"Dungeons & Drama" by Kristy Boyce

 Holy cuteness, that was adorable!!!

This book had me laughing out loud at the one liners between the main characters and then tearing up during the intense moments with the main character and her family. I was smiling throughout most of this book and getting weird looks when I would giggle out loud.

I honestly wasn't expecting much when I picked up this book. After reading two paranormal suspense novels followed by a thriller, I was just looking for a fluff novel to break up the intensity of the books I have been selecting lately. 

But I LOVED this book!

I loved the characters, their interactions, the friendships, the family discord and the resolutions, and I LOVED that the theater and gaming were such as integral part of this story.  There aren't many romances out there featuring an outside-of-the-box theater kid and a die hard Dungeons & Dragons gamer. 

THE PREMISE:

After borrowing her mother's car without permission (note: she doesn't have her driver's license) and driving across the state to see the Broadway Musical "Waitress" on tour, musical enthusiast Riley finds herself in deep trouble with her parents. As punishment, Riley is grounded for eight weeks, and to make matters worse, she is forced to take an after school job at her father's gaming store. Dreading spending countless afternoons with a father she hasn't been close to since the divorce, Riley can't help resent working in a store that she believes is part of the reason her parents split. Also, she knows next to nothing about gaming, so how the heck is she supposed to sell gaming products?

Riley would rather be spending her time trying to figure out a way to save their school's spring musical, which has just been cut due to budget reasons. To make matters worse, her ex-boyfriend, who dumped her for his co-star at the community theater, is constantly hanging around giving her pitying looks and showing off his new girlfriend.

However, Riley is not going to sit back and take it. She is going to find a way to save the musical and get back at her ex, but she is going to need the help of her father's supper annoying, if somewhat cute, classmate in order to accomplish her goal. Nathan is a die hard gamer and he has been working with Riley's father for years. After a misunderstanding upon their first meeting, Nathan quickly decides that the sooner Riley is gone, the better. 

But Riley offers him a deal he can't refuse. If Nathan agrees to be Riley's fake boyfriend for the next few weeks in order to wipe the condescending look off of her ex's face, then she will join his D & D group with the sole purpose of flirting with him in front of his crush, Sophia, in order to make her notice him. 

Let's just say that hilarity ensues and the second hand embarrassment is real in this book. And the slow turn from enemies, to friends, and then to Riley wanting more is just..."Chef's Kiss".

"Holly Horror" by Michelle Jabes Corpora

 Please don't judge this one by it's title...

Or the pink and purple cover with a skull wearing a bonnet.

If you are looking for a ghost story with Annabel vibes, then you need to read this series!

This series has a haunted house, ghosts, creepy dolls that sing creepy songs, and an evil presence that is just waiting to claim it's next victim. 

Sign. Me. Up.

Sixteen-year-old Evie Archer is trying to pull her life together after her parents' messy divorce.  Her father has flown off to Paris to pursue his art career while Evie, her socially ambitious mother, and her younger brother are forced to sell their apartment in New York and move to Ravenglass, Massachusetts. 

Evie's new home is no posh, sleek apartment. It is a giant, creepy, manor house that has set empty for years and is known as the Hobby House. However, most of the citizens of Ravenglass don't refer to the manor as the Hobby House.

It is the "Horror House". 

Forty years ago, a 15 year old girl named Holly Hobby went missing from the house and despite an extensive search by her family and the police, she was never found. Some people believe she ran away, and others believe that she never left that house.

They were right. 

As Evie tries to settle into her new home and her new life, she feels another presence within the house. A series of disturbing experiences drives Evie to start looking into the dark history of the Hobby House, and she discovers that Holly Hobby wasn't the first girl lost to the Hobby House.

And she may not be the last.

This book has everything you need if you want a great creepy ghost story. The scenes where the hauntings took place were very well written and created the perfect vibe for the story. 

