"A Door in the Dark" by Scott Reintgen

 Wow, I definitely have mixed feelings about some of the events in this one, but there is no denying that this was a great story. 

If "Harry Potter", "The Unfortunates" by Kim Liggett and the movie, "Knives Out" had a baby, it would be this book. It is a fantasy, psychological thriller.

To sum up: 

Six gifted students from an elite magical school find themselves in a survival situation when a simple travel spell goes wrong. Now, one of them is dead, the other five are stranded in deadly forest far from civilization and tensions are running high as no one knows who they can trust.  While two of the students come from powerful and magically wealthy families, the other four are gifted scholarship students and each one of them has their own secrets and personal vendettas against the wealthy families. But with a dangerous monster stalking their steps, they have no choice but to work together in order to get back home alive.  As the danger stalks closer and the bodies begin to pile up, the surviving students have to make hard choices about what they will do in order to survive, and who they are willing to let die to further their own agenda. 

The main character is has major Hermione vibes. Ren is a brilliant and gifted magical student, but she has very few options for her future since she was born into the lower classes. She is determined to do whatever it takes to rise to the top, and the dark memories from her past won't allow her to accept anything less.

Ren's best friend is also low-born, but her rare magic has secured her a spot in one of the most powerful houses in the city. Their two fellow low born classmates, a gifted medical student and a wrestler with a bright future, are stuck with them in the deadly forest along with the sons of two of the most prominent and powerful families in the city.  So how are these four outcasts going to work together with their spoiled and entitled classmates without wanting to kill each other?

Well, you'll have to read the book to get the answer to that question. 

If you are familiar with Harry Potter at all, then you will slide right into this magical world and hit the ground running. Once the action starts, it doesn't let up. This book will make your heart pound, break, and stop completely before the story is over. 

I highly recommend it if you enjoy fantasy, horror, or thrillers. 

"Hatchet Girls" by Diana Rodriguez Wallach

Lizzie Borden took an ax. 

And gave her mother forty whacks, 

And when she saw what she had done, 

She gave her father forty-one.

This book would have made an excellent horror movie!

I love horror stories that are inspired by true events.  I love making connections between the true story and the author's reimagined story as they twist and mold those events into something completely new.

"Hatchet Girls" is based on the real life events of the Borden family.  The Borden family was a rich and prosperous family, but not a very happy one. Andrew Borden, the father and family patriarch, was a somber and tight fisted man who like to control his money and his family. His first wife passed away when his two girls were quite young, and he eventually remarried a woman named Abby. 

No one really knows what happened that fateful day, but the popular belief is that Lizzie Borden just snapped. She was fed up with her father controlling every aspect of her life, so while he was out, she went upstairs to her stepmother's room and killed her with an axe, striking her multiple times. Her father came home later, having no idea of his wife's fate, and laid down on the couch to rest. While he was resting, Lizzie Borden killed him with the axe as well. 

However, Lizzie Borden was never convicted for these murders. 

During the trial, there was never enough information to prove that Lizzie was the murderess, and fingers were also pointed at Lizzie's uncle and even disgruntled business partners as the potential murderers. 

So someone got away with murder.

"Hatchet Girls" is a novel inspired by the mystery surrounding the Borden family and intertwines those events with the supernatural as history repeats itself in a present day setting.  

One hundred years after the Borden murders, tragedy has struck again. 

In the town of River Falls, a wealthy businessman and his wife have been murdered in their upscale home that is located just miles from the historic Lizzie Borden home. And when Tessa's older brother Vik is the prime suspect in the double homicide, Tessa knows she is going to have to do everything in her power to prove his innocence and expose the real murderer.

Tessa's hunt for the truth leads her into the dark history of River Falls, and the supposedly cursed forest that her brother was hiking in on the night of the murders. There is something different about that forest, something sinister.  

Did something happen to her brother that night in those woods? Or is some sinister force reaching out from the beyond to ensure that history repeats itself?

Gothic vibes, VERY creepy descriptive scenes, and a engaging method of storytelling that flashes back and forth between the night of the murder and the aftermath makes this a quick and compelling read. 

Perfect for fans who love horror, murder mysteries and the supernatural. 

"Be Not Far From Me" by Mindy McGinnis

 Warning: 

YOU ARE GOING TO NEED A STRONG STOMACH FOR THIS ONE!

This survival story is not for squeamish readers.

One stupid mistake leads to a fight for survival for 17 year old Ashley. At the suggestion of one of her friends, Ashley and her boyfriend, Duke, and several other classmates decide to have a party off one of the trails in the national forest to celebrate the end of their junior year of high school. 

Plenty of privacy

No adult supervision.

Surrounded by nature.

The perfect plan, right?

But when Ashley stumbles across her boyfriend getting a little too cozy with another girl, her rage and pain send her crashing into the forest with no light, no shoes, and no phone. In the pitch black of the forest, Ashley doesn't see the fall coming her way which results in a debilitating injury. 

Ashley has always loved the woods and has always had an interest in wilderness survival ever since she started going to summer camp as a kid. So she knows exactly how bad her situation is, and she also knows that no one is going to come looking for her for days because they will all assume she hiked back home by herself. 

If Ashley wants to get out of the forest alive, she is going to have to confront all the dangers and obstacles the forest has to offer and find her own way back to civilization. But confronting what is inside of her and finding the strength to go on may be her greatest challenge. 

Be Not Far From Me is a raw survival story that reminds readers that while nature is beautiful, it is not tame. McGinnis also wasn't tame in her descriptions of the pain Ashley endured or the experiences she had to go through in order to survive.

Mild spoilers:

Injuries that expose bone to the elements

Removing infected flesh in order to survive. 

Eating anything she could find to prevent starvation.

(And these aren't event the worst things, but I don't want to spoil it.😀)

I deeply regretted reading parts of this book during my lunch shift, but the story was compelling. Ashley's strength and determination in the face of overwhelming odds made me root for her, despite her being a flawed human being who had made many mistakes in her young life. Ashley was a relatable character for this reason. She wasn't perfect, but she never quit. 

Despite some of gruesome elements that came along with this kind of survival story, I truly enjoyed Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis.