shawna_reads's Reviews (471)

"Life brings death brings life." 

Lucas is a washed up crime writer looking for a comeback as his marriage is on the rocks. When the chance to interview cult leader and death row inmate Jeffrey Halcomb comes up, he immediately jumps at the opportunity, where there is one condition - he must move into the farmhouse where the murders happened. Once he and his daughter are moved in, Jeffrey refuses visitation so Lucas must form the details of the story on his own. 

A haunted house + a cult = spooky fun! I had no idea what I was expecting when I picked up this book, but it exceeded my expectations. It was a slow burn horror that steadily built up the tension and the creepy things occurring at the house. 

I enjoyed the dual timelines that took place in the same location, following Lucas and his daughter in the farmhouse in the present and Jeffrey and his followers in the same farmhouse in the past. The characters had their flaws, but I liked them. It still baffles me how one can join a cult, but when the leader is a handsome smooth talker, well I guess it works 😅 

The only problems I had were the lack of hauntings and the length of the book. The story was definitely creepy, but I was hoping for more. I also don't mind slow burns, but the book could have easily been 50-100 pages shorter. Other than that, it was very enjoyable!

"It means the infinite is possible. Not only possible, but happening. Every day. Everywhere." 

Tom and Jenny lose their cheap Manhattan apartment and move to an affordable house in the suburbs of New Jersey. They're not ready for new responsibilities, especially when Jenny becomes pregnant. Then Tom finds the thing in the basement that gives him confidence, strength, and has him raking in the big bucks at his new job. Their dream house has a deadly secret and Jenny must expose it to protect her family before it's too late. 

I loved Tom and Jenny and how their characters developed, going from daily drinkers who liked to party to responsible adults with a baby on the way. They completely uprooted their lives and everything miraculously fell into place until Tom's unevitable spiral when he found the "thing" in the basement. 

It was enticing and creepy, addicting yet eerie. I honestly couldn't blame Tom for being drawn to it because once it got a hold of his mind it did not relent. But boy, did it effect his life in many ways, both positive and negative. The descent into madness was unreal! It caused a general sense of dread throughout the entire story as the tension built up. 

This was a fun thriller with dark undertones. It had a lot of typical tropes a thriller usually has, but it was atmospheric and didn't take away from my overall enjoyment. Even though it was predictable, I had a fun time reading this!

"Beauty is the Devil's shade."

In the village of Lapvona, little Marek finds himself in a power struggle that puts his faith to the test. He goes from a poor delusional son to a greedy boy living among the riches of the Lord governor, while also experiencing the villagers' struggles.

I am drawn to books that are strange and bleak, and Lapvona was exactly that. The story was unique and grotesque, yet beautifully written. It focused on important themes such as faith, guilt, corruption, and greed. I also really liked the medieval atmosphere as it was almost reminiscent of a grim fairytale. 

I enjoyed following the lives of everyone in the village. Their blind faith in the village's Lord, Villiam, their belief in the pompous priest, Father Barnabas, how they overcame their struggles, simply trying to survive. Meanwhile, the Lord was living his best life while punishing those throughout the village.

This book isn't for everyone, but I enjoyed the bleakness of it. It was an interesting view of human depravity wrapped up in a twisted tale in typical Moshfegh fashion.

"I think when you enter a place that's absorbed enough bad things, it pukes them out at you. It drenches you in them. So a relatively innocuous room, like this one, will appear evil. Because bad things happened here." 

The Lonely Motel holds a lot of secrets, but room 6 contains the worst of them. Angel knows all about pain as his mother died in that room and he has come to end it where it all started. Shyla, a prostitute, accompanies him while he tells his stories, revealing the secrets of that room. 

This was a disturbing, compelling story about a man named Angel who appeared to have experienced nothing but pain in his lifetime. As distressing as it was, I could feel the grief and desolation coming off the pages. I'm not normally a squeamish person, but there was one scene that made me cringe as it was graphic and I could almost feel the pain (if you know, you know). 

I liked the structure of the story, weaving back and forth between Angel's stories and the present moment with him and Shyla. Everything connected nicely and I liked how every pivotal moment centred around room 6 at the motel. I also liked the fact that Shyla had her own stories to exchange with Angel, adding more sustenance to the book. 

You don't need me to tell you, but don't forget to check content warnings before going into this one. It's gross. It's fucked up. It's psychological. And I enjoyed it, for a lack of better words lol.

"Now I understand one of the important reasons for going to college and getting an education is to learn that the things you've believed in all your life aren't true, and that nothing is what it appears to be."

A mentally disabled man undergoes an experiment to increase his IQ like that of Algernon, a lab mouse. It is proven successful when Charlie's intelligence surpasses the doctors around him. The experiment is a breakthrough until Algernon begins to deteriorate. Will the same happen to Charlie?

The character development of Charlie was extraordinary. He went from a sweet, caring guy that didn't know any better due to his disability to a highly intelligent, yet arrogant man whom people grew to hate. I liked the fact that the story was told through Charlie's journal entries so you could see his progression and self-awareness increase, starting with his grammar and spelling to his emotional growth. 

I wasn't expecting the story to be sad, but it definitely became emotional when Charlie realized he didn't know how to handle his own emotions, when he became aware of what people truly thought of him, tried to form meaningful relationships, and ultimately his slow regression.