I did get a little frustrated with some of Evie's choices throughout the book. I was literally rolling my eyes at some of her decisions, but I guess there is no story or character grow to be had if the main character always makes the right decisions. 

When I started this book, I had no idea it was part of a series. While the main plot of the story is resolved in this book, there is one major reveal at the end that will have you running to pick up the 2nd book.

"The Longest Night" continues Evie's story and takes us even further back into the history of the Hobby House. This was a great sequel that took some inspiration from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". Once again, the main plot of the story wraps up in this one, but it is very obvious that there is going to be a third book in the series. 

This is definitely a solid choice for anyone looking for a new horror series. 

Enjoy!

"If I Have to Be Haunted" by Miranda Sun

 

5 Stars!!!

I stayed up way later than I should have to finish this one. 

I'll admit, the cover really sold me on this book. I was definitely in the mood for a fall book with spooky vibes.  Well, the setting is in the fall and there are ghosts in this book but it was not what I was expecting.

I was expecting a spooky rom-com with a cute enemies to lovers style of romance. I was only partly correct, but I  really enjoyed this book.

Cara Tang knows two things:

1. Zach Coleson, the towns perfect, handsome golden boy, is the most irritating and annoying person alive.

2. She can see and talk to ghosts ( Not that she wants to).

Cara is a ghost speaker, like her mother and grandmother before her.  Her grandmother was renowned for her ability and power, but Cara's mother has spent so many years ignoring her gift that she has lost her ability to see ghosts. Now, she wants Cara to follow in her footsteps and leave the family legacy of ghost speaking far behind. 

Cara has always been the dutiful daughter, following her mother's wishes despite her grandmother's ghost constantly encouraging her to embrace her gift. But she has never come close to breaking the promise she made to her mother until she stumbles across the body of the town's golden boy in the woods near her tree house.

Zach Coleson was dead, but he wasn't gone.

If Cara thought Zach was annoying in life, it is nothing compared to him now that he is a ghost.  As the only person who can see or hear Zach's ghost, he has no one else to turn to and he is determined to convince Cara to help him.  As Cara and Zach investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding his unusual demise, they discover a loophole. As a ghost speaker, Cara has the ability to resurrect Zach from the dead, but they will have to embark on a dangerous quest through a parallel world to make that happen. 

As Zach and Cara face constant dangers on their quest, they begin to realize that despite knowing each other for their entire lives, they actually don't know each other at all. Revelations come to light and suddenly they are each seeing another side of the other that they never knew existed. 

And as the danger increases, Cara and Zach will have to answer the question:

Will saving Zach cost Cara her own life? And are they each willing to take that chance?

Overall,  I loved the scenes when Cara and Zach interacted. Even when they were fighting, there was so much tension on the page that I was completely absorbed. Then, during their softer interactions, I loved how they slowly opened up to each other and learned knew aspects of each other's lives. 

Also, this book definitely had more of a fantasy feel than I was expecting. In a weird way it reminded me of the movie "Willow" because of the epic quest, all of the obstacles they had to face, and the new characters that were introduced along the way. 

Finally, the ending of this book is clearly paving the wave for more books in this series, or at least more stories set within this world. I look forward to reading the next one!

"I am NOT a Serial Killer" by Dan Wells

 "I am NOT Serial Killer" has been on our library shelves for a few years now, and at the urging of my younger sister and a fellow librarian, I finally moved it to the top of my TBR list.

If you are looking for a dark murder mystery with supernatural vibes, then look no farther!

If you are a fan of the TV show "Dexter",

Or "Criminal Minds",

Or if you are a fan of Barry Lyga's "I Hunt Killers" trilogy,

Then, I strongly recommend "I Am NOT a Serial Killer".

The Book: 

John Wayne Cleaver is a 15 year old teenager.

He is obsessed with learning about serial killers. Reading about them, building profiles on them, writing reports about them, etc. 

He works in a morgue with his mother, his aunt, and his older sister.  He helps embalm the dead before burial.

