westernskynaida's Reviews (147)

Having heard about the infamous Chuck Tingle, I was hesitant to read his horror. But I’m so glad I did. I read a review earlier that this is very cathartic, and while I didn’t grow up in this specific culture, I’ve know plenty of people who have

While this wasn’t back to back horror, the concept of losing yourself and trying to find yourself after such traumatic things have happened, can be very scary. Especially with how realistic this was - even with the demons.

This book has gotten me to wishlist the next horror from Tingle, and I’m excited to trot my way into the next one

And just remember - love always wins

I’m giving this a little lower of a score because I ended up having to listen to the audiobook version and probably missed a good chunk because I couldn’t focus like if I was reading a physical or ebook

Besides that, I thought this was very well done. The audiobook specifically definitely gave me some goosebumps at certain parts because while it was the same narrator, some parts translated really well in audio form.

While ableism is also pretty thick in this due to how people treat Clark, I feel Lois - in her own way - showed how much she loves Clark, as he is, and while she has frustrations, I was genuinely happy at the final climax made my heart happy.

I want to be able to read this as a physical or ebook because I feel I would get some pieces I’m sure my brain just blanked on - especially in the later half. But I’d definitely recommend this, especially for people interested in folklore from other countries

I had read this previously back when it was on r/NoSleep. I feel even years later, this still hits hard

The narration for the naive child who doesn’t understand the worries and scary things that are happening makes things so much creepier. The ending still hits hard. Maybe I enjoyed it more than others might because I read the original version, but I still think this was a great slow burn

I tried to make it to 100 pages, I really did. It sounded so promising and the reviews looked like it would be right up my alley

This was slow, and really the only character I liked in the first 74 pages was Esther. She reminded me of my mom a bit…

This book really wasn’t for me but I hope whoever reads it finds a way to enjoy it

I don’t read a ton of romance books, but I’ve heard decent things about this book and wanted to read it before watching the movie adaption

I definitely appreciated that this was an “escapist” world because of the timing and when this came out. I almost wish that this was our world because at least we’d have a cute gay/bi couple that we could see some (hopefully) happy news with

I’ve got some other more lighter mood novels I’m planning to read this year, so I guess this one is kind of the start (even though I started this months ago)

I probably should have read the actual House of Usher before I read this, but I did that with the last one too…

It really shouldn’t have taken me a couple of weeks to read a book that isn’t even 200 pages…but at least I read it as my last book of 2023

Besides the fact that I didn’t have the full reference of the original work it’s based on, I feel like the tension was pretty good. Easton’s interaction with the hares and Maddy were definitely tense when they needed. Wouldn’t say it's my favorite horror I’ve read this year, but if you want a quick read, I’d say try it

I read this because of the note at the end of Kingfisher’s The Hollow Places

This was very good. The atmosphere definitely gave me the tense feelings the narrator and the Swede felt during this whole ordeal

At the end of reading this I really wanted more of the The Willows and then realized I did get that with my previous read so definitely check The Hollow Places if you enjoyed this

I would have given this a higher rating but there were some parts that dragged on a bit. The Willows world and the climax really stuck out to me and the imagery was so good

I want to read the Algernon Blackwood piece mentioned in the author notes at the end now

Edit
I’ve read The Willows by Algernon Blackwood and I’m increasing this a bit for a higher score because I realized after finishing that it gave me what my brain wanted which was more of the Willows world

For now I’m rating this a 3.75, maybe I’ll change the score once I sleep on it a bit but this book was…really rough

I saw this recommended as a book that disturbs the reader and I definitely agree. While I did call the main twist before the last 25% of the book (I actually wrote it down that I guessed it at 26%) it still was a hard twist to swallow because of the psychological torture that Michael had endured during the entire book

I had never read an “extreme” horror before and while this isn’t to the level as some others, it does at least prepare me for if/when I feel I can stomach those more extreme books

For anyone interested in reading, please read the content/trigger warnings. While I may have been able to stomach the last quarter of the book, I do feel sick to my stomach…maybe I’ll try to finish some of the romance books I’ve been putting off to clean my palate 

I’d been really interested in reading this one but I’m glad I rented it from the library rather than buying it outright…

I read 22 chapters and the religious talk and undertones drove me nuts…

I’ll just read a synopsis online because I’m struggling only 120 something pages in…I can’t imagine reading 700+ pages of this…