A Beast Within

A Beast Within By Aidan Lucid
Publication date: November 10, 2023
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Horror
Summary:

Have you experienced true terror? For three criminals, they’re about to face it head-on!

Fresh out of prison, Jeremy vows to steer clear of a life of crime and clean up his act. But he quickly realizes that to the world, he will always be an ex-con and plunges back into his old ways. 

The perfect opportunity presents itself in the form of his best friend, Stephen, and his spunky girlfriend, Natalie.

After a failed bank robbery, Jeremy and his accomplices’ identities are made. So, they find refuge in the home of a typical Christian family. 

Their getaway should have been smooth sailing…after all it was three armed criminals against the wholesome Boyd family.

But the Boyds are hiding dark secrets of their own…

—

EXCERPT:

Malcolm looked in his rear-view mirror at the car and its driver growing smaller by the second. “I feel bad about leaving him there.” He slowed to a stop, then shifted the stick into reverse.

“What are you doing? This is insane!” Helena protested as he reversed the Wagoneer.

“Yeah, but if anything happened to him, I’d never forgive myself. Besides, I can’t just drive past him.”

“Course you can. Just press the accelerator and go.”

He brought the Wagoneer to a halt a few feet from the Buick and yanked up the handbrake. “I won’t be long.”

“Malcolm. Malcolm!” Helena hissed as he got out.

Awaken

Awaken By Vanessa MacLellan
Publication date: July 30, 2022
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Horror
Summary:

Balin stands between two great Powers. One will shatter his mind; the other will destroy his soul. Only one of them can save his people.

Fort Resonbirg, a Norse stronghold in the New World, is besieged by the evil sorcerer Ursulard the Dreamspinner. Though their fields are scorched and homes destroyed, the residents and refugees do not worry, because Fort Resonbirg is Awakened with the power to provide, protect, and grow. 

But not all is as it seems when a wall of impenetrable mist surrounds the fort, and within the mist hunts the dragon, Nidhogg. Nidhogg hungers for more than flesh and bone. It instills nightmares on its prey, feeding on fear and pain, inevitably taking lives.

Balin Tremore, a commoner bound for the militia but hoping to stay by his noble love’s side, never expected to amount to grand things. 

When the great power of Cradleweaving is awakened within him, Balin unknowingly becomes the one person with the power to pierce the wall of mist and banish the deadly beast within before it destroys them all—if he can master the new power in time. But to master the power, he must sacrifice much. The question is, will it be his position, his Lady, or his very soul?

The Mist meets Nightmare on Elm Street in this classic tale of personal sacrifice.

—

EXCERPT:

He rapped his knuckles against the wooden door, leaning against the frame to take the strain from his leg.

“Who is there?”

“It is I, Balin Tremore.” He glanced up and down the hallway. Vacant. “I request an audience.”

The door swung open. “Please enter with an open heart, Balin.” Elaine beamed at him, her joy evident in the musical laughter in her words.

Shadowed Horizons (The Guardians, #1)

Shadowed Horizons (The Guardians, #1) By Reily Garrett
Publication date: May 13, 2022
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Horror, Paranormal
Summary:

Fate can have many paths. Which would you choose?

Kiera’s capacity to face death stems from training, begun when old enough to wield a knife. Befriended by wolves and raised by a group of psychic men sworn to protect humanity, she now faces mercenaries intent on reshaping the world using equal talents.

Prodigious keyboard skills and innate curiosity has led Wyatt McGlauklin to invent the unimaginable. He’s long since claimed status as the top computer science geek. Little do people know, there’s much more to Wyatt.

When a blonde spitfire steps out of nowhere to prevent his assassination, his life’s direction takes an extraordinary turn where his analytical mind can’t validate paranormal phenomena.

Fate decrees Kiera find her life partner, but she learns you don’t always get to choose whom you love. Wyatt’s arrival challenges destiny as they combine forces to preserve the world as they know it.

A must-read for fans of for fans of CM Sutter, Dale Mayer, Dean Koontz, LT Ryan, and Fiona Quinn.

—

EXCERPT:

Each flip of the key ring around his index finger tallied another reason to quit the world of high stake’s business. Work stemming from a far-fetched theory had taken form and flourished beyond his imagination.