Oh, and he is a clinically diagnosed sociopath.

John knows he is different than other people. Emotions, attachments and basic empathy are not something he possesses, and from his obsessive study of serial killers, he knows that he has all the major markers of a budding serial killer.

He is fascinated by the dead.

He likes to watch people and stalk them.

He has dark fantasies that would horrifying his family if they knew.

But John also knows that these behaviors are wrong. He knows it is wrong to stalk people, he knows it is wrong to fantasize about death even if he feels nothing. 

So John has rules for himself to prevent himself from going down this path. He is determined to NOT become a serial killer.

However, when a serial killer comes to town and starts murdering the residents of Clayton County, John finds himself tempted in a way he has never been before. 

As the bodies start to pile up, John decides that he is going to let his own monster out and end the serial killer before someone else dies. 

But what John discovers is darker and more horrifying than anything he could have imagined, and now that his own monster has been let out, there is no going back. 

Overall, this was a pretty dark story, which makes sense as the narrator is a sociopath, but the story itself was fast paced and highly engaging.  There were several pulse pounding moments that had goosebumps spring up on my arms and chills running down my back. This was NOT a boring mystery.

MILD SPOILER

I must admit that there were times that I felt more sympathy for the "bad guy" than I did for John. John is a hard character to root for as there is nothing more driving him than his own dark needs and a basic knowledge of right and wrong. The "Bad Guy" in this story had motivations that I could understand even if they made him a monster. 

Read the book and you will know what I am talking about. 

Overall, I would give this book 4.5 stars.

There are 2 other books in the series, but I will be taking a break from this series for now. I think I am going to go find a nice fluffy comedy to read next. 

"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. 

"Belladonna" by Adalyn Grace

 Overall, I loved this book! It gave me Wuthering Heights vibes with an Agatha Christie mystery thrown in. 

Five Stars!

All her life, Death has followed Signa Farrow.

He was there when her parents and all the guests and staff members of Foxglove were mysteriously poisoned and died at a party when Signa was just a baby. 

He was there throughout her childhood as a string of guardians, who were more interested in Signa's money than her welfare, perished within a fews years of accepting Signa into their homes. 

Now, he has followed Signa to Hawthorne Manor. 

Despite their own recent tragedies, the Hawthorne's, a distant relation to Signa's parents, have graciously invited Signa to live with them for the next 6 months until she turns 19 and is able to claim the inheritance that her family left to her upon their deaths. 

Signa discovers that her hope that Death will not follow her to her new home is in vain when she arrives at Hawthorne Manor only to discover that her cousin, Blythe, has contracted a mysterious life-threatening illness. It is the same illness that took Blythe's mother, Lilliana,  just months before. 

Signa can feel death's presence in the cold and unsettling Manor.

But that is not the only presence she senses.

Lilliana's spirit is not at rest, and her ghost haunts to grounds, crying and wailing in the night. The Hawthorne family is plagued by her restless spirit and Blythe's impending death. 

Signa is determined to stop Death from taking anyone else from her and Signa feels like, for once, she might be able to help because she has secrets of her own. 

Signa can see ghosts and she is tied to Death in a way that no other mortal have ever been. 

Signa suspects that Lillian's death wasn't due to an illness at all, and someone is targeting the remaining members of the family. Her best chance to save her new family is to ally herself with Death in order to catch the murderer before they strike again. 

As Signa and Death begin to work side by side to catch the murderer, the connection between them grows, and Signa realizes that there is more to Death than she ever could have imagined. 

This amazing gothic murder mystery has just the right amount of intrigue, suspense, plot twists, and romance to make a great book! I was hooked within the first few pages.  Signa was an intriguing character who really found herself as the story progressed. She was so unsure of who she wanted to be when the story began, but through the trials she experienced, she was able to take hold of her destiny and become who she was meant to be. 

