March #SpotlightReadathon

Horror Spotlight will be hosting a readathon from March 1-15! Won’t you join us? The calendar is full of celebration days!

Here are a few, with reading recommendations, if you need some prompts for ideas.

March 3 - I Want You to be Happy Day

Try out a toxic romance, like You by Caroline Kepnes or Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca. Or, take out the toxic and add some spicy and try Someone to Share My Nightmares by Sonora Taylor.

March 8 - Be Nasty Day and/or International (Working) Women's Day

Why not combine them and look for women seeking revenge book, like Out by Natsuo Kirino, Go Down Hard by Ali Seay, or Hooker by M. Lopes da Silva

March 9 - Panic Day

Try some Satanic Panic Reading, like Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman, The Fourth Whore by EV Knight, or Cirque Berserk by Jessica Guess.

March 10 - International Day of Awesomeness

Read a book you know will be awesome, either by a favorite author or a favorite trope such as Bunny by Mona Awad, Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, or Cackle by Rachel Harrison.

March 12 - Plant a Flower Day

Try out some eco-horror, like the anthologies Chlorophobia or Field Notes from a Nightmare or the novels The Seep by Chana Porter or Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon.

March 14 - Pi(e) Day

Try some cooking/ baking horror, like the anthologies Slashertorte or Tales from the Crust, or the poetry collection Lady of the House by Grace E. Reynolds or novel Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi

March 15 - Buzzard Day

Try a book about beloved buzzards, like To Be Devoured by Sara Tantlinger or Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen.

And all of March is Women's History Month, if you need more inspiration.

---

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

Tidepool by Nicole Willson | Book Review

 Today Teresa recommends TIDEPOOL by Nicole Willson. Check it out!

 

Tidepool by Nicole Willson

"If ye give not willingly, the Lords will rise…

In 1913, Henry Hamilton disappeared while on a business trip, and his sister, Sorrow, won’t rest until she finds out what happened to him. Defying her father’s orders to remain at home, she travels to Tidepool, the last place Henry is known to have visited. Residents of the small, shabby oceanside town can’t quite meet Sorrow’s eyes when she asks about her brother.

When corpses wash up on shore looking as if they’ve been torn apart by something not quite human, Sorrow is ready to return to Baltimore and let her father send in the professional detectives.

However, after meeting Ada Oliver, a widow whose black silk dresses and elegant manners set her apart from other Tidepool residents, Sorrow discovers Tidepool’s dark, deadly secret.

With this discovery, some denizens of Tidepool—human and otherwise—are hell-bent on making sure Sorrow never leaves their forsaken town.

Lovecraftian dark fantasy gets a modern treatment in this terrifying debut novel."

Amazon | Goodreads 

Teresa's Review

Tidepool is a town that will have no welcome sign, no invitations for tourists to visit. If you want the boardwalk experience, take your business to Ocean City, please and thank you. Sadly, a real estate developer didn’t not get this message and he turns up missing. Sorrow cannot rest easy knowing her only brother has disappeared without a trace, so she makes her way to Tidepool, the last place he was seen alive. And it may be the biggest mistake of her life. This book is full of creeping dread and sulking atmosphere, the mysteries of the ocean’s depths singing its dark siren song.

P.S. Sorrow, I feel you, girl, I would most likely fail as a Pescatarian (absolutely no shade to Pescatarians).

---

Thank you for joining us today! Please share your thoughts about TIDEPOOL as well as any recent reads in the comments below.

We are currently accepting horror fiction and horror adjacent fiction written by diverse authors in print and epub format ONLY. If this is you, please visit our review submission page here.

---

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

Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt | Book Review

Today Laurie recommends TELL ME I'M WORTHLESS by Alison Rumfitt. We hope you'll check it out!

Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

"Three years ago, Alice spent one night in an abandoned house with her friends, Ila and Hannah. Since then, Alice’s life has spiraled. She lives a haunted existence, selling videos of herself for money, going to parties she hates, drinking herself to sleep.

