Play Nice by Rachel Harrison

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For a list of content warnings, check out The StoryGraph.

From the Publisher:

Clio Louise Barnes leads a picture-perfect life as a stylist and influencer, but beneath the glossy veneer she harbors a not-so glamorous secret: she grew up in a haunted house. Well, not haunted. Possessed. After Clio’s parent’s messy divorce, her mother, Alex, moved Clio and her sisters into a house occupied by a demon. Or so Alex claimed. That’s not what Clio’s sisters remember or what the courts determined when they stripped Alex of custody after she went off the deep end. But Alex was insistent; she even wrote a book about her experience in the house.
 
After Alex’s sudden death, the supposedly possessed house passes to Clio and her sisters. Where her sisters see childhood trauma, Clio sees an opportunity for house flipping content. Only, as the home makeover process begins, Clio discovers there might be some truth to her mother’s claims. As memories resurface and Clio finally reads her mother’s book, the presence in the house becomes more real, and more sinister, revealing ugly truths that threaten to shake Clio’s beautiful life to its very foundation. 

This book is dark, a little messed up, and full of unlikable characters! I love a Gothic horror. Hand me a book with a haunted house, an unreliable narrator, and a dysfunctional family and I know I’m in for a good time. Play Nice contains all this and more. When Clio inherits her mother’s supposedly possessed house, she doesn’t shy away from diving into renovation projects for both social media content and a big financial return. Like the house, Clio is also a bit of a mess. She struggles with relationships, relies on her dad to fix her problems, and her career as a social media influencer has her viewing much of her life as transactional. She also has very few memories of her life during the time her mother owned the possessed Edgewood home. When Clio discovers a copy of her mother’s book, Demon of Edgewood Drive, Clio has to wrestle with how her own limited memories compare to her mother’s, admittedly, embellished take on the chaos and danger that the house inflicted on her family. Not to mention, Clio’s two sisters and father have another version of events from that time as well. With all of the unreliable narrators and different versions of events, it’s hard to tell if anything that is happening to Clio is real, or fueled by a lack of sleep and too much booze. It’s quite a wild ride and I flew through this one in less than a day. I love the messiness of all the characters, the way parts of Alex’s annotated book are woven within the story, and how the book ends in just the right way.

If you’re looking for a scary and twisted haunted house story with a dysfunctional family, this one has you covered. If you’d like to add this incredible book to your shelf, you can click on the cover above or here for ordering information.

This post may contain links, including Amazon Associate Links, and I may earn from qualifying purchases.All opinions and mistakes are my own.

Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen

Available now

For a list of content warnings, check out The StoryGraph. This is a really gory one friends!

From the Publisher:

The Netherlands, 1887. Lucy's twin sister Sarah is unwell. She refuses to eat, mumbles nonsensically, and is increasingly obsessed with a centuries-old corpse recently discovered on her husband's grand estate. The doctor has diagnosed her with temporary insanity caused by a fever of the brain. To protect her twin from a terrible fate in a lunatic asylum, Lucy must unravel the mystery surrounding her sister's condition, but it's clear her twin is hiding something. Then again, Lucy is harboring secrets of her own, too.
Lucy soon comes to suspect that something is trying to possess her beloved sister. Or is it madness? As Sarah changes before her very eyes, Lucy must reckon with the dark, monstrous truth, or risk losing her forever.
Then, the worst happens. Sarah's behavior takes a turn for the strange. She becomes angry... and hungry.  "I'm in your blood, and you are in mine..."

This is one of those books you finish and reading and immediately ask yourself, “What just happened?” This book is very fast-paced and intense. Taking place over just a few short weeks, Lucy and her twin sister Sarah deal with bog bodies, mysterious ramblings, over-bearing men, extra teeth and EYEBALLS! It’s quite the gory and disgusting book but the ending definitely makes the horrifying journey worth it. If you love a wild fever dream, you’ll love this book.

If you’re looking for a queer, Gothic, vampire(?) horror story, this is definitely one to add to your spooky TBR. If you’d like to add this book to your shelf, you can click on the cover above or here for ordering information.

This post may contain links, including Amazon Associate Links, and I may earn from qualifying purchases.All opinions and mistakes are my own.

Re-post: Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson

If you liked House of Idyll, check out Bloom. This review is from October 2023.

Available now

I had the pleasure of reading this hauntingly beautiful novel months ago, and have since thought about it at least once a week. It begins so innocently. A young woman, Rosemary Dutton, desperate to seek out everyday magic and a more exciting life, ventures to the local farmer’s market in search of something special. What she discovers, is another young woman named Ash, who sells the most delicious cupcakes that Ro has ever tasted.

Ro, a master of words, is struck speechless by Ash and is instantly captivated. Immediately, she wants to be Ash-and have her all to herself. As the two begin a flirtation over beeswax candles and cupcakes, obsession quickly takes over, leading to a dark and twisted revelation.