Death was swoon worthy! He was so mysterious in the beginning, and as revelations were made throughout the story, you better understood his role in Signa's life and in her future. 

I am looking forward to starting book two!

"You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight" by Kalynn Bayron

I just closed my library copy of Kalynn Bayron's "You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight" and I honestly am not sure that I can collect my thoughts enough to write a coherent review. 

I am just sitting here in a mild state of shock as I try to process this story and that ending. 

 

If you are a fan of 80's and 90's slasher flick like the "Friday the 13th" franchise, the "Halloween" series, the "Scream" saga or any other horror movie of this type, then you NEED to get a copy of this book today!

Charity is the official Final Girl of Camp Mirror Lake, a remote location where guests pay to be terrified in a full contact terror simulation based on the popular slasher film, "The Curse of Camp Mirror Lake". Charity's job is simple. Play the part of a fellow guest, help give the clients the ultimate terror experience, and survive the night. 

But this year, things aren't quite going as planned. As the end of the season approaches, Charity and her friends find themselves short-staffed when some their Camp Mirror Lake coworkers decide to bail on them before the final game of the season. And then weird things start happening...

A dead owl left on the cabin's steps.

Previously locked doors being found unlocked and open.

Shadowy figures seen inside their hidden tunnels.

A dark hidden history about the camp comes to light. 

Charity and her friends begin to realize that they aren't the only ones at Camp Mirror Lake, and they are about to learn the true meaning of terror. 

As in watching any slasher-flick, I like to think that I will be able to guess the plot twists and surprises that will be coming within the story. However, this story had me constantly coming up with theories and then discarding them as new information was revealed and as characters were introduced or killed off. There were so many surprises in the last 50 pages of the book that my head is still reeling! I don't want to say more or I will be giving away too much, but this is is definitely worth the read!

The story was extremely fast paced, jumping into the action on page one, and when the story did slow down, the creep factor of the scenes was hair raising. The characters were all likable and while some of the side characters were a bit one dimensioned, it didn't take away from the story. 

If you need a suspense filled, action packed, slasher story, RUN to the library or a bookstore today!!!

 

 

Begin Again by Emma Lord

 Need a cute, sweet college romance?

Then, look no further than "Begin Again" by Emma Lord. 

"Begin Again" is Emma Lord's 4th book and is a cute romantic comedy about what happens next when all of your carefully made plans go awry. 

Andie Rose has dreamed all her life of attending Blue Ridge State University and following in her mother's footsteps. She's going to go to Blue Ridge State with her High school sweetheart Connor, major in Psychology, compete in the ribbon hunt so she can join a secret society, graduate, start a radio show, become a TV personality, marry Connor, and write a memoir about her amazing life.  It's the perfect life, mapped out in detail. 

What could go wrong?

The answer is...a lot. 

Andie doesn't get accepted into Blue Ridge State after high school. Despite being very bright, Andie's grades suffered after she devoted too much time and energy ensuring that her boyfriend, Connor, got the grades he needed to get accepted in Blue Ridge State with her. Ironically, Connor heads off to Blue Ridge State and Andie goes to a local community college after high school. 

But Andie always has a plan. 

She will go to the community college for a semester, raise her grades, get accepted as a transfer to Blue Ridge State at semester, and everything will be back on track. She will be attending her dream school, following in her mother's footsteps, and she will be with Connor.

This is where the story begins. 

Andie has been accepted into Blue Ridge State as a transfer student, which is almost unheard of . Her life is finally back on track.

Now, she is going to surprise Connor at his apartment tell him the good news. 

Only, Connor isn't there.

After finding a stranger living in Connor's apartment, Andie calls her boyfriend, excited to begin their life at Blue Ridge together, only to find out that Connor has transferred to the local community college. To be with her.

With her carefully laid out plans once again starting to fall apart, Andie has to make some tough decisions about her future, and how she is going to "fix" this mess.

