Horror Spotlight's Readalong June 2023

Horror Spotlight’s Readalong June 2023

In June we will be reading Below by Laurel Hightower for the readalong in the Horror Spotlight discord. You can join the discord with this link.
 

 HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO HELP A STRANGER?

While driving through the mountains of West Virginia during a late-night snowstorm, a recently divorced woman experiences bizarre electrical problems, leaving her with little choice but to place her trust with a charismatic truck driver. But when an unexplainable creature with haunting red eyes gets between them, she is forced to make one of the toughest decisions of her life. Will she abandon the stranger who kept her safe—or will she climb down below, where reality has shapeshifted into a living nightmare?

Goodreads | Bookshop 

The readalong begins June 1, and discussions will take place throughout the month of June on the Horror Spotlight discord server. Everyone is welcome to join. See you there!

May 2023 New Horror Book Releases

Today we are celebrating some of the horror books that released in May!

How Lovely To Be a Woman by Tiffany Michelle Brown

A woman desperate to achieve the life she’s always dreamed of orders an AI baby online. Mounting workplace misogyny helps an introvert unlock her innate power. A woman obsessed with skincare goes to great lengths to rid her face of imperfections. A frat boy looking to score gets much more than he bargained for when a sexy coed turns the tables on him. Seeking relief from the pressures of everyday life, a woman checks into a hotel that caters to her dark predilections.

Equal parts heartbreaking and grotesque, How Lovely To Be a Woman: Stories and Poems explores the everyday horrors of womanhood and delights in the monstrous ways women adapt, evolve, fight back, and survive.

Published May 1, 2023 | Goodreads | Amazon

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Conjuring the Witch by Jessica Leonard

There are witches in the woods.

These are the words the reverend of the Lilin Assembly of Our Lord repeats to his parishioners each week. Steve and Nicole Warby think it’s just a metaphor, until Nicole takes a walk in those woods and comes back changed. Something came out of them with her, and the simple small-town life they’ve always known is forever altered when they discover the dark secrets buried deep and those intent on keeping them there. Fearing for his wife’s sanity, and his own comfortable status in the church, Steve is unsure if he wants to help or ignore the problems. The reverend believes there are witches in the woods, and he thinks Nicole is only the most recent.

Conjuring the Witch is a dark, haunted story about what those in power are willing to do to stay in power, and the sins we convince ourselves are forgivable.

Published May 2, 2023 by Ghoulish Books | Goodreads | Amazon

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Menacing Manor by Kiersten White

Book four in the tragic series about the Sinister-Winterbottom twins, who must solve one wretched mystery after the next, brought to you by #1 N ew York Times bestselling author KIERSTEN WHITE. The electrifying penultimate adventure finds the Sinister-Winterbottoms at the manor of Mr. Frank and Dr. Stein!

After escaping from Edgaren’t and Dr. Jay, the Sinister-Winterbottoms and their friends arrive at Stein Manor Science Camp. They all work together to distract the friendly teenage camp director so they can explore and look for clues about where their parents might be.

Meanwhile, Theo and Alexander settle on a daring plan. They know exactly where Edgaren’t is going to coming for them, and the books. This time, they’ll be ready. This time, they’ll get answers. And this time, they won’t trust the adult in charge, which is easy enough when it’s enormous, lurking, unfriendly Mr. Frank. But as they get closer to opening the books and their parents’ histories, an unexpected foe is watching everything they do. . . .

Fake volcanoes! Real sea caves! Strangely modified frogs! Startling betrayal! And a lightning-struck manor! all combine for the electrifying penultimate Sinister Summer adventure.

Published May 2, 2023 by Delacorte Press | Goodreads | Amazon

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The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

From USA Today bestselling author Cassandra Khaw comes The Salt Grows Heavy, a razor-sharp and bewitching fairytale of discovering the darkness in the world, and the darkness within oneself.

You may think you know how the fairytale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now, her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes.

On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood, and the three 'saints' who control them.

The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruellest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.

Published May 2, 2023 by Tor Nightfire | Goodreads | Amazon

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The Briars by Stephanie Parent

Former ballerina Claire and dominatrix Ruby work at the Briars, a commercial dungeon in Los Angeles, which has been haunted by the benevolent spirit of its founder since her death in the 1990s. Yet with the arrival of a mysterious new submissive, the ghost’s behavior turns dangerous. As employees are injured, clients scared off, and the women’s livelihoods threatened, Ruby and Claire must work together to uncover the ghost’s sinister secrets.