Memories of that night torment Alice, but when Ila asks her to return to the House, to go past the KEEP OUT sign and over the sick earth where teenagers dare each other to venture, Alice knows she must go.

Together, Alice and Ila must face the horrors that happened there, must pull themselves apart from the inside out, put their differences aside, and try to rescue Hannah, whom the House has chosen to make its own."

Amazon | Goodreads 

Laurie's Review

This book is extremely timely. It’s a scathing look at fascism, TERFism, and the complete lack of empathy that has become commonplace everywhere you turn. But it also managed to bring me back to the days when I fell in love with the prose of Barker, Koja, Dunn, and Billy Martin writing under the name Poppy Z. Brite. It’s vicious, angry, and unafraid to show you the hateful and the ugly. The ugliness of the world and also the ugliness residing in people. It won’t be a book for everyone.

The story is told mainly from three POV’s and one of them tends to be a bit stream of consciousness in her telling. Sometimes this bugs me and makes me tune out but it worked here. I was never bored or tempted to put it down. The author places content warnings before the book begins. Please read them if you need them. Seriously. This book is A Lot.

Alice, Ila, and Hannah once visited a House. This House was angry and was built on the back of hate. There are no cute ghosts here and I don’t recommend visiting a place like this but the three did it anyway and only two left the House. Whatever happened inside the House destroyed the friendship and love between Alice (a transwoman) and Ila (her cis lover/best friend). It’s also destroyed them. They’re existing but are filled with self-loathing and very different memories of what happened during their time in the House. They’re destroying themselves a bit more each day. Ila fills her brain with intolerance and hatred via her connection to TERF’s and Alice does it with drugs and sex to rid herself of the ghost that haunts her room. They can’t continue to carry on this way without permanent soul-destroying consequences. One day the house beckons and they can no longer ignore the need to return and discover the truth.

“Sometimes, at the end of everything, the only option you have is to make it worse.”

Oof, like I said this book is a lot. It’s filled with despair and body horror and trauma and hellish, horrific images. You might need to be in a particular mood to read it if this isn’t your thing. I like a bleak book that upsets me every now and again and this was a good one.

---

Thank you for joining us today! Please share your thoughts about TELL ME I'M WORTHLESS as well as any recent reads in the comments below.

We are currently accepting horror fiction and horror adjacent fiction written by diverse authors in print and epub format ONLY. If this is you, please visit our review submission page here.

---

Laurie is one of our Horror Spotlight Admins. Laurie creates our review posts and coordinates review requests.

You can find Laurie on her blog Bark’s Book Nonsense, on Twitter as @barksbooks, on Instagram as @barksbooks, and on Goodreads.

Spotlight on New Releases: February 21

Welcome to Spotlight on New Releases where we shine a spotlight on a few recent horror releases!

Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder

Sister, Maiden, Monster is a visceral story set in the aftermath of our planet’s disastrous transformation and told through the eyes of three women trying to survive the nightmare, from Bram Stoker Award-winning author Lucy A. Snyder.

To survive they must evolve.

A virus tears across the globe, transforming its victims in nightmarish ways. As the world collapses, dark forces pull a small group of women together.

Erin, once quiet and closeted, acquires an appetite for a woman and her brain. Why does forbidden fruit taste so good?

Savannah, a professional BDSM switch, discovers a new turn-on: committing brutal murders for her eldritch masters.

Mareva, plagued with chronic tumors, is too horrified to acknowledge her divine role in the coming apocalypse, and as her growths multiply, so too does her desperation.

Inspired by her Bram Stoker Award-winning story “Magdala Amygdala,” Lucy A. Snyder delivers a cosmic tale about the planet’s disastrous transformation ... and what we become after.

Expected publication February 21, 2023 | Goodreads | Amazon

---

Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah

Andrea Hannah's Where Darkness Blooms is a supernatural thriller about an eerie town where the sunflowers whisper secrets and the land hungers for blood.

