The Gathering - CJ Tudor

 

This mystery follows Barbara Atkins, detective with the Forensic Vampyr Anthropology Department, as she arrives in Deadhart, Alaska.  There, a teen boy was found with his throat ripped out and the town is calling for Barbara to authorize a cull of the local vampyr colony.  However, Barbara isn't so sure this case is as open and shut as the town believes it to be.  With an impending snow storm and tensions in the town growing, Barbara is on limited time to find the truth behind the killings. Enlisting the help of a former sheriff who almost lost his life the last time the vampyrs were accused of killing, the two dig into the town's history and reveal more than they could have ever expected.

This was such a fun read and it wasn't what I was really expecting.  I thought this would lean much more on the sort of vampyr hunter trope but I loved how it was pretty much a regular police procedural.  We have a full investigation, suspects (both human and vampyr) and a town full of red herrings.  We get right into the action and the investigation hooked me from beginning to end.  We also get a set up at the end for a potential series which I would love if we got.

I know police procedurals aren't everyone's preferred mystery sub-genre (I really enjoy them).  However, I think this has a good mix of the horror and supernatural elements layered in.  This had everything I want from my police procedurals - protagonist with a bit of baggage, a seemingly straightforward case that ends up being more than expected, a solid investigation thread, and a satisfying and surprising whodunnit ending reveal. The layers of vampyr lore and the every day horror of living in a remote area really intensified the main mystery elements.  I also loved the choice to have Barbara be in her 50s and overweight as opposed to maybe the more typical hot shot newbie female detective. 

I was thrilled with how Tudor introduced us to the vampyrs of this world by giving us a few quotes from various publications and legal documents in the opening of this read.  While these quotes are obviously fake, they did a great job of setting up the history of the vampyrs in this world in a way that was extremely easy to digest. This meant that the reader goes into page 1 with a basic understanding of what a vampyr is in this setting which was extremely helpful given the vastly different types of fictional vampire types to choose from.  This also helps avoid any heavy handed or odd exposition dump by a character or plot device like listening to a radio.  As the story progresses, we learn more about vampyr history as well as the vampyrs themselves.  If we do get a series, I would love to see the vampyr side of things explored more.

I absolutely loved the theme of outsiders and 'us vs them' which play out beautifully in this remote and isolated setting. I know those are themes for a lot of 'monster' books because it is such an easy line in the sand to draw, but Tudor also gives us some examples of how those lines get blurred, especially over time.  I didn't feel like any character were caricatures, but we certainly saw the whole range of responses to the alleged vampyr killing.  I also loved the world building around anti-vampyr sentiments.  I don't want to go into details because of spoilers but I found these touches of the lore to really help make it feel like the vampyrs were living beside humans for ages, they weren't some creature that came out of the darkness recently.  We have that generational trauma and prejudice that comes out in many different ways - some more obvious than others. 

Overall, this was a great procedural read with a good sprinkle of fun vampyr on top.  I absolutely loved the investigation as well as lore and world building.  I hope we do get a series (or at least a sequel) out of this world because there is a lot more I want to see.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC.  Expected publication date is April 9, 2024.

The Angel of Indian Lake - Stephen Graham Jones

 

This is the third book of the Indian Lake Trilogy and we're back with Jade Daniels in Proofrock 4 years after the end of book 2.  Jade and Proofrock both look very different than when we last saw them and both are trying to move on from the past tragedies as best as they can.  However, in Proofrock, it seems, there's always another shoe to drop.  Now, on Halloween, the curse of the Lake Witch is coming to life and Jade has one last stand to make. 

This is the final installment in the trilogy and Jones wraps it up expertly - and I was expecting nothing less.  I absolutely loved this new Jade, now back in Proofrock after 4 years in prison.  She's older, wiser, and trying to keep to herself.  There were so many full circle moments in this read which felt like Jones wrapping up loose ends that I didn't even know I wanted tied up.  The town also was trying to go through its own healing journey as well since the first two books did not leave the town unscathed.  Now, just like the first two books in the series, we do get some good slasher action so it isn't all soft and squishy feelings.  I feel like Jade earned her ending to her story and it was such a great last ride to witness.