Ruby and Claire enlist the help of their fellow sex workers to stop the increasingly violent ghost, and the women draw on their sisterhood as they take the offensive against their supernatural adversary. Meanwhile, the explosive chemistry between Ruby and Claire disrupts the identities both women have carefully constructed for themselves, and leads to a deep connection they will fight to preserve.

As the ghost’s identity and its darkest intentions come to light, Claire, Ruby, and the other women at the Briars must access an inner strength they never imagined they possessed in order to save their dungeon, the women they love, and themselves.

Published May 9, 2023 by Cemetery Gates Media | Goodreads | Amazon

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The Stradivarius by Rae Knowles

When a surprise inheritance and whirlwind romance offer Mae a chance to escape her repressive aunt, she’s all too eager to elope and start life anew in her childhood home. But when she and her new husband arrive, the towering Victorian sits in disrepair, and Mae learns that her father’s decade-old, unsolved murder is still a source of rumor and speculation in town.

Leading the charge to unravel the mystery surrounding her father’s death is Ollie, a vibrant genderqueer and an outsider in their hometown. Sure that solving the cold case will land them a coveted job in the police department, Ollie gains access to the Victorian by agreeing to do maintenance work on the property.

Inside, Mae is taunted by a feminine specter, soft voices from empty rooms, and distinct melodies of Lady Paola: the priceless, Stradivarius violin stolen the night of her father’s murder.

Forte, mezzo-forte, the measured, andante cadence.

Her hiss, her pull, her scream.

Mae fears the house is haunted by her father’s spirit, her husband believes she’s going the way of her mother–slipping into madness, but Ollie suspects something more sinister is at play. If Ollie and Mae can’t work together to uncover the Victorian’s secrets, Mae will join her mother in an institution or her father in the grave.

Published May 9, 2023 | Goodreads | Amazon

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Graveyard of Lost Children by Katrina Monroe

Once she has her grip on you, she'll never let you go.

At four months old, Olivia Dahl was almost murdered. Driven by haunting visions, her mother became obsessed with the idea that Olivia was a changeling, and that the only way to get her real baby back was to make a trade with the "dead women" living at the bottom of the well. Now Olivia is ready to give birth to a daughter of her own...and for the first time, she hears the women whispering.

Everyone tells Olivia she should be happy. She should be glowing, but the birth of her daughter only fills Olivia with dread. As Olivia's body starts giving out, slowly deteriorating as the baby eats and eats and eats, she begins to fear that the baby isn't her daughter at all and, despite her best efforts, history is repeating itself.

Soon images of a black-haired woman plague Olivia's nightmares, drawing her back to the well that almost claimed her life―tying mother and daughter together in a desperate cycle of fear and violence that must be broken if Olivia has any hope of saving her child...or herself.

Baby Teeth meets The Invited in a haunting story of the sometimes-fragile connection between a woman's sense of self and what it means to be a "good" mother.

Published May 9, 2023 by Poisoned Pen Press | Goodreads | Amazon

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Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill

It's 1853 London. Ex-medical student Victor Frankenstein has been missing for years now. Frankenstein's great niece Mary Saville and her husband, Henry, are trying to follow in his scientific footsteps and become renowned paleontologists. They have the brains and the ambition; the only thing they lack is the reputation. Mary is a woman with a sharp mind but a fierce tongue and Henry is an unemployed gambling addict: none of this earning appeal with their peers.

But after finding clues to her great uncle's disappearance, Mary's luck may just change. She constructs a plan that will force the scientific community to take her and her husband seriously; no one will be able to ignore them after they learn to create life. Once they have successfully constructed their Creature, Henry's ambition soars, but Mary finds herself asking deeper, more important questions than she's ever confronted before. As Henry's desire for fame grows, Mary must decide how far she is willing to go to protect the Creature she has grown to love.

Published May 4, 2023 by Doubleday | Goodreads | Amazon

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Vial Thoughts by Van Essler

Balanced on a thin wire between horror and steampunk, Van Essler’s debut novel is an acrobatic performance at the darkest of circuses. Lenora Leahill has recently inherited her father’s estate and is ready to take her place in the enlightened Age of Awareness where books can be instantly consumed as injections using an Aqua Peritia cuff. She has grand plans for securing her legacy, but navigating these new responsibilities alone is not easy, especially when it’s impossible to see clearly under the city’s ashfall.

