Archive for the ‘horror’ Category

Saturday Screams #24 ~ No place is safe….Animal Kingdom and The Boat

Posted: January 28, 2017 in Anthology, apocalypse, horror, reviews
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Welcome to my Saturday Screams.

For all of you fans of horror and the apocalypse, I have two very different ones for you today. Enjoy!

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Animal Kingdom

by Iain Rob Wright

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Genre: Horror / Apocalypse

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My Review

I’ve read several of Iain’s books and have more on my Kindle waiting for me. This is one of my favorites.

It was supposed to be a special day. Since the divorce, Danny really missed his dad and had ants in his pants when he found out Joe was taking him to the zoo. Joe was just glad to have his son with him. It didn’t matter what they did but he knew Danny would love the animals.

Everything is great until the reptile show starts. The handler has a giant boa constrictor wrapped around his body. While he tells the gathering crowd about the snake it suddenly begins to wrap its thick coils around his neck, constricting and crushing the man. Joe does his best to help him, but the snake is too strong and time runs out for the handler.

The crowd panics and runs in all directions, horrified by the grotesque killing. As Joe grabs Danny and rushes to get help, he notices people are screaming and running from all directions. They couldn’t all have been at the exhibit. Then all of the animals start making a racket. Something bad is happening elsewhere in the zoo.

Deciding to get inside, away from whatever is occurring, Joe ducks into the new visitor’s center. Most people were running for the exits, but Joe had to get Danny to safety quickly. There were several people inside, along with the zoo’s curator. The curators protestations that an animal attack couldn’t be happening are cut short. When Joe turns to see what he’s looking at, he can’t believe what he’s seeing. There in the doorway are four massive lions, snarling and revealing their thick fangs, dripping with blood.

This is where the story really cranks up. The animals, for some unknown reason, have gained intelligence and have turned on mankind. From the lowly spiders to the gigantic elephants, they all want everyone dead.

The diverse group of people trapped in the visitor’s center are safe for the moment, or so they think. The animals won’t be denied, and find ways to get in. How the individual characters react to this is very interesting. As you’d expect, there are the one or two bad apples that think their way is the only way, you have an older woman spouting prophecy, a young girl without her medication, Joe, whose main concern is his son Danny, the curator, not much help there, and an older man with some fight in him. It’s up to them to work together. Otherwise, no one will get out of this alive.

Except that the story takes place in a zoo with animals from all over the world, it reminded of a book I read years ago. I also watched the movie and really enjoyed both. It was Day of the Animals.

The author gave me the same sense of dread and gut-wrenching fear with Animal Kingdom. You just knew people were going to die and die horribly. The animals are too many to fight off.

Reading scenes about the group dynamics was very real. People react differently when their lives are at stake. Some step up, some cower, and some act like blustering buffoons. I can’t figure out why some people can’t see past their own arrogance, or should I say ignorance.

This is a book about a war we may not be able to win. About surviving minute by minute and always looking for the way out.

At the end of the book there are some short Bonus stories. They all tie into the Animal Kingdom book and the one by Eric. S. Brown, Night of the Squirrels, is very interesting!

5 Stars

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Synopsis

WELCOME TO THE BOTTOM OF THE FOOD CHAIN!

Aside from being freakishly tall, Joe is just an ordinary divorcee taking his son, Danny, to the zoo for his weekend of custody. Everything is going great until a bizarre snake attack sends everybody in the zoo running for cover. It isn’t long before Joe realizes that there is a lot more going on than a simple snake attack. And if the hungry lions, roaring gorillas and charging elephants now free from their cages have anything to say about it, there is more bloodshed to come. All of the world’s animals are attacking, and no one knows why. What they do know is that man is now on the bottom of the food chain.

FEATURES BONUS MATERIAL THAT TAKES PLACE IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM UNIVERSE:

7 Short stories by Iain Rob Wright and Eric S. Brown

Amazon

The cover I used is from the eBook edition that I own. This is the cover for the paperback.

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Which do you like the most?

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The Boat:  Zombie Survivors

by Chris Dougherty

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Genre: Horror / Apocalypse

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My Review

They have the boats. They have a plan. Watch out for the monkey wrench.

I love a good zombie story. After having read Christine’s vampire series, The Blood Run Trilogy, I knew she’d give me her own uniquely twisted view of the apocalypse.

It’s two weeks after everything went to hell. The miracle cure for AIDS turned out to be a world ender. The dead have risen. People turn to bodies of water and ships as the last safe place.

Here’s where Christine makes it fun. The people go in the water. The zombies go in the water. The zombies sink. Thus, their tag, sinkers. Imagine all of those zombies walking along the ocean floor. Imagine going fishing…..

The author’s choice to take the survivors and group them all into one place isn’t new. But she sure gives you some realistic scenarios. Any time you crowd desperate people together, you’re sure to have conflict. It makes some of the scenes so genuine. Scary stuff.