The town of Bishop is known for exactly two things: recurring windstorms and an endless field of sunflowers that stretches farther than the eye can see. And women—missing women. So when three more women disappear one stormy night, no one in Bishop is surprised. The case is closed and their daughters are left in their dusty shared house with the shattered pieces of their lives. Until the wind kicks up a terrible secret at their mothers’ much-delayed memorial.

With secrets come the lies each of the girls is forced to confront. After caring for the other girls, Delilah would like to move on with her boyfriend, Bennett, but she can’t bear his touch. Whitney has already lost both her mother and her girlfriend, Eleanor, and now her only solace is an old weathervane that seems to whisper to her. Jude, Whitney's twin sister, would rather ignore it all, but the wind kicks up her secret too: the summer fling she had with Delilah's boyfriend. And more than anything, Bo wants answers and she wants them now. Something happened to their mothers and the townsfolk know what it was. She’s sure of it.

Bishop has always been a strange town. But what the girls don’t know is that Bishop was founded on blood—and now it craves theirs.

Expected publication February 21, 2023 | Goodreads | Amazon

---

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

The Plot meets Please Join Us in this psychological suspense debut about a young author at an exclusive writer’s retreat that descends into a nightmare.

Alex has all but given up on her dreams of becoming a published author when she receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: attend an exclusive, month-long writing retreat at the estate of feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. Even the knowledge that Wren, her former best friend and current rival, is attending doesn’t dampen her excitement.

But when the attendees arrive, Roza drops a bombshell—they must all complete an entire novel from scratch during the next month, and the author of the best one will receive a life-changing seven-figure publishing deal. Determined to win this seemingly impossible contest, Alex buckles down and tries to ignore the strange happenings at the estate, including Roza’s erratic behavior, Wren’s cruel mind games, and the alleged haunting of the mansion itself. But when one of the writers vanishes during a snowstorm, Alex realizes that something very sinister is afoot. With the clock running out, she’s desperate to discover the truth and save herself.

A claustrophobic and propulsive thriller exploring the dark side of friendships and fame, The Writing Retreat is the unputdownable debut novel from a compelling new talent.

Expected publication February 21, 2023 | Goodreads | Amazon

---

Jen is one of our Horror Spotlight admins. Jen manages the technical side of the Horror Spotlight website. She also keeps a spotlight on new diverse horror releases, middle grade horror, and young adult horror each month.

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

Shelf Edition: Wendy Dalrymple

Shelf Edition: Wendy Dalrymple

 

Today we welcome author Wendy Dalrymple to Horror Spotlight to show us her shelfies. Welcome, Wendy!

Do you have any recent favorite Horror Spotlight books?

Yes! Just from the last couple of years, WHEN THE RECKONING COMES by LaTanya McQueen, BUNNY by Mona Awad, BELOW by Laurel Hightower and COOL S by Die Booth have been some of my favorites. I also just finished SUCH SHARP TEETH by Rachel Harrison and I LOVED it.

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

Definitely, Stephanie Parent’s poetry collection EVERY POEM A POTION, EVERY SONG A SPELL is on my TBR and so is April Yates’s gothic novella ASHTHORNE. I’m always looking out for dark poetry and gothic horror to add to my collection.

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

I am ashamed to admit that I’m chronically online, but that’s where all of my book friends are! I love getting recs from book bloggers, fellow authors and readers on Twitter, Bookstagram and BookTok. I typically try to seek out indie or small press horror (and romance!). I think that I first saw WHEN THE RECKONING COMES on Horror Spotlight and I’ve discovered so many other amazing authors there too!    

 

Where do you prefer to shop for books?

When I can, I like to buy direct from the author or publisher. I particularly enjoy buying signed copies from my fellow authors. If you’re my author pal, I guarantee I’ll eventually have at least one of your books.

