Pump Up The Volume...

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Books With A Musical Theme…

We Sold Our Souls - Grady Hendrix

High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

Girl - Blake Nelson

Space Opera - Catherine Valente

Signal To Noise - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Songs In Ursa Major - Emma Brodie

More Than Maybe - Erica Hahn

Fever House - Keith Rosson

The Farewell Tour - Stephanie Clifford

The Vinyl Underground - Rob Rufus

This Song Will Save Your Life - Leila Sales

The Music Shop - Rachel Joyce

A Song For A New Day - Sarah Pinsker

Guitar Notes - Mary Amato

Spin - Colleen Nelson

Impossible Music - Sean Williams

How to Kill A Rock Star - Tiffanie DeBartolo

Bootleg Stardust - Glenn Dixon

Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm - Laura Warrell

No Happy Endings Here...

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Curl Up With A Noir Novel…

Titanium Noir - Nick Harkaway

The Ascent - Adam Plantinga

The Road To Heaven - Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson

Shifty’s Boys - Chris Offut

Someone To Watch Over Me - Dan Bronson

Twice The Trouble - Ash Clifton

The Rope Artist - Fuminori Nakamura

All The Sinners Bleed - S.A. Cosby

Hurricane Blonde - Hailey Sutton

Three Assassins - Kotaro Isaka

Bright Young Women - Jessica Knoll

City On Fire - Don Winslow

Drive A - Merritt Graves

Head Full Of Lies - Jordan Farmer

Girl In The Eagle’s Talons - Karin Smirnoff

The Confession - Charlotte Bigland

Scorched Grace - Margot Douaihy

A Little Blood And Dancing - Tyler Parker

All Souls Lost - Dan Moren

Nightwatching - Tracy Sierra - Top Book Pick!

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Nightwatching - Tracy Sierra - Top Book Pick!

Thriller

Rating: 8.5/10

An ingenious and suffocating thriller that plunges you into the story with the first sentence and is bound to keep you up past your bedtime in the race to get to the last one. There was someone in the house. We open with a woman standing immobilized by fear, in the shadows that exist between her, the intruder who has invaded her home, and her children. She told them that monsters didn’t exist. She lied.

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You'd Look Better As A Ghost - Joanna Wallace

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You'd Look Better As A Ghost - Joanna Wallace

Thriller

Rating: 7/10

If you can’t stomach a thoroughly unlikable narrator with a dark psyche, move along fair reader. Claire is a part time serial killer intent on keeping her “hobby” secret, despite the efforts of a blackmailer with hideous taste in fashion who is smarter than she looks. But here’s the thing, is it wise to tangle with a serial killer? Despite them seemingly not fully committed to full time devotion to their craft. Probably not.

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The Grimm Reader...

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Let Horror Fiction Reign…

When it comes to the dark Fu*ckery of the human heart, there are no limits.” Stephen King

Horror fiction, at its finest, feeds whatever crazed deviance you are exploring, or depraved hunger you are attempting to satiate. And those of us brave enough have an invitation to vicariously experience all our worst possible nightmares on those pages. In my latest feature I’ve got all the angles covered. So follow me…if you dare!

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101 Books To Read Before You're Murdered - Sadie Hartmann - Top Book Pick!

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101 Books To Read Before You're Murdered - Sadie Hartmann - Top Book Pick!

Books On Books

Rating: 8.5/10

This delightful compendium of books and other fun facts on horror fiction is a must! But know this, a steady diet of horror can ruin you for other genres. You will be reading another style of book and find yourself wondering, when does the blood start flowing, when do the monsters come out to play with us. You have been warned.

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If Something Happens To Me - Alex Finlay

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If Something Happens To Me - Alex Finlay

Thriller

Rating: 7/10

Ryan has been reliving the same night in excruciating detail for more than five years. The car door ripping open. The crushing blow to the head. The hands yanking him from the car. His girlfriend Ali’s piercing scream. Waking up with no trace of Ali to be found and only a vague description of the attacker. Is it any wonder he ends up the prime suspect?

