Tag: horror

This Is Not A Ghost Story by Amerie

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This Is Not a Ghost Story is an enjoyably inventive twist on…a ghost story! Set in modern day, it is quite unique in that it encompasses a mystery, is part romance, funny and has a dysfunctional family thrown in for good measure. It takes the reader on quite an adventure!

John, a ghost, enjoys his life living in his house and has done so for many years. One day, a dark grey man-shadow literally throws him out of the house. He lands In Los Angeles. All he wants to do is go back home but has no idea how. The most startling thing about John is people can see him.

Unable to remember anything about his past, he seeks guidance by visiting a “psychic” who tells him he can help get him back home and they begin a present-day journey with a few other folks met along the way including a publicist and a want to be actress. John immediately becomes the new sensation on television, and social media with everyone trying figure out if he is really telling the truth. Of course, there are also people who want to jump on the John band wagon who will say and do anything to get into the spotlight.

The group begin to bond as John begins to get rich off his appearances. But when the grey man-shadow appears again, something starts to happen to him. He seems to fade. With the help of his new friends, they try to take care of him, all the while John is trying to remember where he lived and came from when he was alive. Also, why has this happened to him?

Will John find his way home? This Is Not a Ghost Story can be intense, but it is very humorous, sad, touching and filled with hope and love.

Thank you #NetGalley #WilliamMorrow /HarperCollins #Amerie #ThisIsNotAGhostStory for the advanced copy.

Julie Tudor Is Not A Psychopath by Jennifer Holdich

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Oh yes…Julie Tudor is a psychopath, in the book Julie Tudor Is Not A Psychopath, for real, but the more interesting question we should ask ourselves in this very dark but absolutely hysterical story is why? How on earth does a woman in her forties who has been perhaps killing lots of stuff over the years have so much confidence in herself to believe a young man in his twenties would ever look at her and find her, well, interesting, um romantically. And really believe it!

The story which jumps from one era to the next explains Julie’s logic as to why she feels the need to do what she does. When she’s bored, or when she believes someone is standing in her way or when she wants what she wants when she wants it. But unfortunately for Julie her reign just might be coming to an end with her “love affair” with her co-worker.

When Sean becomes an employee at the company Julie has worked at for years, after being unable to fulfill getting her nursing license…you’ll find out why…well she just knows he’s into her. No matter that he has a girlfriend. She knows Sean is only with her for her rent money. But, when they (Sean and his girlfriend) become engaged, well, that’s a totally different story. So of course, Julie must fix the situation, for Sean, of course something she has been doing for years for those who need help.

For me, the most interesting piece of Julie’s life is just exactly how she became a psychopath. Dispersed throughout the story, believe it or not, you will find you are empathizing with Julie. Does that mean I am a psychopath?? Well, back to the review. Anyway, Julie did not have a very good childhood and perhaps or probably that could be why Julie Tudor is now a psychopath.

Julie Tudor Is Not A Psychopath is darkly hysterical yet extremely empathetically sad as the reader perhaps begins to understand Julie and although absolutely knows she’s crazy, wants to see what she will try next. This is certainly a can’t put down book because you want to see where this is going, and no surprise, the ending is everything!

Thank you #NetGalley #SourcebooksLandmark #JenniferHoldich #JulieTudorIsNotAPsychopath for the advanced copy.

A Christmas Ghost Story by Kim Newman

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A Christmas Ghost Story is a delightfully demented chilling mysterious ghost story within a story. It’s dangerously addictive as you begin the haunting climb to the unexpected ending. It’s a book which should be read in the daylight only… at night if you are brave!

It’s the Christmas season in England for Rust, a teenager and his mother Angie, a struggling novelist. It’s just the two of them and they don’t have much but come Christmas they splurge! But this Christmas everything seems to be off, and they don’t quite understand what is going on. Their first hint of a problem is when on December 1 Rust opens the first day of his advent calendar and there is something wrong with the taste of the chocolate.

Then, they begin to receive unsigned Christmas cards with ominous poetic writings in them. Rust wants to throw them out but Angie for some reason feels scared by doing that so they begin to put them on their mantel. Each day.

They try to figure out if this is some sort of a sick joke and even attempt to fool the writer of the cards and try to see who is putting them in their mailbox and on their property with no luck. They begin to feel it must be a ghost, but really, they are both too sensible. Each card is more frightening than the previous.

Worse, strange things begin to happen to them and their surroundings. Rust feels sick after eating the chocolate. A strange plant begins to overtake their backyard. And the Christmas turkey, well it just goes bad in the refrigerator.