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

THE HAUNTING OF ALEJANDRA by V. Castro is one that I definitely have my eye on!

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

My horror novella IT DOESN’T GO AWAY is set to be published with 3-B Publishing on Feb 14, 2023. This is a grief/psychological horror novella about a woman that has experienced a recent tragedy, and despite her best instincts, decides to go on a through-hiking trip on the Appalachian Trail. Along the way she literally faces her demons in more ways than one.

 
I’m really excited to be working with 3-B Publishing. They are a new publisher run by a team that I admire and trust and they’re going to be publishing a lot of excellent authors in the coming year! I also have two more horror novellas set to come out this year with Bryant Street Shorts, GIRLS NIGHT OUT, which is a body horror novella about a bridal shower gone sideways and PARASOCIAL, a novella about a parasocial relationship between a super fan and a celebrity. These stories will be available exclusively at Scribd in ebook and audio and in paperback at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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

I’m at Twitter @wendy_dalrymple
On TikTok @wendydalrymplewrites
You can also find links to my work here:

https://linktr.ee/wendydalrymple

 

---

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

Spotlight on New Releases: February 18

Welcome to Spotlight on New Releases where we shine a spotlight on a few recent horror releases!

Such Pretty Flowers by K.L. Cerra

“Get it out of me.”

It was the last message Holly received from her brother, Dane, before he was found cleaved open in his fiancée’s lavish Savannah townhouse. Police ruled his death a suicide sparked by psychosis, but Holly can’t shake the idea that something else must have happened... Something involving another message he sent that night, the one that mentioned a “game” his fiancée, Maura, wanted to play…

Determined to discover the truth, Holly begins to stalk Maura—a magnetic, black-eyed florist with a penchant for carnivorous plants. But what begins as an investigation quickly veers into a darker fixation, one that lures Holly into the depths of Maura’s world: Savannah high society, eerie black roses, and a whisper of something more sinister. Soon, Holly is feeling a dark attraction to the one woman she shouldn’t trust. As Holly falls deeper for Maura and her secrets, she’s left with only one choice: find out what happened to Dane... before she meets the same fate.

A woman investigating her brother's apparent suicide finds herself falling for her prime suspect—his darkly mysterious girlfriend—in this edgy Southern gothic thriller.

Published February 7, 2023 by Bantam | Goodreads | Amazon

---

The Cage of Dark Hours by Marina Lostetter

The Cage of Dark Hours is the second novel in the epic fantasy trilogy from acclaimed author Marina Lostetter, where the defeat of a serial killer back from the dead has pulled the mask off the myths and magics of a fantastical city.

Krona and her Regulators survived their encounter with Charbon, the long-dead serial killer who returned to their city, but the illusions of their world were shattered forever.

Allied with an old friend they will battle the elite who have ruled their world with deception, cold steel, and tight control of the magic that could threaten their power, while also confronting beasts from beyond the foggy barrier that binds their world.

Now they must follow every thread to uncover the truth behind the Thalo, once thought of as only a children's tale, who are the quiet, creeping puppet masters of their world.

Published February 14, 2023 by Tor Books | Goodreads | Amazon

---

Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror edited by Lee Murray and Angela Yuriko Smith

From hungry ghosts, vampiric babies, and shapeshifting fox spirits to the avenging White Lady of urban legend, for generations, Asian women’s roles have been shaped and defined through myth and story. In Unquiet Spirits, Asian writers of horror reflect on the impact of superstition, spirits, and the supernatural in this unique collection of 21 personal essays exploring themes of otherness, identity, expectation, duty, and loss, and leading, ultimately, to understanding and empowerment.

Published February 14, 2023 by Black Spot Books Nonfiction | Goodreads | Amazon

---

Jen is one of our Horror Spotlight admins. Jen manages the technical side of the Horror Spotlight website. She also keeps a spotlight on new diverse horror releases, middle grade horror, and young adult horror each month.

