Monday, August 31, 2020

YA/MG Horror Spotlight August 2020

The Ladies of Horror Fiction team is putting a spotlight on Young Adult and Middle Grade horror each month. Below we are featuring the books that were released in August as well as what our team has been reading and reviewing.

Young Adult New Releases

The Companion by Katie Alender

The other orphans say Margot is lucky.

Lucky to survive the horrible accident that killed her family.

Lucky to have her own room because she wakes up screaming every night.

And finally, lucky to be chosen by a prestigious family to live at their remote country estate.

But it wasn’t luck that made the Suttons rescue Margot from her bleak existence at the group home. Margot was handpicked to be a companion to their silent, mysterious daughter, Agatha. At first, helping with Agatha–and getting to know her handsome older brother–seems much better than the group home. But soon, the isolated, gothic house begins playing tricks on Margot’s mind, making her question everything she believes about the Suttons . . . and herself.

Margot’s bad dreams may have stopped when she came to live with Agatha – but the real nightmare has just begun.

Published August 25th 2020 by Putnam | Amazon | Goodreads

Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis

A can’t-put-down, creepy thriller about the daughter of a horror film director who’s not afraid of anything–until she gets to Harrow Lake.

Things I know about Harrow Lake:
1.It’s where my father shot his most disturbing slasher film.
2.There’s something not right about this town.

Lola Nox is the daughter of a celebrated horror filmmaker–she thinks nothing can scare her.

But when her father is brutally attacked in their New York apartment, she’s quickly packed off to live with a grandmother she’s never met in Harrow Lake, the eerie town where her father’s most iconic horror movie was shot. The locals are weirdly obsessed with the film that put their town on the map–and there are strange disappearances, which the police seem determined to explain away.

And there’s someone–or something–stalking her every move.

The more Lola discovers about the town, the more terrifying it becomes. Because Lola’s got secrets of her own. And if she can’t find a way out of Harrow Lake, they might just be the death of her.

Expected publication: August 25th 2020 by Dial Books | Amazon | Goodreads

The Whitsun Daughters by Carrie Mesrobian

From a critically acclaimed author, a twisty and gorgeously written YA ghost story about young women separated by centuries but connected by a desire to control their futures. Read an excerpt below!

I am no longer a creature, yet my habits remain. My desires, still the old ones. Lurking amidst the brush, watching squirrels collect acorns and deer drink from puddles. Watching my girls. I am allowed pleasure here, too, despite the warnings of the Bible my mother loved so well. It is pleasure, and my delight, to see my girls, their skin supple and sweating, their mouths eating, their fists clamping over their hips as their legs bend and stretch over the earth. The work of bodies never ends. I particularly like their hair, how it grows long and shaggy until lopped off by one of their mothers, the priestly one whose thoughts swirl like perfume in lilac time; she finds such joyful thrift in snipping the little girls’ tresses. Where I had watched Patrick feed Arthur Ganey’s horses is now a kitchen with an unlikely polished floor; over what was dirt and hay, the priestly mother sweeps up the girls’ lost tresses—gold, white, mahogany. The priestly one’s sister, a midwife, makes each daughter gulp down spoonfuls of castor and fish oil; one year, they each suffered needle jabs, given for their own good. Their tears brimmed and they winced under the puncture, their betrayed howls ringing out through the open windows.

The palomino girl loves so harshly; she sees everything as a prize to be won or lost. The unicorn girl’s love ripples uncontained; her soul is flimsy, easily stained by sadness or goaded into laughter. The dark bay foal, who has since become steady on her feet in a manner that I envy, rushes through the brush. She is a thirsty creature. I ache when I see her touch the cool water at the bottom of the ravine where Patrick liked to wash.

A house helmed by two sisters, and their three daughters. The mothers’ love, borne of their sister pact, has made a world where no men ever deigned to rule. The daughters’ love at times is heavy, a pail of milk to a waiting hand; other times, easy as a hairbrush before Sunday service. It is most visible in their hands: what they make and toss away, what they strive to hold. I watch for restfulness. The after hours of tables cleared and dishes washed and floors swept and pencils and needles jabbing at paper and cloth; here their thick love dreams and wraps over each other, like hair in a braid. This reminds me of my own sister, and I recall my beating heart, strong beneath my chemise, galloping in grief for her. I think of my own hair—long gone, a cat’s cradle for the faeries—and the relief of unwinding it each night, the burden heavy no more. I think of my own hands and what they learned about desire.

How quickly everything in God’s world disintegrates. Everything but the loneliness of young women.

Expected publication: August 25th 2020 by Dutton | Amazon | Goodreads

Middle Grade New Releases

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf

A Malaysian folk tale comes to life in this emotionally layered, chilling middle grade debut, perfect for fans of The Book of Boy and The Jumbies.

I am a dark spirit, the ghost announced grandly. I am your inheritance, your grandmother’s legacy. I am yours to command.

Suraya is delighted when her witch grandmother gifts her a pelesit. She names her ghostly companion Pink, and the two quickly become inseparable.

But Suraya doesn’t know that pelesits have a dark side—and when Pink’s shadows threaten to consume them both, they must find enough light to survive . . . before they are both lost to the darkness.

Fans of Holly Black’s Doll Bones and Tahereh Mafi’s Furthermore series will love this ghostly middle grade debut that explores jealousy, love, and the extraordinary power of friendship.