I've read each book in this series as an ARC so my reading was spaced out about 1 year apart.  I didn't have that hard of a time between books 1 and 2 but it seemed like there were so many character name drops that were ringing faint bells but I couldn't completely place.  I think for maximum impact and name recognition, I would recommend re-reading at least the first book if not both previous books before picking this one up.  I could still follow the plot just fine, but there were times were it felt like knowing this character's name should automatically fill in some gaps.  

The first two books in the series have very distinctive and different styles and I thought this third entry combined the best of both worlds. The first book, to me, read very much as literary horror.  We were in Jade's head a lot and weren't sure if we were going to see any horror action on page.  The second book was much more of a straight forward slasher read with Jade being our reluctant hero.  This third book has more action than the first one did but I found it to have more of Jade's introspection than we got with the second book.  This melding of styles helps the trilogy feel cohesive and whole instead of like three very different books with the same main character in common. 

Plotwise, this was a little off the rails from pretty much the very beginning and only picked up steam from there.  We waste no time getting into the newest threat to Proofrock and as much as Jade really wants to stay out of it this time, she just can't help being pulled in.  There are a lot of moving pieces and a lot of characters so it feels a bit hectic at times and I could see some readers really getting lost in the weeds.  This is where I think having better name recognition than I did may come in handy.  However, Jones excels at making this tangled web of plot points and characters into something incredibly compelling and readable.  There were so many great moments of tension where I was reading as fast as I could to see what would happen next.  And whenever a horror book can make me cry, I know it is a winner.

Just as in the first two books - Jade is on point with her slasher lore and rules.  We even get some newer references which were fun. I didn't feel like they were used as much as they were in the previous books which I think works to reflect Jade's personal development in the past few years.  That being said, Jade does still lean on them in times of stress or confusion to make sense of the absolute bonkers things going on around her.  I think there are so many layers that Jones works into Jade's character that re-reading this series down the line would be a very interesting undertaking.

Overall, this was a fantastic read and a great way of finishing up the trilogy.  I got more of everything I like from this series - great characters, interesting twists, and some fantastic slasher moments.  

Thanks to NetGalley and S&S/Saga Press for the ARC.  Expected publication date is March 26, 2024

The September House - Carissa Orlando

 

This horror follows Margaret after her husband walks out of their Victorian home after deciding he couldn't take another September in the house.  September is when the walls of the house start dripping blood and when the ghosts of previous residents come out even more than usual.  Margaret has learned to live with and even enjoy the company of the ghosts in the house so she's not leaving.  Eventually, their daughter Katherine decides that a month of not hearing from her father is long enough and she comes to town to look for him.  Margaret is worried more about keeping Katherine safe during her September stay but as the investigation into Hal's disappearance escalates, so do the hauntings and the house might have a secret of its own.

This was an absolutely fantastic read where the premise paid off 100%.  I was hooked from the first sentence and read this straight through.  Initially, I thought maybe this was a little bit too quirky of a set-up and it would get old quickly.  However, I loved how Orlando worked in some more heart and serious topics into the story and used those as a way to sort of ground the plot in reality.  There are also complicated family dynamics at play and those also add depth and complexity to the story and characters. 

TW/CW: alcoholism, domestic violence, child death, suicide

I absolutely loved Margaret's voice and character.  She was such a compelling character to follow and her more no-nonsense personality helped temper the over-the-top ghost shenanigans.  We get to see her face a number of different situations and I found her an incredibly interesting and complex character.  She seems like a normal housewife on the outside, but there's a lot of layers to her psychology that Orlando expertly explores.  Given how close we follow Margaret, I was incredibly excited when we got to the potentially unreliable narrator (no spoilers if Margaret is unreliable or not) because I hadn't even considered that she might be unreliable until then. I was 100% on board with her and her story.  Usually with thriller/mystery/horror reads, I'm on the lookout for unreliable narrators since that is one of my favorite tropes so when one can catch me off guard like this, I'm thrilled.