Unlike the soundless steps of his bodyguard’s booted strides, Wyatt’s tennis shoes pealed squishy squeaks through the dimly lit parking garage.

“Adam, this does not make my list of top favorite places to visit. Next time I help an old college friend, maybe we could pick a drier day and find parking other than a creepy garage?”

Eau De Parfum: Eric’s Story Short (Hell in a Handbag)

Eau De Parfum: Eric’s Story Short (Hell in a Handbag) By Lisa Acerbo
Publication date: December 28, 2021
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Horror, New Adult, Post-Apocalyptic, 
Summary:

The smell of Streaker lingers in the air.

I must be dead!

I woke up naked and covered in blood. Teeth marks littered my arms, creating holes and revealing muscle. Someone or something attempted to gnaw off my elbow.

I’m alone! So, maybe, I’m worse than dead.

If friends and family abandoned me, I must have turned into a Streaker. On second thought, it’s an easy “no” to eating body parts.

The idea of brains for dinner disgusts me.

I only see one option ahead, and that’s to find my family and ask why they left me as dinner for the undead.

 

Pre-order the next books in the series:

—

EXCERPT:

His glance was quick and furtive. Nostrils flaring, Eric recoiled from the gore around him and the smell of death saturating the air. He held back a scream.

Where am I?

The irregular beat of his heart pounded in his ears like a truck accelerating under a bridge. Although the room was murky, the red ochre stains decorating the floor and walls like abstract paintings remained vivid.

What had happened here?

Eric sat naked, covered in blood, but alive. He lifted himself onto his knees. Everything hurt. He stared at the carnage that was his body and gagged.

A Holiday Haunting at the Biltmore (The Mystery House Series, #8)

A Holiday Haunting at the Biltmore (The Mystery House Series, #8) By Eva Pohler
Publication date: January 1, 2022
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Horror, Mystery
Summary:

Ellen should have known that a gathering in America’s last castle would entail a few uninvited guests.

During a Christmas eve wedding at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, Ellen and her friends are visited by multiple ghosts. 

The spirits have come to tell their stories, to right the wrongs that history has done to their memories. 

Each of them died in Asheville with their voices stifled. One spirit is particularly adamant and threatening, despite her small size, and her mood fluctuates like the mountain winds surrounding the great estate. 

She claims to be the ghost of Zelda Fitzgerald, and she wants her story told, even if she has to kill to make it happen.

*Although this is book eight in The Mystery House Series, these books can be read in any order.

—

EXCERPT:

Chapter One: Hot Tub Musings

Ellen clung to the handrail as she eased down the steps into the hot, bubbling water. She adjusted her black one-piece bathing suit, making sure she was still covered. The aquafit class had rearranged everything.

From behind her, Sue said, “I can’t believe I let you guys talk me into this.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Tanya said from where she was already resting in the tub.

Ellen sat across from her. “Speak for yourself. I could barely breathe.”

A Wish Too Dark And Kind

A Wish Too Dark And Kind By M.L. Blackbird
Publication date: November 1, 2021
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Dark Fantasy, Horror, Urban Fantasy
Summary:

Among the immortals that inhabit our world, Arnaud Demeure is known as the man who can fulfill your one true wish or who can also conjure your worst nightmares.

Eight invitations are sent to eight immortals, and when Arnaud Demeure hosts a party, no one refuses his request. Why have they been summoned? Is it for a celebration or does a sinister fate await them? After all, in the ways of Magick, a party can also be a ritual to end the world.

As the mystery deepens, the attendees must overcome their personal grudges to unravel the threads of Demeure’s grand plan that has been centuries in the making. But, with one of the guests secretly working with their host to sabotage the group’s every move, it seems impossible to look behind the curtain to learn Demeure’s true intentions.

With each guest hiding dark secrets and darker intentions, will they be able to uncover Demeure’s mysterious motives or will the party prove to be the deadly nightmare that they each fear?

—

EXCERPT:

The young sister ran through the silent city while the prophet waited for her to arrive. The old man knew she would come; he had seen her already. Hidden by the shadow of an old staircase, eyes fixed on the door, he tried not to get distracted by the creatures in his vision.

