Woof ok this month really got away from me, my dog had an emergency surgery so I have been neglecting all my accounts and reviews 😭 Buy anyways here's my October stats! I made this a classics month so a lot of oldies and mostly goodies 📚💙📚🩸

The Hollow Kind - Andy Davidson I had a hard time getting into this one. It kind of felt like The Ruins with a Southern Gothic twist. I usually like multiple POVs but the way this one jumped back and forth got a little confusing. The premise and the writing were good, it just wasn't for me. 📚💙📚🩸

Leech - Hiron Ennes Probably one of the most unique protagonists I've ever read, and the whole gothic atmosphere was super well done. It got a little slow at points but I was enjoying the vibe so much I really didn't mind. I'm excited to read more from this author! 📚💙📚🩸

The Girl with All the Gifts - M.R. Carey I watched the movie forever ago and loved it, and the book is even better. This is one of my favourite takes on the zombie apocalypse, and I always love a good dose of science fiction in my horror! 📚💙📚🩸

The Folly of Realism - Alexander Vindman This was a really interesting account of how the US has spent the last few decades waffling between supporting Ukraine but also refusing to condemn Russia. (So nothing's really changed much huh) Super informative, and a little rage-inducing. 📚💙📚💡

The Road - Cormac McCarthy "To be on the road with the last god would be a terrible thing." I'm kind of embarrassed it took me this long to read this. Absolutely incredible, wild how much I ended up caring about characters whose names we never learn. 👨‍👦⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️🥫 📚💙

Cunning Folk - Adam Nevill As someone who occasionally puts weird witchy shit out in her yard, I honestly sided with the neighbors for most of this. I didn't find the protagonist particularly likeable and I struggled to really get invested in this one. 🧙‍♀️⭐️⭐️✨️💀 📚💙📚🩸

Sign Here - Claudia Lux Basically hells version of a door to door salesman and a super toxic family vacation. More thriller than horror but really fun! I enjoyed the different perspectives we got and even tho none of the characters are really great people they're all still likeable. 😈⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️📝 📚💙📚🩸

Blood on her Tongue - Johanna Van Veen I'm just collecting sapphic vampire novels at this point (Though the queer romance is more of a subplot here) This one was a really cool take I hadn't seen before, and the first half really hooked me immediately with the bog body situation! 🩸⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️😷 📚💙📚🩸

A little late, but here's my August wrap up! Three 5-stars this month! 📚💙📚🩸

The Woods All Black - Lee Mandelo This was really good! Took a minute to adjust to literally every other character consistently misgendering the protagonist, but it was really well written and the ending was *chefs kiss* ✝️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️🩺 📚💙📚🩸

Rot - Padraic X Scanlan "An imperial history of the Irish famine" I think this is a super interesting topic, and unfortunately I didn't learn anything about this in school so this book was definitely informative but it felt a little slow, and tough to get through at some points. 📚💙📚💡

Propaganda Girls - Lisa Rogak "The secret war of the women in the OSS" Super short, but really interesting! Followed four women who worked to create "black propaganda" during WWII, which was basically just psychological warfare tbh. 📚💙📚💡

The Dark Half - Stephen King It's been a while since I read Stephen King, and his stuff is usually hit or miss for me, but this one started off strong. I liked this one quite a bit, I just wish the wife got to play a bigger role. The villain was super scary tho. 🪦⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🐦‍⬛ 📚💙📚🩸

The Hiding Place - C.J. Tudor This started off really strong, but i feel it started to fall off towards the end. I think certain aspects didn't really end up coming together, but the overall premise was so scary I still really enjoyed this! ⛏️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👥️ 📚💙📚🩸

Black Sheep - Rachel Harrison Slowed down a bit around the middle, and felt a bit predictable after the initial twist. Great characters tho, would read the exact same story again from her mom's POV. Also i love a protag that's not a great person but is still likeable 🐑⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️👿 📚💙📚🩸

The Changeling - Victor LaValle This was really beautifully written, and LaValle does a really great job making his characters feel so real and human. It did feel like it slowed down a little in the middle, but I liked the overall fairytale vibe. 👼⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️📖 📚🩸📚💙

My July wrap-up! On book 65 right now, might actually hit my goal of 100 for the year! 🎉

Code Dependant - Madhumita Murgia I've never been a fan of AI, but this made me want to delete my few remaining social media accounts and throw my phone into a lake! Gave me a bit of an existential crisis so that was fun. (Very well written and researched the topic just icks me out lmao) 📚💙📚💡

Rabid - Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy "A cultural history of the world's most diabolical virus" Reading about the treatment of animal and human patients was super depressing, but it was also neat to see all the stories and myths that evolved throughout history that clearly came from rabies! 📚💙📚💡

Looking Glass Sound - Catriona Ward I still don't fully know how I feel about this one. I did really enjoy following Wilder through his life, and the parts about the killer were super disturbing and well done. The ending got confusing to me, but thats on me for listening while working. ✍️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️🚣‍♂️ 📚🩸📚💙

Hungerstone - Kat Dunn "Who would I be if I was someone who wanted things?" Honestly sometimes you just need a bratty vampire to show you your husband sucks and you deserve better 🤷‍♀️ I really loved this, I was worried I'd be getting sick of vampires by now but nope still going strong. 🧛‍♀️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🏰 📚🩸📚💙

A few days late, but here's my June wrap up ✨️

When the Wolf Comes Home - Nat Cassidy This wasn't what I was expecting at all, and I really enjoyed it! Felt like a fever dream at some points, but in a fun way. This was probably my favourite Nat Cassidy book so far (tho I haven't read Mary yet) 🐺⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️👩‍👦 📚💙📚🩸