The horror aspects were fantastic and really straddled the line between a little silly and absolutely horrifying.  It was giving me Ghostbusters mixed with Poltergeist and a touch of The Exorcist.  The ghosts that haunt the house all died horrific deaths and there is a good bit of gore in this read.  But a lot of the antics they get up to come off pretty funny, especially with Margaret's dry sense of humor about the situation.  The more details we get about the lore of the house and the reasons behind the haunting, the darker the story gets.  The supernatural events also get more severe as the month progresses which helps propel the plot forward.  

Overall, this was a very entertaining read with fantastic characters and lore building.  I was hooked from the very beginning and was pleasantly surprised at the emotional depth we got with the family history. 

February 2024 Romance Wrap-up

 Hideaway Heart - Melanie Harlow

This is the second book in the Cherry Tree Harbor series and follows Kelly and Xander. Kelly is also known as country music star Pixie Hart, but she's ready to have a break from the spotlight and spend some time alone in a cabin.  But her older brother doesn't want her to be alone, so he enlists the help of former Navy SEAL Xander to be her bodyguard.  Only problem is the cabin Kelly rented is tiny, there's only one bed, and the two can't stand each other ... at first. This was such a fun bodyguard romance and I loved seeing Kelly and Xander get together.  They seemed to immediately know how to poke one another's buttons but I really liked how both of them dropped their prickly exteriors.  I'm not the biggest fan of celebrity romances, but having Kelly be on a break from her regular life helped temper the celebrity part a bit.  I loved seeing the small town stuff through her eyes and how she valued the things that people living in Cherry Tree Harbor may take for granted. When they do finally get together, the pages were sizzling but there was also a lot of emotion from both of them.  There was a bit of a romantic suspense sub-plot but I would not call this a romantic suspense book.  It is always great being back with Harlow's small town characters and this was no exception.

Not Your Crush's Cauldron - April Asher

This paranormal romance is the third in the Supernatural Singles series and follows Olive and Bax.  Olive is perfectly content to live with her very set routines until one of her students challenge her to do her own assignment and step outside of her comfort zone.  Bax is a guardian angel and when his next assignment is Olive - his new roommate and long time crush - he knows this is going to get complicated.  But spending more time with Olive is not something he's going to pass up.  This was so fun and it was great to see the two characters who we haven't seen a ton of in the previous books.  I love a good "oops, my crush is now my roommate" moment but when Bax is assigned to Olive as her guardian angel, it brought that to a whole new level.  Asher got their whole opposites attract dynamic down perfectly where the seem so different on paper, but their personalities just mesh so well that is is obvious they belong together.  I loved how Olive was really the catalyst for a lot of the romantic growth between them and it really showed her coming out of her shell in many ways.  I loved learning more about this world and the guardian angel system was so interesting to me.  We get to see a good amount of the other characters as well, which is always fun.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date was February 13. 2024

Do Your Worst - Rosie Danan

This supernatural romance follows Riley and Clark.  Riley is working on expanding her family's gift as curse breakers by offering her services for hire.  Being hired for a cursed castle in Scotland seems like a great way to get her name out there but the only problem is the grumpy and skeptical Clark was also hired to work at the castle.  The two vow to be enemies, but somehow keep ending up in situations together and they get the sense that maybe there's another force bringing them together.  I loved the premise and supernatural elements of this, but I had a bit of a hard time with the characters.  I didn't quite buy that these two actually liked each other and found their weird bickering/hot-cold dynamic a little annoying to read.  I can see Danan going for an enemies to lovers/opposites attract dynamic but for me the constant back and forth felt like we were never making any headway.  They would be sworn enemies, then one would do something nice for the other so then they'd agree to a truce.  Until someone did something the next day that would make them sworn enemies again.  I thought Riley and Clark were both very interesting and well developed and I loved how they each had their own personal growth throughout this story.  However, they just didn't click for me as a couple by the end.