But Angie fears she knows what’s happening and it has something to do with when she was a child and she secretly watched a Christmas horror story on the television without her parents knowing after they had gone to bed. More importantly is if she is correct, Rust is in danger. She must figure out how to stop this.

As she searches the internet for clues of the story she watched, she finds nothing. It’s as if it never existed. Did she imagine the whole thing? And as the days towards Christmas get closer, her fears grow because she knows what happens on December 25. How do they stop this?

A Christmas Ghost Story is a spine-chilling tale in which you won’t know the outcome until the very end. How can such a happy time take such a terrible turn? Well, you will certainly find out!

Thank you #NetGalley #TritonBooks #KimNewman #AChristmasGhostStory for the advanced copy.

The Night Guest by Hildur Knutsdottir

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The Night Guest is eerie, creepy and delicious! A can’t put down nightmare of a story where nothing makes sense until everything makes sense. The intensity of the book makes for a heart-palpitating quick read which will continue to give you goosebumps for hours after.

Iounn lives in Iceland. She has a great job, good friends (sort of), but unfortunately many horrible health problems which no doctor seems to be able to resolve.

She is tired all the time, her body achy and she has constant unexplained bruising sometimes almost every day. Finally, she sees a female doctor and Iounn feels more comfortable with the results of her blood tests which all come back fine, she feels as if she is now able to relax. Until the next time she wakes up tired, bruised and with what looks like rust under her fingernails.

Her friends believe it is her diet. They tell her to eat more. They tell her to exercise more. They tell her to take sleeping pills to help her sleep. Reluctantly, her doctor does prescribe the sleeping pills and at first they are a miracle! Until one night when she goes to take them and there are none left in the bottle. What happened to the pills?

Her weekly dinner with her parents is another added stress in her life. She’s vegetarian and her mother refuses to change the dinner menu for her. The table talk is always tense and irritating which adds to her anxiety.

Then someone suggests she buy a watch which tracks your daily steps to make sure she’s getting enough exercise to tire herself out. But one morning she discovers she forgot to take the watch off before going to bed and is horrified to see an added 40,000 steps! This can’t be right.

What is happening to her? Now she must try and figure out what is going on at night. She refuses to tell anybody her secret. What could she be doing at night and why?

Well reader, that’s all you are going to get from me. But read The Night Guest you must! It’s a spine-chilling story and the ending? Well, see for yourself!

Thank you #NetGalley #TorNightlife #HildurKnutsdottir #TheNightGuest for the advanced copy.

So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison

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In only the inventive style of horror icon, Rachel Harrison could this imaginative, creepy, chilling story be created. It’s dark, but it’s fascinatingly good! This book is not for the faint of heart, but those who know Harrison’s work or those who decide to venture into her world…you will not be disappointed. Having met her I can sort of understand where her macabre fascination stems from, but…she is as super kind as she is super gory! If you have not read anything by her well…welcome! And let me assure you, you will be back!

Sloan Parker’s husband has given her a birthday present she certainly should be grateful for…a weekend away at an inn with her best friend Naomi. But Sloan has her suspicions as to why this choice in gift, but that’s for you to figure out as you read!

Sloan is definitely in the middle of an existential crisis. Her age as well as her life in general. She works from home, has the same routine, only has to see her co-workers once a month and well her marriage is just about the same, routine. Wake, work, cook, go to bed. When she looks in the mirror, she sees someone she certainly doesn’t know…those wrinkles…where did they come from?

But when she is with her best friend Naomi, all is forgotten. Naomi is a free spirit who does what she wants when she wants. Even in her long-term relationship, she has a fling or two without any guilt. So, Sloan is hoping Naomi will bring some of her magic along and help her.

Unfortunately, immediately there are problems. There is a blizzard, and they are pretty much stuck near the inn. But they do go for drinks where Naomi meets someone (of course) and they are invited to a party the next night. Now depending on who you ask both will blame the other for what happens next. They are turned into women who will live forever.

Join Sloan and Naomi as they try to adjust to their new lifestyle, having to leave their lives behind and adjust to new shall we say, feelings and thirsts. With a new band of friends, who will attempt to help them, their adventures will become shocking, even to them!

So Thirsty is perhaps a much scarier Thelma and Louise in a very different community. Naiveté and innocence may actually be their new enemy. But there are some enjoyably funny moments as they adjust to their lives of being thirsty.

Berkley Publishing