Published August 4th 2020 by HarperCollins | Amazon | Goodreads

Young Adult Books Reviewed

Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall

This month Jen posted her review for Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall. Be sure to check out her 4.5 star review (“Rules for Vanishing is going on my list of automatic young adult horror recommendations.”)


Have you read any of the books we read or reviewed this month? Let us know what YA or MG books you have read recently!

Friday, August 28, 2020

Into the Forest and All the Way Through......by Cynthia Pelayo

Here at the LOHF we don’t tend to write blog posts about book releases. However, when Cina contacted me about a poetry collection that she had been working on I jumped on it. Over the last couple of years I have been reading about a plague which has been sweeping across the United States. This is the plague of disappearances and violence against women of color and marginalized communities that is under reported and under represented in the media. Cynthia (Cina) Pelayo was so deeply effected she wrote a collection of true crime poetry that explores the cases of over one hundred missing and murdered women in the United States.

I am very pleased to announce the release of Into the Forest and All the Way Through by Cynthia Pelayo!!

Synopsis: Into The Forest And All The Way Through, is a collection of true crime poetry that explores the cases of over one hundred missing and murdered women in the United States.

Title Poem:

Remember Me

Into the forest and all the way through, I ask you to follow my voice

Across the stream and through the hills, you’ll find a copse of trees

Unknown to many, lost to time, and tucked behind a bare branch

A ball of twine, a cigarette butt, a crumpled polaroid, you hear a giggle

The crunch of leaves, and the dread stabs your insides, and your breath

Oh! Your breath, how your breath catches in your throat, and you 

Fall all the way down, into a hole so long ago hidden there, and now

You are within the ground, you smell the damp earth and pain, and

When you hear her voice you spin around and gain all the terror she holds,

Before you there, a girl who no longer is a girl, a girl who is bone and moss

Leaves tangled within her eye sockets, stretched down to her finger bone

Pointing above and pointing you out, and you climb against the rock

And stone, and she bids you adieu, begging you, pleading you, to make it 

Safe, all the way home 


You can purchase this very personal collection at the following link!!


Cynthia Pelayo

Cynthia “Cina” Pelayo is the author of LOTERIA, SANTA MUERTE, THE MISSING, POEMS OF MY NIGHT and the upcoming CHILDREN OF CHICAGO by Agora/Polis Books. Pelayo is an International Latino Book Award winning author and an Elgin Award nominee. She lives in Chicago with her family.

Website

Thursday, August 27, 2020

What We're Reading #62

We are back with our weekly review round-up and hope you find a new favorite! Don’t forget to hit the tag up above to find more excellent books to add to your tbr piles.

Worst Laid Plans: An Anthology of Vacation Horror edited by Samantha Kolesnik

A fateful family trip to an amusement park. An island movie theater that takes more than the patrons’ cash. A cross-country drive with an unexpected encounter. A family man hellbent on making great time, no matter the cost.

Fourteen horror authors share terrifying and twisted tales of summer vacation gone wrong in Worst Laid Plans: an Anthology of Vacation Horror.

This anthology includes stories by V. Castro, Hailey Piper, Patrick Lacey, Scott Cole, Laura Keating, Malcolm Mills, Jeremy Herbert, S. E. Howard, Chad Stroup, Kenzie Jennings, Waylon Jordan, Greg Sisco, Asher Ellis, and Mark Wheaton, as well as a special introduction by Sadie Hartmann. 

Amazon | Goodreads

Audra’s Teaser Review

I had a good time with all of the stories—something that can be unusual for anthologies! There is a wide array of different types of stories—monster tales, weird stories, serial killers—there’s a little something to scare you off any vacation you might have had in mind.

Read Audra’s entire review at Goodreads.

Food Fright by Nico Bell

Food Fright by Nico Bell

High school junior Cassie Adler just wanted the bullying to stop. She thought gaining a spot on the varsity soccer team would whip up instant friends, but it isn’t until the popular girls need Cassie’s help that they acknowledge her presence. Cassie reluctantly agrees to participate in a prank that turns sour fast. Now with blood on their hands, she and the popular girls race to cover their tracks. But something savage knows what they’ve done, and it’s hungry for revenge. Can Cassie redeem herself before it’s too late, or will her deadly sins ketchup to her?

Book 7 in the Rewind-or-Die series: imagine your local movie rental store back in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, remember all those fantastic covers. Remember taking those movies home and watching in awe as the stories unfolded in nasty rainbows of gore, remember the atmosphere and textures. Remember the blood.

Amazon | Goodreads

Emily’s Teaser Review

Food Fright is such a fun read! I buddy read this with my friend Becca, and we both really enjoyed it. This story is amusing and creative, and it was exactly what I needed from a horror novella with silly & bizarre deaths.

Read Emily’s entire review at Goodreads.

Bloody Legends by Andrea Merchak

Bloody Legends tells the story of Daniel Cooper, who after an invitation from friends to hunt, sees its most violent and morbid fantasies come forth into a compulsive desire to perpetrate murder crimes based on famous urban legends.

Amazon | Goodreads

Alex’s Teaser Review

If you like urban legends and bloody horror then this is definitely the book for you! Andrea Merchak takes the reader on an explosive killing spree ride and explores a lot of our favorite urban legends along the way. In Bloody Legends, our killer believes his “art” is bringing these urban legends to life in a way to always be remembered – both he and the victims.

