-
The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey | Review
The Girl with All The gifts. I really don’t know why it took me so long to get around to this one because it was simply amazing. I don’t know what I was expecting but this really wasn’t it. I think it made me feel everything so intensely because it was centred around the protagonist, a young child called Melanie. I raced ahead; everything was just so engaging that by the time I reached the end I felt wrought with emotional exhaustion. The zombie apocalypse seen through the eyes of a child. It really was a fresh and interesting take on the zombie novel. I’m a wee bit of a…
-
A Song For The End by Kit Power | Review
Well, well well. Once in a while you pick a book, and it has the ability to knock you straight on your arse! That is exactly what A Song for The End did to me. Kit Power’s writing has the uncanny ability to create a scene and torch it into your memory. Everything was vivid and pulsating and undeniably gritty and dark. A Song for the end introduces us to Bill Cutter. A man that seems to be just going from one bad decision to another. Aged thirty-five and still only a supply teacher, he’s not exactly in a happy relationship and the one thing that gives him joy is…
-
Secret Santa by Andrew Shaffer | Review
Secret Santa was a mixed bag. A run of bad luck has hit Lussi Myer. She’s behind in her share of the rent, she’s lost her beloved editor role in a publishing house and she needs to find something fast! As you delve into this kind of dark comedy horror you realise that a lot of things aren’t as they seem. She lands the position of Senior Editor in the prominent publishing house of Blackwood-Patterson. Well, of course there is the small matter of her interview going horrendously and the boss taking a heart attack right in front of her. When she arrives at the hospital to visit him, she…
-
Maggie’s Grave by David Sodergren | Review
If you haven’t added Maggie’s Grave to you TBR, then why the hell not? This is in my opinion the best example of a witchy folk tale horror out there. It brings it all to the table, Sodergren slaps it all down, liquified organs and all. The first couple of chapters are usually enough to decide whether a book is going to be for you…the author nailed it in one. I had a keen sense of foreboding, that small time village feel, residents knowing everything about you, talking about you, judging you. Sodergren nails it. The shades of darkness is quite literally written on the wall. “Was this parenthood? Love…
-
The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins | Blog Tour Review
The Wife Upstairs is an absolutely stonker of a Jane Eyre retelling. Compulsive, enthralling but be prepared with that body armour because you are going to need it! Tragic and astounding. The story immediately calls for audience participation. You want to jump into the book and knock some sense into a lot of people but that is what’s just brilliant about this story. This story is an escape, it made realise just how boring and dull my everyday life is. Dependable husband. Three kids. Nice house. Quiet. Something that the protagonist of the story has dreamed of her entire life. The Wife Upstairs had everything that I adore about mystery…
-
The Malan Witch by Catherine Cavendish | Review
The Malan Witch reminded me that I don’t read enough witchy stories. This story had the eerie creepiness that made you realise that witches aren’t so ugly old hag with warts on her face, a long misshapen nose, and a pointy hat. It was easy to imagine sitting around a campfire having this story read, it was cosy and mildly unsettling. The Malan Witch has central themes of grief and loneliness being at the epicentre. Robyn has lost the love of her life in the most traumatic of consequences. Her husband died of cancer. She had to endure watching him be fit and healthy and robust what seemed like one…