It’s time I started joining in on this meme so here we are!

This is a bookish meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words where bloggers answer the 3 Ws:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

Current Reads

Whisper Cottage by Anne Wyn Clark –

How well do you know the woman next door? 

When Stina and Jack move to an old rural cottage, they’re hoping for a fresh start. Their new home is run-down compared to their neighbour’s, but generous Mrs Barley quickly becomes a friend.  

Until Stina sees a mysterious figure in the widow’s garden, and her happy new life begins to unravel. And when she hears strange noises in the night, she is forced to question if Mrs Barley is what she seems. 

Why do the other villagers whisper about her? Why is she so eager to help the couple? And what is she hiding in her picture-perfect home? 

A haunting, twisty story about the power of secrets and rumours, perfect for fans of Ruth Ware’s The Turn of the Key and Lucy Atkins’s Magpie Lane. 

A Ritual of Bone by Lee C. Conley –

“Only valour and steel can stand against the rising dead”

Arnar is a land of warriors, its people as stalwart as the stones themselves. In a land of dark forests and ancient hill forts, a forgotten evil is awoken by curious minds.

The Great Histories and the Sagas say nothing of this evil, long passed from the memory of even the studious scholars of the College. For centuries, the scholars of Arnar have kept these records and preserved the knowledge and great deeds of a proud people. The story of these peoples forever chronicled in the Sagas of the Great Histories.

But now the evil spreads and the dead walk in its wake, terrible creatures roam the night and even the spirits are restless. The Dead Sagas could perhaps be the final chapters of these great records.

Many threads entwine to tell this Saga, interweaving the tales of those who played their part in the search for answers and ultimately their fight for survival. Amid plague, invasion and terror, the inexorable rise of the dead sends a kingdom scrabbling to its knees.

This Dark Fantasy Epic combines dark malign horror and gritty survival adventure as the Dead Sagas unfold in a world where honour and renown is all, where beasts and savages lurk in the wilderness, and where sword, axe and shield is all that stands between the living and the grasping hands of the dead. 

Dire Branches by Brian Fatah Steele –

SLAVIC FOLKLORE MEETS COSMIC HORROR

After a bad breakup, Skye’s friends decide she needs a vacation. They rent Hedwig House in the Appalachian foothills for an extended weekend of partying to get her mind off of things. Just relax with booze, food, and some of her best friends. Best of all, no internet for her to stalk her ex with.

Hedwig House is amazing, the owner even more so, but very quickly things seem off. Shadows lurch among the trees, yellow flowers glaring back at them. The angles of the house tilt unnaturally askew, while the stench of decay blows off the lake. One by one, the friends watch as ancient nightmares come alive.

These are horrors assembled from elsewhere, now traveling with renewed purpose. Legendary abominations devoted to the dread mother and her cause. There are so many choices that could be cursed, failures to be fed upon. Baba Yaga will let you decide your fate, among all these dire branches. 

Recently Finished

S.N.U.F.F. By Victor Pelevin –

This was just a non starter for me. Not enjoyable to read at all. DNF.

The Darkest Dusk by D.W. Ross –

The Darkest Dusk is a chilling story of hope, revenge, and war. D.W. Ross lets the trap door go and drops in without any regard for life. A story so immersive it will stay with you long after that final page has been and gone. 

What’s Next?

Deadly Caller by OMJ Ryan –

Two people, an online business meeting. Before it’s over, one of them will be dead.

On a weekly Zoom call with her most valuable client, Antonia Berry is beyond horrified when she witnesses his murder – four hundred miles away – live on her laptop screen.

DCI Jane Phillips and the Major Crimes Unit begin to investigate and at first it seems the victim is just a regular guy with no obvious enemies or connections to crime. But then, when a woman is killed in a seemingly random hit-and-run, they discover the two victims are closely connected. A coincidence? Or a double murder?

As the team dig deeper into the two attacks, they hardly have time to draw breath before a third victim turns up dead – once more with clear connections to the previous murders.

With the clock ticking, Phillips and her team pull out all the stops, desperate to solve the case before the killer strikes again. The only problem – the person most likely to be the next victim is also the number one suspect.

Can Phillips find the killer before another person dies? Or will her determination to serve and protect at all costs see her become the final victim of the Deadly Caller?