Oooph - this audiobook had me stressed! I‘m still trying to figure out if I caught all the twists and turns. This was a fun blend of horror with a bit of fantasy. The story didn‘t go anywhere I was expecting. I eventually stopped guessing at what I thought was going to happen and just went along for the ride. I love when I come across something that feels surprising and new. I really enjoy SGJ‘s writing. The narrator did a fantastic job too!

Hi! It‘s been a while since I‘ve posted. I hit a lot of reading slumps this year - hoping that will change in 2023. I barely made my GR goal and towards the end it felt more like homework. I‘m not setting a GR goal for 2023. I‘ve set one for the past 10 years and it feels strange to skip it, but I think it will help me get back into enjoying reading.

My top 3 reads of 2022 -
*Where the Drowned Girls Go
*Yona of the Dawn (1-8)
*Shadow of the Gods

I haven‘t posted in a while because I haven‘t read much lately (typical for me towards the end of the year). I‘ve only read four books since October - all graphic novels or manga.

BUT I stopped by Barnes & Noble today to take advantage of their 50% off all hardcovers sale and I wanted to share what I picked up. I‘m most excited about grabbing the three hardcover Saga omnibuses. I also bought a horror-themed board game!📚

September 2021 Reads

September wasn‘t as successful of a reading month for me numbers-wise, but I listened to 3 knock-out audiobooks. I‘m glad I listened to these books, especially My Heart is a Chainsaw. It helped with the internal dialogue.

Manga:
-Parasyte V5
-Zom 100 V3
-Flowers of Evil Complete V1
-Goblin Slayer V7-10

Audiobooks:
-Chasing the Boogeyman
-My Heart is a Chainsaw
-White Smoke

Physical Books:
-The Woods are Always Watching

This is why I love buying books directly from independent publishers. I knew the book was coming signed, but the personalized touch was extra nice! I was introduced to Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing through my Night Worms subscription. I really enjoyed We Need To Do Something, so I‘m excited to read another book from this author. This one is described as Stranger Things meets The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which sounds amazing!

I finished the 1st Flowers of Evil a couple days ago and I STILL can‘t decide how I feel about it. A lot of manga readers love this series, but I think this may not be for me. I like dark fiction, can deal with a little nihilism, am ok with being uncomfortable, but this 1st volume amped up all of those feelings to a level I didn‘t enjoy.

For those who‘ve read the series, if I struggled with the 1st book, will it be a lot of the same for the rest?

The spoils of a successful trip to Barnes & Noble. I went in for the Brom and came out with…well…all of this.

I was excited to see the Halloween/anniversary edition of Rue Morgue at my store. Looking forward to all of these reads, but the latest from Brom is one of my most anticipated of the year. As soon as I finish reading my current winter/holiday-themed horror book, I‘m picking up Slewfoot!

August 2021 Reads

This was a great reading month for me! I enjoyed everything I read (something I can‘t say about my start to September). My favorites are marked with a ⭐️.

Manga:
-Parasyte V4
-Jojo‘s Bizarre Adventure Part 1, V3
-The Witch and the Beast V1-6⭐️
-Fist of the North Star V1

Audiobooks:
-Exorcist Falls
-Legendborn⭐️
-We Need to Do Something
-Nightbooks
-The Haunting of Ashburn House

Physical:
-Hide and Seeker⭐️
-The Stitchers

This novella seems like it‘s just going to be an intense family drama. But then, it flips a switch and the horror starts.

I didn‘t find this to be traditionally scary, but it hits all those feelings that feed into fear - anxiety, anger, paranoia, dread, desperation. This story is claustrophobic and TENSE! One of my big phobias pops up and it made me squirm while listening. 😂

The narrator was fantastic and I‘m excited for the upcoming movie!

I just finished another great middle grade horror novel! This is the first in a series (Fright Watch); the second book will be released at the end of the month. The plot and tone of this book had strong Eerie, Indiana vibes. This seems like the type of creepy case Marshall and Simon would have found themselves investigating. I‘m looking forward to the next one! 👻

I‘m late to this book, but wow, it was fantastic! I tend to turn away from contemporary fantasy and Arthurian fantasy - well, this is both of those things. The high reviews for this book convinced me to give it a chance. I read the first half and listened to the second half. I‘m really happy I decided to pick it up because this book is amazing and I‘m excited for the sequel! The narrator did a wonderful job. I hope she narrates the next book.

I love creepy middle grade books! This is something I would have picked up as a kid. It probably would have creeped me out, but I would have loved it.

The friendship between the characters was sweet and I‘ll admit that there were a couple moments that had me tearing up. The horror itself was creepy, scary in moments, without being over-the-top terrifying. Definitely recommend as a spooky October read. I hope the author makes this a series.

