Wednesday, April 5, 2023

What We've Been Reading | April 5, 2023

Today our team members recommend two horror novels and a collection of horror stories. We hope you check them out and share your thoughts!





Sundial by Catriona Ward

Sundial is a new, twisty psychological horror novel from Catriona Ward, internationally bestselling author of The Last House on Needless Street.

You can't escape what's in your blood...

All Rob wanted was a normal life. She almost got it, too: a husband, two kids, a nice house in the suburbs. But Rob fears for her oldest daughter, Callie, who collects tiny bones and whispers to imaginary friends. Rob sees a darkness in Callie, one that reminds her too much of the family she left behind.

She decides to take Callie back to her childhood home, to Sundial, deep in the Mojave Desert. And there she will have to make a terrible choice.

Callie is worried about her mother. Rob has begun to look at her strangely, and speaks of past secrets. And Callie fears that only one of them will leave Sundial alive…

Amazon | Goodreads

Laurie's Teaser Review

"If you like your characters complicated and often unpleasant - mean even, then have I ever found a book for you! I love reading about those types of characters because you know what? When well-done characters who do and say horrible things are never boring and these people won me over with their awfulness. Every time I thought they couldn’t outdo the last terrible thing, they managed to top it, haha. Some of these people are that way due to reasons but others are that way just because and that’s fine too."

Read Laurie's entire review at Goodreads.





The Spite House by Johnny Compton

Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Having left his wife, his house, his whole life behind in Maryland, he’s desperate for money–it’s not easy to find safe work when you can’t provide references, you can’t stay in one place for long, and you’re paranoid that your past is creeping back up on you.

When he comes across the strange ad for the Masson House in Degener, Texas, Eric thinks they may have finally caught a lucky break. The Masson property, notorious for being one of the most haunted places in Texas, needs a caretaker of sorts. The owner is looking for proof of paranormal activity. All they need to do is stay in the house and keep a detailed record of everything that happens there. Provided the house’s horrors don’t drive them all mad, like the caretakers before them.

The job calls to Eric, not just because there’s a huge payout if they can make it through, but because he wants to explore the secrets of the spite house. If it is indeed haunted, maybe it’ll help him understand the uncanny power that clings to his family, driving them from town to town, making them afraid to stop running. A terrifying Gothic thriller about grief and death and the depths of a father’s love, Johnny Compton’s The Spite House is a stunning debut by a horror master in the making.

Goodreads | Amazon

Heather's Teaser Review

"I loved the characters. The family is just top-notch and written like you know them. I love the added bits of anxiety from racism they felt driving through Texas because, I've felt the same. It happens."

Read Heather's entire review at Goodreads.





Hell Hath No Sorrow Like A Woman Haunted by RJ Joseph

The Black women in these tales are women we all know. The mothers, wives, business owners, creatives, and more, that we see in everyday life. They perform the impossible and hold all ends together.

Sometimes, they’re an open book, their stories written in the beloved lines of their faces and the varied bodies they wear with pride or weariness.

Other times, their secrets squirm beneath the surface, aching for release and discovery while beckoning others to lean in. They whisper the horror of their predicaments, closer to home than you realize.

These Black women are more than we know. They’re also victims, monsters…and often, a little of both.

Goodreads | Amazon

Teresa's Teaser Review

"All of the stories in this collection are about women haunted. No two stories are alike, either. Some are supernatural, some are magical realism, some are just every day occurrences, but each are told masterfully and quite frankly, terrifyingly, proving that horror is being a woman. "

Read Teresa'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.

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.



Our Reviewers




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.




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.




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.

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