When an old colleague of her father’s demands fulfillment of a promise Lenora knows nothing about, she discovers this new Age of Awareness is haunted by a dark history. Lenora must wade through the shadows of the past and gain her footing in the present if she has any hope of a future—unless death or madness finds her first.

Published May 11, 2023 by Raw Dog Screaming Press | Goodreads | Amazon

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What Happened Was Impossible by E.F. Schraeder

Everyone knows the woman who escapes a massacre is a final girl, but who is the final boy? What Happened Was Impossible follows the life of Ida Wright, a man who knows how to capitalize on his childhood tragedies...even when he caused them.

Published May 16, 2023 by Ghoulish Books | Goodreads | Amazon

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All the Dead Lie Down by Kyrie McCauley

The Haunting of Bly Manor meets House of Salt and Sorrows in award-winning author Kyrie McCauley’s contemporary YA gothic romance about a dark family lineage, the ghosts of grief, and the lines we’ll cross for love.

The Sleeping House was very much awake . . .

Days after a tragedy leaves Marin Blythe alone in the world, she receives a surprising invitation from Alice Lovelace—an acclaimed horror writer and childhood friend of Marin’s mother. Alice offers her a nanny position at Lovelace House, the family’s coastal Maine estate.

Marin accepts and soon finds herself minding Alice’s peculiar girls. Thea buries her dolls one by one, hosting a series of funerals, while Wren does everything in her power to drive Marin away. Then Alice’s eldest daughter returns home unexpectedly. Evie Hallowell is every bit as strange as her younger sisters, and yet Marin is quickly drawn in by Evie’s compelling behavior and ethereal grace.

But as Marin settles in, she can’t escape the anxiety that follows her like a shadow. Dead birds appear in Marin’s room. The children’s pranks escalate. Something dangerous lurks in the woods, leaving mutilated animals in its wake. All is not well at Lovelace House, and Marin must unravel its secrets before they consume her.

Published May 16, 2023 by Katherine Tegen Books | Goodreads | Amazon

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Attack of the Killer Tumbleweeds by Antonia Rachel Ward

They came!
They rolled!
They shredded!
Nothing can stop the killer tumbleweeds when they descend on Las Vegas!
Starring Dean Valentine, and introducing Glitter, the most stunning showgirl on the strip. You won't want to miss ATTACK OF THE KILLER TUMBLEWEEDS!
Showing in all good movie theaters now.

It’s 1958, and for jaded showgirl Glitter and washed-up Hollywood star Dean Valentine, teaming up to seduce a pair of newly-wed tourists is just another day in Vegas. But when the strip is overrun by razor-sharp tumbleweeds intent on destroying everything in their path, Glitter and Dean are forced into an unlikely alliance with a preacher’s daughter and her scientist husband as they try to solve the mystery of the tumbleweeds’ origin and escape the city—all while evading a psychopathic mobster with an axe to grind.

Published May 23, 2023 by Ghost Orchid Press | Goodreads | Amazon

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Jen is one of our Horror Spotlight admins. Jen manages the technical side of the Horror Spotlight website and keeps a spotlight on new horror releases each month.

You can also find Jen on her blog Book Den, Twitter as @bookden, Instagram as @bookdenjen, on Goodreads, and Letterboxd.

What We've Been Reading | May 24, 2023

Today our team has some new and newish horror reads to share. We hope you find something to add to your tbr pile!

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Ashthorne by April Yates

In the aftermath of WWI, Adelaide Frost is on the run from a family who do not understand her. Hoping to do some good, she signs up to become a nurse at Ashthorne, a manor house newly designated as a convalescence home for injured soldiers. She quickly falls in love with the owner’s daughter, Evelyn, who hides a warm heart beneath a chilly exterior. But Evelyn has her suspicions about what’s really happening at the hospital, and as Adelaide helps her investigate, it soon becomes apparent that there are more inhabitants residing at Ashthorne than first thought.

