Speculative Horror

Rating: 8/10

A group of strangers wake up on a blood soaked boat with a dead guy, and none remember who they are or how they got there. When a phone rings with certain instructions, they realize they are on a mission of some kind. One that they volunteered for. One that requires that they eradicate an infestation of some sort. One that will likely cost them their lives. If you are feeling Last Of Us vibes, you are not wrong!

Fiction

Rating: 8/10

Henri and Louise are two strangers at a crossroads in their lives when they meet on a train travelling across Europe. The thing is, this isn’t the first time they have met. Yet there seems to be an unspoken agreement between them that for this moment, in this place, the past does not exist. Pretending that their fates are not inextricably entwined. I loved the untangling of their story.

Horror

Rating: 7/10

This tale of wonder and terror follows a creepy reunion of the cast of a magical kids show that exists only in its viewers memories. A twist of fate brings all the surviving cast members back together, and someone, or something wants them to recreate the magic. Problem is that it might be bad magic.

Speculative Crime

Rating: 8.5/10

What if the murder you had to solve was your own? Lou is a happily married mother of a cutie pie baby girl. She is also the victim of a serial killer. Recently resurrected by a secret cloning project, she is struggling to reconnect. I inhaled this speculative and smart twist on the crime novel, one with an ending I never in my wildest dreams, even the darker ones, could have imagined.

Sci-Fi/Thriller

Rating: 9/10

What if you discovered your husband was having an affair with his wife? Yes, you read that properly. The author spins the extramarital and domestic strife tropes in some intriguingly unique directions. This book has a lot to love; weird science, murder, bad romance and the unspooling of enough twists to leave the reader with a serious case of whiplash.

Fantasy

Rating: 8.5/10

This ambitious and meticulously crafted book is a celebration of stories that outlive the paper they are written on and the libraries where they rest on shelves to be read. Unquestionably a love letter to books and the buildings that house them, this has a far greater reach to be explored for the reader. Beautifully woven with magic, adventure, intrigue and even love.

Hitting The Shelves-September 2023

I’m a planner in every way you could imagine, a particular quirk that benefits my reading life. And now you dear reader, will reap the rewards with my new monthly post that will feature three of the most interesting books coming out in the next month as well as a few extra just for fun. Happy Reading!

Horror/Thriller

Rating: 6.5/10

Laura is a journalist tasked with writing a piece on the remake of a ‘90’s horror flick that she starred in as a child. One that was cursed. One that had eight cast and crew dying in ways that eerily mirrored the movie’s on-screen deaths. And now? People are dying again. You get all the tropes, a slasher, final girl, cursed movie within a movie all in one.

Fiction

Rating: 8/10

The story starts off with the husband whispering in his wife’s ear, “we need to find a moment to talk. It’s important.” The potential implications of this send her spiraling while she takes the reader back through her week in the hopes of finding an inkling as to what this chat might be about. Her devotion, or maybe obsession is a better word, is unsettling and impossible to look away from!

Thriller

Rating: 8/10

It would be hard to dispute that Ware has a knack for writing propulsive plots and casting them with female protagonists that you will root for. And her latest does not disappoint, especially when you layer on the technological angle to the story. Jack and her husband are penetration specialists, people who find ways around company security systems. After their latest job, she gets home to find her beloved husband brutally murdered. Soon she will be both on the hunt and the hunted!

Mystery

Rating: 7/10

Miranda, once known for playing the crime solving church pastor she was cast as on television, has hit hard times. No matter how flagrantly she ignores this fact at every opportunity. Now she finds herself in the thick of a real life mystery, so to speak. A cozy whodunnit chock full of quirky characters, imagine a murder mystery set on the series Corner Gas or Schitt’s Creek. Pure Canadiana!

Fiction

Rating: 8/10

In the last few years, I have seen an influx of books that are willing to tell stories that are brave enough to forgo niceties, cast unlikable characters, and mine the depths of messy and disturbing lives. This is one such book. Our narrator is unnamed and possibly unhinged. The narrative itself is vitriolic, tortuous, fractured and a perfect fit for the story it sets out to tell. A story I recommend you read!

Horror

Rating: 8/10

All that remained of Tobias Fell at the end of the night was a blood-soaked penthouse. It must have been the scene of a brutal murder, right? But where is the body? And why can no one identify any of the multiple people spotted leaving the scene of the crime. Each with what could be described as a small body bag in hand. To find out you will need to read thirteen brilliantly crafted horror tales first. Not exactly hard work!

Thriller

Rating: 8.5/10

What I am about to describe to you will sound utterly implausible. The weight of the disbelief you will have to suspend is mammoth. And that my friends, is the sheer, unadulterated fun of this book! Five years ago, David was convicted of the brutal murder of his three-year-old son. Today he discovers his son might not be dead after all. What’s a father to do?

Thriller/Fiction

Rating: 7.5/10

I love an eerie small-town narrative, rich with furtive behavior and morally ambiguous characters. And it’s in these places where that saying, you never really know your neighbours, comes to roaring to life. Add in a small town sheriff trying to escape some big city drama and I am all in! Suspects and shenanigans aplenty will keep the pages turning on this read.

Hitting The Shelves-August 2023

I’m a planner in every way you could imagine, a particular quirk that benefits my reading life. And now you dear reader, will reap the rewards with my new monthly post that will feature three of the most interesting books coming out in the next month as well as a few extra just for fun. Happy Reading!

Mystery/Suspense

Rating: 7/10

To call this book profoundly creepy would likely be an understatement. Roach is a disaffected, true crime obsessed bookseller that develops a disturbing preoccupation with a colleague. A colleague whose life was turned upside down by the murder of her mother. Which leaves Roach practically salivating with excitement. Hence the creepy comment.

Horror/Thriller

Rating: 8.5/10

Kit is a disgraced home health care worker desperate for any job she can find. Soon after she arrives at Hope’s End, aptly named as it turns out, she is trying to justify a quick exit. It seems her new patient may be guilty of murdering her family, and she’s not talking. In Sager’s latest she brilliantly teases out threads and heaps on diversions in ways that will leave a reader delighted even if their own detective skills are put to shame!

Horror

Rating: 9/10

A creepy as hell and wildly inventive ghost story that delivers a read perfect for the heat of long summer days or the early chill of fall. Fresh out of rehab, Mallory takes a job as a nanny for five-year-old Teddy. A sweet boy with a vivid imagination and a love of drawing. As the drawings Teddy brings down after his daily quiet time grow steadily more sinister and unsettling, Mallory begins to wonder what she has gotten herself into!

Mythology

Rating: 8/10

Going into this book, you may think you know all there is to know about mythology, but you will find yourself enthralled by the plot twists and delighted by the audacity of women who have long been relegated to supporting cast. A tenet of readers far and wide is that stories, and the language used to form them, are emblematic of the times in which they are written. And the stories that writers revisit are transformed a little with each retelling. And thank goodness for that!