Tag: horror

ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Burying Eva Flores by Jennifer Alsever

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Book Review: Burying Eva Flores by Jennifer Alsever

I love a full-cast audiobook, so when I saw a YA thriller with a full cast set a listen now on NetGalley, you bet I instantly went and downloaded it. I knew it was going to be a thriller with some supernatural elements, but let me tell you, I couldn’t have guessed how wild this book was going to get.

This book is essentially a Courtney Summers book that took a detour through Death Note. If that doesn’t intrigue you, I don’t know what will.
Eva Flores is missing, presumed dead, and everyone thinks Sophia did it. In this book, told through a blend of story, texts and interviews, we discover why Sophia hated Eva, what was going on in their lives and the magical notebook that allowed Sophia to mess with Eva’s life in revenge.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: The Lighthouse by Alex Bell

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: The Lighthouse by Alex Bell
Book Review: The Lighthouse by Alex Bell

I’ve been reading more spooky books this year than I have any year before, and I’m glad that a few of them have been for review. Though this is a book that I’d have definitely picked up for myself. This is a fun but creepy-sounding horror novel set on a deserted island in a historical lighthouse. It gave me reminders of watching the St Augustine lighthouse episode of Buzzfeed Unsolved, and I easily read this in a single night. Thanks so much to Little Tiger for sending me a copy of this one.

Jess and Rosie are stuck visiting a remote Scottish island with their Dad’s new family for a summer. But from the start, they can tell that something is off about the lighthouse. Jess is counting the days until they can leave, until one day, Rosie disappears, and no one remembers her. Now she can’t leave until her sister is back but trying to find her could put her in more danger.

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ARC, books, new adult, Review

Book Review: Not Good For Maidens by Tori Bovalino

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: Not Good For Maidens by Tori Bovalino
Book Review: Not Good For Maidens by Tori Bovalino

We all know I love dark, queer books right? We all know that if someone can get fae or fae-adjacent books when they’re done right, don’t we? Well, this book does both of those things oh so well, and, oh my god, I’m so happy I’ve read this book. I’ll be going back and reading Tori Bovalino’s first book after this one as Not Good For Maidens? Such a damn good book. Thanks so much to Sarah at Titan for sending me a copy!

Not Good For Maidens is a retelling of the poem The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti. We follow two main characters, Lou in the present and May, 18 years before. Lou has grown up with her Mum and Aunt May in Boston. But when her other Aunt Neela disappears and leaves a strange voicemail, Lou wants to go to York to track her down. Her Mum and May don’t want her there, as before Lou was born, May was trapped in the Goblin Market herself. After being led down there by a beautiful goblin girl.

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Adult, ARC, books, Review

Book Review: A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books7 Comments on Book Review: A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson
Book Review: A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

I knew this book would be an easy read, but I didn’t think I’d read it in one sitting. And yet…here I am. I was lucky enough to be sent an early copy of this book thanks to Nazia from Orbit. I received this a little while ago, but I wanted to save it until closer to the pub date. I’m glad I did, as yeah, this book is going to be perfect for autumn and the spooky season.

You’ve probably heard of this book before, as it was a hit when Gibson self-published it last year. Now Orbit had bought the rights for it, and it’s going to open it up to a lot of new readers.

A Dowry of Blood is a Dracula retelling following his brides. Constanta thought she had been given a second chance when a mysterious man appeared to her at the brink of death and made her his bride. She spends years doing everything he asks and thinking she was lucky. Until her husband brings others into their life. Constanta begins to realise that as much as she loves the others, their husband is capable of terrible things. And now she needs to reveal his dark secrets to save them all.

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anticipated releases, books, Will I Like This Book?, Young Adult

Will I Like This Book? – She Is A Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 Comment on Will I Like This Book? – She Is A Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran
Will I Like This Book? – She Is A Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

It’s time for another Will I Like This Book post! I’ve not gotten through all the YALC samplers yet! But since this one comes out early next year, I think now seems like a good time to get a post up, so we all have plenty of time to preorder what sounds like an amazing book! This one is being published by Bloomsbury, so keep an eye out.