A romantic Gothic treat perfect for fans of Sarah Waters and The Haunting of Bly Manor, Ashthorne is the debut novella by Derbyshire author April Yates, who was inspired to tell this story by the Ice Age art carved into the walls of local caves.

Amazon | Goodreads

Teresa's Teaser Review

"Ashthorne is moody and atmospheric and romantic and really what more do you want from the Gothic? Read for the romance, stay for the secrets."

Read Teresa's entire review at Goodreads.

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Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

From highly acclaimed, bestselling author Ava Reid comes a gothic horror retelling of The Juniper Tree, set in another time and place within the world of The Wolf and the Woodsman, where a young witch seeks to discover her identity and escape the domination of her abusive wizard father, perfect for fans of Shirley Jackson and Catherynne M. Valente.

A gruesome curse. A city in upheaval. A monster with unquenchable appetites. 

Marlinchen and her two sisters live with their wizard father in a city shifting from magic to industry. As Oblya’s last true witches, she and her sisters are little more than a tourist trap as they treat their clients with archaic remedies and beguile them with nostalgic charm. Marlinchen spends her days divining secrets in exchange for rubles and trying to placate her tyrannical, xenophobic father, who keeps his daughters sequestered from the outside world. But at night, Marlinchen and her sisters sneak out to enjoy the city’s amenities and revel in its thrills, particularly the recently established ballet theater, where Marlinchen meets a dancer who quickly captures her heart.

As Marlinchen’s late-night trysts grow more fervent and frequent, so does the threat of her father’s rage and magic. And while Oblya flourishes with culture and bustles with enterprise, a monster lurks in its midst, borne of intolerance and resentment and suffused with old-world power. Caught between history and progress and blood and desire, Marlinchen must draw upon her own magic to keep her city safe and find her place within it.

Goodreads | Amazon

Laurie's Teaser Review

"I recommend it to anyone looking to become immersed in a very dangerous, sometimes gross world of magic and monsters where one young woman struggles to overcome a lifetime of abuse and manipulation. It’s a beautiful nightmare. You should definitely read it if this sounds like your thing."

Read Laurie's entire review at her blog Bark At The Ghouls.

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Eve by Victor LaValle, Jo Mi-Gyeong & Brittany Peer

A young girl, Eve, raised in a virtual reality embarks on a deadly cross-country quest to save her father… and our dying planet.

WHAT WORLD HAVE WE LEFT OUR CHILDREN?

When the ice caps melted, most of humanity was lost to the hidden disease that was released. Now, a mysterious girl named Eve has awoken in secret and must deal with a world that’s nothing like the virtual reality she was raised in.

In order to save her father and accompanied only by Wexler, her robotic caretaker and protector sheathed in her favorite teddy bear, Eve must embark on a deadly quest across the country. Along the way, she will have to contend not only with the threats of a very real world that await her, but the lies we tell our children in the name of protecting them.

In the spirit of his critically acclaimed and award winning novel Changling, novelist Victor LaValle (The Ballad of Black Tom, Victor LaValle’s Destroyer) and illustrator Jo Mi-Gyeong (The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance) deliver a powerful dystopian adventure about the world we leave behind… and the price that must be paid to restore life to a dying planet.

Collects Eve #1-5.

Goodreads | Amazon

Teresa's Teaser Review

"Eve is a dystopian, mecha filled, heroine’s journey that did not disappoint. "

Read Teressa's entire review at Goodreads.

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Thank you for joining us today! We hope you found something to add to your tbr list. Please share your recent reads with us in the comments below.

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Our Reviewers

Teresa creates the Shelf Edition posts, creates bookish lists and is a contributing reviewer at Horror Spotlight. You can find Teresa on Goodreads, and on Twitter.

Laurie is one of our Horror Spotlight Admins. Laurie creates our review posts, coordinates review requests, helps out with our Instagram/Twitter accounts, and is a contributing reviewer. You can find Laurie on her blog Bark’s Book Nonsense, on Twitter as @barksbooks, on Instagram as @barksbooks, and on Goodreads where she never shuts up about the things she's reading.

Shelf Edition: Debra Castaneda

 

Do you have any recent favorite Horror Spotlight books?

I loved Lone Women! What Moves the Dead was the perfect length between longer books and delivered all the stuff I’ve come to expect from T. Kingfisher: creep, quirkiness, and unconventional MCs with attitude. If you haven’t read Monstrilio, please check it out! It’s a wonderfully weird and beautifully written debut novel and I will now read anything Gerardo Samano Cordova writes. It’s a monster story with heart. I bought the hardback after checking it out from the library. 