The Indifferent Stars Above - Daniel James Brown I've watched so many video essays on the Donner Party story but they don't compare at all to the level of detail this book goes into, so if you enjoy super dark historical events and somehow haven't heard of this one, I definitely recommend! 📚💙📚💡

Rolling in the Deep - Mira Grant The prequel to Into the Drowning Deep! This was a lot shorter, and I had a harder time getting invested in the characters because of that I think, but it was still a really fun little bonus to what may be my favourite book so far this year. ⛵️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️🧜‍♀️ 📚💙📚🩸

Lucy Undying - Kiersten White "We start this girls trip right. First, arson. Then, a visit to my therapist." I read Twilight too much as a kid so I swore off vampires for a bit, but my reading choices lately are making me rethink this. I loved this, Lucy's a super fun character. 🧛‍♀️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️🌙 💙📚🩸📚

Into The Drowning Deep - Mira Grant This was everything I love in one book. Mermaid sci-fi/horror? Hell yeah. I saw someone leave a negative review saying this was just the authors scientific theories on how mermaids could possibly exist which, yeah it was, and I loved it. No notes. 🧜‍♀️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⛴️ 💙📚🩸📚

Camp Damascus - Chuck Tingle This didn't go the direction I was expecting at all, and I was very pleasantly surprised. I did think the first half was stronger, and I almost wish the reveal was dragged out just little longer, but overall it was a good read and I really liked Rose! ⛺️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️😈 💙📚🩸📚

May Wrap-up! Lots of vampires lately, and coincidentally a lot of high ratings these past couple months lmao

Private Rites - Julia Armfield This was slower than what I usually read, but I really enjoy her writing, and I liked the characters, especially Agnes. It was also cool to read a dystopia where the setting is very quiet, the environment was secondary to the family drama which was fun 🌧⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✍️ 💙📚

Small Town Horror - Ronald Malfi The story was pretty interesting, I always struggle a bit when the protagonists are mostly unlikeable dudes though. Definitely not bad, I just had a harder time connecting with the characters. 🚔⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️🏞 📚💙📚🩸

Harrow the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir "You are afraid that your life has incurred a debt that your death will not pay." I don't remember the last time I actually cried real tears over a book but Tamsyn fuckin got me with this one. Also incredible use of second person POV?? 💀⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌌 📚💙📚🩸

One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This - Omar El Akkad "One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this." 📚💙📚💡

“Just calm down and let people enjoy chatgpt.” Sorry, no. I find it creepy that folks are treating a machine that mimics human speech as their friend / therapist. It is feeding you lies. It is destroying your thinking abilities. Shut it off. Talk to other humans. Go outside.

Unlikeable Female Characters - Anna Bogutskaya "How bitches, trainwrecks, shrews, and crazy women have taken over pop culture and liberated women from having to be nice." Obsessed with this, this was so much fun to read and such an interesting deep dive into how women in media have evolved!

So Thirsty - Rachel Harrison My first five-star book since starting this account! This was so much fun, and I liked that Sloane and Naomi's friendship got more focus and attention than the romance, I feel like I don't see enough of that. Big fan of this! 🧛‍♀️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👭 💙📚🩸

Wake Up and Open Your Eyes - Clay McLeod Chapman It took me a bit to warm up to this one, it felt a little on the nose in places and I didn't care that much for Noah. I did really end up enjoying the parts they followed his family though. Full review on storygraph: tinyurl.com/ftr8fhk4 📺⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🇺🇲 💙📚🩸

Cuckoo - Gretchen Felker-Martin I had heard this was pretty heavy on the body horror, (and it was) but I wasn't expecting it to be as sad as it was on top of that. (I mean, anything about conversion camps is gonna be heavy so I really should've seen that coming) anyways I love Nadine 💕 ⛪️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🏕 💙📚🩸

This Wretched Valley - Jenny Kiefer I enjoyed this one! I always love a creepy forest, and I really like the cover design. It did drag a little around the middle, and I didn't particularly like most of the characters, but I think the premise was really cool! 🪨⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️👻 🩸📚💙📚

Little Heaven - Nick Cutter I almost DNF'd this one, but I'm glad I didn't. The first chunk was more western than horror (and I don't know why but I really do not vibe with westerns) but once it gets into the horror it's really good. The part with the snake will stick with me haha ⛪️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️🐍 🩸📚💙📚

There's something about a sk*nc*re brand bot replying to my post about Rouge tryna sell me smthn that's kinda hilarious to me

Rouge - Mona Awad This was fun! I love anything with an unreliable narrator, and this was so weird and interesting. Finished this 3 weeks ago and I still think about it every time I do my skincare routine 🪼⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️💄 📚🩸📚💙

Misrule by Heather Walter I think I liked the first book more, this felt a little slow to me. I do like these characters tho 🧙‍♀️⭐️⭐️⭐️👸 💙📚🌶📚

Bloodbath Nation by Paul Auster This caught my eye at the library and I'm glad I grabbed it! A really good, quick introduction with photos (nothing too graphic) and stats, and a few more book recommendations on the topic if it's something you want to read more about 📚💙📚💡

I had to DNF A Light Most Hateful 😭 i don't know why i just couldn't get into it. Did anyone else struggle with that one?

Thinking of making moodboards for the books I read..... I love me a good moodboard

The Night Guest - Hildur Knútsdóttir Lost me a little bit at the end, but the buildup was so good! Such an interesting premise, but maybe avoid if you're not good with bad things happening to animals ⌚️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🐈 📚💙📚🩸

Malice by Heather Walter This felt a tiny bit too YA for my taste, but it was a refreshing change of pace from my last couple reads! Plus we love a sapphic retelling of classic fairy tales 💕 🔮⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️🥀 📚💙📚🌶