Headcase - Onley James

This is the fourth book in the Necessary Evils series and follows Asa and Zane. Zane is an aspiring crime reporter and he has a theory that Thomas Mulvaney and probably the entire Mulvaney clan are murderers. In the hopes of getting more evidence, Zane hopes to run into Thomas during a gala dinner.  Instead, he runs into Asa who immediately starts pressing Zane's buttons as entertainment.  But neither expect the evening to truly end where Asa offered - with him chasing Zane down through his mansion with the fun beginning when Zane is caught. When Zane gets too close to the family secret, Asa chooses to bring him into the fold.  This was yet another fun entry in the series and Zane's path into the family had a lot of similarities to Noah from book 1.  In the previous books, Asa and his twin Ari were never really seen separately but it was great to have the plot separate them so that we can get a really good sense of Asa's character.   Asa really came off to me as the most sadistic of the brothers we've met so far (and not just in regards to his bedroom proclivities).  Asa and Zane certainly have chemistry for days and I loved the way their insta-lust for each other momentarily made them forget their own goals for the night they met. While I don't doubt that  Asa and Zane are a good pairing, the ending to this felt more like a Happy for Now rather than a Happily Ever After (I think mostly due to the fact that Asa would bring up his twin Ari so that plot line felt a bit unresolved).  At this point in the series, over half of the brothers have found their person to be with so the inner circle 

TW/CW: The investigation in this book is based on a real internet game where the players usually eventually commit suicide. Zane is very close to this topic so the discussion of suicide is frequent in the book. 

Praise - Sara Cate

This age gap, kinky read is the first book in the Salacious Player's Club series and follows Charlie and Emerson.  Emerson is the owner of the Salacious Player's Club - a kink club he co-owns and runs with his friends. He is also Charlie's ex boyfriend's father.  When Charlie shows up at his office to collect the security deposit of the apartment she shared with her ex, Emerson mistakes her for a new sub.  Once he realizes his mistake, Emerson is very apologetic and ends up offering Charlie a very vanilla job as his secretary.  But as the two work closer together and Charlie learns more about the kink world, the two end up forming a connection that can't be undone even if they wanted to.  This was such a fun, kinky read and a great first entry in a new series that I was immediately obsessed with. Cate does a fantastic job with the world building of the club as well as all the other side characters who will each have their own book in the series.  Emerson and Charlie are both very unique characters and I really loved the way they ended up together despite everything they had going against them.  I found this read to be lower angst than I was expecting given the tropes of age gap and ex boyfriend's dad. I loved the way kink was portrayed and how Emerson explained the more emotional elements to Charlie.  I didn't quite love Charlie as much as Emerson and it mostly came down to her relationship with kink.  In the kinky romances I've read where one MC is vanilla, they usually still have an inkling that they are kinky themselves or even have a list of kinky interests but have never acted on them.  Charlie came across very vanilla where she didn't even know some of the terms or acts and then she would jump in with both feet.  I would have expected her to be a little more hesitant or for there to be more of a ramp up in the kinky aspects as she expanded her experiences.  However, a lot of this exploration I was expecting was explained away by an evening of Charlie Googling.  All that being said, Cate does a great job of really selling the connection between Charlie and Emerson both in and out of their kink scenes and I'm so excited to have found a new romance series where I want to immediately read all of the books.  

Small Town Swoon - Melanie Harlow

This is the fourth book in the Cherry Tree Harbor series and follows Dash and Ari.  Dash comes back home to Cherry Tree Harbor in the hopes of finding himself for the next phase of his acting career.  Ari has been helping her parents run the family diner and the last person she wants to see is Dash.  The two have history going back to childhood, but Dash's rebuff of her feelings when she was a teen still hurts.  But they aren't teens any more, and when adult Ari and Dash get together, the chemistry is off the charts.  This was fantastic and I absolutely loved Dash and Ari.  As I said above, I don't love celebrity romances, but since Dash was on vacation from acting it didn't really feel like a celebrity book.  However, I did love the practical conversations about Dash and his career plans that I think are often overlooked with celebrities.  I was glad that we got past the incident from years ago pretty quickly which meant this was more of a friends to lovers than I was initially expecting.  Harlow does a great job (as usual) with balancing her character's career aspirations and love of their small town/families.  Dax and Ari are so compatible on just about every level and I really enjoyed how deep their conversations went into their career and life aspirations.  It really felt like their relationship is built on a super solid foundation and I fully believe these two will have a HEA.  We also see a lot of the Buckley family in this one which I absolutely loved.