She is A Haunting follows teenager Jade Nguyen who desperately needs money for college. She’s always lied, so summer with her estranged father in Vietnam should be something she can survive. She agrees to help him with the dilapidated French colonial house that he’s been renovating. One morning she wakes up feeling like something clawed down her throat from the inside, and a ghost bride visits her and tells her not to eat. When Jade’s dad and sister don’t believe her, she recruits Florence, who has been helping her with the house, to stage hauntings and scare them out of there. But the house has other plans. It’s hungry, and it won’t be abandoned again.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White
Book Review: Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

I’m obviously a big fan of queer books, so this was always going to be a book that I was going to read. As well as that, I’ve followed A.J on Twitter for a few years, as part of my foray into writing Twitter. I might not have written for a while, but I’ve still been following him and enjoying doing so. A.J seems like a great guy, so I also knew that I wanted to support him by writing a review.

Hell Followed With Us follows Benji, a trans teen who is on the run from the cult that has destroyed a lot of the world and transformed him into a bioweapon. All he wants to be able to do is just live his life as the boy he is, but after being cornered by monsters when trying to escape, he is rescued by teens from a local LGBTQA+ group. Their leader Nick is gorgeous, autistic and deadly, and he knows exactly who Benji actually is. But he agrees to let Benji stay, provided he can control his inner monster and help them. Benji agrees, but soon he finds out that Nick might not be telling him everything.

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ARC, blog tour, books, middlegrade, Review

Blog Tour – Dread Wood by Jennifer Killick

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 Comment on Blog Tour – Dread Wood by Jennifer Killick
Blog Tour – Dread Wood by Jennifer Killick

I’ve been actively trying to read more middle-grade, especially the sort I wouldn’t have picked up as a kid. I probably wouldn’t have picked up a copy of Dread Wood back then, but I was very intrigued by it now. In my experience, a lot of kids’ horror can be a lot creepier than anything geared at adults, so I was very excited. I was lucky enough to recieve an e-book copy of this book through Write Read Tours.

In this book, we follow a group of four Year 7 students: Angelo, Hallie, Naira and Gustav, as they have to deal with detention on a Saturday. After having their phones taken away, their teacher disappears, and the only staff they can find are the creepy caretakers who won’t stop humming Itsy Bitsy Spider. Something dark is going on in the school, and these four classmates have to be the ones to figure it out.

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Adult, ARC, books, Review

Book Review: Hide by Kiersten White

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: Hide by Kiersten White
Book Review: Hide by Kiersten White

We all have those authors whose books always sound so good, yet every single one you pick up, you just cannot get into them. That author was, for me, Kiersten White. Until I picked up Hide. It turns out that what I was looking for from her was an adult horror thriller, and I’m so glad that I got an early copy of this book. Thanks so much to Del Rey for sending me a physical proof of this book after I mentioned wanting it on Twitter!

Hide is White’s debut adult novel, and it follows a young woman called Mack, who has been invited to enter a competition of hide and seek. All she and the thirteen other competitors have to do is hide in an abandoned amusement park for a week and ensure they do not get caught. The winner will get enough money to change their life. But as the days pass and the competitors start turning up dead, the remaining group realise that they have to stick together if they want to survive.

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ARC, books, middlegrade, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: A Hunter’s Moon by Danny Weston

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: A Hunter’s Moon by Danny Weston
Book Review: A Hunter’s Moon by Danny Weston

Every now and then, I get offered a book that I just can’t say no to. When I was contacted about a dark and creepy book where the main character is hunting a fae creature? Yeah, I had to have it. Thanks very much to Graeme for getting in contact and getting a copy in my hands.

Callum is Apprentice to Fraser McCloud, a man who likes to boast about his shooting skills. When the pair are hired to hunt a wolf that the locals claim is a Cù Sith, he doesn’t know if it’s safe. He can’t leave, and things will get worse before they get better.

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