans, brace yourselves, you’re in for a grisly ride, and you’re going to love every blood-soaked second. 

Humans really can normalize anything, regardless of whether or not it’s healthy for them to do so. The September House is a masterpiece in Horror, and you know that I do not say that lightly.

Margaret has found her dream home, and it’s absolutely perfect. Okay, sure, every September the walls start bleeding and the ghost children return, but it’s her dream home, and it’s not so bad, really. You see, Margaret has learned the rules, and so long as you follow the rules, everything will be fine… (Reader, everything will not be fine). 

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. There were moments where I sat frozen in fear simply from the anticipation of what might happen next in the novel (and it is incredibly difficult to scare me). There were other moments where I was laughing so hard, tears were running down my face. And then there were the moments where my heart truly broke as I grappled with the horrors of humanity that haunt these pages. The September House was a blistering journey of emotion that I was wholly unprepared for, and of which I loved every second.

Carissa Orlando has taken the haunted house trope, flipped it on its head and given us a brilliantly clever novel about so much more than ghosts. This is one of the best horror books of the year.

Every miscommunication in this book could be solved with “hi, I’m Sadie and I have trouble with facial recognition after a recent brain surgery, have we met before?”

I guessed the “twist” in the beginning of the book, but there was still enough sweetness to make listening enjoyable. No spice, only smooches, and the entire thing is full of the miscommunication trope, so if you hate that trope, stay away from this one. Otherwise, pretty cute and a decent concept for a novel (

though the MC treats her sudden facial blindness as something to be ashamed of, which is really annoying and potentially offensive to people who actually have it, idk

). 

Good dog. Bad grandpa. Good for fans of Our Wives Under the Sea. 

A glorious prequel to Legends & Lattes. We meet Viv in the middle of her battle days, where a stab wound in her leg has forced her into a sort of vacation in a small town. From there, bookshops and scones and a threat of a necromancer and a gentleman skeleton and so much reading and romance and blind dates with books and oh, so so much love in its many forms. This book was filled with adventure and also the relaxing coziness of an independent bookshop. A love letter to indie booksellers. 

I don’t often cave to BookTok hype, but when bookseller after bookseller told me they’d read this book and loved it, I knew I had to read it for myself. I almost regret to inform you that this book absolutely lives up to the hype. It’s awesome.
Strong Female Character? Check. Disability Rep? Check. Dragons? Check. Enemies to Lovers Subplot? Check. Revenge? Check. Family Tension? Check. Sacred Bonds? Check. Murder? Check. Dark Academia? Check.
All of that, plus it is compulsively readable. A total “devour it in one sitting and then yell about the ending and immediately preorder the sequel” kind of book.
This is perfect for folks who want to dip a toe into the Fantasy genre because they like dragons, but they’re intimidated by giants like Tolkien and Martin. Fourth Wing is widely accessible, settling perfectly into that “New Adult” genre between Young Adult and Adult.
(Plus, not only are there dragons, but the dragons can talk to their riders and they’re sometimes grumpy, sometimes funny, sometimes adorable, and all the time epic…I would absolutely lay down my life for Andarna).
I really, truly loved Fourth Wing, and I’m here to tell you that in this case…you should listen to the hype.