Review: 25 Days: A Novel

25 Days: A Novel by Per Jacobsen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for a pre-release copy of Per Jacobsen's 25 Days. Below is my honest review.

Well, I'm currently rethinking my annual desire to rent a cabin for Christmas vacation and sit up in the snowy wilderness because Per Jacobsen has demolished the idyllic feeling of said vacation and replaced it with a slasher straight out of horror cinema.

The Grays decide to take a week vacation in a remote cabin up in the snowy mountains in early December. For Adam, it's a chance to reconnect with his wife Beth and strengthen what was slowly starting to unravel. Oh, and a chance to get their kids Abby and Chloe off of their electronics and spend time together as a family. So what's not to love about a cabin nestled in a clearing up in the mountains? It has a barn with fluffy little animals for the girls to play with, and it has a food stock in case a snowstorm traps them up there. It's basically a little slice of heaven for a family getaway. Or at least, it should be... unfortunately, someone has their eye on this little family and starts leaving progressively more violent presents in a stocking nailed to the barn door, and as the days pass like an advent calendar, the Grays start to realize that there's a high chance that they won't make it out alive.

Was it perfect? Nah, there were some trope-y moments and some dislikeable character moments, and there were quite a few suspend-your-disbelief moments. But was it fun? Absolutely - for us, the reader. Not for the Grays... yikes not at all for the Grays.

This would make an excellent movie. Maybe one day it will be!

Recommended for horror/slasher fans and fans of remote isolated settings.

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Review: Silver and Lead

Silver and Lead by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for the pre-release copy of Seanan McGuire's Silver and Lead, book 19 in the October Daye series. Below is my honest review.

Anyone who knows me or has seen or followed my reviews knows with absolute certainty that I am a HUGE Seanan McGuire fan. It should come as no surprise that I devoured and adored this entry into one of my favorite series, the October Daye series.

In this one we have Toby almost ready to pop, so of course, the villains have to get up to their shenanigans and disturb the last bit of her pregnancy with an adventure. This time it involves items stolen from the Windemere's royal vault - items that are VERY dangerous - and naturally, as hero of the realm, it's up to Toby, on the verge of childbirth and with a very zealously overprotective family (due to the events of Titania's spell from the last two books) who want to keep her safe, to retrieve these items. And naturally, hijinx of the greatest order ensue.

This one was so much fun (for the reader, not for the characters!), and I really enjoyed getting to see some relationships revealed, repaired, or restructured as we went along. And let's be honest, the end reveal makes me SO ready for the next book.

Also included at the end is a little shorty from Simon's perspective, and it brings about its own little joys as well.

Highly recommended, but with the caveat that if you start here, you're going in with 18 prior books and countless short stories of this world's history missing from your context.

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Review: Hollow

Hollow by Taylor Grothe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Peachtree Teen for the pre-release copy of Taylor Grothe's Hollow. Below is my honest review.

Taylor Grothe's Hollow was their debut YA horror novel, and boy did it deliver hard! You jump right into the story, with neurodivergent Cassie returning to her hometown after leaving four years prior. While she was gone, she fell off the grid and didn't keep up with her old friends, mostly because she was struggling with new diagnoses and her parents' divorce. So stumbling upon said friends, including the girl she had feelings for before leaving, definitely was an awkward situation. As they try to rebuild something, a group camping trip takes a massive turn and the group is split, shoving Cassie into a cultish community living out in the wilderness, The Roost. From there, the story pushes darker and darker, as Cassie tries to balance who she is with who she wants to be and how she wants to relate to other people... and her friends are all in danger, lost in the woods.

1- I love books with cults, even if they're just intentional communities with cult-ish similarities.

2- I loved the neurodivergency rep.

3- I loved the LGBTQ+ rep (but I will note that stopping in the middle of chase scene to ask what pronouns to use was a little awkward).

4- I loved the buildup to a grande finale. It was top notch.

5- Some of the twists aren't as surprising, but how they're revealed is still fantastic.

I'll definitely read more from Taylor Grothe, especially since I've seen they have at least two more novels coming in the next few years.

Highly recommended for YA fans, horror fans of all ages, and people who just like a good page-turner.

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Review: Thief of Night

Thief of Night by Holly Black
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for the pre-release copy of Thief of Night by Holly Black. Below you'll find my honest review.

I really wish this one had been a trilogy and not a duology, because I absolutely wasn't ready to say goodbye to Charlie Hall and the ragtag cast. I really want more in this world, even if it's not with Charlie and Vince/Red and Posey and all of them. The magic system with shadows and blood is fantastic!

Maybe one day Holly Black will return to this world. Fingers crossed. Until then, highly recommend this duology, but please start with Book of Night. Jumping in on the last half of a two book story is just silly!

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Review: This Inevitable Ruin

This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: The Whistler

The Whistler by Nick Medina
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for the pre-release copy of Nick Medina's The Whistler. Below is my honest review.

I really liked this one! It had great build up, weaving the current time (after the INCIDENT) and the past (before the INCIDENT), dropping hints the whole time about what was going on. The characters had depth, and you could feel the weight of their histories in the story. Medina did a great job making me care about them all.

I also really loved the connections to Medina's other stories, entirely unexpected but fully welcome. Great little surprises!