As with most good things, they must come to an end. Enter someone who thinks they know better than anyone else. Stir in the mysterious stranger, found stranded in a small boat. What do you get? A really bad scenario. Now, no one is safe and the zombies are just one of many things that will get you killed.

This was so many levels of horrific and fun. All of you zombie fans are in for a treat.

4 Stars

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Synopsis

At the end of the world, the undead aren’t the greatest threat to those who have survived.

A deadly plague brought on by an experimental AIDS drug called Lazarus sweeps the country. Lazarus, named so because it brings patients back from the brink of death, has the unfortunate side effect of bringing the dead back to life. A handful of survivors have made their way to water where the walking dead–called ‘sinkers’–are less of a threat. These battered and traumatized survivors have colonized a super yacht (Flyboy), a tugboat (Big Daddy), and a weekender yacht (Barbra’s Bay Breeze). As they wait for more survivors and organize a voyage south to a warm climate, they unintentionally bring aboard a monster who might be the end to them all.

Amazon

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The cover I used is the newest. Here are some others.

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Which one do you like the most?

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

You can find a list of my reviews HERE.

For a list of free eBooks go HERE

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

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My Review of Cat O’ Nine Tales ~ Ten stories of horror and suspense

Posted: January 25, 2017 in horror, reviews, suspense
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Title: Cat O’ Nine Tales
Author: Krystal Lawrence
Publisher: Telemachus Press
Pages: 284
Genre: Horror/Suspense

Cat O' Nine Tales cover

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My Review

I had my fingers crossed for these tales. I’m huge on short stories and collections. I appreciate how difficult it is to write them, but I do expect to get more than some teases.

I read the first story. Good one. Then I read the second one and thought, this is my favorite so far. The same happened with the third, the fourth…. I enjoyed all of these stories.

There’s also some fun illustrations sprinkled throughout the stories and that added to my enjoyment.

There’s a little bit of everything in this collection, and horror and thriller fans will get their fill.

My rating is for the author’s writing as much as for the stories. I wanted some wicked twists and feel real characters, and she delivered.

5 Stars

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Synopsis

What evil dwells within the pretty lady next door or the ordinary house cat?

What happens when you pursue your dreams into the desert after dark?

Beware the man borne of your imagination. He could seek vengeance on the one who created him.

Visit a bookstore offering a most alluring and sinister service.

Journey to the dark side with ten twisted tales of horror, malevolence, and the truly uncanny.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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Enjoy this glimpse inside.

On an overcast Tuesday, Brianna awoke to a commotion out on her back patio in the early morning hours. Glancing at the clock next to her bed, she saw it was just after sunrise.

Having no idea what all the racket was, Brianna flung open the window shade in her bedroom. Taking in the unbelievable scene playing out below her in the backyard, she stumbled away from the window and screamed.

Literally hundreds of birds were whirling in a dizzying cloud on her lawn. They formed a tight sphere and appeared to be pecking and clawing at something caught between them. Brianna had never seen so many birds at once.

The way they were moving together in that frenzied dance was worse than anything from even Tippi Hedren’s worst nightmare.

All were converging on an unknown victim, in a blinding array of colors, shapes and sizes. Brianna could not see where one bird ended and another began. Their claws were working, their beaks snapping, and God help whatever was caught in the middle of the murderous orb they had formed.

She ran from the bedroom, taking the stairs two at a time.

As she approached the back door she heard the mad cacophony of thousands of beating wings. Bartholomew hissed and charged between Brianna’s feet and up the stairs, retreating to the safety of her bedroom.

Brianna cautiously opened the curtains on the back door. She watched in dumbstruck horror as the colorful shroud of madly pecking birds elevated into the sky. It was impossible to see if her trio of crows was a part of that insane roaring tapestry.

Brianna collapsed against the door as the thick veil of screaming feathers flew over the house and due south. Just as they were ascending over the trees, Brianna uttered an anguished moan.

Peeking from between all those madly rushing bodies was Rob’s staring face. It was frozen in a death mask and covered in dozens of bleeding scratches. Where his right eye should have been was only a bloody gaping hole. She saw this grisly scene for only a few seconds before the birds disappeared over the horizon.

            With shaking hands Brianna unlocked the back door and stepped out onto her patio. Apart from several brightly colored feathers lying on the patio and strewn about the yard, there remained no evidence of the unspeakable horror she had just witnessed.

She plucked a single sleek black feather from the Dogwood tree and staggered back onto the patio. Falling into a chair, she called weakly, “Hey, crows. Are you guys here?”

            The morning remained eerily still, and silent as a tomb. Her feeder sat empty and there was nothing perched in any of the bushes or trees. For the first time since she moved in, there was not a single bird anywhere in Brianna Douglas’s yard.

            Eyes glazed over in shock, Brianna sat slumped against the table for several minutes. When the doorbell rang, she recoiled as though a canon had been fired next to her head.

            Sucking in harsh gasps of air, she rose on wobbly legs and made her way to the front door. She did not recognize her visitors, but began shaking uncontrollably when she saw a police car parked in her driveway.