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Home Is Where The Bodies Are - Jeneva Rose

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Home Is Where The Bodies Are - Jeneva Rose

Thriller

Rating: 8/10

After their mother dies, three estranged siblings reunite to sort out her estate. While going through decades of their parent’s belongings, they stumble upon a collection of home videos (note that cover!) that reveal a dark family secret. A light, fun and engaging read that might have you rushing to the attic of your childhood home to unearth your own family’s long buried secrets!

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The Serpent & The Wings Of Night - Carissa Broadbent

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The Serpent & The Wings Of Night - Carissa Broadbent

Fantasy

Rating: 8/10

Oraya is the adopted human daughter of the Nightborn Vampire King, and he has chosen her to participate in a once in a century tribute. Vampires from across the kingdoms compete, the most powerful warriors from all three houses, engage in a savage tournament of five trails that will finish with only one winner left standing at the end of this deadly pursuit. The author triumphantly escape all the tropes of this style of fantasy, a wonder beyond the book itself!

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Baby X - Kira Peikoff

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Baby X - Kira Peikoff

Futuristic Thriller

Rating: 8/10

In a future where advanced technology can create a sperm or egg from any person’s cell’s, the rich and famous face the alarming potential of having their DNA stolen and sold to the highest bidder. Famous rock star Thorne hires Ember to become his Bio security guard, cleaning up all biological evidence from any place he has been. When they are confronted by Quinn, a heavily pregnant woman claiming he is her baby daddy, they are stunned. This can’t be happening. A speculative fiction that is utterly plausible!

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How To Solve Your Own Murder - Kristen Perrin

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How To Solve Your Own Murder - Kristen Perrin

Mystery

Rating: 7.5/10

Frances has spent her entire life trying to prevent her foretold murder, only to be proven right sixty years later, when she is found dead in her sprawling country home. Leaving behind cryptic clues and meticulous instructions for her potential heirs; if they want to inherit her fortune they must solve the mystery of her murder. And reader, what rabid and greedy heirs they might be! A fun romp perfect for summer reading.

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Literary Trickery...

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Tales With Sleight Of Hand…

Carnivale Of Curioustites - Aimee Gibbs

Spitting Gold - Carmella Lokis

Joyland - Stephen King

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

Circus Of Wonders - Elizabeth MacNeal

Wonder Show - Hannah Barnaby

The Hidden Life Of Cecily Larson - Ellen Baker

Carter Beats The Devil - Glen David Gold

Caraval - Stephanie Garber

First Bright Thing - J.R. Dawson

Nights At The Circus - Angela Carter

Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

Stardust - Neil Gaiman

Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon

The Prestige - Christopher Priest

Magic - William Goldman

Bacchanal - Veronica G Henry

Circus Train - Amita Parikh

The Magicians Lie - Greer Macallister

Story's Worth (Re) Telling...

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Reimagined Tales…

Cursed - Marissa Meyer

Fairytale - Stephen King

The Tainted Cup - Robert Jackson Bennett

Malice - Heather Walter

The Death I Gave Him - Em X. Lui

These Violent Delights - Chole Chang

Book Of G - Lily Archer

Girls Made Of Snow & Glass - Melissa Bashardoust

The Wrath & The Dawn - Renee Ahdeih

Fair Rosaline - Natasha Solomon

Queen Hereafter - Isabell Schuler

Spindle Splintered - Alix E. Harrow

All The Ever Afters - Danielle Teller

Frankenstein In Baghdad - Ahmed Saawdi

Herc - Phoenicia Rogerson

Julia - Sandra Newman

Cecily - Annie Garthwaite

Circe - Madeline Miller

The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova

Books To Feed Your Wanderlust...

