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Witch Bottle by Tom Fletcher – REVIEW
Witch Bottle is a story that will constantly have your guard up. Fear surrounds this small hamlet-like fog clinging to the mountainside. It envelops around you, constricting you, breathing becomes more difficult, your sight becomes hazy, it’s an all-sense assault. This novel surprised me by the sheer force of its raw veracity and its human emotion. It leaves you feeling deeply unsettled with its supernatural element complemented perfectly with the decline of mental health and broken relationships. Cumbria has never felt so unearthly in this modern gothic thriller. Daniel is on his own, after leaving his wife and baby daughter he has moved to Cumbria to become a milkman. He…
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Misrepresentations of Autism in Fiction
Autism is a topic close to my heart. My eldest son (14), my husband, and I are all autistic. Let me tell you that makes for an interesting household! All of us have different ways of how it presents itself. My husband struggles with time management and I constantly must be on time or early, my son has a hard time with coordination and communication. I would like to think that we all complement each other or at the very least we are aware of each other’s struggles and can accommodate them appropriately. I wanted to delve into this piece because more and more often when I do read a…
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The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley – REVIEW
The Loney was on my shelf for about four or five years and maybe subconsciously something was keeping me from reading it. Perhaps I should have listened to myself. It’s been shelved numerous times as horror, but I didn’t feel any elements of horror to the storyline apart from the atmospheric edge that The Loney held. Was the storyline slow, yes. Was I frustrated with the plot, also yes. Anyone that knows me well knows that struggle with religious storylines and had I known how heavily this story focusses on it I would probably have left well alone. I think possibly my expectations were way too high going into this…
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Sunday Selection – Blog Posts I’ve enjoyed this week
I’ve decided to start a weekly selection of the book blogging posts I’ve enjoyed most this week. Feel free to join in if It’s something you like the sound of. In an attempt to support other bloggers and share their content in one place. I appreciate the likes, the reads and shares, and the comments on my own posts so lets share the love. So, five posts I’ve loved this week in no particular order. 1. MY TOP TEN SFF READS OF 2021 by sffoasis.com 2. MY 2022 BOOKISH AND BLOGGING GOALS by KBbookreviews 3. THE FRIDAY FACE-OFF: TOP READ OF 2021 4. BOOK REVIEW – STONES OF LIGHT BY…
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REVIEW – Maiden by T.C. Parker & Ward Nerdlo
Maiden is like a bullet to the chest. The characterisation and the atmospheric and nightmarish landscape really does want to eat you whole. This is my first discovery of the writing of TC Parker & Ward Nerdlo but I’m going to read both authors’ back catalogue as soon as I can. The raw veracity of the storyline and the strength of the characterisation reminds me both of Barker and King with some Ketchum thrown in for good measure. It’s a writing duo that will leave a lasting impression on the brain. Gritty and dark, Maiden introduces us to characters that are both morally grey and ones that are shaped by…
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REVIEW – Found Shadows by P.T. Hylton
Finding Shadows was a book I had on my TBR for quite some time and I’m now kicking myself for leaving it so long. A story of trying to outrun past trauma’s but as we know you can only keep running for so long. After the kick-ass prologue, I kept turning the pages with such untamed veracity that I had consumed the story within a few hours. You see so many books trending and being shouted about on social media, but Finding Shadows is one of those rare gems, I’ve rarely seen anyone blog about it but every horror lover needs to find time for this compulsive Firestarter. I was…