I think my only complaint is that there is a little bit of pacing work to be done, as there are some scary parts but it needed MORE scary.

All in all, highly recommended.

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Review: Play Nice

Play Nice by Rachel Harrison
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for the pre-release copy of Play Nice by Rachel Harrison. Below you'll find my honest review.

I'm a huge Rachel Harrison fan. I've made no secret of that. She's pithy, she's creative, and she knows how to write with depth.

Play Nice wasn't just your average haunted house novel. It's a novel of possession, and it's commentary on what it means to be a woman unbelieved, to be a woman breaking the mold of normal, to be in a family that likes to polish over the truth with a nice-looking veneer. But it's also a haunted house story.

My favorite thing about Harrison's books is that she always makes it a horror novel that also has the deeper commentary and meaning woven into the story. Don't get me wrong - I love a great popcorn horror novel, just being exactly what it appears on the surface with the scaries and the mysteries and the terror. But honestly, I also really love when you have something below the skin, something thick and meaty that drives the story into a thoughtful place as well.

Five stars, highly recommended (go read all of her books!).

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Review: They Fear Not Men in the Woods

They Fear Not Men in the Woods by Gretchen McNeil
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and DAW for the pre-release copy of They Fear Not Men in the Woods by Gretchen McNeil. Below is my honest review.

Having only ever read Gretchen McNeil's young adult book Ten, I've been meaning to pick up more of her works, so when I saw she had an adult horror debut coming out, I had to click Request. And I'm really glad that I did.

I want this one to be made into a movie. Or maybe a limited series for one of the streamers. (hint hint, Amazon).

The tension built in this one in a perfectly paced way. Just enough slow burn at the beginning to set the stage, but not so much that it felt like it was dragging. Then when they get out there into the woods, the proverbial you-know-what hits the proverbial fan HARD and it hits it FAST. One by one, the party shrinks, and they begin to realize that the woods might be a much more dangerous place than they ever thought possible, and that they might not make it out alive.

Highly recommended for horror fans. Five stars.

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Review: The House of Quiet

The House of Quiet by Kiersten White
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Delacorte for the pre-release copy of The House of Quiet by Kiersten White. Below you'll find my honest review.

Well, this book chastised me. It wagged its pointer finger at me and said, "Shame on you for not having gone back and read any of Kiersten White's YA stuff. Shame on you for only having read Hide and Mister Magic! SHAME!"

I absolutely LOVED this one. She does some amazing worldbuilding, and the crazy part about that is that she does it with a story in ONE house in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE cut off from the rest of the world. Does she answer everything? No. Does it take a while to fully grasp the entire structure of the powers/the procedure/etc? Yes. But that doesn't matter because she's got a great group of characters that make you want to keep reading so you can find out whatever little tidbit comes next.

I adored some of the side characters the most - Lake and her weirdness, Dawn and her search for purpose and meaning, Forest and his silent fortitude - but the main characters were also strong and well developed. They were easy to root for, for sure.

Five stars, and I really, really hope this is going to be at least a duology. I need more in this world!!! Highly recommended.

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Review: Catch Your Death

Catch Your Death by Ravena Guron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for the pre-release copy of Catch Your Death by Ravena Guron. Below is my honest review.

I really enjoyed this one. It was tons of fun! It offered up a mystery told through flashbacks and interviews with the police, alongside some (reliable?) narration. The creepy house with secret passages set out in the countryside and cut off from power, phone service, or even the surrounding area due to snow was a great setting. The mystery was spooled out at just the right pace, and the twists, albeit slightly predictable if you're a huge mystery reader like myself, were spot on in both timing and thrill level. And the relationships of the characters were really well done.

Four stars, definitely recommend to mystery/YA fans. (Check out her novel "This Book Kills" too!)

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Review: Breathe In, Bleed Out

Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Camp Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the pre-release copy of Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley. Below is my honest review.

I'm a big fan of the horror genre. Movies, books, tv shows... doesn't matter. I love it. But I mostly veer torwards the supernatural side of things and avoid the slasher-y type horror. This one sounded "fun" though, so I picked it up, and I'm glad I did. I tore through it in less than two days, and I had trouble putting it down. It had some really wacky original death scenes, had a good story, and had some compelling characters. It was also very much like reading a movie - I think this one would be easily translated to the big screen and would do well at the box office.

I'll definitely pick up some more of his books in the future.

Four and a half stars, rounded up.

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Review: Let's Split Up

Let's Split Up by Bill Wood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Scholastic for the pre-release copy of Let's Split Up by Bill Wood. Below is my honest review.

Billed as Scooby Doo meets Scream, this one had so much potential to be one I would really love. I love horror movies. I love mysteries. I absolutely adore Scooby Doo.

Unfortunately, while the setting was great and the characters were decent, the reveal wasn't well executed - I guessed the killer the first time they were introduced, extremely early on. It was too obvious. Also, the prose and dialogue needed some editing. Written by an author from the UK but set in the US, there were quite a few UK vernacular moments that ended up in the book that should have been shifted to US terms. There were also so many incomplete sentences in the beginning that it took me out of the story.

Overall, it was a fun story. Just needed some tweaking to make it a great book.

Three stars. Recommended for Scooby Doo fans who are okay with it being a little Scream-adjacent but are also willing to overlook flaws for fun.

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