Recent Updates and Currently Reading | October 11

I am really ready for hurricane season to be over! We got hit with another hurricane this week. This time we rode it out at home. We were only supposed to get tropical storm force winds in our area, but the weather folks got it wrong. There is no end to the gifts of 2020.

Finished Reading

I finished listening to Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas. I'll have my review posted tomorrow. ⭐⭐★★★

Currently Reading

I'm still reading The Return by Rachel Harrison and Women's Weird edited by Melissa Edmundson. I'm enjoying them both.

Added to the TBR

Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker (aka Seanan McGuire) and The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher were both preorders that were released this week. I'm really looking forward to reading both of them!

Many thanks to CLASH Books for sending me a copy of Helena by Claire L. Smith. Helena releases this week!

So what about you? Let me know what you're reading (or watching) 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 | October 4

Were you able to see Mars next to the full moon this weekend? We set up our outdoor movie screen last night, and Mars looked incredible! I spent half the time watching the movie (and eating smores 😋) and half the time watching Mars.

Posted Last Week

Book Review | Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Book Review | The Midnight Lullaby by Cheryl Low

Finished Reading

I finished reading Dread Nation by Justina Ireland. My ⭐⭐⭐💫★ review has been posted.

I also read The Midnight Lullaby by Cheryl Low. I loved it, and posted a review for it as well. ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

Currently Reading

I'm in the mood for thriller/horror this month so I picked up The Return by Rachel Harrison. I'm enjoying it so far. I can't wait to find out what is happening in this one.

I started listening to Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas. The narration is amazing, but the plot is lacking.

I also started reading Women's Weird edited by Melissa Edmundson, and it's amazing! I have a feeling I'm going to love this series.


So what about you? Let me know what you're reading (or watching) 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 | The Midnight Lullaby by Cheryl Low

The Midnight Lullaby is a horror novella by Cheryl Low.

Everybody has secrets…

For years, Benedict Lyon has been living a lie. Not even his family knows the truth he's been keeping from the world. Only Emmeline knows his secret—and she's dead.

…some are darker than others…

When the matriarch of the Lyon family passes away, Benedict is summoned home for the funeral. Emmeline urges Benedict not to go, certain that if he returns to that house, neither one of them will escape.

…but are they worth dying for?

Their presence in the family home causes the spirit of Gloria Lyon to become restless, and as the remaining members of the Lyon family attempt to put their mother to rest, long buried secrets, some deadlier than others, are unearthed. Who will survive…

The Midnight Lullaby.

Thank you to Tammy for putting this novella on my radar! (And thank you to Grinning Skull Press for sending me out a copy for review!)

Ghosts have always been my favorite horror element so I get really excited when I read a ghostly book that brings something new to the table. The Midnight Lullaby did just that! I don't want to spoil anything for you, though. At 165 pages, The Midnight Lullaby escalates quickly!

This was my first book by Cheryl Low, but I'm definitely going to go back and pick up Infernal.

We are at the beginning of spooky season, and we are all going to be spending a lot more time at home this year. The Midnight Lullaby is on my list of books that I recommend you add to your horror pile this fall.

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫
4.5/5 stars

Book Review | Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Dread Nation is a YA historical fiction/horror novel by Justina Ireland.

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.

Even though this is a zombie book, I knew going into Dread Nation that it would be light on the horror elements. I think that helped me adjust to the right expectations going into this. Thankfully there was a more to Dread Nation than the zombies.

Dread Nation was very successful at building the story over the course of the entire novel. I love when a book gets better and better and then thoroughly hooks me by the end. That doesn't always make for a quick read, and it did take me a while to get through Dread Nation. I was able to put it down and pick it back up again days later.

By the end, though, I was hooked and anxious for more. I'll be picking up Deathless Divide (the second half of this duology) soon so be on the look out for that review as well!

⭐⭐⭐💫★
3.5/5 stars

Book Review | The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

The Only Good Indians is a horror novel from Stephen Graham Jones. 

Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary, The Only Good Indians follows four American Indian men after a disturbing event from their youth puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives. Tracked by an entity bent on revenge, these childhood friends are helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way.

I love how you just don't know what to expect when reading one of Stephen Graham Jones' books. I'm also going to be posting a review of his The Night of the Mannequins novella soon, and I will be reiterating the same thing. His writing is unpredictable in the best of ways.

This may have been the wrong time for me to read The Only Good Indians, though. It was confusing, and my current attention span may have made it even harder for me to pay attention overall.

I'm such a fan of Stephen Graham Jones, and I will continue to read whatever he writes. Even though I'm middle of the road on The Only Good Indians, I still want to encourage people to pick it up - especially folks who are already fans.

Here are some of the early reviews that I loved and think you should check out:

Bark's Book Nonsense

Books, Bones, & Buffy 

Char's Horror Corner

 

⭐⭐⭐★★

 

Review copy provided by the publisher