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Planes, Trains & Automobiles…

A Short Walk Through A Wide World - Douglas Westerbeke

The Book Of Doors - Gareth Brown

The Drowning - TJ Newman

The Bullet Train - Kotaro Isaka

Cover Your Tracks - Daco Auffenorde

The Road To Roswell - Connie Willis

Mostly True Story Of Tanner & Louise - Colleen Oakley

A Thousand Miles To Graceland - Kristen Mei Chase

Cassandra In Reverse - Holly Smale

The Unmaking Of June Farrow - Adrienne Young

A Different Kind Of Evil - Andrew Wilson

Confessions On The 7:45 - Lisa Unger

He Started It - Samantha Downing

The Last One - Will Dean

The Passengers - John Marrs

Strangers On A Train - Patricia Highsmith

The Flight Attendant - Chris Bohjalian

Mosquitoland - David Arnold

Whistly Past The Graveyard - Susan Crandall

Word Play...

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It’s Your Move…Game Fiction

People are hard-wired to seek answers, to fill in any blanks. So, it’s no surprise we are predisposed to extrapolate clues from our environment to solve puzzles, whether it’s to move, to advance, or even to survive. Every game we play requires thoughtful consideration, a series of choices and navigations that shapes the course of play. With all this in mind, is it any wonder game theory and culture has resulted in so many well plotted books? I think not. So, tap into your inner child, embrace your inherent nerdiness, spark those creative juices, and come play with me.

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Holly - Stephen King - Top Book Pick!

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Holly - Stephen King - Top Book Pick!

Thriller

Rating: 9/10

I am ashamed to say that for a split second, I doubted that I would find myself captivated by this particular Stephen King book.. Shame. On. Me. A Stephen King novel with no supernatural element? Maybe later. But then the rave reviews were impossible to ignore and so here we are. If you thought Annie Wilkes was bonkers, you have no idea! Diabolical and depraved and so much fun. Full disclosure, I read this a while ago but I wanted to save the review for the launch of Summer Reading season. Make sure to check out the In The Margins page on Friday!

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Age Of Magical Overthinking: Notes On Modern Irrationality - Amanda Montell

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Age Of Magical Overthinking: Notes On Modern Irrationality - Amanda Montell

Culture & Sociology

Rating: 7.5/10

Magical thinking works in service of restoring agency amid chaos, but in The Age of Magical Overthinking, the author argues that in the modern information age, our brain’s coping mechanisms have been overloaded, and our heightened irrationality has caused our grasp on reality to slip. Our brains have always played tricks on us, often as a form of self-preservation. Those mental magic tricks can go horribly wrong when combined with too much access to data and too many point of view. This book offers cautionary tales to help us navigate.

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The Poppy War - R.F. Kuang

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The Poppy War - R.F. Kuang

Fantasy

Rating: 8/10

Just a mere orphaned peasant girl, Rin discovers she is to be traded off by her foster parents to a middle-aged husband in exchange for the promise of riches. Her only means of governing her own destiny is by taking a formidable exam that could potentially land her a free ride to a prestigious military school. When she gets in, her peers and teachers make it clear that Rin does not belong at there. In order to gain the power she requires, she will have to flirt with villainy. And maybe even embrace it.

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The Extraordinary Life Of An Ordinary Man - Paul Newman - Top Book Pick!

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The Extraordinary Life Of An Ordinary Man - Paul Newman - Top Book Pick!

Memoir

Rating: 9/10

When Newman sat down with a friend to record his life story, he wasn’t particularly interested in reliving the past, but rather setting the record straight. He wanted his record of it all in his words rather than the mythology created by other people. I have been a fan as long as I can remember and now have at my finger tips a veritable encyclopedia of this actors’ thoughts and motivations. It's revelatory, introspective, and profound and in my humble opinion, not to be missed! P.S. Pair with Ethan Hawkes documentary The Last Movie Stars. You won’t be sorry.

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Happiness Falls - Angie Kim - Top Book Pick!

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Happiness Falls - Angie Kim - Top Book Pick!

Fiction

Rating: 9/10

“We didn’t call the police right away”. And so begins this gripping story of a family whose lives are upended when their beloved father and husband goes missing. Part mystery, part dynamic family drama and part compelling examination into the meaning of happiness. A deeply moving and deliciously brainy story, beautifully told. With a cast of finely wrought characters, bursting with idiosyncrasies and strong opinions. What’s not to love!

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