Read Alex’s entire review at Goodreads.


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.

If you are a LOHF writer and have a book you’d like us to consider for a review please visit our review submission page here.

Thursday, August 20, 2020

What We're Reading #61

We’re a day late but back with three recently recommended reads! Don’t forget to hit the tag up above to find more excellent books to add to your tbr piles.

The Ancestor by Danielle Trussone

The Ancestor by Danielle Trussoni

From the New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author of the Angelology series comes a bewitching gothic novel of suspense that plunges readers into a world of dark family secrets, the mysteries of human genetics, and the burden of family inheritance.

It feels like a fairy tale when Alberta ”Bert” Monte receives a letter addressed to “Countess Alberta Montebianco” at her Hudson Valley, New York, home that claims she’s inherited a noble title, money, and a castle in Italy. While Bert is more than a little skeptical, the mystery of her aristocratic family’s past, and the chance to escape her stressful life for a luxury holiday in Italy, is too good to pass up.

At first, her inheritance seems like a dream come true: a champagne-drenched trip on a private jet to Turin, Italy; lawyers with lists of artwork and jewels bequeathed to Bert; a helicopter ride to an ancestral castle nestled in the Italian Alps below Mont Blanc; a portrait gallery of ancestors Bert never knew existed; and a cellar of expensive vintage wine for Bert to drink.

But her ancestry has a dark side, and Bert soon learns that her family history is particularly complicated. As Bert begins to unravel the Montebianco secrets, she begins to realize her true inheritance lies not in a legacy of ancestral treasures, but in her very genes.

Amazon | Goodreads

Tracy’s Teaser Review

I really had a good time with this book. So much so, I purchased one of the author’s previous titles right after finishing.

Read Tracy’s entire review at Goodreads.

Whispers in the Dark

Whispers In The Dark by Laurel Hightower

Rose McFarland is a trained killer–a Memphis S.W.A.T. sniper with a secret. Her team knows about the burn scars that lurk under her clothes, a legacy of the house fire that killed her father and brother sixteen years before. Her supervisors know that she spent two years in a rehabilitative facility, healing and learning to cope with the emotional trauma of the fire. But no one knows about the visions that drove her there, angry spirits that consumed her childhood, alienated her from her family and made her doubt her own sanity–the Whispers.

When Charlie Akers, a half-brother she never knew, ends up on the wrong side of Rose’s rifle, she unwittingly sets off a chain of events that puts her family in the middle of increasingly dangerous paranormal visitations. Charlie won’t stay dead, and soon ghosts from Rose’s past are creeping back into her life. People she’s killed in the line of duty, family she thought long buried, every one of them under the influence of Rose’s greatest fear, the Whispers themselves.

As the walls between our world and the world of the dead grow thin, Rose will have to face her old nightmares to stop the Whispers from breaking free. If she can’t, it won’t just be Memphis that falls to the dead–there will be no safe place left on earth for the living.

Amazon | Goodreads

Laurie’s Teaser Review

I can easily recommend it to anyone looking to escape reality for a while and fall into a tension-filled novel with unforgettable characters.

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

Catherine House by Elizabeth Thomas

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

A seductive, gothic-infused tale of literary suspense — the debut of a spectacular new voice — about a dangerously curious young undergraduate whose rebelliousness leads her to discover a shocking secret involving an exclusive circle of students . . . and the dark truth beneath her school’s promise of prestige.

You are in the house and the house is in the woods.
You are in the house and the house is in you . . .

Catherine House is a school of higher learning like no other. Hidden deep in the woods of rural Pennsylvania, this crucible of reformist liberal arts study with its experimental curriculum, wildly selective admissions policy, and formidable endowment, has produced some of the world’s best minds: prize-winning authors, artists, inventors, Supreme Court justices, presidents. For those lucky few selected, tuition, room, and board are free. But acceptance comes with a price. Students are required to give the House three years—summers included—completely removed from the outside world. Family, friends, television, music, even their clothing must be left behind. In return, the school promises its graduates a future of sublime power and prestige, and that they can become anything or anyone they desire.

Among this year’s incoming class is Ines, who expects to trade blurry nights of parties, pills, cruel friends, and dangerous men for rigorous intellectual discipline—only to discover an environment of sanctioned revelry. The school’s enigmatic director, Viktória, encourages the students to explore, to expand their minds, to find themselves and their place within the formidable black iron gates of Catherine.

For Ines, Catherine is the closest thing to a home she’s ever had, and her serious, timid roommate, Baby, soon becomes an unlikely friend. Yet the House’s strange protocols make this refuge, with its worn velvet and weathered leather, feel increasingly like a gilded prison. And when Baby’s obsessive desire for acceptance ends in tragedy, Ines begins to suspect that the school—in all its shabby splendor, hallowed history, advanced theories, and controlled decadence—might be hiding a dangerous agenda that is connected to a secretive, tightly knit group of students selected to study its most promising and mysterious curriculum.

Combining the haunting sophistication and dusky, atmospheric style of Sarah Waters with the unsettling isolation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, Catherine House is a devious, deliciously steamy, and suspenseful page-turner with shocking twists and sharp edges that is sure to leave readers breathless.

Amazon | Goodreads

Audra’s Teaser Review

Catherine House delivers a coming-of-age fever dream steeped in social and philosophical criticism. It isn’t the type of book that is going to hold your hand and spoon feed you anything. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have something important to say.