I‘ve been reading comics, graphic novels, and manga for about 10 years, but I‘ve never created the space to collect them the way I wanted to. I recently decided to solve the problem by moving some furniture around to make space for a new bookcase! I don‘t know if I actually solved anything, except to give myself an excuse to buy more books - as you can see by my now completely full, double-stacked shelves. 😂

Lots to keep me busy for a while. 📚

Whewww…deep breath. Just finished this audiobook and it was a wild ride. Movies/novels about possession are my go-to for horror when I‘m in the mood to be creeped out. I‘ve seen The Exorcist enough times where it shouldn‘t phase me anymore and it‘s STILL on my only-watch-during-the-day list.

I didn‘t find this book very scary, but it was definitely unsettling. It‘s also pretty graphic. Not quite extreme horror, but it lives in the neighborhood.

Here are my July reads. The Final Girl Support Group was my favorite. Parasyte continues to be a fantastic series.

Physical Books:
-Survive the Night
-The Final Girl Support Group

Audio:
-The Babysitter‘s Coven
-The Taking of Jake Livingston

Graphic Novels/Comics/Manga:
-Poison Ivy: Thorns
-Parasyte V3
-Goblin Slayer V3-6
-Berserk V1
-Mieruko-Chan V3
-Grand Blue Dreaming V1
-Jujutsu Kaisen V0 (SJ app)
-Sadako-San & Sadako-Chan (unhauled)

These beautiful hardcover (Puffin) editions of two horror classics were delivered yesterday. The covers are more stunning in person. They definitely have earned a front-facing position on my bookshelves.

Frankenstein is my favorite book, so I like to collect versions with interesting covers. I haven‘t read Dracula yet, but I had to add this version with its amazing cover to the cart as well.

I went to Barnes and Noble today. Here‘s the damage.

I‘m very excited to read Grady Hendrix‘s new book. I plan to finish Riley Sager‘s Survive the Night tonight and jump into The Final Girl Support Group immediately after. I want to get to The Taking of Jake Livingston this weekend too!

I watched Rent-a-Girlfriend last weekend hoping that seeing the anime would take the series off my TBR manga list. It had the opposite effect. 😂

Finally posting my June reads. I‘ve mostly been in the mood to read manga/comics lately, which seems to be following me into July.

-Whisper Me a Love Song 1-3
-Something is Killing the Children 1-3
-Chainsaw Man 5
-Undead Unluck 2 (Shonen Jump app)
-Far From Home (horror anthology)
-With Teeth (audio)
-Goblin Slayer 1 & 2
-Flying Witch 1
-Haunted House (audio)
-Zom 100 1 & 2
-Sweat and Soap 1

*Ongoing: Legendborn and Goblin

Warn you wallets! The Flame Tree Press July 4th sale has started! A lot of their hardcovers and paperbacks are on sale for $5 through Monday. Fortunately (and unfortunately), there are a lot more books on their special offers list that catch my interest this year than last year. Between this sale and the RightStuf sale going on throughout July, my bank account is scared. 😂

1. A friend suggested I change careers after noticing how unhappy I was at the time. Sounds obvious, but she helped motivate me to find something I enjoy.
2. I loved dressing up as Columbia for a RHPS audience participation event. I tried to find the photo, but couldn‘t, so here‘s a picture of Nell Campbell. My bolero tux jacket and top hat weren‘t decked out in sequins, but I was very proud of the costume I put together with thrift store finds.

I ordered this from Off Limits Press a couple weeks ago and have been reading a story or 2 each night. I love survival/adventure horror - especially when it involves camping or set in a cave (caves terrify me). As with most anthologies, some stories weren‘t for me, but overall I really enjoyed it and I found some new authors to read.

Favorites:
Lay Low -Ed Kurtz
Penance -Stephanie Ellis
Hell of a Ride -Villimey Mist
Those Who Wander -A.K. Dennis

MAY ‘21 Wrap-up:

Here are the books I read in May! I didn‘t realize I‘d gravitated towards some strange horror picks this month - Mouse Trap, Dimentia, and Scanlines were all pretty unusual and dark.

I‘m loving Parasyte; I‘m excited to read more volumes! The 2nd vol. of JoJo‘s part 1 was wild. This series is listed as horror and I didn‘t fully see it in vol. 1. I got a few pages into vol. 2 and said - oh, there it is. Very ridiculous and fun. 😂

This is my first dive into bizarro fiction. It‘s pretty much what I expected - a lot of weirdness and body horror. It sounds like this is on the tamer side of Mellick‘s work. Many of his book covers (and titles) fall in the NSFW category. 😂

This book was dark, but entertaining. I really liked the main character, Emily. Even though this won‘t be my go-to genre, I really enjoyed the book. I plan to pick up more of his work in the future.

This was a fun listen. I love these types of “did you know...” books that dedicate just a few pages to each person/item. I think I would have enjoyed this more if I read the physical book. It has a a lot of fun illustrations throughout. Since I have both the audiobook and hardcover, I‘d dip into the physical book every now and then. It was released by Quirk - a great publisher for those who enjoy books as objects as well as their content.

1. Horror will always have my ❤️. My mom often wonders aloud why I enjoy scary things & I have to remind her of all the monster movies & Vincent Price films she watched in front of me when I was probably too young. Thanks Mom!

2. It takes a lot to scare me (in fiction), but The Good House definitely had intense, creepy moments that got to me.

Thank you for inviting me to play @DarkMina & thanks for starting the game @TheSpineView ! #Two4Tuesday

This is my favorite new manga series. Power (vol. 2‘s cover) is in the running for my favorite manga character at the moment - absolutely hilarious. Unfortunately, this series is often out of stock (I had to read vol. 3 on my phone), so I‘ve already pre-ordered 5 & 6 to make sure I get physical copies. If you enjoy manga & haven‘t picked this up yet, I highly recommend it. It‘s very funny with over-the-top action. Can‘t wait for the next book! 😈

APR ‘21 Wrap-up: 📚

These are the books I completed in April. The Thief of Always was my favorite this month. I loved V. Castro‘s Goddess of Filth. I‘m very excited for the book she‘s releasing in June. I‘ve also found a new favorite manga series in Chainsaw Man. I only listened to 1 audiobook - The Withering by Ambrose Ibsen. I was happy to have another sequel released for this series.

Here‘s what I got in my 2nd horror-themed book box for April. This is my first Abominable Book Club box and I‘m super happy with it. I‘ll fully admit that I, a full-grown adult, actually squealed when I saw Last House on Needless Street in this box. It‘s one of my most anticipated releases this year. I was super excited to get this Viper edition so I could read it early since the Tor Nightfire edition won‘t be released until September. ⬇️

Since we‘re at the end of the month, I wanted to post what I received in my 2 April horror-themed book boxes. Here‘s what I got from #Nightworms.

I loved Goddess of Filth! I haven‘t had a chance to read Whisper Down the Lane, but it‘s on my May TBR & I‘m starting Scanlines* today. I absolutely love this subscription! I‘ve been introduced to a lot of great indie publishers & new authors. 👻

*Added a sticker over the cover to hide a violent image.

This was such a fantastic book! It gave me strong Ray Bradbury vibes. I definitely need to read more Clive Barker. I‘ve only ever read a few short stories and The Hellbound Heart. After reading this book, I‘m very interested in picking up Weaveworld.

Listening to The Withering while meal prepping for the week. This is the 3rd book in Ibsen‘s House of Souls series. I ❤️ the first book (tagged). Joe Hempel has become one of my favorite narrators because of this series.

Darcy Coates & Ambrose Ibsen are two of my go-to authors when I‘m in the mood to listen to a horror audiobook, but I don‘t a specific book in mind. Between both of their catalogs, I can always find something satisfying to read.

I‘m getting a late start to #Deweys24HourReadathon. Most of the time, sleep tends to win out over my intended plans. I don‘t have a definite lineup for the day. I just made a stack to pick from - mostly shorter books and manga that I‘ve bought over the last few months. I also have a couple audiobooks to listen to when I can‘t sit and read. Starting out with House of Hollow. Happy reading everyone!

“This is my last love letter to you, though some would call it a confession.”

Told from the POV of Constanta, one of Dracula‘s brides, we see the obsessive, controlling, and cruel nature of Dracula over the span of centuries. This is not the portrayal of the vampire as a romantic anti-hero. This is Dracula the monster.

This book was beautifully written. I‘ve already ordered another book by Gibson. CW for abuse, especially verbal and emotional.

Such a dark, weird, beautiful book. It had touches of The Munsters and The Addams Family if their stories were told as a gothic drama instead of a comedy. The book centers around Eleanor, who has run away from boarding school to return home to her family of monsters. Problem - Eleanor‘s family seems to be afraid of her.

This is Szabo‘s debut novel and I‘m excited for what they release next. This will absolutely be a re-read for me in the future.

MAR ‘21 Wrap-up:

These are the books I completed last month. The 3 on top were read as physical books and the bottom 3 were audiobooks.

What Big Teeth (4⭐️) and A Dowry of Blood (5⭐️) were my favorites. The Changeling was a fantastic way to start out the month. I love Lavalle‘s writing and this one didn‘t disappoint. He also did an amazing job narrating it. Even though it was a low reading month for me, I enjoyed everything I finished.

FEB ‘21 Wrap-up:

I completed 8 books in FEB: 5 physical and 3 audio. My favorite were The Good House and Moxie. I‘m so happy to have finally read The Good House. It‘s a new horror favorite!