Thousands of them, maybe millions, all crammed within glass walls.

The youngest sat at the center of the glass prison. It was taller than the tallest mountain. It was quiet amid the frenzy of its brothers. Its head so high it saw beyond the ceiling of its prison, straight into the realm of the Eldest Lords. Light leaked from underneath its shaking, half-closed eyelids. It peeked into the future.

Book Blitz: Phantoms in the Moonlight

Phantoms in the Moonlight By
Alaine Greyson, Marie McGrath, S. C. Morgan
Publication date: September 8, 2020
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Horror, Thriller
Summary:

11 stories to fright and delight. As the air turns cooler and bonfires take over the night, gather around the fire for stories of fall fun, strange occurrences and abject terror. 

These stories published by authors S. C. Morgan, Marie McGrath and Alaine Greyson are sure to get your heart pumping and take your imagination on a wild ride.

—

EXCERPT:

Lucifer. The Devil? The night had taken a turn for the worse. Trudy glanced at the pill bottle. Forget the rest of today. This haunting of a witch, sorceress, and now the Devil was enough to end things. No one would ever believe her if she explained.

“Whenever I see opportunity, I’m there. This is no different. Besides, I’m convinced this will be an easy sell.” Lucifer nodded toward Miranda. “Sending in the young ones to do an adult’s job? No worries. Just makes my sell easier.”

Miranda balled her fists and pursed her lips. She stepped toward Lucifer, but Gretchen pushed her onto the couch.

Book Blitz: The Monsters Within

The Monsters Within By Kody Boye
Publication date: June 15, 2020
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Horror, Mystery, New Adult, Romance
Summary:

Not all monsters can be seen.
When Dean McAllen wins a writing fellowship that offers him the chance to escape his abusive homelife, he boards the first plane out of Utah and prepares for a life free of dysfunction. 

Not long after arriving in the small town halfway across the country, he meets Brad Michelson. Kind, sweet, and caring, the fellow artist is everything Dean could ever want in a man. He’s also Dean’s first true shot at love.

But what Dean doesn’t know is that Brad harbors a darkness inside of him—and though Brad has struggled to hold it back his entire life, Dean will soon find that the monsters that dwell within Brad’s conscience are real, and out to destroy them both.

—

EXCERPT:

We drove along a dark road that night. Flanked by cars that slowly but surely fell behind, I watched the vehicles traveling alongside us disappear as we advanced out of the city limits and onto the lost stretches taken only by farmers and their equipment. Beside me, Brad drove with the window down, one arm braced along the frame, his free hand around the wheel. He drove without a care in the world, humming softly to Top 100 on the radio; and I, left only to observe, watched the fields before us extend forever into the distance.

“This is nice,” Brad said, tossing his fringe away from his eyes, “isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “It is.”

His hair—which was lengthier on the top but shorn along the sides of his head—blew haphazardly in the wind, creating the impression that we were two kids doing nothing more than enjoying the world for what it was. He was twenty-one, I eighteen, fresh and new and completely and utterly enamored. I tried my hardest not to watch him out of my peripheral, but found myself doing that regardless.
Remember, remember, the code to remember, I thought. Straight men get a pass because their love doesn’t last.

Book Blitz: Lullabies for Suffering: Tales of Addiction Horror

Lullabies for Suffering: Tales of Addiction Horror
Publication date: January 10, 2020
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Horror
Summary:

“A plunge into the agony and the ecstasy, the inescapable nightmare of addiction.”
~ALMA KATSU, author of The Deep and The Hunger 

Addiction starts like a sweet lullaby sung by a trusted loved one. It washes away the pains of the day and wraps you in the warmness of the womb where nothing hurts and every dream is possible. 

Yet soon enough, this warm state of bliss becomes a cold shiver, the ecstasy and dreams become nightmares, yet we can’t stop listening to the lullaby. We crave to hear the siren song as it rips us apart.

Six stories: three novellas, three novelettes, written by a powerful list of talent, all featuring the insidious nature of addiction–damaged humans craving for highs and wholeness but finding something more tragic and horrific on the other side. 

