shereadytoread's reviews
713 reviews

This is on the lighter end of Christmas horror. While it is not written as middle grade or YA, it is definitely something that younger readers can enjoy as well. 

It has young protagonists who band together to save Christmas from some creepy carolers who are taking over the neighborhood.

I really enjoyed this read. It’s the first read for me of the “I found” collection of books and I’m excited to read another.

This book delivers exactly what it promises; it is a quick and cozy sapphic story. Heavy on the holiday charm and an appropriate amount of holiday spice. I found Merry and Bright (Margot and Jack) to be charming and gotta love a dog named “Loaf”.

Disclosure: I received a gifted eARC. No review was required and all opinions are my own.

I didn’t love this one as much as the first book, but still really enjoyed it. The initial connection of the mixed up bags felt a little icky to me, but I enjoyed the relationship as it became more intense throughout the book. 

I think this one was a lot less lighthearted than the first one. Throughout the entirety of the book both characters are dealing with heavy life issues like trauma, caring for aging parents, public shaming, and more. It gave the book a bit more depth in the first one but also caused some parts to drag for a little bit. 

I am excited to continue with the series.

Disclosure: I received a free eARC of this book.

This is a book that heavily leans into ambiguity. If you like everything to be wrapped up and linear, this is not for you. 

For me the two hardest parts were the very beginning and the very end. The mere thought of letting strangers into my house to just walk around is … no thanks. Once I had to suspend disbelief that anyone would do that, I rather enjoyed the next 80% of the story. 

I highly recommend the print. There are some symbols, formatting, etc that you don’t get in the audiobook and don’t really translate well in the ebook. 

Where this book dropped from a 4.75 or 5 star was the ending. Avoiding spoilers, it felt like the author used an ambiguous ending as an excuse to just let plot holes sit in some places. I was not a fan of that piece and it really made this feel a bit unpolished. Great idea. Good bones. Slightly above average execution.

Otherwise it builds really well. Lots of eerie and uncomfortable moments. Setting up feelings of dread and hopelessness. I think it was a really unique experience but the author bit off a little more than he could chew.

It is RARE that I enjoy every story in an anthology almost equally, but this anthology manages it. The variety in the horror was refreshing and every story had a new specific destination setting (and one fantasy world) which made things feel even more varied. I had a great time with this one. 

It starts with a cryptid/creature feature in my hometown where the main characters bond over a book that I also love (so maybe I started this with some bias) but then we run into vampires, creatures, ghosts, dark entities, ancient evils, deranged family members and the horror of our own mortality. I had so much fun with the stories in this collection. 

My top stories (in no specific order) were probably: 

1. There's Something in First Landing State Park - An amphibious cryptid story in Virginia Beach's state park. 
2. The Final Wish Foundation - a serial killer story with a twist, based around terminally ill victims
3. The Reunion - a dark domestic story of a man seeing his ex-wife at a class reunion for the first time and discovering secrets that change the course of his life
4. The Ancient Ram Inn - A group of friends are headed to a haunted hotel on Halloween night. What could go wrong?

I cannot wait to read what is next from this author. This book is available for free through Kindle Unlimited. 

Disclosure: I received a gifted audiobook from Tantor Media and Libro.fm. No review was required and all opinions are my own.

This has been the PERFECT October read for me. If I love anything when it comes to horror it is my favorite horror franchise, Scream. When I saw this cover from from an author is fast climbing my favorites list, I could not resist! I was not disappointed.

This fun teen slasher definitely takes some inspiration from Scream but it’s a unique story all its own. If you’re looking for a slasher, a mystery, and a town that has a really unhealthy obsession with the high school mascot, Peaches — LOOK NO FURTHER!

We have a sapphic and Filipino representation, ode to multiple horror films, and campy horror with a touch of social commentary. The reveal of the mystery is classic slasher with a bit of mind games, blackmail and framing. 

The only piece that didn't land 100% for me was the inclusion of the podcast element. I thought it was fun on its own but it seemed a bit of a waste of a POV, and I don't think it really added anything to the experience for me that I wasn't already getting from the POVs of the other characters. I don't think it was bad at all, just not the most effective use of the podcast element.

Disclosure: I received an ARC from the publisher. No review was required and all opinions are my own.

On surface this is a domestic horror about a cursed family trapped by death. Underneath it is an exploration of racial identity, self-loathing, and internalized anti-blackness. It combines the history and legacy of slavery, passing, and intergenerational trauma. It looks at the ideas of family and legacy with our own identities. 

This book is light on the scares but high in the dread. It really delves into the psyche of the main character and the family she is working for. I think in some pieces the author could have trusted the reader a bit more to understand what was happening. It felt like everything and even some internal characterization pieces were being stated out loud for the point of explaining to the reader and I think that the writing was strong enough to understand those pieces without them being spelled out. 

This was a fantastic debut and I cannot wait to see what this author does next. 

Disclosure: I received a gifted ARC and finished copy. No review was required and all opinions are my own.

I liked the bones of this book. A mysterious space horror that follows a sole survivor with a fractured memory (and mind) trying to deal with the death of her team and figure out what happened. 

The story itself was interesting. The horror of not knowing what is real or not was well-done along with the horrors of the ship itself. I almost wish we had one connected storyline instead of her explaining the past horrific events and then getting to the mystery.

My biggest issue was the pacing and structure. The first 2/3 of the book is us seeing what happened to the team on the ship in the past as she is telling the story to investigators. The last third is figuring out the mystery of what happened. Too much build up and too little of the payoff. The resolution felt rushed because we spent so much more time explaining what happened. 

I started this book in print but the words seemed super tiny for some reason. Like it made my head hurt tiny. So I switched to the audio and really enjoyed it.

This was a fun dark fantasy adventure that borders on horror. It mixes a mystery, fantasy and crime story together in one. I enjoyed the variety in the characters and abilities and the overlapping plot lines that all tied together in the end. 

The coming out storyline played a vital role in all the other plot lines which I loved. It added a lot of character depth and complicated dynamics in what could have been a bit of a linear, straightforward plot. 

A few plot twists sprinkled in to keep things interesting.