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

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire | Book Review

Today Jen recommends DOWN AMONG THE STICKS AND BONES by Seanan McGuire. 

DOWN AMONG THE STICKS AND BONES by Seanan McGuire

"Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children.

This is the story of what happened first…

Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter—polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline.

Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you've got.

They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted.

They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices."

Amazon | Goodreads 

Jen's Review

I didn't write a review the first time I read Down Among the Sticks and Bones, and I'm having the same struggle after rereading it. It's hard to put into words the things that Seanan McGuire is able to capture in the Wayward Children series.

Down Among the Sticks and Bones tells the story of Jacqueline and Jillian, twins who eventually find their doorway to the Moors after being born from horrible, self-serving parents and raised by their grandmother. We first meet Jack and Jill in Every Heart a Doorway (book #1 of the series), and Down Among the Sticks and Bones is their backstory.

Down Among the Sticks and Bones is a dark story in the dark world of the Moors, but the true beauty of Down Among the Sticks and Bones is the portrayal of gender roles. It's so heartbreakingly relatable. If you aren't reading this series, I really can't recommend it enough.

---

Thank you for joining us today! Please share your thoughts about DOWN AMONG THE STICKS AND BONES as well as any recent reads in the comments below.

We are currently accepting horror fiction and horror adjacent fiction written by diverse authors in print and epub format ONLY. If this is you, please visit our review submission page here.

---

Jen is one of our Horror Spotlight admins. Jen manages the technical side of the Horror Spotlight website. She also keeps a spotlight on new horror releases, middle grade horror, and young adult horror each month.

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

Horror Spotlight’s Readalong March 2023

Horror Spotlight’s Readalong March 2023

In March we will be reading House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland for the readalong in the Horror Spotlight discord. You can join the discord with this link.

 

 

Seventeen-year-old Iris Hollow has always been strange. Something happened to her and her two older sisters when they were children, something they can’t quite remember but that left each of them with an identical half-moon scar at the base of their throats.

Iris has spent most of her teenage years trying to avoid the weirdness that sticks to her like tar. But when her eldest sister, Grey, goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Iris learns just how weird her life can get: horned men start shadowing her, a corpse falls out of her sister’s ceiling, and ugly, impossible memories start to twist their way to the forefront of her mind.

As Iris retraces Grey’s last known footsteps and follows the increasingly bizarre trail of breadcrumbs she left behind, it becomes apparent that the only way to save her sister is to decipher the mystery of what happened to them as children.

The closer Iris gets to the truth, the closer she comes to understanding that the answer is dark and dangerous – and that Grey has been keeping a terrible secret from her for years.

Goodreads | Bookshop

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

---

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

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey | Book Review

Today Cassie, Jen & Laurie recommend JUST LIKE HOME by Sarah Gailey. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

---

 

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey

"Come home.” Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories -- she's come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there.

Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back, and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting… but who else could it possibly be?

There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. Vera must face them, and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes. ."

Amazon | Goodreads 

Cassie's Review

Some things, Vera knew, were made to die.

I asked some friends for "bad mom" book recommendations to ~deal with my own trauma via fiction~ (lol), and among the titles given to me was this one. I'd read Sarah Gailey's UPRIGHT WOMEN WANTED earlier this year and really enjoyed it, despite the fact that it's not at all in my typical genre wheelhouse, so I was really excited to check this horror-y title out - horror definitely is my typical genre, & THE BOOK IS PINK!!

I went into this knowing nothing beyond that the mom "sort of sucked", and I think that's the best way to do it honestly. The lack of knowledge kept me on the edge of my seat, unable to gain solid footing, flipping the pages trying to fully flesh out a story being delivered to me in deliciously -and agonizingly - slow little bits.

The atmosphere here feels very southern gothic - dark and spooky for sure, but with a cloyingly sweetness not unlike lemonade on a humid summer day. I loved the way the house was described, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the relationship between Vera and her father - however unorthodox it or he may have been.

