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This blog post is all about what I was reading in March!
I read 8 books this month from some 5* stunners to some that were just OK.
The first book I read was The Horror Zine's Book of Monster Stories which is a short story collection of horror stories. I was on the book tour for this with Black Tide Book Tours and you can read my review here.
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This is the first time I have done the 'Firsts of 2024 book tag' but it sounds really fun and is a good way to round up the first 3 months of the year! It was originally started by Tanya @girlxoxo.
Here are my firsts of 2024:
First Book Read This Year
Today I am a part of the Black Tide Book Tour for a selection of short monster stories that will surely keep you up at night!
Book Title: The Horror Zine's Book of Monster Stories
Authors: Many including Terry Grimwood, Christopher Beck, Simon Bleaken and Sumiko Saulson
My rating: 4*
Publisher: HellBound Books Publishing
Genre: Horror
Format read: E-book
Blurb: With an Introduction by Shirley Jackson Award-winner Gemma Files, this outstanding anthology of all things monstrous includes spine-chilling stories from Bentley Little, Simon Clark, Elizabeth Massie, Tim Waggoner, Sumiko Saulson, plus some of the best emerging horror writers working today.
“This anthology gives us a chilling glimpse at the dark and dangerous things prowling in the minds of some of today’s best horror writers.” – JG Faherty, author of Ragman and Songs in the Key of Death,
“Throughout the pages are creepy tales by up-and-comers who you may have read, plus writers brand new to a horror reader’s discerning eye. Embark on a journey to the realm where monsters—familiar or unique—dwell. Highly recommended to horror aficionados obsessed with eldritch fiction—this one’s for you!” – Nancy Kilpatrick, author of Thrones of Blood Series and the Darker Passions series.
My Review
I love horror stories and this anthology by HellBound Publishing is full of crazy and weird stories I would probably have never picked up otherwise. There are 31 short stories to enjoy in this collection which range from the disturbing to the gross and the downright scary!
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Today I am part of the Black Tide book tour for The Red Trilogy by Paul Kane.
Author: Paul Kane
My Rating: 4*
Publisher: HellBound Books Publishing
Genre: Horror
Format Read: E-book
Blurb: Evil takes on many forms – something Rachael Daniels, an innocent care worker, is about to find out… personally.
Something is roaming the streets of the city where she lives, something monstrous with a taste for sweet, red, human blood.
Something that can be anything it wants to be.
Soon, Rachael learns the hard way that not even the friendliest faces can be trusted.
As she makes her way across that city one night on an errand of mercy, she quickly discovers the terrifying creature will definitely have no such consideration for her…
Together in one book for the very first time ever, the RED trilogy is a modern, urban reworking of a classic fairy tale, which puts the horror spin on an old favourite.
Blood RED picks up straight away after the events of RED, the first installment, while Deep RED throws you into a nightmarish future scenario. If you dare to open these pages, you’ll face a terrifying journey into the unknown – courtesy of award-winning and #1 bestselling author, Paul Kane (the sellout Hooded Man, Monsters, Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell, & Before).
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I was recently offered the opportunity to receive a Your Paper Quest subscription box and I jumped at the chance.
Your story awaits...
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After 18 months of silence, I am back with another book review!
Book Title: You're Not Supposed To Die Tonight
Author: Kalynn Bayron
My Rating: 3*
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication Date: 20/06/23
Genre: Horror, YA, LGBT, Mystery
Pages: 228
Format read: Paperback
Goodreads: At Camp Mirror Lake, terror is the name of the game... but can you survive the night?
Charity Curtis has the summer job of her dreams, playing the “final girl” at Camp Mirror Lake. Guests pay to be scared in this full-contact terror game, as Charity and her summer crew recreate scenes from a classic slasher film, Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. The more realistic the fear, the better for business.
But the last weekend of the season, Charity's co-workers begin disappearing. And when one ends up dead, Charity's role as the final girl suddenly becomes all too real. If Charity and her girlfriend Bezi hope to survive the night, they'll need figure out what this killer is after. Is there is more to the story of Mirror Lake and its dangerous past than Charity ever suspected?
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Today I am part of the book tour for The Echoed Realm by A.J Vrana provided by Storytellers On Tour. This is the second and final book in the series The Chaos Cycle Duology and it certainly lived up to its expectations and blew me away. Check out my review for the first book here. Please also take a look at everyone's posts for this book tour by clicking the link above!
Book Information
The Echoed Realm by A. J. Vrana
Published: August 10, 2021
Genre: Contemporary Dark Fantasy-Horror
Pages: 444
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CW: The book deals with themes of domestic violence, but there are no depictions of domestic violence
Author: Heather Walter
My Rating: 5*
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication Date: 13/04/21
Genre(s): Fairy tale retelling. Fantasy, LGBT
Pages: 496
Format Read: Ebook
Goodreads: A princess isn’t supposed to fall for an evil sorceress. But in this darkly magical retelling of “Sleeping Beauty,” true love is more than a simple fairy tale.
Once upon a time, there was a wicked fairy who, in an act of vengeance, cursed a line of princesses to die. A curse that could only be broken by true love’s kiss.
You’ve heard this before, haven’t you? The handsome prince. The happily-ever-after.
Utter nonsense.
Let me tell you, no one in Briar actually cares about what happens to its princesses. Not the way they care about their jewels and elaborate parties and charm-granting elixirs. I thought I didn’t care, either.
Until I met her.