Thanks to the author for the ARC.  Publication date is March 4, 2024

What Grows in the Dark - Jaq Evans

 This mystery/horror follows Brigit and Ian - friends and fake paranormal investigators.  After Brigit receives a call from her hometown about a potential job, her and Ian head to Ellis Creek.  When they arrive, they learn about the recent missing persons search for two teens.  At first, it isn't clear why Brigit, specifically, was asked to come help.  But with a connection between the current missing people and her sister's suicide 16 years prior, Brigit finds herself confronting a long kept secret that may be the secret to finding and ending the string of missing children from Ellis Creek for good.

TW/CW: suicide on page

For the first half of the read, this felt like a pretty straightforward mystery.  Brigit and Ian were investigating by non-paranormal means such as interviewing locals and doing some research at the local library.  As the plot progressed, the horror elements came in and slowly escalated until by the last 75%, we were in a straight up horror movie and it was fantastic.  Evans does a great job of using the horror elements to heighten the emotional points of the plot.  This makes the stakes feel so much greater and I found myself holding my breath while reading because I was so stressed about these characters. The mystery investigation was well done and I really enjoyed that it was equally rooted in the regular investigation as well as the paranormal investigation.

The actual horror elements were pretty solid in the folk horror category - complete with creepy forests and unnamed entities within.  As mentioned above, the horror creeps into this read in bits and pieces.  The first few times, it is easy to chalk it up to Brigit maybe being mentally impacted by being back in her hometown after so long or the trauma of losing her sister resurfacing.  For a while, I was wondering if this would turn into an unreliable narrator read where we aren't sure if the horrors are real or imagined.  The scene where the horror elements were solidified as being real is a scene I'm not going to forget soon.  I'm not sure if the folk horror entity in this read is based on any real local legends, but it was very unique and Evans fleshed out the lore and rules surrounding it very well.

 Brigit and Ian were wonderfully complex characters and I loved getting both of their POVs.  For me, most reads are pretty easy to label as either character-driven or plot-driven.  In this case, I think Evans does a great job of balancing both of these aspects.  We certainly get a lot of character work but the mystery investigation plot is also very well developed.  We are dropped into this read in the middle of Brigit and Ian working a job and the plot takes off from there.  We don't get much of any sort of summary of their relationship or history - rather, Evans sprinkles in details throughout the story and by the end we have such a great understanding of them as individual characters as well as their relationship.  All of the side characters we see, as well, are incredibly detailed and complex.

Overall, this was a fantastic read and one I don't think I'll forget about easily.  Complex characters, good mystery plot, and great horror elements.  I'd love to read more from Evans in the future. 

Thanks to NetGalley and MIRA for the ARC.  Expected publication date is March 5, 2024

The House of Last Resort - Christopher Golden

 

This haunted house horror follows Tommy and Kate as they move into their new home in Becchina, Italy.  Becchina, like many towns, is experiencing a decline in population so they started a program where you can purchase a home there for a single Euro as long as they promise to live there for 5 years.  It is an easy decision as both Tommy and Kate work remotely and Becchina is the hometown of Tommy's grandparents.  However, as they move in and begin to renovate the home, they start to feel an odd presence in the home.  And once they find out the true history of the house they bought, Tommy and Kate must delve deeper into the darkness than they ever expected.

This was the slowest of slow burns for me and I almost put it down when I got to the middle and there still wasn't a whole lot of spooky stuff going on.  However, I'm so glad I continued reading because the last 30% of the book was absolutely fantastic and the slow burn paid off.  There are so many seemingly mundane details we get in the first half of the read that I was frustrated with because it just felt like a general fiction read about these people and their house.  But when those details came into play in the finale, I completely understood why Golden included them early on. 

I was so excited when I saw the premise for this read because I've looked into similar programs in different countries where they are selling abandoned homes for very little.  What a great jumping off point for a horror read because, with abandoned homes, you really don't know what happened there before.  I also loved how we get to see other couples who took advantage of the program as well and see how their lives and homes differ from Tommy and Kate's. Also, the abandoned home program details come into play throughout the read, not just as a premise to get Tommy and Kate into this house. 

