"A Cruel Thirst" by Angela Montoya

Move over Twilight, there is a new vampire book in town!

And I LOVE the cover!

I also love that the vampires in this book are monsters! They aren't romantically tragic figures, they are the undead cursed by a trickster god and forced to feed off the souls of the living. 

This enemies-to-lovers vampire story was unique, engaging and had excellent world building. Carolina, the female main character, is no awkward, whimpering human girl. She is a kick butt Latina vampire hunter who is descended from a long line of hunters, and her only goal is to prove to her family that she has what it takes to continue the family tradition and rid the world of as many vampires as possible.

Lalo, the male main character, is NOT a dark brooding vampire. He in fact is a slightly awkward, although handsome, bookworm who has never been in a fight in his life. That is, until he tried to avenge his parents' death by killing the vampire that brutally murdered them. However, instead of getting revenge, Lalo finds himself turned into the one thing he hates most in the entire world: a vampire.

Desperate to find a way to turn him back, Lalo and his younger sister journey to a remote pueblo after following clues from their research in hopes of finding and killing the first vampire, which in turn may rid Lalo of his curse.

This puts him on a collision course with Carolina, who would gladly stake him before lifting a finger to help him. But in a twist of fate, Carolina finds she needs Lalo's help and that they have a common enemy. As they work together to put an end to the evil that has plagued their pueblo and their lives, they find their lives and their hearts become irrevocably intwined.

Carolina was a great spunky female character with a lot of strengths and character growth, while Lalo was a warm cinnamon roll of a male character who just melted my heart each time he fought to do the next right thing. 

I loved the setting and the Latinx cultural influence as well.  Overall, I highly enjoyed this one and any Twilight fans will be sure to enjoy it as well!

"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. 

"The House of Salt and Sorrows" by Erin A Craig

 "A House Of Salt and Sorrows" is a haunting Gothic retelling of the fairy tale classic "The Twelve Dancing Princesses". 

This book definitely get 5 stars for its creep factor. 

Our introduction to the story begins with a funeral. 

The Duke of Highmoore, Orten Thaumas, once had twelve beautiful daughters, a loving wife, and an almost perfect life on their island estate. But tragedy struck when his beloved wife died giving birth to their 12th daughter, Verity, and since that fateful night death seems to follow the Thaumas women.

 One died of plague.

One died in the bathtub.

One died after falling from a library ladder.

And now the fourth eldest daughter, Eulalie, has died under questionable circumstances after falling from a high cliff and smashing into the rocks below. 

Was it an accident?

Did she jump?

Or was she pushed?

Annaleigh Thaumas, now the 2nd eldest daughter of the Duke of Highmoore, is determined to find out what really happened to Eulalie and why her sisters keep dying.

The towns people whisper that their family is cursed, and that anyone who gets too close to the Thaumas girls risks meeting the same fate. But Annaleigh doesn't believe in curses. 

That is, until she starts seeing the spirits of her departed sisters. And these spirits are definitely not at peace and seem to have sinister intentions towards the household occupants. 

However, only Annaleigh and Verity can see their spirits, and no one believes Annaliegh when she tries to tell them that her sisters' death were no accident. 

While trying to solve the mystery of the "Thaumas curse", Annaleigh also tries to comfort her sisters, especially her oldest sister Camille. While Camille is also grieving the deaths of her sisters, she is also lamenting the fact that every eligible bachelor on the island believes them to be cursed and it is unlikely that she will ever find love. And with the near constant deaths of her sisters, the remaining Thaumas sisters are never able to end their mourning period to attend balls and functions where they could meet potential beaus. 

So when Annaleigh hears rumors of a magic door used by the gods that can transport a person anywhere they wish in the entire world, she and her sisters begin to search for it, hoping to find a way to leave their island home and their grief behind for just a few hours so they can enjoy their lives and search for love. 

What follows are nights filled with music, dancing, and handsome partners who escort them around ballrooms throughout the entire world. For the first time in a long time, the Thaumas girls are happy. 

But death never seems to be far from Annaleigh and her sisters, and something far more sinister than they could ever imagine is waiting for them. 

This book is a great choice if you are looking for a spine-tingling supernatural read. I kept thinking to myself as I read this book that it would make a great horror movie. The descriptions of the spirits and the scenes they appear in are down right chilling. And what is creepier that a small child talking about the ghosts of her dead sisters and making drawings of those ghosts in their death states? Eerily accurate drawings of sisters who died when she was just an infant and she should have no memory of. 

I was immediately pulled in by the mystery surrounding the curse, and the cute romance included in the story provided a nice break from the sinister ghosts, the deaths, and the grief that surrounded Annaleigh. 

The only downside of this story was that is got a little confusing at the end. This is in no part the author's fault, it is simply a natural result of the plot and the reveals that are made toward the end. I had to read several parts a couple of times to keep track of what was happening and what had already happened. I can't really say more without giving too much away, but overall, it was a satisfying conclusion to the story. 

This was a great retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" and the dark Gothic elements just pushed it to the next level. I will definitely be recommending this one to other readers. 

The narrator for the audiobook version of this story did an amazing job as well! 

"Kingdom of the Wicked" by Kerri Maniscalco

 Witches, Prophecies, Curses, Steamy Demon Princes, and a compelling mystery trying to find out who is responsible for witches having their hearts ripped out?

I am IN!

This week I found "The Kingdom of the Wicked" by Kerri Maniscalco. I will admit that I didn't actually "read" this one, I listened to it on Audible (the narrator is AMAZING by the way). I typically listen to audiobooks while I am doing chores around the house, i.e. laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc. and I was actually looking for more things that needed to get done around the house just so I could keep listening!

"Kingdom of the Wicked" is a dark tale about twin witches Vittoria and Emilia. When Vittoria is brutally murdered, Emilia starts down a dark path as she begins using the dark arts in her quest for vengeance. Her inexperience with the dark arts leads her to be inadvertently bound to a Prince of Hell, Wrath. While witches and demons are natural enemies, they find themselves aligned with the common goal of discovering the being that is possible for ripping witches' hearts out. As Emilia spirals down her dark path, she finds herself drawn to Wrath and battles her desire for the prince with the knowledge that Princes of Hell can't be trusted. 

The story did start off a bit slow, but I was okay with that as I really enjoyed getting to know twin sisters Vittoria and Emelia and learning a little bit about their life before the action started. The food descriptions had me frequently raiding the pantry in search of something that sounded half as good.

 

Once the murders began, the story really takes off. I love all the scenes with Wrath, although I did find him pretty tame for a Prince of Hell.

“He was death and rage and fire and anyone stupid enough to forget that would be consumed by his inferno.”

 (I would LOVE some fan art of Prince Wrath if anyone has seen any 😍 )

There were times that Emelia would do something or say something that had me shaking my head or grabbing my hair in frustration, but I loved her growth over the course of the novel and the hints of the person she is becoming.  And I am pretty sure the person she is becoming in NOT a good person... and I love it! It is a nice change to see such a "good girl" head down a dark path because of tragedy instead of a flawed person finding redemption and hope. 

“There are victors and victims. Decide who you want to be. Or the choice will be made for you, witch. And I doubt you’ll like it.”

I will admit I was able to guess who was killing the witches pretty early on, but that didn't diminish how much I enjoyed the story. The ending KILLED me and I am kicking myself now for not waiting until the next book was released before starting this series. 

While this story did wrap up the major plot line for this novel, there are still so many questions left unanswered that I am dying to get answers to. I will definitely be purchasing a hardback copy of this book for my bookshelf and I will be pre-ordering Book 2.