 

Which Horror Spotlight books do you currently have on your TBR?

The Scourge Between Stars
Crossroads
Gods of Jade and Shadow
This Thing Between Us 

I’ve heard so much about these and can’t wait to read them! 

Like many readers, my TBR is out of control. I belong to Kindle Unlimited and that's where I discover many new-to-me authors, and if I see an intriguing title on sale, I snag it. But I'm a big mood reader, and my mood decides what I'm reading next. I'm not big into extreme horror, but I do have extreme horror on my Kindle as a challenge to myself, but I keep chickening out. I also keep a pile of physical books. I've seen such great reviews of these books and I'm excited to read them soon.

Where do you find recommendations? Are there any Horror Spotlight books that have been recommended to you that you loved?

 

I find recommendations on Horror Spotlight, of course! Instagram and the Books of Horror Group on Facebook. 

Recommended on Horror Spotlight:  Sister Maiden Monster blew me away. I’m a big chicken and don’t read much extreme horror, but for some reason, I wasn’t put off by the gore. Lucy A. Snyder also has this incredible way of delivering facts without info dumping and twists that drop like a bomb. 

I read and loved Bound Feet by Kelsea Yu and Linghun by Ai Jiang. Also, A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher, which made me laugh as much as it creeped me out.

Are there any upcoming Horror Spotlight releases you're excited about? 

Yes! I’m excited to read The Reformatory by Tananarive Due and Isabel Cañas’ Vampires of El Norte.

Let’s get a little adventurous. Answer one or both: What Horror Spotlight book (or story, or movie, etc) would you like to see turned into a Muppet Movie? And/Or Who would play you in a horror movie based on your life?

Monstrilio would make a PERFECT Muppet Movie as evidenced by the illustration of Monstrilio as a monster baby. Lol. 

In regards to your own work, tell our readers a little bit about what’s new and/or coming up for you.

I have a novella coming out June 30th. Circus at Devil’s Landing is the origin story for the cryptids in my coastal horror novel, The Devil’s Shallows. That one did my head in. Since the story starts off in Mexico, and I watched way too many telenovelas with my grandmother, I kept trying to turn the story into a telenovela. As a result, many chapters were written only to be killed. Next up is another coastal horror novel, inspired by the massive storm that struck my hometown of Capitola, California. 

I’m sharing a photo of what I call my wrapping station. I’ve always loved wrapping and collecting unusual stamps, but I got too busy writing and stopped. Recently, I started selling signed paperbacks of my spooky books on Etsy. So out came the paper, ribbons and I started buying new stamps too. So now, I’ve reclaimed a hobby and it makes me so happy.

 

Where can people find you on social media and/or find your work?

🖋 My books 🖋
New Release: The Copper Man: A Dark Earth Rising Novel
Active Member, Horror Writers Association
Follow me on Facebook or Instagram

Debra Castaneda grew up in the San Gabriel Valley of Southern California as an only child. Finding adult conversation boring, she found companionship in books. She wrote her first murder mystery in the fifth grade and turned it in as a homework assignment.

After college, she became a journalist working in television, radio, and online. Her work has been featured on Marketplace, This American Life, and National Public Radio (one story took her behind bars at San Quentin Prison to cover a baseball game). Most recently, she worked as a TV news director on the Central Coast of California.

Now, she devotes herself full-time to writing horror and dark fiction. Her novella, The Monsters of Chavez Ravine, is a 2021 International Latino Book Awards gold medal winner for Fantasy/SciFi-English. It also made two CrimeReads Best of 2021 lists: Horror and Historical Fiction.

For much of her professional life, she has worked under her married name, Debra Monroe, but she writes fiction under her family name of Castaneda.

For inspiration, Debra draws from her experience as a journalist, as a third-generation Mexican American, and as someone who has lived in various parts of the country, including Dallas, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Portland, and the San Francisco Bay area.

Debra lives in Capitola, California with her husband. She enjoys rediscovering the Mexican dishes of her childhood and texting her two daughters about her latest binge-watch.

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Teresa creates the Shelf Edition posts, creates bookish lists and is a contributing reviewer at Horror Spotlight. You can find Teresa on Goodreads, and on Twitter.

Horror Spotlight's Readalong June 2023

Horror Spotlight’s Readalong June 2023

In June we will be reading Below by Laurel Hightower for the readalong in the Horror Spotlight discord. You can join the discord with this link.

 

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO HELP A STRANGER?

While driving through the mountains of West Virginia during a late-night snowstorm, a recently divorced woman experiences bizarre electrical problems, leaving her with little choice but to place her trust with a charismatic truck driver. But when an unexplainable creature with haunting red eyes gets between them, she is forced to make one of the toughest decisions of her life. Will she abandon the stranger who kept her safe—or will she climb down below, where reality has shapeshifted into a living nightmare?
 

Goodreads | Bookshop
 

The readalong begins June 1, and discussions will take place throughout the month of June on the Horror Spotlight discord server. Everyone is welcome to join. See you there!

What We've Been Reading | May 10, 2023

Today our team has some fabulous new and newish horror reads to share. We hope you find something to add to your tbr pile!

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Chlorine by Jade Song

In the vein of The Pisces and The Vegetarian, Chlorine is a debut novel that blurs the line between a literary coming-of-age narrative and a dark unsettling horror tale, told from an adult perspective on the trials and tribulations of growing up in a society that puts pressure on young women and their bodies... a powerful, relevant novel of immigration, sapphic longing, and fierce, defiant becoming.

Ren Yu is a swimmer. Her daily life starts and ends with the pool. Her teammates are her only friends. Her coach, her guiding light. If she swims well enough, she will be scouted, get a scholarship, go to a good school. Her parents will love her. Her coach will be kind to her. She will have a good life.

But these are human concerns. These are the concerns of those confined to land, those with legs. Ren grew up on stories of creatures of the deep, of the oceans and the rivers. Ones that called sailors to their doom. Ones that dragged them down and drowned them. Ones that feasted on their flesh. Ones of the creature that she's always longed to become: mermaid.

Ren aches to be in the water. She dreams of the scent of chlorine--the feel of it on her skin. And she will do anything she can to make a life for herself where she can be free. No matter the pain. No matter what anyone else thinks. No matter how much blood she has to spill.

Amazon | Goodreads

Jen's Teaser Review

"I loved these characters, and I miss these characters already. Chlorine is a really great coming-of-age story, and I highly recommend it if you can handle having horror in your literary fiction. "

Read Jen's entire review at Book Den.

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The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

Ness Brown's The Scourge Between Stars is a tense, claustrophobic sci-fi/horror blend set aboard a doomed generation ship harboring something terrible within its walls.

As acting captain of the starship Calypso, Jacklyn Albright is responsible for keeping the last of humanity alive as they limp back to Earth from their forebears’ failed colony on a distant planet.

Faced with constant threats of starvation and destruction in the treacherous minefield of interstellar space, Jacklyn's crew has reached their breaking point. As unrest begins to spread throughout the ship’s Wards, a new threat emerges, picking off crew members in grim, bloody fashion.

Jacklyn and her team must hunt down the ship’s unknown intruder if they have any hope of making it back to their solar system alive.

Goodreads | Amazon

Heather's Teaser Review

" I love space horror because, where do you escape to on a ship? You can't go outside. You can't go home. You are just stuck in the vastness of space, but, at that moment, it seems too small.

This was a great short read, with aliens, gore, and androids."

Read Heather's entire review at Goodreads.

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Cool S by Die Booth

Tracy Forrest has it all. A great boyfriend, loyal best mate, good job and new house. But something is missing. There’s a wistful longing for good times gone by that Trace just can’t lay to rest. When she spots a ubiquitous and mysterious teenage doodle in an old schoolbook, she becomes obsessed with finding out what it is.

You know Cool S?

Yeah, you do.

Cool S. Super S. Pointy S. THE S. That thing we all doodled on notebooks and schoolbooks and pencil cases, maybe graffitied on a park bench or a bus stop if you were frisky.

Ever wondered what it was? Where it came from? What it means?

Well, I’m here to tell you. Are you sure you want to know?

Cool S. Some things should stay lost.

Goodreads | Lulu  |  Smashwords

Laurie's Teaser Review

"I think you’re going to love this if you’re a dark fiction fan looking for a book that’ll keep you guessing and probably creep you out."