Read Audra’s entire review at Goodreads.


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.

If you are a LOHF writer and have a book you’d like us to consider for a review please visit our review submission page here.

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

What We're Reading #60

We’re back again with three recently recommended reads! Don’t forget to hit the tag up above to find more excellent books to add to your tbr piles.

Jennifer Strange by Cat Scully

Jennifer Strange by Cat Scully

“JENNIFER STRANGE is a gruesomely fun, demon-infested YA romp in which two teenage sisters learn and ply the family’s secret demon-fighting trade. A promising debut.” -Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Survivor Song

Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Strange is the Sparrow, cursed with the ability to give ghosts and demonic spirits a body—a flesh and blood anchor in the mortal world—with the touch of her hand. When a ghost attacks her high school and awakens her powers, her father dumps her unceremoniously in the care of her estranged older sister Liz, leaving only his journal as an explanation.

Drawn to the power of the Sparrow, the supernatural creatures preying on Savannah, Georgia will do anything to receive Jennifer’s powerful gift. The sisters must learn to trust each other again and uncover the truth about their family history by deciphering their father’s journal…because if they can’t, Jennifer’s uncontrolled power will rip apart the veil that separates the living from the dead.

A fast-paced and splattery romp, fans of Supernatural, Buffy, and Evil Dead will enjoy JENNIFER STRANGE – the first illustrated novel in a trilogy of stylish queer young adult horror books with big scares for readers not quite ready for adult horror.

Goodreads | Amazon

Alex’s Teaser Review

This is a fun YA horror story and I can totally see a series with this! It had all kinds of vibes: spooky, demons, ghosts, ‘magical’ powers, sibling bonds, etc. And what’s even more fun is that this novel has incredible illustrations throughout and even handwritten journal entries.

Read Alex’s entire review at Goodreads.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An isolated mansion. A chillingly charismatic aristocrat. And a brave socialite drawn to expose their treacherous secrets. . . .

From the author of Gods of Jade and Shadow comes “a terrifying twist on classic gothic horror” (Kirkus Reviews) set in glamorous 1950s Mexico. “It’s Lovecraft meets the Brontës in Latin America, and after a slow-burn start Mexican Gothic gets seriously weird” (The Guardian).

After receiving a frantic letter from her newlywed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find – her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region.

Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.

Goodreads | Amazon

Emily’s Teaser Review

Mexican Gothic is the first book I’ve read by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and I loved it! This book starts out as a slow-burn gothic story, and it was reminiscent of other books I’ve enjoyed like Rebecca, The Yellow Wallpaper, and The Haunting of Hill House (this is a must-read if you enjoy books like this).

Read Emily’s entire review at Goodreads.

Tracy’s Teaser Review

Mexican Gothic commands the feel of the best gothic horror (think Rebecca), develops character and plot, and is one of the biggest events in horror fiction this year.

Read Tracy’s entire review at Scifi and Scary.

An Invitation to Darkness by Hailey Piper

In Invitation To Darkness sea captain Jamie Thames meets wealthy heiress Elizabeth Leavenworth and the two women quickly fall in love. Of course, it’s never that simple in a Gothic story. Leavenworth Manor is haunted, but ghosts are the least of the lovers’ troubles.

Short Sharp Shocks! book.

Goodreads | Amazon

Tracy’s Teaser Review

This is the third book I’ve read by this author and I’ll read anything else she puts out. If you’re looking for a short read, with a shocking premise, this one is for you!

Read Tracy’s entire review at Goodreads.


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.

If you are a LOHF writer and have a book you’d like us to consider for a review please visit our review submission page here.

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Horror Adjacent Reads x LOHF

Okay, so if you’ve made it here, you’re probably here forthe scary. The more the scarier, right? But how do you classify “horror”? Doesit have to tick the boxes off a certain checklist? Or is it more that you justknow it when you see it?

One thing I’ve noticed about reading boatloads of horror isthat it seems more fluid than other genres—in the best way possible. After all,what scares you is subjective. Spiders may terrify your mom (on screen andoff!), but you only feel that creeping dread for psychological scares. Horror doesn’thave to mean blood gushing out of severed limbs or zombies crawling out of theground. Horror can be anything that pulls you out of your comfort zone or makesyou question your beliefs. So, it’s the genre that bends in and out of sci-fiand dark fantasy and hosts elements of comedy, coming-of-age, character-drivendrama, romance, and so many other types of stories.

The reason we are drawn to horror is because it makes usfeel alive, right? It reminds us that there’s something to fight for every day,and that we can be that resilient final girl who throws off her hesitation andfear, standing up for what she believes with a big ole machete in her hands.Now, maybe our everyday lives are not quite as thrilling as a horror narrative,but it’s that feeling where the blood rushes through you and you’re justinvincible—that’s what I take away from horror. The confidence to know that Ican be more confident in my daily life.

One of my favorite facets of the genre is what I’ve come tocall horror adjacent—books that perhaps aren’t technically “horror,” but stillhost a complement of speculative themes and general darkness. I always have alist of these at the ready for those people who ask, “why do you like to read THATstuff?” I am firmly of the belief that there is something out there in thehorrorverse for everyone.

If you’re looking to branch out and see what else horror might have to offer, or maybe you want to entice someone you know to dip their toe in the murky waters, here are some great recent reads to check out!


Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

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Catherine House delivers a coming-of-age fever dream steeped in social and philosophical criticism. It isn’t the type of book that is going to hold your hand and spoon feed you anything. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have something important to say. Beneath the substance of the plot pulsates another story, what I saw as the lifeline of the book. It is, at its core, a story about a girl wrapped in depression and trauma, a girl who is trying to find a way to be comfortable in her own skin, to become herself.

Goodreads | IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon


Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson

This book is juggling a lot: it is a genre-bending speculative masterpiece and an unusual take on storytelling, has a strong feminist lens, reimagines and reinterprets the consequences of one of the great classic horror novels (Frankenstein, obvi), and is a thought-provoking futuristic imagining all at once. Winterson is a bit unclassifiable herself, so this books strange, amorphous nature—both historical and futuristic at once—is fitting.

Goodreads | IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon


Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

This is a character-driven story laced with symbolism, slow-building tension, and stream-of-conscious narration that all builds to an ominous sinking in your stomach that you just can’t ignore—all in just 144 pages! If you like a bit of a literary fiction twist to your horror, this is one you’re going to love.

Goodreads | IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon


My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

This book is a straight-up black comedy, a social satire that rides the line between ridiculous and completely plausible. It is such a joy to read, a truly power-packed punch of a novel with brilliantly drawn characters and a strong message. It’s feminist AF, but also riotously funny.

Goodreads | IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon


The Need by Helen Phillips

This is a strange and liminal tale, and one that I really have to insist you just give a try—and that you go in blindly, without knowing anything about the actual plot. Just trust me! It is a story about motherhood and career choices, but it lives in the sci-fi range of speculative fiction. It will truly warp your brain.

Goodreads | IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon


Severance by Ling Ma

I’d pitch this book as a zombie apocalypse coming-of-age novel for millennials—but this book really has so much going on. With themes of anti-consumerism, the immigrant experience, the meaninglessness of office jobs, and a darkly satirical tongue-in-cheek narrative style poking fun at the lackadaisical nature of our generation, Ling Ma manages to write a compelling story that says a lot about modern-day society.

Goodreads | IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon


The Third Hotel by Laura van den Berg

This book is a phantasmagoria of grief, marriage and relationships, travel, horror tropes, film, memory and the psyche, and ultimately, the search for self. It follows a woman attending a horror film festival in Cuba as she attempts to come to some sort of peace about her husband’s sudden death—but then, she sees him. Or does she?

Goodreads | IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon


The Summer that Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel

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The book examines good and evil—who is right and who is wrong? Can this even be decided? The prose is unexpected, sometimes strange or unfamiliar, but always lyrical. McDaniel is a very unique writer and her influences from southern Gothic writers and other literature are keenly felt, but adapted in a way all her own. The book is highly stylized and more like a fairy tale than realistic fiction, hovering just above reality and told in a heightened state. Be sure to also check out her forthcoming horror adjacent novel, Betty.

Goodreads | IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon

Thursday, August 6, 2020

August 2020 LOHF New Releases

Each month the Ladies of Horror Fiction team posts all of the books we are aware of that will be releasing during that month. If you are involved in the process of publishing a horror book written by a female author, please reach out to us and let us know so we can help to spotlight the book’s release!

Peripheral by Leslie Fear

Peripheral by Leslie Fear

“Elise the Freak,” that’s what people called me when I was just a child in that small Kansas town. It was hurtful and scarred me, but I finally escaped, no longer allowing that name to identify me.

Now, I’m Elise Crawford. I live in a different place, a bigger city. I have a college degree and live on my own. It’s what I’ve always dreamed of but, with one exception.

I still see dead people.
I never could escape them.

Suddenly, a new man has entered my life. A mysterious man I’m reluctantly attracted to, yet can’t quite figure out.

But, I plan to change that too, just like I changed everything else in my life.

Published August 4th 2020 by Amazon Digital Services | Amazon | Goodreads


Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, Sarah Moses (Translator)

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans—though no one calls them that anymore.

His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.” Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.

Then one day he’s given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved.

Published August 4th 2020 by Scribner | Amazon | Goodreads


Crossroads by Laurel Hightower

Crossroads by Laurel Hightower

How far would you go to bring back someone you love?

When Chris’s son dies in a tragic car crash, her world is devastated. The walls of grief close in on Chris’s life until, one day, a small cut on her finger changes everything.

A drop of blood falls from Chris’s hand onto her son’s roadside memorial and, later that night, Chris thinks she sees his ghost outside her window. Only, is it really her son’s ghost, or is it something else—something evil?

Soon Chris is playing a dangerous game with forces beyond her control in a bid to see her son, Trey, alive once again.

Expected publication: August 10th 2020 by Off Limits Press | Goodreads


It Will Just Be Us by Jo Kaplan

It Will Just Be Us by Jo Kaplan

Sam Wakefield’s ancestral home, a decaying mansion built on the edge of a swamp, isn’t a place for children. Its labyrinthine halls, built by her mad ancestors, are filled with echoes of the past: ghosts and memories knotted together as one. In the presence of phantoms, it’s all Sam can do to disentangle past from present in her daily life. But when her pregnant sister Elizabeth moves in after a fight with her husband, something in the house shifts. Already navigating her tumultuous relationship with Elizabeth, Sam is even more unsettled by the appearance of a new ghost: a faceless boy who commits disturbing acts—threatening animals, terrorizing other children, and following Sam into the depths of the house wielding a knife. When it becomes clear the boy is connected to a locked, forgotten room, one which is never entered, Sam realizes this ghost is not like the others. This boy brings doom. As Elizabeth’s due date approaches, Sam must unravel the mysteries of Wakefield before her sister brings new life into a house marked by death. But as the faceless boy grows stronger, Sam will learn that some doors should stay closed—and some secrets are safer locked away forever.