But despite the chaos going on in her personal life, Blue Ridge State is everything Andie hoped it would be and more. 

An amazing roommate, an underground radio show, and a potential new love interest cause Andie to take a closer look at her life and force her reevaluate all of her carefully laid out plans. Because sometimes when everything seems to fall apart, the only thing you can do is "Begin Again".

This sweet romance, despite it mostly lighthearted tone, had a lot of depth to it and addressed issues such a parent death, grief, dysfunctional families, guilt and much more. 

Andie was a sweet, endearing character who found a place in my heart simply through how much she cared about the people around her. Her friendship with Shay and Valeria is what every new college student dreams of. 

At times, I did find the pace of the story a little slow, but the witty banter between Andie, Shay, Valeria, and their RA Miles kept me engaged. I even laughed out loud a few times.

So if you are looking for a story to warm your heart and put a smile on your face, then get your copy of "Begin Again" today. 

"Eat You Heart Out" by Kelly Devos

 Eat Your Heart Out is a funny but edge of your seat story about a group of teens who are forced to go to a "Fat Camp" by their rich parents. However, not long after they arrive, they realize something is very wrong with this camp as their fellow campers begin turning into crazed zombies with an insatiable hunger that they will do anything to satisfy. With the power out and no cellphones or landlines available to them, this ragtag group of teens will have to work together is they are going to survive. 

So I literally just finished "Eat You Heart Out" by Kelly Devos. All I knew going into this book was that is was a satirical story about a group of kids who get sent to a "fat camp" by their wealthy parents and they end up facing a zombie hoard that starts eating everyone at camp.

Before starting this expected some gore, some humor, and even potentially some light romance. I mean, look at that cover. 

The valentine pink background and all the pastels did not prepare me for how sad and tense this book made me feel at times. 

This story dealt with guilt, fat shaming, dysfunctional families, sacrifice, and so much more. It really had all the feels. 

The overall story is great and I truly enjoyed all the characters. This story is written in first person from the perspective of  six teens who find themselves at Camp Featherlite. Five of the teens have been sent there to begin "their weight loss journey" and the sixth teen took the job as a camp counselor out of desperation as he needed money to pay for his college tuition. 

Each chapter starts with the first and last name of the character who is narrating that section of the story. It did get hard for me at times to keep track of which character was narrating. I would have to flip back to the beginning of the chapter to reference which character's mind I was currently in. However, this style did allow me a much deeper look into each characters' motivations, their backstory, and their internal response to the situation the found themselves in. Kudos to the author for creating six realistic characters that all had some form of character arc or development throughout the book. No static characters here.

I also enjoyed how the story connected to horror movies by highlighting the stereotypical roles that usually appear in these types of films. Allision, the movie buff of the group, pointed out the connection between these stereotypical roles and their own ragtag group pretty early on in the story. There was Action Girl, the Courageous Captain, the Jerk, the Outcast, the Nerd, and the Basketcase. But who was who? This lead to a lot of speculation on my part on who would survive and who would be zombie food, and I was very invested in finding out if the characters stuck to their "assigned rolls".

My favorite part was probably when "action girl" was beating off zombies with a yellow oar. That was epic!  Makes sense why that scene made it on the cover as well. 

I loved that the heroes of the story weren't your typical "All-American" teens, but just regular kids put into an impossible situation and forced to do what ever they have to in order to survive. 

This story was fast paced, action packed, and at times humorous and surprisingly emotional as the characters faced challenge after challenge and the loss of their camp mates and their friends.

Teaser: The tension was ramped up even more when one of six teens reveals a secret that raises the stakes for the rest of the group and creates an even greater sense of urgency for the characters to get help as fast as they can. 

I highly recommend this book if you are looking for something to read that is different from so many of the other YA books out there.  There is great character development, a powerful social commentary on the way "fat" people are viewed or portrayed by society, and strong messages about that way we treat people who are different than ourselves. Definitely put this one of your TBR list.