The full ending reveal GOT ME! I won't say too much about it because I don't want to spoil it, but I really loved how wild and intense things got, and how the story developed. It was weird and gross and fun and I just loved it, so good.

This has definitely solidified the author as a must-buy from me moving forward -- I don't even care what the genre is, because they've shown that they're able to handle whatever they do perfectly. I already have THE ECHO WIFE on my shelf, waiting to be read soon!

Jen's Review

I think I've placed every one of Sarah Gailey's books on my wish list as they were released, but Just Like Home is the first book of Sarah Gailey's that I've actually read. Their books always seem to get mixed reviews so I've never taken the plunge until now. Just Like Home was voted as the November read along selection for the Horror Spotlight discord group. I'm so glad that it was, and I'm so glad that I finally got to read a book by Sarah Gailey.

I loved this book! The writing was so wonderful, and the story was so unexpected. It was creepy, it was imaginative, it was super weird, and it never went in the direction that I was expecting. Just Like Home was so fun to read.

In Just Like Home, Vera's awful mother is dying and has called Vera back home. Throughout Just Like Home, we see both the present time with Vera and her mother as well as Vera's childhood and what happened with her father and her mother and why she left the Crowder House to begin with. It's dark and it's creepy, and I couldn't look away.

Just Like Home really worked for me. I think I can see why Sarah Gailey's books would have mixed reviews, but I also think I may be the right reader for their stories. I'm excited to go back and pick up their back catalog because I really loved Just Like Home. It had such a great mix of being scary and being weird and keeping me hanging on to find out what was going to happen next. This book was oddly horrific, and I want more of it. I think most of their books have been more fantasy than horror, but I'm looking forward to finding out what each one is all about.

It's best to go into Just Like Home as blind as possible so I'm not going to give any more details on why I loved it so much. If you like domestic thrillers or horror or Sarah Gailey - don't miss out on this one. I highly recommend it.

Laurie's Review

I have to admit the dedication sucked me in immediately.

“This book is dedicated to anyone who ever loved a monster.”

This book was so weird and surprising! I absolutely adored the way the story was told. It was creepy and disturbing and was also a thoughtful exploration of some very complicated family dynamics. There is a character here I loved to hate and that's always all kinds of fun.

Just Like Home might not be for everyone, but it definitely worked for me!

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator read a little slow for my liking so I sped things up to 1.25 and it was perfection.

---

Thank you for joining us today! Please share your thoughts about JUST LIKE HOME as well as any recent reads in the comments below.

We are currently accepting horror fiction and horror adjacent fiction written by diverse authors in print and epub format ONLY. If this is you, please visit our review submission page here.

---

Cassie is one of our contributing reviewers and contributes website content. Find her online at her website ctrlaltcassie.com, Twitter as @ctrlaltcassie, Instagram as @readinginaprism, or over at her Etsy store, where she has amazing original art prints, cross stitch kits, bookmarks, and more!

Jen is one of our Horror Spotlight admins. Jen manages the technical side of the Horror Spotlight website. She also keeps a spotlight on new horror releases, middle grade horror, and young adult horror each month.

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

Laurie is one of our Horror Spotlight Admins. Laurie creates our review posts and coordinates review requests.

You can find Laurie on her blog Bark’s Book Nonsense, on Twitter as @barksbooks, on Instagram as @barksbooks, and on Goodreads.

Join Us for Movie Night!

Horror Spotlight Movie Night: Master

Our next movie night is on Thursday February 16, 2023! 4:30PT/5:30MT/6:30CT/7:30ET

Please join us to watch Master on Amazon. Join the Horror Spotlight Discord for the link, instructions, and updates. Hope to see you there!  