Princess Aurora. The last heir to Briar’s throne. Kind. Gracious. The future queen her realm needs. One who isn’t bothered that I am Alyce, the Dark Grace, abhorred and feared for the mysterious dark magic that runs in my veins. Humiliated and shamed by the same nobles who pay me to bottle hexes and then brand me a monster. Aurora says I should be proud of my gifts. That she . . . cares for me. Even though it was a power like mine that was responsible for her curse.
But with less than a year until that curse will kill her, any future I might see with Aurora is swiftly disintegrating—and she can’t stand to kiss yet another insipid prince. I want to help her. If my power began her curse, perhaps it’s what can lift it. Perhaps, together, we could forge a new world.
Nonsense again.
Because we all know how this story ends, don’t we? Aurora is the beautiful princess. And I—
I am the villain.
Author: S.V Leonard
My Rating: 3*
Publisher: Canelo Crime
Publication Date: 11/03/21
Genre(s): Thriller, Murder Mystery
Pages: 246
Format Read: E-book
Goodreads: Her dream escape is about to become a nightmare…
Kimberley King has spent the last five years trying to outrun the reason she left the police force. Her life is a mess and she’s desperate for change. So when she is randomly selected for the new series of the hit show LoveWrecked, she can’t pass up the chance to win the £50,000 prize. All Kimberley needs to do is couple up with one of her fellow contestants, win the infamous LoveWrecked challenges, and she will have enough cash for a fresh start.
But the island isn’t the paradise she was promised and within hours, one of the contestants is dead. Then the announcement comes: one of the islanders is a murderer and Kimberley must find out who, live on television. For every hour it takes her, one more person will die.
The game is rigged, everyone is hiding secrets, and time is running out…
Author: Robert Dinsdale
My Rating: 3*
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication Date: 05/11/20
Genre(s): Fantasy, Magical Realism, Romance
Pages: 480
Format Read: Hardback
Goodreads: Every city has its own magic...
Every night on their long journey to Paris from their troubled homeland, Levon’s grandmother has read to them from a very special book. Called The Nocturne, it is a book full of fairy stories and the heroic adventures of their people who generations before chose to live by starlight.
And with every story that Levon’s grandmother tells them in their new home, the desire to live as their ancestors did grows. And that is when the magic begins…
Nobody can explain why nocturnal water dogs start appearing at the heels of every citizen of Paris-by-Starlight like the loyal retainers they once were. There are suddenly night finches in the skies and the city is transforming: the Eiffel Tower lit up by strange ethereal flowers that drink in the light of the moon.
But not everyone in Paris is won over by the spectacle of Paris-by-Starlight. There are always those that fear the other, the unexplained, the strangers in our midst. How long can the magic of night rub up against the ordinariness of day? How long can two worlds occupy the same streets and squares before there is an outright war?
Author: Jennifer Mathieu
My Rating: 5*
Publisher: Hodder
Publication Date: 21/09/17
Genre(s): YA, Feminism, Contemporary
Pages: 340
Format Read: Paperback
Goodreads: Vivian Carter is fed up. Fed up with her high school teachers who think the football team can do no wrong. Fed up with sexist dress codes, hallway harassment and gross comments from guys during class. But most of all, Viv Carter is fed up with always following the rules.
Viv's mum was a tough-as-nails, punk rock Riot Grrrl in the '90s, and now Viv takes a page from her mother's past and creates Moxie, a feminist zine that she distributes anonymously to her classmates. She's just blowing off steam, but other girls respond and spread the Moxie message. As Viv forges friendships with other young women across the divides of cliques and popularity rankings, she realises that what she has started is nothing short of a girl revolution.
Author: Tess Sharpe
My Rating: 4*
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books
Publication Date: 04/02/21
Genre(s): YA, Thriller, LGBT
Pages: 336
Format Read: E-book Arc
Goodreads: Nora O’Malley’s been a lot of girls. As the daughter of a con-artist who targets criminal men, she grew up as her mother’s protégé. But when mom fell for the mark instead of conning him, Nora pulled the ultimate con: escape.
For five years Nora’s been playing at normal. But she needs to dust off the skills she ditched because she has three problems:
#1: Her ex walked in on her with her girlfriend. Even though they’re all friends, Wes didn’t know about her and Iris.
#2: The morning after Wes finds them kissing, they all have to meet to deposit the fundraiser money they raised at the bank. It’s a nightmare that goes from awkward to deadly, because:
#3: Right after they enter bank, two guys start robbing it.
The bank robbers may be trouble, but Nora’s something else entirely. They have no idea who they’re really holding hostage…
*thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review*
Book Title: The Cousins
Author: Karen M. McManus
My Rating: 4*
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: 03/12/20
Genre(s): Young Adult, Mystery
Pages: 325
Format Read: Paperback
Goodreads: The Storys are the envy of their neighbours: owners of the largest property on their East Coast island, they are rich, beautiful, and close. Until it all falls apart. The four children are suddenly dropped by their mother with a single sentence:
You know what you did.
They never hear from her again.
Years later, when 18-year-old cousins Aubrey, Milly and Jonah Story receive a mysterious invitation to spend the summer at their grandmother's resort, they have no choice but to follow their curiosity and meet the woman who's been such an enigma their entire lives.
This entire family is built on secrets, right? It's the Story legacy.
This summer, the teenagers are determined to discover the truth at the heart of their family. But some secrets are better left alone.
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In my last post I introduced the #TsundokuSquad book club I am a part of and today I am going to share our views on our first book! We chose Love at the Northern Lights by Darcie Boleyn. We read about 25% of the book every week and talked about it at the weekend.
Book Title: The Rumour
Book Title: Yes No Maybe So