FEATURING: 

Caroline Kepnes author of You and Hidden Bodies
Kealan Patrick Burke, author of Sour Candy and Kin
Mercedes M. Yardley, author of Pretty Little Dead Girls
John FD Taff, author of The Fearing
Mark Matthews, author of Milk-Blood
Gabino Iglesias, author of Coyote Songs

“Each story uses different techniques and tropes from the genre resulting in a volume that is chilling and thought provoking.” ~Library Journal (Starred Review)

—

SNEAK PEEKS:

Monsters by Caroline Kepnes

You are a virgin. You are eighteen years old and you’ve never done anything remotely criminal. Yes, you ate too many Devil Dogs, you played alone, and you got fat. But you lost five pounds before starting college. You’ve been there for your mother. You’re there for her right now, in line with her at TJ Maxx.

She likes to shop every time she comes home from rehab. You say you believe it when she says, “this time it sticks.” You aren’t lying to her. You aren’t faking it. Every time feels like the time that it will stick and this time is no different.

She pays for a bigger bathing suit—detox makes her thighs rub together—and she laughs with the woman at the register. The laughter is a good sign, a sign that it will stick. You pick at pink bubblegum that someone pressed under the counter. It sticks. Gum is sticky. There is no such thing as gum that doesn’t stick.

Book Blitz: Hybrid: Adapt or Die

Hybrid: Adapt or Die By Rebecca Henry
Publication date: August 5, 2019
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Horror, Science Fiction
Summary:

Agent Van of the CIA is sent to an Australian underground military surveillance base called Pine Gap. 

Agent Van finds himself thrown in a conspiracy cover up of an ancient alien race known as species X. He falls in love with Annika, a mysterious and uncommon woman who displays unusual abilities, leading Van to question her own origin. 

Mystery and horror explode around Agent Van during a cave diving exhibition to search for a lost colleague referred to as Agent One. 

The only clue for Agent Van and his team is a cryptic message carved on a wall inside the bleak cave that reads “Agent One is gone. No more Agent One.” Terror arrives as the agents are trapped inside the ominous cave. Agent Van soon learns that there is more to Pine Gap than Species X.

BOOK TRAILER:

—

EXCERPT:

A man in a white lab coat turned to me with a smile. A tie-dye bandanna held back his long, graying hair. Doctor Helix was an older man somewhere in his 60s, but still had the hippie heart of a Dead Head. Wiry in build, he was a dead ringer for Bob Weir. Doctor Helix flashed me a peace sign as he rifled through a stack of vinyl records on a desk. Selecting one, he drew a joint from his lab coat and put Sugar Magnolia on the record player, adjusting the needle as he expertly lit the joint with one hand.

Painless Blog Tour

Painless By Marty Thornley
Publication date: January 12, 2018
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Horror, Psychological Thriller
Summary: 

The debut psychological-horror novel from author Marty Thornley is a page-turning ride, a front row seat to a clinical trial gone horribly wrong. 

For Greg Owens, this was supposed to be a chance to end years of back pain and escape his reliance on pain pills. If it all worked out, he could maybe even get back the life he left behind as the pills took control. 

Instead, as the patients are cured of their physical pain, they encounter a different sort of pain building inside them – obsessive thoughts, depression, self-destruction. 

The side-effects grow worse, and the suspense ratchets tighter. The patients want answers and violent revenge, setting them on a collision course with a crazed doctor, determined to protect his life’s obsession.

—

What readers are saying…

“…most definitely a recommended read, though it’s probably not the best choice for those with a weak stomach.”

“Gruesome and twisted. Awesome!!!”

“OMG this book. Holy heck the gruesome descriptions of blood and gore and guts was SO RAD. I found myself cringing and fidgeting and yes, even feeling a bit nauseous in some spots – but totally in a GOOD WAY! Painless was exactly what I wanted in a super-unique, creepy, shocking horror-thriller.”

Interview

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated or did you always just know you wanted to be a writer?

 The first memory of actually wanting to write, thinking that it was something I could do and be interested in, was around 13. I had started reading Stephen King, the first adult books I had ever read. But it was his short stories that made me think I could write. I remember thinking they were so short, I could do that. I don’t remember ever thinking I might write a book, but I thought I might have some ideas that would be good short stories.

What inspired Painless?