Expected publication: August 11th 2020 by Crooked Lane Books | Amazon | Goodreads


Vampirella/Red Sonia

Vampirella/Red Sonja, Vol. 1 by Jordie Bellaire

The first ONGOING series, co-starring The Daughter Of Drakulon and The She-Devil With A Sword! From Eisner winner JORDIE BELLAIRE (Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Redlands) and DREW MOSS (Star Wars) comes a saga spanning space and time, filled with horror, adventure, mystery and murder!

Expected publication: August 11th 2020 by Dynamite Entertainment | Amazon | Goodreads


All That's Fair by S.H. Cooper

All That’s Fair by S.H. Cooper

A maiden looking for love in all the wrong places.

A mother in an endless search for missing children.

A crone whose passing is marked by the tinkling of tiny bells.

All That’s Fair is a collection of twenty-two short horror stories themed around women who are made up of anything but sugar, spice, and everything nice. Be they human, ghost, or something else entirely, one thing holds true for all: These are not the girls you’ll find (or want) next door.

Expected publication: August 14th 2020 by Independently published | Goodreads


Betty by Tiffany McDaniel

Betty by Tiffany McDaniel

A stunning, lyrical novel set in the rolling foothills of the Appalachians in which a young girl discovers stark truths that will haunt her for the rest of her life.

“A girl comes of age against the knife.”

So begins the story of Betty Carpenter. Born in a bathtub in 1954 to a Cherokee father and white mother, Betty is the sixth of eight siblings. The world they inhabit is one of poverty and violence–both from outside the family, and also, devastatingly, from within. The lush landscape, rich with birdsong, wild fruit, and blazing stars, becomes a kind of refuge for Betty, but when her family’s darkest secrets are brought to light, she has no choice but to reckon with the brutal history hiding in the hills, as well as the heart-wrenching cruelties and incredible characters she encounters in her rural town of Breathed, Ohio.

But despite the hardship she faces, Betty is resilient. Her curiosity about the natural world, her fierce love for her sisters, and her father’s brilliant stories are kindling for the fire of her own imagination, and in the face of all she bears witness to, Betty discovers an escape: she begins to write. She recounts the horrors of her family’s past and present with pen and paper and buries them deep in the dirt–moments that has stung her so deeply, she could not tell them, until now.

Inspired by the life of her own mother, Tiffany McDaniel sets out to free the past by telling this heartbreaking yet magical story–a remarkable novel that establishes her as one of the freshest and most important voices in American fiction.

Expected publication: August 18th 2020 by Knopf | Amazon | Goodreads


Idle Hands by Cassondra Windwalker

Idle Hands by Cassondra Windwalker

You can call me Ella. You generally assign me a whole host of other preposterous monikers. I think the least imaginative name I’ve heard is “the devil”, but I’ll answer to it if I must.

After making the courageous decision to leave her abusive husband, Perdie and her three young children start over and finally find the safety and love they deserve. But years later, when tragedy strikes, Perdie is left wondering if the choice she made to leave has led them to this moment.

If she were given the opportunity to take it all back and stay, would she?

In a frantic bid to protect her family, Perdie makes a deal to do just that. But in a world where the devil pulls the strings, can Perdie really change the past?

Brimming with enlightened observations and brilliant voice, Idle Hands is a haunting examination of grief, resilience, and what we’d give to spend another moment with the ones we love.

Expected publication: August 20th 2020 by Agora Books | Amazon | Goodreads


Belle Vue by C.S. Alleyne

Belle Vue by C.S. Alleyne

Jealousy, betrayal, murder and a hunger for vengeance that spans the centuries…

History student Alex Palmer is thrilled when his girlfriend, Claire Ryan, buys an apartment in Belle Vue Manor, formerly a Victorian lunatic asylum.
But as Alex begins to discover the dark truth about the asylum’s past, he, Claire, and their friend Marianne find themselves on a nightmarish journey. Each will face the deadly consequences of the evil that began with the construction of the first Belle Vue Manor by an aristocratic French émigré in 1789, as well as the cruelty and satanic practices that continued when it became an asylum for the insane.
As the two strands—past and present—unfold, Alex uncovers a supernatural mystery where revenge is paramount and innocence irrelevant—without being aware of the price he, and those around him, will pay.

Expected publication: August 25th 2020 by Crystal Lake Publishing | Amazon | Goodreads


The Companion by Katie Alender

The Companion by Katie Alender

The other orphans say Margot is lucky.

Lucky to survive the horrible accident that killed her family.

Lucky to have her own room because she wakes up screaming every night.

And finally, lucky to be chosen by a prestigious family to live at their remote country estate.

But it wasn’t luck that made the Suttons rescue Margot from her bleak existence at the group home. Margot was handpicked to be a companion to their silent, mysterious daughter, Agatha. At first, helping with Agatha–and getting to know her handsome older brother–seems much better than the group home. But soon, the isolated, gothic house begins playing tricks on Margot’s mind, making her question everything she believes about the Suttons . . . and herself.