Every year I aim to read as many new horror releases as I can so I‘m familiar with the books nominated for the Bram Stoker Awards the following year. I‘m already behind, but hopefully it‘s early enough in the year for me to catch up! 👻

Woo hoo! This is one of my favorite bookish events of the year - the release of the final ballot for the Bram Stoker Awards! I‘ve already read a few of the final nominees, but I‘m going to try to squeeze in as many of the ones I haven‘t read before the winners are announced in May. Let the horror binge begin (well...continue). 😈

http://www.thebramstokerawards.com/front-page/the-2020-bram-stoker-awards-final-...

#bramstokerawards
#horror

This is the first time I‘ve ordered from Right Stuf Anime and I‘m really impressed with the careful way they packed/shipped the books. I plan to read the first volume of High-Rise Invasion before Netflix releases the anime on the 25th.

I dropped off from reading manga for a bit, but I‘ve been picking it back up recently. There are a couple of series I was following that I‘m now very behind in - and yet I‘m still picking up new series. 😂

I started this audiobook today. I tried reading it last year, but only got a couple chapters into it before putting it aside. Due‘s writing is amazing; Ghost Summer is one of my favorite short story collections. But so much happens in just the first couple chapters of this book, that I felt overwhelmed (and a little intimidated) the first time I dipped into it. Now I feel like I‘m in the right reading mood to fully appreciate it. 👻

This is exactly the book I needed to kick off the month. I listened to this one and found myself laughing through the entire thing. I love West‘s writing and it was fun to read something relaxed and light-hearted from her.

I loved that she rated each movie using an “X/10 DVDs of The Fugitive” scale. I felt like I held my breath through the entire chapter about Jurassic Park, hoping it‘d score high. I wasn‘t disappointed 🦖

JAN ‘21 Wrap-up:
I finished 10 books, which is far more than I read last JAN. 2019-2020 were not great reading years for me compared to others. I want to push myself to complete more books in 2021; hopefully I keep up this momentum!

I listened to 5 audiobooks and read 5 physical/e-books. (Not pictured is Night Society by Ambrose Ibsen) I also started The Changeling by Victor LaValle and Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland - rolling them into FEB.

This is the third Darcy Coates book I‘ve read in the past few weeks and it‘s been my favorite so far. Nothing new or groundbreaking, but they‘re solid, fun ghost stories. I‘m going to move onto some other horror authors for now - especially as we‘re heading into October - but I‘ll definitely revisit Coates‘ catalog of books again. 👻

I‘ve already downloaded book 3!

I enjoyed the 1st book, but I loved the sequel more! It had me squeezing in chapters whenever I could find time. The homage to 80s slasher flicks was spot-on. This is one of those books that played through my head as a movie. I would even occasionally hear the Friday the 13th/Jason “ki ki ki, ma ma ma” sound effect playing in my head.

This is a fun, over-the-top horror series that is perfect for summer! 💀

I finally finished The Return and now I‘m moving on to Lovecraft Country. It‘s been on my TBR for a long time, but I bumped it up on the list after seeing HBO‘s teaser trailer for the upcoming series. It looks amazing, but I want to read the book before it‘s debut in August. I‘m really excited for this show!

My copy of Twisted Visions arrived a few days ago and I finally looked through it. I didn‘t do any research leading up to this purchase. I saw Junji Ito‘s name and automatically pre-ordered it. It‘s actually a beautiful collection of his work from different manga. I love looking at larger images of his work and finding details I missed in the manga editions. I put Uzumaki next to it for a size comparison. I‘m excited to add this to my collection!

I just got back from B&N. This is the last weekend of their ‘buy 2 manga, get 1 free‘ deals, which tempted me into buying this beautiful hardcover Vol. 1 edition of Drifting Classroom. I love Viz Media‘s Signature editions. The Junji Ito collections are gorgeous! Of course that means I got to pick out 2 additional manga and then threw on 1 more for good measure. I added 2 more books to the pile and called it a successful trip to the bookstore. 📚

Just finished my first book of 2020! This was a great audiobook - listening to it actually helped me stay with the story. There‘s a lot of intentional repetition that I think would have frustrated me without listening to the narrator‘s change in inflection. I loved the characters (❤️ Bongo) and while this didn‘t scare me, there were enough creepy parts that made my horror-loving heart thump a bit faster.

Great addition to folkloric horror!

I love listening to Shea Serrano talk about movies. I‘m hoping he‘ll have a season 2 of his Villains podcast.

I just got this book in the mail today. I‘m really excited to dig into it and start a ‘movies to watch‘ list! I‘m also loving the illustrations. 😍

This might be the go-to present for my movie-loving friends and family members.

I enjoy reading horror all year round, but I love this time of year when horror reading lists start popping up online. I already have a lot of these suggestions from Bustle on my shelf and wishlist, but I found a few more to add to my TBR. 👻

https://www.bustle.com/p/20-new-horror-books-for-readers-who-take-spooky-season-...