There was a whole terrible time for horror films, when everything was either PG-13 and silly or the torture-porn films like Hostel and Saw. I remember watching them, seeing all this blood an violence with no character development or suspense, and thinking that I felt nothing. So, almost as a joke, I thought of an idea that would flip that all around and make it literal. How about a doctor that cures pain? What if we had to watch people being tortured but they felt nothing? The story morphed from there, but that was the original spark.

Cover Reveal: Witching Hour: Sinister Legends

Witching Hour: Sinister Legends
(Witching Hour Anthologies)
Publication date: October 23, 2018
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Horror, Paranormal, Thriller
Summary:

Bloody Mary…

Bloody Mary…
Bloody…maybe we shouldn’t test that just yet. 

Urban legends, fact or fiction, at the end of the day they’re all stories. We know not to spin around the room in the dark whispering her name. 

We’ve heard about the man with the hook and the terror that stalks the babysitter while she’s home alone. 

But there are other tales told around the fire at night. The man finding the steps into hell and sanity flickering away. Mind control experiments by governments, big and small. 

The woman married to the man of peculiar tastes. There are the haunted hospitals, sleep trials in Russia and more.
Slenderman and Bigfoot are nowhere within these stories; these are only the unusual and dark ones, slanted into truth. 

In every legend, there is a seed of truth. Welcome to the Witching Hour. 

AUTHORS: 

Book Blitz: When Blood Reigns

When Blood Reigns By Barbara Cluster
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Horror, Science Fiction
Release Date: December 5, 2016
Buy Link: Amazon
Summary:

Marked for death, Alexis accompanies her lover, Yeron, and four survivors of a zombie invasion on a search for the renegades who created a chemical that induces a zombie-like state. 

On the way, ravenous flesh-eaters attack Alexis’s team; one survivor turns on her. She realizes too late that the renegades have been tracking her every move. 

When officials capture her, she becomes deathly ill. Can DNA splicing save her? Will Yeron’s attempts at rescue jeopardize all their lives?

♥ ♥ ♥

—

EXCERPT:

Teodon pointed toward Laurel and held a finger to his lip.

“Do not speak out loud. I will understand the answers you think.”

Okay, Yeron’s badly hurt and so am I. I can’t move him without making his injuries worse.

“All right, then I will levitate him. I know how and I will not see him die. Go ahead of us and lead me to Quyeba’s laboratory. You must forget your injuries and pain. It may seem impossible, but Yeron needs your help. I cannot carry two injured people safely, and if you stay, Laurel will come after you again.”

I understand. Alexis struggled onto her hands and knees.

Harsh chewing and slurping sounds issued from Laurel. Despite the pain wracking her body, Alexis crawled toward the door.

She had to find her way back to the lab. Yeron was moaning, and his cries were growing weaker. Teodon lifted him. He depended on her to lead the way. Any second, Laurel would tire of Woehar and come after her.

Promotional Event: Love and Decay, Episode Three (Love and Decay (Complete Series) #3)

Love and Decay, Episode Three (Love and Decay (Complete Series) #3) by Rachel Higginson
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Dystopian, Horror
Release Date: August 10, 2013
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

Zombies- as if that wasn’t enough to ruin any girl’s dream of a happily ever after.

Reagan and her friends escaped Diego and his terrifying plans for them. But maybe that wasn’t the best decision after all.

Without weapons, food or water, survival has become more than bleak. The Mexican wilderness offers little resources to their desperate circumstances and when Feeders find them, there is no hope of salvation.

Until they stumble into a mine and find a miracle waiting for them. But a miracle in the Zombie Apocalypse is a double-edged sword; one they might soon wish had never found them.

Love and Decay, Episode Three is the third episode in Season Three of a novella series in a Dystopian Romance about Zombies, the end of the world and finding someone to share it with.

Review: The Girl with All the Gifts

The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Dystopia, Horror
Release Date: Published June 19th 2014 by Orbit
Buy Links: Amazon ♥ Book Depository

Book Description

NOT EVERY GIFT IS A BLESSING

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class.

When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite. But they don't laugh.

Melanie is a very special girl.