The horror elements were fantastic, although I do wish there was more of a consistent and gradual pressure of them throughout the first 50%.  We get a few creepy moments, but then we would go for stretches with no real horror scenes.  It went on long enough that I was starting to think that maybe this would be more of a general fiction with a slight horror elements.  However, I was pleasantly surprised that we really go from 0 to 100 quickly at about the 70% mark.  I also loved that we do get a specific sub-genre of horror (that I can't specify because I think it would be a spoiler) that I always forget I love as much as I do until I stumble across it and now I want to just read this sub-genre for the next month or so.

The ending was absolutely 12/10 chef's kiss fantastic.  It was one of those endings where I went to turn the page on my eReader, expecting there to be a new chapter, but it was just the end of the book.  And normally, I don't prefer those sorts of hard stop endings.  I do like my reads to have a bit of a calm down after the climax of the read.  However, in this case, I think the ending perfectly matches the plot and overall vibe of the read.  I loved that Golden leaves it a little open ended so the reader can imagine the long-term implications of what we're left with at the end. 

Overall, this was a solid read.  I would have liked the horror elements to be more consistently built throughout the read but the last 30% was absolutely a 5-star read and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date was January 30, 2024.

Original Sins - Erin Young

 

This mystery is the second book in the Riley Fisher series follows Riley as she starts her new position as an FBI agent in Des Moines, Iowa.  In Des Moines, a serial attacker known as the Sin Eater has struck again - putting more pressure on the investigators to catch the perpetrator.  Riley hits the ground in her new position running after being tasked with investigating threats against the city's newly elected female governor. But when the Sin Eater investigation, the governor threats, and Riley's own partner all converge, there might be more to this new position than Riley expected.

As usual with police procedural series, it isn't strictly necessary to read the books in order as the main investigation plots are self-contained.  I did read the first book in the series - The Fields - and really enjoyed it (review linked here) - however, I think this would work very well as a stand alone.  There is a pretty large gap of time between books 1 and 2, so even the personal life details we get in book 1 have changed significantly by book 2.  

Young writes in the acknowledgements section at the end that this was her quarantine book and the inspiration certainly comes through.  We get a good amount of the political climate of the time coming into play and I liked the political suspense/thriller aspect which was also an aspect I enjoyed in the first book in the series.  I think Young does a good job of balancing the political threads in with the more standard police procedural plot lines.  I would not be one to pick up a straight up political thriller, but I enjoy the parts we get in this read. 

Along with the political aspect, we also societal tensions around women and their 'place' in society.  There is a lot of language around women knowing their place, and being punished if they step out of that very restrictive role that some men think they should be in.  Also, we do see a number of Sin Eater attacks on page, and the viciousness of these attacks is not held back.  For me, these parts were a pretty visceral reading experience, but I could see someone with personal experience in these types of situations having a hard time reading them.  

I loved the Sin Eater investigation and was very invested in that plot line.  I found it the perfect amount of twisty and it had a lot of areas for Riley and the team to look into.  Riley - and thus the narrative - bounces between the Sin Eater investigation and the governor protection plot but I found myself much more invested in the Sin Eater side of things.  I found the narrative style to feel a little disjointed at times when switching between the two plots.  I think this was probably done on purpose as Riley finds herself equally torn between these areas of her job, but it did take me out of the reading experience just a bit. 

We get multiple POVs and I think Young does a fantastic job at using the different POVs to deepen the story.  We get Riley, the governor, and a character close to the Sin Eater plot.  At first, I wasn't sure if the multiple POVs were necessary since Riley was investigating both other plots, but by the end I think each POV helped bring all the moving pieces together.  The ending resolution is a little complex, but I think it would feel very messy and out of left field if we were only following Riley.  Having the other POVs help give the reader some background information to give context to some of Riley's investigation threads which helped me feel like the ending reveal was more grounded than it might have otherwise felt. 

Overall, this was another good procedural/mystery/political thriller read from Young and I look forward to reading on in the Riley Fisher series. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the ARC.  Expected publication date is February 13, 2024.