Margot’s bad dreams may have stopped when she came to live with Agatha – but the real nightmare has just begun.

Expected publication: August 25th 2020 by Putnam | Amazon | Goodreads


Harrow Lake

Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis

A can’t-put-down, creepy thriller about the daughter of a horror film director who’s not afraid of anything–until she gets to Harrow Lake.

Things I know about Harrow Lake:
1.It’s where my father shot his most disturbing slasher film.
2.There’s something not right about this town.

Lola Nox is the daughter of a celebrated horror filmmaker–she thinks nothing can scare her.

But when her father is brutally attacked in their New York apartment, she’s quickly packed off to live with a grandmother she’s never met in Harrow Lake, the eerie town where her father’s most iconic horror movie was shot. The locals are weirdly obsessed with the film that put their town on the map–and there are strange disappearances, which the police seem determined to explain away.

And there’s someone–or something–stalking her every move.

The more Lola discovers about the town, the more terrifying it becomes. Because Lola’s got secrets of her own. And if she can’t find a way out of Harrow Lake, they might just be the death of her.

Expected publication: August 25th 2020 by Dial Books | Amazon | Goodreads


The Whitsun Daughters by Carrie Mesrobian

The Whitsun Daughters by Carrie Mesrobian

From a critically acclaimed author, a twisty and gorgeously written YA ghost story about young women separated by centuries but connected by a desire to control their futures. Read an excerpt below!

I am no longer a creature, yet my habits remain. My desires, still the old ones. Lurking amidst the brush, watching squirrels collect acorns and deer drink from puddles. Watching my girls. I am allowed pleasure here, too, despite the warnings of the Bible my mother loved so well. It is pleasure, and my delight, to see my girls, their skin supple and sweating, their mouths eating, their fists clamping over their hips as their legs bend and stretch over the earth. The work of bodies never ends. I particularly like their hair, how it grows long and shaggy until lopped off by one of their mothers, the priestly one whose thoughts swirl like perfume in lilac time; she finds such joyful thrift in snipping the little girls’ tresses. Where I had watched Patrick feed Arthur Ganey’s horses is now a kitchen with an unlikely polished floor; over what was dirt and hay, the priestly mother sweeps up the girls’ lost tresses—gold, white, mahogany. The priestly one’s sister, a midwife, makes each daughter gulp down spoonfuls of castor and fish oil; one year, they each suffered needle jabs, given for their own good. Their tears brimmed and they winced under the puncture, their betrayed howls ringing out through the open windows.

The palomino girl loves so harshly; she sees everything as a prize to be won or lost. The unicorn girl’s love ripples uncontained; her soul is flimsy, easily stained by sadness or goaded into laughter. The dark bay foal, who has since become steady on her feet in a manner that I envy, rushes through the brush. She is a thirsty creature. I ache when I see her touch the cool water at the bottom of the ravine where Patrick liked to wash.

A house helmed by two sisters, and their three daughters. The mothers’ love, borne of their sister pact, has made a world where no men ever deigned to rule. The daughters’ love at times is heavy, a pail of milk to a waiting hand; other times, easy as a hairbrush before Sunday service. It is most visible in their hands: what they make and toss away, what they strive to hold. I watch for restfulness. The after hours of tables cleared and dishes washed and floors swept and pencils and needles jabbing at paper and cloth; here their thick love dreams and wraps over each other, like hair in a braid. This reminds me of my own sister, and I recall my beating heart, strong beneath my chemise, galloping in grief for her. I think of my own hair—long gone, a cat’s cradle for the faeries—and the relief of unwinding it each night, the burden heavy no more. I think of my own hands and what they learned about desire.

How quickly everything in God’s world disintegrates. Everything but the loneliness of young women.

Expected publication: August 25th 2020 by Dutton | Amazon | Goodreads


Second Chances by P.D. Cacek

Second Chances by P.D. Cacek

It has been four years since the first Travelers came back, and in that time their numbers have grown. There is still no explanation for their existence, but for the most part they have been accepted into society and given special protection under the law. There are those, however, who see these Imposters as a threat to both their lives and their faith. The True Borns believe in “One Body, One Soul” and will do everything and anything in their power to put an end to the Travelers. FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

Expected publication: August 27th 2020 by Flame Tree Press | Amazon | Goodreads


Beneath A Bethel

Beneath A Bethel by April-Jane Rowan

Every youth of Elbridge remembers their Floris, the holy ceremony where their teeth are pulled out with pliers. It marks their ascension into adulthood and their right to have new porcelain teeth, ones that are embedded with magic, that grant the ability to make wishes.

Angora’s Floris will be upon the banks of the Eldwen river, the communal ceremony befitting his station. However he longs to remember his ceremony for the splendour of the Bethel, wreathed in candle light, drooping flowers and holy hymns.

Seeking to fulfil his dream leaves him the victim of violence and an outcast from society, living on its fringes until a chance meeting brings him to the heart of the Masters Guild, the place teeth are made. Learning secrets he never thought he’d be privy too, he eventually discovers the dark cost of their tradition.

Beneath A Bethel is a dark horror fantasy, set in a harsh, snow-covered city that hides its brutality with pageantry.

Expected publication: August 31st 2020 by Gurt Dog Press | Goodreads


Have we missed any August 2020 LOHF titles you are excited about? Let us know in the comments!