Read Laurie's entire review at Goodreads.

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Thank you for joining us today! We hope you found something to add to your tbr list. Please share your recent reads with us in the comments below.

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Our Reviewers

Jen is one of our Horror Spotlight admins. Jen manages the technical side of the Horror Spotlight website and keeps a spotlight on new horror releases each month.

You can also find Jen on her blog Book Den, Twitter as @bookden, Instagram as @bookdenjen, on Goodreads, and Letterboxd.

Heather is a contributing reviewer and helps out with the Horror Spotlight Instagram account. Find her online at Goodreads, Twitter as @HSquared_13, and on Instagram as @h.hellion.

Laurie is one of our Horror Spotlight Admins. Laurie creates our review posts, coordinates review requests, helps out with our Instagram/Twitter accounts, and is a contributing reviewer. You can find Laurie on her blog Bark’s Book Nonsense, on Twitter as @barksbooks, on Instagram as @barksbooks, and on Goodreads where she never shuts up about the things she's reading.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

May Flowers are Blooming

How about some horror with flora on the cover? For those who want some beauty with their scares, this list is for you.  As ever, it isn't a definitive list, because, let me tell you, it was almost harder it stop adding to the list than to find enough this time around. What is your favorite horror book with flora on the cover?

Blooming Faces

 

The Haunting of Alejandra by V Castro
The Devourers by Indra Das
The Wilds by Vita Ayala, Danny Lore, Emily Pearson
This House of Wounds by Georgina Bruce
The Depths by Nicole Lesperance
Horrid by Katrina Leto
Under Her Skin edited by Lindy Ryan & Toni Miller
The House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist
Lord of the Fly Fest by Goldie Moldavsky
Belladonna by Adalyn Grace
They Drown Our Daughters by Katrina Monroe
The Shadow Sister by Lily Meade

The Night Eaters by Marjorie Liu, Sana Takeda
All the Fabulous Beasts by Priya Sharma
Wildblood by Lauren Blackwood
Drinking from Graveyard Wells by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu
The Last of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas
Marionette by Antonia Rachel Ward
Such Pretty Flowers by K.L. Cerra
The Things We Do To Our Friends by Heather Darwent
Ghost Flower by Jessica Conwell
She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran
Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson
The Sacrifice by Rin Chupeco
Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez

Flowering Horrors

The Impossible Resurrection of Grief by Octavia Cade
Rabbits in the Garden by Jessica McHugh
Kill Radio by Lauren Bolger
The Briars by Stephanie Parent
Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters
Little Bird by Tiffany Meuret
Strega by Johanne Lykke Holm, Translated by Saskia Vogel
Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain
When Women were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
Chlorophobia edited by AR Ward
Desert Creatures by Kay Chronister
Seeds by Tabatha Wood
The Honeys by Ryan La Sala
The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran
The Seep by Chana Porter
The Night Flowers by Sara Herchenrofther
Nightmare Flower by Elizabeth Engstrom
Chrysalis by Anuia Varghese
Sisters of the Crimson Vine by PL McMillan

Fruiting Bodies

Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda
Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
Revenge by Yoko Owaga, Translated by Stephen Snyder
Things We Say In The Dark by Kirsty Logan
Scary Monsters by Michelle De Kretster
Sin Eater by Megan Campisi
The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

There is Something in the Trees

When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen
A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw
The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado, DaNi
The Forest by Lisa Quigley
Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga edited by Lindy Ryan
Agony’s Lodestone by Laura Keating
The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun, Translated by Sora Kim-Russell
Moonflowers & Nightshade edited by Samantha Kolesnik
Conjuring the Witch by Jessica Leonard
You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa
Briardark by S.A. Harian
Bad Cree by Jessica Johns

Fungus

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
Fruiting Bodies by Katheyn Harlan
The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed
The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley
Other Terrors edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Rena Mason

Non Fiction

Dark Archives by Megan Rosenbloom
All the Living and The Dead by Hayley Campbell
What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo
Making Love with the Land by Joshua Whitehead
 

Please add any favorites we may have missed in the comments below!

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Teresa creates the Shelf Edition posts, creates bookish lists and is a contributing reviewer at Horror Spotlight. You can find Teresa on Goodreads, and on Twitter.