Recent Updates and Currently Reading | July 28

Sending lots of hugs to everyone who knew Grace. She was such a sweet and positive person. She's been on my mind a lot, and I know everyone in this community is feeling the loss of Grace right now. Her family is so precious. I can't understand how life can be so unfair.

Posted Last Week

2019 Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag - Be sure to check out my favorites, disappointments, new authors, etc. so far this year.

Book Review | Wanderers by Chuck Wendig - I'm surprised at my final reaction to Wanderers.

Finished Reading

One Star by The Behrg ⭐⭐⭐⭐★ - This was an interesting read. This is The Behrg's love letter to reviewers, and it's free if you want to read it. It's a quick horror story, and it's worth checking out.

House of Furies (House of Furies #1) by Madeleine Roux ⭐⭐⭐⭐★ - Yay! I enjoyed this one. I have the entire series for review so I was nervous, but I'm happy to move on to the next.

La caida de la casa Usher by Edgar Allan Poe ⭐⭐⭐★★ - I listened to (The Fall of the House of Usher) on audio this week. Listening in Spanish is still a challenge for me, but I've read this story before. The audio was great other than a couple of squeaky hinge sound effects in the middle of the book that tried to give me a heart attack. Why do they put sound effects in audiobooks? It's completely unnecessary.

Currently Reading

Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly - Theme Music was highly recommended by Emily (book.happy). I'm loving it!

The Man Who Knew The Way to the Moon by Todd Zwillich - John C. Houbolt isn't very endearing, but this is a fascinating listen so far.

Recursion by Blake Crouch - Yeeesss... I'm so glad I'm finally read this. I love it.

Recent Acquisitions

Doorways to the Deadeye by Eric J. Guignard - Many thanks for Eric Guignard for sending me his new novel Doorways to the Deadeye. It sounds amazing.

The rest of the books pictured I picked up in the Audible $5 sale.

So what about you? Let me know what you're reading this week or leave me some links!

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This post is being shared as part of Book Date's It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Book Review | Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

Wanderers is an apocalyptic novel by Chuck Wendig.

A decadent rock star. A deeply religious radio host. A disgraced scientist. And a teenage girl who may be the world's last hope. In the tradition of The Stand and Station Eleven comes a gripping saga that weaves an epic tapestry of humanity into an astonishing tale of survival.

Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and are sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other “shepherds” who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.

For on their journey, they will discover an America convulsed with terror and violence, where this apocalyptic epidemic proves less dangerous than the fear of it. As the rest of society collapses all around them–and an ultraviolent militia threatens to exterminate them–the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart–or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.

My experience with Wanderers was an interesting one. I was absolutely hooked when I started reading it. Chuck Wendig is a great writer!

Wanderers has everything: a large cast, an apocalyptic disease, a broad setting, artificial intelligence... I was here for it! The only problem is it was so epic for so long that I never really connected with anyone. I hit a wall when I got to 80%. Normally this would be something I could overcome, but Wanderers weighs in at 800 pages. I started making excuses: it's summer, I'm reading it on the Kindle, etc. By the time I got to 95%, though, I knew it wasn't me. As epic as Wanderers was, it didn't matter to me the ultimate fate of anyone. I would have felt the exact same way no matter what the outcome was.

I feel like most people won't have the problem that I did. Wanderers is really great on a lot of levels, I just personally never connected with it.

⭐⭐⭐★★

Review copy provided by publisher

2019 Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag

I've decided to follow Mogsy's lead and do the Mid Year Book Freak Out tag this year. Book covers are linked to Goodreads.

Best Books I’ve Read So Far

I love the fact that The Luminous Dead is on my best books list and on Mogsy's biggest disappointments list. This year has been rough in the horror community with people speaking out against negative reviews. I often retreat into my blogging bubble and this is why. I love you guys.

Biggest Disappointments

I enjoyed both Children of Time and Wuthering Heights, but I expected to love them and didn't quite make it there.

Biggest Surprises

I recommend each of these books!

Favorite New Authors

More, please. I need mooooore.

Books That Made Me Cry

Each of these books touched me in different ways.

Books That Made Me Happy

I found some happiness in each of these books this year.

Best Book To Film Adaptation

I'm cheating because I haven't seen the adaptations for The House Next Door or Ghost Story, but they have been adapted and I loved reading the books this year.

Favorite Post

I'm going to select my 2019 TBR Jar post because it makes me happy each time I finally sit down with one of the books from this list.

Books I Need to Read By the End of the Year

How did the first half of the year go for you? Let me know which books would make your list and consider yourself tagged!

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | July 21

*blink* Where did last week go? Come back summer, come baaaaaaack.

Finished Reading

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - Wuthering Heights turned out to be more difficult than I was expecting. I think that's why I managed no reviews and no other books this past week. I haven't decided yet where my final rating is going to land.

Currently Reading

I'm enjoying House of Furies by Madeleine Roux. It's quite different than I was expecting. I think the cover change was appropriate.

Poetry Magazine July/August 2019 - I'm also really enjoying the July/August Poetry Magazine collection.

Recent Acquisitions

Many thanks to Inkshares for sending me a copy of Violet by Scott Thomas! This is his follow up to Kill Creek, and I can't wait to read it!

Choking Back the Devil by Donna Lynch - My preorder of Choking Back the Devil arrived this week. (Honestly, I can't get enough of discovering Ladies of Horror Fiction in print.)

So what about you? Let me know what you're reading this week or leave me some links!

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This post is being shared as part of Book Date's It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | July 14

The last couple of weeks have been so busy at the Book Den household! My most important piece of news is introducing you to Miss Posie.

A month ago we saw her get hit on the way to work. We were able to bring her to our vet where she had to have some minor surgeries and stay for a few weeks until they thought she was far enough into her recovery for us to take over. We were finally able to bring her home at the end of last week. She is absolutely precious. She still has another month or two of recovery, but she should be totally fine once she's healed up.

Posted Last Week

No posts! Between taking care of Posie and migrating the Ladies of Horror Fiction site to a new host, I'm behind again! I plan to write a couple of reviews and do some blog hopping today while watching the Wimbledon Men's Finals so stay tuned.

Finished Reading

Wanderers by Chuck Wendig - I'm planning to have a more detailed review out this week, but in a strange turn of events, I think I'm only giving Wanderers ⭐⭐⭐★★. It's an epic read, but there was something missing for me.

Wilder Girls by Rory Power ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - My preorder for Wilder Girls arrived this week, and I was glued to it. As much as I love stand alone books, I'm hoping, hoping, hoping this turns into a series. This was a buddy read with Emily, and she gave it 5⭐s, too.

Currently Reading

After reading and loving Rebecca last year, several of the Ladies of Horror Fiction team made plans to read Wuthering Heights. That week is finally here!

Recent Acquisitions

Salvation Day by Kali Wallace - My dear friend Toni from Misadventures of a Reader knows I love Kali Wallace so she sent me a copy of Salvation Day. I can't wait to read it!

The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson - Coming of age horror is my favorite so you know I've been waiting for this preorder! Craig Davidson is also known as Nick Cutter.

Poetry Magazine July/August 2019 - I subscribed to Poetry Magazine, and I'm so glad I did! They sent out 11 book length collections a year. This edition (July/August) collects Global Indian English poetry.



Many thanks to Wunderkind PR and HarperTeen for sending me the House of Furies series to review!

So what about you? Let me know what you're reading this week or leave me some links!

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This post is being shared as part of Book Date's It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.