My only problem with the book was that I felt like Charlie's progression accelerated very quickly, leaving quite a bit of filler in the middle to expand on the story. However, it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment and the brilliance of it. I highly recommend this one if you're looking for something different!

"I have been brought back from the dead for a reason. A mission. To clear the world of trash. And how do we get rid of trash? We burn it. We burn it all."

Ruby Miller is finally free of her past, her family, and her tormentor, but being free comes with a price as she crashes her car on the loneliest road. She is about to find out whether she is truly free as she is reborn from her ashes like a Phoenix. 

I did not know there was a novella of the short story in Gemma's collection, Cruel Works of Nature. A few pages in I thought "Why does this sound familiar?" And then it hit me 😂 I loved that story so it was no surprise that I loved this extended version!

This is an action packed novella full of horror and grief. Ruby is an angry person looking for revenge. She may have escaped her family, but her father's voice still lives in her head and it is that voice that fuels her anger and causes to burn anyone and anything in her path. She is a badass character that you can't help but feel sad for because of the abuse she endured that effected her perspective on life.

I highly recommend this fiery, chaotic, gripping novella!

"I think the important thing to realize, to try and remember, is that grief doesn't have a rule book. You're allowed to feel every emotion under the sun. You're even allowed to invent new ones." 

After her father's death, Jane and her mother move across the country from sunny California to a dreary old house in Maine where her mother grew up. They are looking for a fresh start, but not everything is what it seems at North Manor. With Jane's own struggles of grief and bullying, her mother doesn't appear to be herself either. 

I wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't. It is YA horror, which not to say that all YA horror is bad, but this one did not work for me. 

I liked the concept of the story, but the execution wasn't the best. The writing was simple, but for a book about grief, the characters' emotions felt pretty stilted. Jane and her mother handled their grief differently, however, the relationship between the two felt like a friendship between two teenaged girls. Also, Jane kept referring to her parents by their names which made the familial connection feel detached. 

There was such a slow build up to the story that the action and reveals occurred in the last 50 pages, and the ending was ambiguous, but lackluster. I personally felt like the story could have taken a completely different trajectory to make it more effective. 

If you enjoy YA horror, please don't take my review at face value. I got the book based on positive reviews so other people liked it 😅 

"We can't shutter ourselves away in the dark and moan about the unfairness of fate, the cruel caprices of destiny. Everything happens for a reason, as they say, and I believe that to be true." 

Brent Prior is a dreary place where people dream of escaping. Kate Mansfield and her blind brother, Neil, live in a manor near the moors, where their father lies with an unexplained illness. The village people are disappearing when a fog suddenly rolls in and a disfigured man claiming to be the Master of the Moors shows up with unfinished business. 

Right from the get-go, you can feel the sense of dread building up among some of the villagers. I don't know what it is, but there's something about a horror set in a different time period that makes the setting feel even more frightening and tense. The atmosphere was bleak and spine-chilling, and I could feel the intense fear the characters were experiencing. 

The writing flowed wonderfully and each character brought something to the story. Some you love, some you hate, but they were all pertinent to what was happening in the moors. I'm not going to say much else because it's a short book, but all I'm going to say is stay away from the fog 😬 

I definitely recommend this to all horror fans! 

"Grief cannot feed you, though it fills you." 

In a small village in Norway, forty fishermen go out to sea where a reckless storm causes them all to drown. Maren and the other villagers soon realize all the men are gone and the women must fend for themselves. Three years later, a new Lord, Abasalom, and his wife, Ursa, arrives. Ursa has never seen independent women, however, Absalom sees evil and is on the hunt for witches. 

This is not my usual type of book, but I'm glad I read it because I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it despite the depressing content. It was so elegantly written. A historical fiction set in 1617 that was inspired by the true events of the storm in Vardo and the witch trials, The Mercies is a compelling story of love, hate, feminism, and independence. 

There was an abundance of characters that I came to love and hate. Seeing how the women had to overcome their struggles and learn new skills for survival was emotionally tolling. The way some of the women would accuse other women as witches just because they didn't like them and wanted approval by the Lord was wretched. Old relationships fell apart as new relationships kindled. 

Somber yet hopeful, this is the type of book that will make you depressed and angry as it was very atmospheric, but it was worth the read. 

"Thoughts are a door that the dead walk through." 

Ted lives in an ordinary house on an ordinary street with his cat, Olivia. His daughter, Lauren, sometimes comes to visit. There is a serial killer on the loose, a stolen child, and secrets lie in the forest at the end of Needless Street. 

I am late to the game, but I can definitely say this book lives up to the hype!

I don't know where to start because I don't want to spoil anything even if a ton of people have already read it, but for those of you who haven't, well I absolutely loved it! The spooky atmosphere, the development of the characters, unreliable narrators, different POVs, twists and turns. This book had it all 👏🏽 

This was a very compelling, unique story. The writing pulled me right in and I was immediately thrown into the chaos. I felt dumb for not figuring things out sooner once the mysteries slowly unraveled itself, but that obviously didn't take away from my enjoyment as the story had me mesmerized from the start. I also appreciated the author's commentary at the end. 

TLHONS was my first book by Catriona and it did not disappoint. I can't wait to get my hands on her other books!