• Director 
• Mariama Diallo
• Writer  
• Mariana Diallo
• Stars
•   Regina Hall
• Zoe Renee
• Julia Nightingale

About Master: Three women strive to find their place at an elite Northeastern university. When anonymous racist attacks target a Black freshman, who insists she is being haunted by ghosts, each woman must determine where the real menace lies.

---

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.

Come Out, Come Out, Whatever You Are by Kathryn Foxfield | Book Review

Today Laurie recommends COME OUT, COME OUT, WHATEVER YOU ARE by Kathryn Foxfield. We hope you'll check it out!

 

Come Out, Come Out, Whatever You Are by Kathryn Foxfield

"The bestselling author of Good Girls Die First is back with a new page-turning thriller for fans of Holly Jackson and Karen McManus.

Welcome to the reality game show that'll scare you to death! Have you got what it takes to last the night?

On the reality show It's Behind You!, five contestants competing for prize money must survive the night in the dark and dangerous Umber Gorge caves, rumored to be haunted by the Puckered Maiden, a ghost who eats the hearts of her victims. But is it the malevolent spirit they should fear, or each other?

As the production crew ramps up the frights, tensions rise and the secrets of the cast member start coming to light. Each of these teenagers has hidden motives for taking part in the show. But could one of them be murder?"

Amazon | Goodreads 

Laurie's Review

If you love campy horror this is a book for you! Campy horror novels (and movies) can be such a welcome break from reality.

Nothing here can be taken too seriously, including the premise, and there’s nothing wrong with that. A desperate woman whose show is fading from popularity and needs ratings at any cost creates a new season of “It’s Behind You!” where faux and maybe real frights scare the contestants right out of the game. The last one standing is the winner. This time around Jackie casts five teens who she thinks fit her stereotypes and she locks them in a dangerous cave that was once an amusement park. To spice things up it is also reputed to be haunted by a ghost who plucks the hearts from mere mortals and eats them up! Yum! They call her “The Puckered Maiden”.

Yes, you read that right. The Puckered Maiden.

I don’t know if she croaked while eating lemons or whatnot and I never did find out but it made me laugh every time she was mentioned. And she was mentioned often.

Anyhow, the story is told from the POV of Lex who is supposed to be the snarky, comic relief. You may or may not be annoyed by Lex and some of these other teens. I guess that depends on your tolerance for these types of teens. Lex was more obnoxious than funny to me but as the story played out and she was forced to team up with some of the other characters I became less aggravated by her commentary. She’s nosy and she never learns a lesson and she is 100% confident she will win this game. Her relationship with a YouTube star who calls himself Python was great fun. They bounced off of each other well and he helped smooth out some of her rough edges.

This book moves fast. The game takes place over 24 hours so it kind of has to move but the characterization is lacking which is kind of a shame because it could’ve been a much better book had I cared about a few of these people earlier. The teens were all very interchangeable and I ended up confusing some of them a time or two and hoping the puckered maiden would hurry up and eat a few if only so I would be less confused.

The entire adventure is extremely claustrophobic. That was done excellently. Near the end, it gets beautifully unhinged and there’s a big mwahaha moment where someone spills all of their evil motives just because they feel like it. You’re either going to love those bits or you won’t. I did but I just eat up that kind of thing.

Definitely don't go into this thinking it's going to scare you in a creep-under-your-skin kind of way. It's not that kind of book. I hope I’ve given you enough here without the dreaded spoilers so you can decide if this one is or isn’t for you.

---

Thank you for joining us today! Please share your thoughts about COME OUT, COME OUT WHATEVER YOU ARE as well as any recent reads in the comments below.

We are currently accepting horror fiction and horror adjacent fiction written by diverse authors in print and epub format ONLY. If this is you, please visit our review submission page here.

---

Laurie is one of our Horror Spotlight Admins. Laurie creates our review posts and coordinates review requests.

You can find Laurie on her blog Bark’s Book Nonsense, on Twitter as @barksbooks, on Instagram as @barksbooks, and on Goodreads.