♥ ♥ ♥

SPOILER ALERT: This is a book about Zombies. The world as we know it has died, and society has collapsed. Nature decided to fight back and infected the human race with a contagious fungi that makes people hungry for human flesh. The remaining survivors scramble for a cure, knowing time is running out. In addition to the survivors there are some very special children, like Melanie, who were born into a world of chaos and have to find out where they fit into the new world.

I loved Melanie's character. Her narration was what made this book for me. She was an endearing girl who had to face truths about herself that could have been hard to accept by some. She faced such harsh treatments from the people surrounding her because of what she was. Her inner conflicts, and how she dealt with them, and how she questioned them, made me care for her so much despite her being truly something else. There are several other POVs in this book and they really help to expand on the world building.

Signal Boost: Purgatory: Soldiers of Misfortune

Purgatory: Soldiers of Misfortune by AUTHOR
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Horror, Fantasy
Release Date: July 11, 2013
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

He may have made a few wrong decisions in his life, but the last thing veteran Harry Taylor expects after closing his eyes for the last time is to wake up in a foreign landscape filled with the horrors of his worst nightmare. A place like no other, welcome to Purgatory.

Formed at the beginning of time, Purgatory is a place where all the wrongs of the physical world have gathered, a place filled with terror and controlled by an ancient and ruthless group of warriors called Leviathan.

Can Harry survive these warriors hell bent on capturing and enslaving all those before them? One thing s for sure, if Harry is to survive, he d better start forming alliances with the other damned souls trapped here. But can anyone be trusted in Purgatory?

♥ ♥ ♥
Giveaway:

 or

Review: Doomed (Damned #2)

Doomed by Chuck Palahniuk
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Release Date: October 8, 2013
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ Barnes and Noble

Book Description:

Madison Spencer, the liveliest, snarkiest dead girl in the universe, continues the adventures in the afterlife begun in Damned. 

Having somewhat reluctantly escaped from Hell, she now wanders the Purgatory that is Earth as a ghostly spirit, seeking her do-gooding celebrity parents, fighting the malign control of Satan, recounting the disgracefully funny (to us, anyway) encounter with her grandfather in a fetid highway rest stop in upstate New York when she...

oh, never mind, and climaxing in a rendezvous with destiny on the new, totally plastic continent in the Pacific called, not at all accidentally, Madlantis.

♥ ♥ ♥

I almost didn't even bother with Chuck Palahniuk's new book, "Doomed.” The last book of his that I actively enjoyed was "Rant” and there's been four other books between that and "Doomed.” His earlier works are some of my favorite books ("Invisible Monsters" being high on the list), but I seem to just be tolerating his newer stuff.

After his last book, "Damned,” I wasn't running to the bookstore like I normally did for a Palahniuk release. While most (okay, ALL) of his books are weird, "Damned" was just gross. It relied mainly on crass humor and gross out factors that only seem to impress prepubescent boys, and it was difficult for me to get through. If it wasn't for the 30% off sticker on the cover of "Doomed,” I might have just skipped it entirely.

"Doomed" is the sequel to "Damned” and this is actually the first time that Palahniuk has tried his hand at creating a series. The series follows a 13-year-old girl, Madison Spencer, as she dies, goes to Hell, and then escapes from Hell. That is where "Doomed" picks up, with Madison back in the real world, this time as a ghost. She sees that there is a new religion that seems to have the attention of everyone, and she's at the heart of it.

Review: Darkhouse

Darkouse (Experiment in Terror #1) by Karina Halle
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Horror, Paranormal
Release Date: May 9th, 2011
Buy Links:

Amazon (the kindle version is free!) ♥ B&N

Book Description:

There's always been some­thing a bit off about Perry Palomino. Though she's been deal­ing with a quarter-life cri­sis and post-college syn­drome like any other twen­tysome­thing, she's still not what you would call "ordi­nary." For one thing, there's her past which she likes to pre­tend never hap­pened, and then there's the fact that she sees ghosts. 

Luck­ily for her, that all comes in handy when she stum­bles across Dex Foray, an eccen­tric pro­ducer for an upcom­ing web­cast on ghost hunters. Even though the show's bud­get is non-existent and Dex him­self is a mad­den­ing enigma, Perry is instantly drawn into a world that both threat­ens her life and seduces her with a sense of impor­tance. 