I cannot emphasize how gorgeous and precise the word choice in this novel truly is. I knew going in that it held the promise of a dark tale, but I couldn’t understand how such a beautifully written novel could become dark and terrifying. But, Dawson is one of the most gifted authors I have ever read and in just a few pages, she can take characters from incredibly interesting to incredibly horrifying. There are entire scenes that are burned into my brain, made all the more frightening by the pretty, lyrical words used to describe them. Bloom is a masterpiece. I cannot recommend it highly enough and I’m equal parts thrilled and terrified to see what Dawson comes up with next.

If you’d like to have nightmares for weeks, like me, you can click on the cover above or here for ordering information.

This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon Associate links, and I may earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you to Edelweiss and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

The Staircase In The Woods by Chuck Wendig

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A list of content warnings can be found here on The StoryGraph.

This is one of the wildest, most nightmare inducing books I’ve read in a long time! It’s definitely not for the faint of heart so be sure to check out the content warnings before reading.

From the Publisher:

Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what.

Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something extraordinary: a mysterious staircase to nowhere.

One friend walks up—and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears.

Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods. . . .

This is a truly terrifying tale of friendship, obsession, and trauma. I really believe the less you know about the actual plot, the better your reading experience will be. In true Chuck Wendig fashion, the characters are interesting, the writing is completely captivating, and the story is some of the craziest and scariest I’ve ever read. While it does start off a little slowly, the story really picks up and becomes a pretty fast-paced and thrilling ride. I really enjoyed how Wendig crafted such interesting and flawed characters. The story is told from the points of view of two characters, Owen and Lore but everyone feels very fleshed out and integral to the story. It’s a wildly weird and haunting story and if you’ve ever read another Wendig book, you’re going to be very pleased. If you’ve never read him before, this is sure to send you down his incredible back list.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own. This post may contain links, including Amazon Associate Links, and I may earn from qualifying purchases.All opinions and mistakes are my own.

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It Will Only Hurt For a Moment by Delilah S. Dawson

Available now

CW: check out The StoryGraph for a list of all content warnings.

Are you looking for a book that makes you question whether to ever enter the woods again? A book that will scare your pants off and give you nightmares? How about one that makes you slightly uncomfortable with how happy you are when bad people get what’s coming to them? Looking for a hefty and therapeutic dose of female rage?

From the Publisher:

Sarah Carpenter is starting over.

She's on the run-leaving behind her unsupportive, narcissistic ex-boyfriend and alcoholic, abusive mother-and headed for a new beginning at Tranquil Falls, a secluded artists' colony on the grounds of a closed hotel. There, with no cell signal or internet to distract her, she hopes to rediscover her love for pottery and put the broken pieces of her life back together.

But when Sarah uncovers the body of a young woman while digging a hole for a pit kiln, things start to fall apart. Her fellow artists begin to act in troubling ways. The eccentric fiber artist knits an endless scarf. The musician plays the same carousel song over and over until his fingers bleed. The calligrapher grins with ink-stained teeth. Not to mention the haunting dreams Sarah has night after night.

When she discovers glass shards in her clay, Sarah wonders if someone is out to get her-or if she's losing her grip on reality out here in the wilds, where the pounding of the waterfall never, ever fades. As she investigates the beautiful valley and the crumbling resort looming over them all, she unearths a chilling past that refuses to remain buried...

Delilah S. Dawson is one of my favorite go-to authors for all things horror, thriller, and female empowerment. It WIll Only Hurt for a Moment is a fast-paced thriller that really leans into the eeriness of its setting. Sarah, our FMC, has finally found the freedom to start her life over and on the way to Tranquil Falls, she receives a drunken call from her abusive mother. This is just the first in a series of unsettling and disturbing events that Sarah will have to persevere through in order to survive. As Sarah is facing one crisis after another, the remoteness of the artist’s colony begins to feel like a character itself. The more Sarah begins to feel in control of herself, clawing back her joy of pottery and creativity, the more unsafe the woods and what they contain become. On the property is a mysterious old hotel with a disturbing past that is strictly off-limits to the artists. I love a creepy old hotel in my horror and this one may be the creepiest yet.

If you, like me, enjoy a little “Awful Man Gets His Just Deserts” in your books, you will love what happens to the awful bastards in this story. Without being too spoiler-y, there is a character early on that was so infuriating and misogynistic that I was rooting for his downfall from the moment he was introduced. The Bad Guys in this book are incredibly awful so definitely check the content warnings carefully. There is some real karmic justice dished out and it is so, so satisfying.

This is one dark, creepy, unsettling story of female rage and self-discovery and I really loved it. I thought the characters were great, the pacing was really good, and it had the perfect blend of psychological thriller and paranormal horror. If you loved Dawson’s other book The Violence, definitely add this one to your TBR.

If you’d like to add this book to your shelf, you can find ordering information by clicking on the cover above. Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own. This post may contain links, including Amazon Associate Links, and I may earn from qualifying purchases.All opinions and mistakes are my own.