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

What We're Reading #59

We’re back with our recently recommended reads and linkage to our full reviews. Check out the previous 58 editions by hitting the tag up above!

Playing Possum by Stephanie Rabig

Tiffany: Despite her dead-end job, her life is going pretty well. She has a decent place to live, good friends, and she’s saving up for an engagement ring for her longtime girlfriend.Then she’s ambushed in a deserted parking lot by the unlikeliest of predators… PLAY DEAD

Vanessa: Horrified by Tiffany’s close call, she at least believes that the worst is over now. But then Tiffany starts acting strangely. And are her teeth getting sharper…?OR FIGHT BACK

Rebecca and John: The chief of police and her husband took their niece Vanessa in years ago when her father threw her out. They’re used to caring for everyone (including the strays their daughter Sophia brings home). But when the town comes under attack from ravenous furry hellbeasts, it might be all they can do to just protect themselves…NOTHING WILL SAVE YOU NOW.

This is a Creature Feature For Charity, with all proceeds going to the World Wildlife Fund. Cover art by Kealan Patrick Burke.

Amazon | Goodreads

Alex’s Teaser Review

Definitely check this book out if you are into creature features and SyFy-esque horror! A fun ride that I recommend.

Read Alex’s entire review at Goodreads.

The Festering Ones by S.H. Cooper

The Festering Ones by S.H. Cooper

A monster lurking in the mountain.

A mysterious cult seeking a doorway.

An otherworldly evil waiting to be unleashed.

Faith York was a young girl when she saw her father dragged into the ground by a spider-armed woman, never to be seen again. Twenty years later, the events of that day continue to haunt her, and her need for answers has only grown stronger with time. After her estranged mother’s death forces her to return home, old wounds are reopened and Faith finally decides to face her demons. What started as a search for closure soon pits her against a shadowy cult known as The Gathered and the eldritch beings they worship. With reality becoming more blurred by the day and the thousand eyes of an alien deity fixed on her, Faith must decide if the dark secrets of White Crow Mountain are really worth losing herself over. 

Amazon | Goodreads

Laurie’s Teaser Review

If you like your horror with creepy many armed lady monsters who jump out of a hidey-hole in the woods and grab a man and drag him down to their lair where he’s never seen or heard from again, you’re going to love this one!

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

Seeing Things by Sonora Taylor

Abby Gillman has discovered that with growing up, there comes a lot of blood. But nothing prepares her for the trail of blood she sees in the hallway after class – or the ghost she finds crammed inside an abandoned locker.

No one believes Abby, of course. She’s only seeing things. As much as Abby wants to be believed, what she wants more is to know why she can suddenly see the dead. Unfortunately, they won’t tell her. In fact, none of them will speak to her. At all.

Abby leaves for her annual summer visit to her uncle’s house with tons of questions. The visit will give her answers the ghosts won’t – but she may not like what she finds out.

Amazon | Goodreads

Alex’s Teaser Review

Highly recommend this one! I could even read a series with this character as the lead if that would ever happen! 4 stars!

Read Alex’s entire review at Goodreads.

Emily’s Teaser Review

This is a great seasonal summer horror read, and you should definitely add it to your list.

Read Emily’s entire review at Goodreads.

Jen’s Teaser Review

I’m so happy Taylor has gifted us with a ghost story. Combining my favorite horror element (ghosts) with her storytelling really put me in my happy place with this one!

Read Jen’s entire review at her blog Book Den.

Audra’s Teaser Review

This novella is a perfect summer afternoon read. Horror narratives about kids always get me—I’m a sucker for a tale that’s equally heartwarming and horrifying.

Read Audra’s entire review at Goodreads.


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.

If you are a LOHF writer and have a book you’d like us to consider for a review please visit our review submission page here.

Tuesday, August 4, 2020

July 2020: Monthly Recap

In July, the LOHF team announced all of the 2019 Ladies of Horror Fiction Award recipients! Thank you so much to the horror community for all of your support and for helping us share the achievements of these amazing women! If you missed any of the awards announcements, the July new releases, or any of the reviews we posted in July, you can find all of that in our wrap up below!

News and Announcements

July 2020 LOHF New Releases
Each month the Ladies of Horror Fiction team posts all of the books we are aware of that will be releasing during that month.

Ladies of Horror Fiction Awards

LOHF Award Nominees for Best Collection
LOHF Award Nominees for Best Debut
LOHF Award Nominees for Best Poetry Collection
LOHF Award Nominees for Best Novel
LOHF Award Nominees for Best Novella
LOHF Award Nominees for Best Young Adult
LOHF Award Honorable Mentions in Short Fiction
Ladies of Horror Fiction Award Nominees and Honorable Mentions
LOHF Award for Best Collection
LOHF Award for Best Poetry Collection
LOHF Award for Best Debut
LOHF Award for Best Novel
LOHF Award for Best Novella
LOHF Award for Best Young Adult
2019 Ladies of Horror Fiction Awards

Reviews

What We’re Reading #55

What We’re Reading #56

What We’re Reading #57

What We’re Reading #58

Special Topics

The LOHF Congratulates the Shirley Jackson Award Winners
The Shirley Jackson awards highlight the years outstanding achievement in the genres of psychological suspense, horror and dark fiction.

YA/MG Horror Spotlight July 2020
Check out the books that were released in July as well as what our team has been reading and reviewing.

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