Her uncle's haunted light­house pro­vides the per­fect cat­a­lyst and back­drop for a hor­rific mys­tery that unrav­els the threads of Perry's frag­ile san­ity and causes her to fall for a man, who, like the most dan­ger­ous of ghosts, may not be all that he seems.

*Darkhouse and the Experiment in Terror series is a horror/romance for mature audiences only. Readers who are easily offended by harsh language should think twice about reading it.*

♥ ♥ ♥

When I read Darkhouse it was back in May and it was the first book by Karina Halle that I’ve read and I was pleasantly surprised with her writing style. She made me laugh (I love a good sarcastic comebacks), made me feel scared (there were a few times I had to pause and put the book down for a little while) and wrote the characters in such a way that I felt connected right away. I was drawn into this series after it coming up in a search for books for one of the tv/read posts and was not disapointed.

Movie Review: The Cabin in the Woods

The Cabin in the Woods
Age Group: rated R
Genre: Horror
Release Date: April 13, 2012
Buy Links:

Amazon

Movie Description:

Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin in the woods, where they get more than they bargained for. Together, they must discover the truth behind the cabin in the woods.


♥ ♥ ♥

When "The Cabin in the Woods" was released in theatres in 2012, I wanted to see it. Badly. The reviews were good, the trailer made everything look promising, and it was written by Joss Whedon (which was obviously the seal on the deal for me). However, with my work schedule and conflicts with my friends' schedules, I wasn't able to watch it while it was still playing in theatres.

Fast forward to October 2013 and my friend and I just got home from doing some Halloween costume shopping and wanted to watch a movie. Guess what's on Netflix, kids! So even if you don't want to go out and buy or rent (yes, you can still rent videos) "The Cabin in the Woods", just log on to your Netflix and take a gander, because it is worth it.

I'm going to try really hard not to spoil anything about this movie for those of you who haven't seen it yet, because it is best to see it without knowing too much about the plot twists and turns. This definitely isn't your average horror movie, and you may be sitting there confused at points, but it's all part of the fun!

The movie focuses mainly on five teenagers, who all fit into the five categories of the stereotypical horror movie cast. You've got the dumb, horny blonde, the alpha-male jock, the cute brainiac, the stoner, and the virginal girl-next-door. These five friends take a trip to a cabin for the weekend, expecting nothing but parties, drinking, and sex, but in true horror movie fashion, things don't go as planned.

Review: Oxford Blood (The Cavaliers #1)

Oxford Blood (The Cavaliers #1) by Georgiana Derwent
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Horror
Release Date: October 17th 2012
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

A Tale of the Posh, the Privileged and the Paranormal...

The Cavaliers are the most elite society at Oxford University - rich, powerful, and beautiful. No one realizes that they are no ordinary students, but a group of aristocratic vampires from the English Civil War.

For four hundred years they have groomed the most promising students to run the government, police, and finance in the way the vampires wish, granting them eternal life in return for absolute obedience.

When Harriet French arrives at Oxford University from her working class northern state school, she’s prepared for a culture shock, but not to become embroiled in the Cavaliers’ scheming and bloodlust. Harriet thought she'd be busy enough juggling her demanding tutor, new friends, and the murky world of student politics. But now, she must find the rebel vampire who is killing off the members, stop the Cavaliers from orchestrating a massacre of the year’s most beautiful and successful students, and defy the Society to be with the man of her dreams.

Oxford Blood is a British, adult, paranormal romance. It's a tale with vampires that aren't afraid to kill and a heroine who's not afraid of sex or her own ambition.

♥ ♥ ♥

Upon receiving a copy of Oxford Blood my initial impression was that this was going to be yet another vampire romance novel that would result in my instant dislike for a boring, lackluster female protagonist who is dim witted and utterly useless. There is only so many times I can yell at the main characters to open their eyes and smell the blood.

To my surprise the character, Harriet French, was none of those things. Smart, independent and bringing with her an interesting back story while still managing to own a rocking bod, Harriet was refreshing to say the least. With an actual well thought out plot, I found myself completely immersed in the opulent settings due to Georgiana Derwent’s beautifully captured description of the stunning Oxford University.