Convinced Rob’s body had already been found, she was sure the men on her porch were there to arrest her. She was the only person alive with a motive to kill him. It would, of course, be futile to try and explain to the authorities what fate had actually befallen him. Who in their right mind would believe it? She barely believed it herself. Brianna hoped Paula knew a good criminal defense attorney.

            Neither of the two men waiting at her front door wore a police uniform. They were in business suits. Brianna steeled herself for their accusations and opened the door.

            They smiled politely and held up their badges for her inspection. “Mrs. Douglas?”

            Unable to trust herself to speak, Brianna nodded.

            “I am Detective Ramirez, and this is my partner Detective Soames. We are sorry to disturb you at this hour, but we have reason to believe your life may be in danger.”

            This was not what she was expecting to hear. For several seconds she did nothing but look back and forth between the two men, her brow knitted in confusion. Finally, Brianna whispered, “What?”

            “Ma’am, we received a phone call this morning from a woman named Ariel Forbes. She claimed that her boyfriend——your ex-husband, Robert Douglas, was on his way over to your house with a gun. According to Ms. Forbes, he was planning to kill you. We put out an APB on his vehicle and it was located about a block from here. We were afraid we might have been too late. Have you seen or heard from Mr. Douglas today?”

            Brianna shook her head. Tears welled in her eyes and she sagged against the door frame. The detective who had done all the talking put a supportive arm around her waist.

He said sympathetically, “I know this is a lot to absorb. May we come in? We don’t want to leave you alone until Mr. Douglas is apprehended. There are officers and a canine unit in the area looking for him. It’s only a matter of time before we catch him.”

            Brianna allowed the officers inside. She looked nervously toward the backyard, but all was quiet there.

Brianna offered the detectives coffee, but her hands were shaking so badly she spilled the grounds all over the floor. Detective Soames wiped them up while Ramirez got the coffee pot going. Brianna excused herself to get dressed and went upstairs to her bedroom.

            The full impact of what the detectives had told her hit her like a ton of bricks and she collapsed onto the bed. She now understood what this morning’s hellish occurrence was all about. The birds had saved her life. Equally amazing; the skinny, anorexic bitch alerted the cops to Rob’s plans in an effort to spare Brianna from his wrath. She supposed she should thank her.

Robert Douglas’s body was never found. His disappearance was investigated and even made news headlines. The case was listed as unsolved in the police archives. His fate remained a mystery to everyone. Only Brianna knew the truth.

Eventually the birds returned to her yard——all except the crows. Brianna waited for them every morning and left toast for them on the grass, but they did not show up.

After several months, Brianna accepted that they probably weren’t coming back. She missed them a great deal.

 She reasoned they had been her guardian angels, and once they saved her from Rob, their job was done.

            It was a pleasant surprise when the following summer she found a sparkling seashell waiting for her at the edge of the patio one morning.

She shaded her eyes against the sun and peered up into the Dogwood. The crows weren’t there.

That was okay. She smiled and held up the shell anyway. “Thanks, this is very pretty. Come back and see me, okay? I miss you guys.”

The next morning Brianna awoke to the familiar sound of the crows cawing, and looked out the window to see all three of them waiting patiently for their toast on the lawn.

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About the Author

Krystal Lawrence

 

Krystal Lawrence lives in the Pacific Northwest. She is the author of three novels—— two vampire stories, Risen and Risen II: The Progeny, and a trilogy entitled, Be Careful What You Wish For which is currently under consideration to be turned into a television series. Cat O’Nine Tales is Krystal’s first and much anticipated collection of short stories. Her books are available through Amazon and all major book retailers.

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

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Dare to go there….. Grimm Woods ~ Tour Review

Posted: January 23, 2017 in horror, reviews, thriller
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A remote summer camp becomes a lurid crime scene when the bodies of two teenagers are found in a bloody, real-life rendering of a classic Grimm’s fairy tale. Trapped in the wilderness, the remaining counsellors must follow a trail of dark children’s fables in order to outwit a psychopath and save the dwindling survivors before falling prey to their own gruesome endings.

Drawing on the grisly, uncensored details of history’s most famous fairy tales, Grimm Woods is a heart-pounding thriller about a deranged killer who uses traditional children’s stories as tropes in elaborate murders. Set against the backdrop of modern-day Michigan, it’s a journey through the mind of a dangerous zealot and a shocking glimpse into the bedtime stories you thought you knew.

 

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GOODREADS

Exclusive to AMAZON

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My Review

Reading this was like an experience with Lays Potato Chips. I couldn’t eat just one. I devoured this in one sitting.

If you love horror thrillers with a good whodunit, you’ll like this book.

It synopsis sounds familiar, but just wait for it. Young camp counselors protect their flock of kids from someone bent on killing. It’s not longer before the bodies start piling up. Except, the killer isn’t after the kids. The counselors are the targets. Many meet grisly ends and it seems the the killer leaves a message with each new body. They all die differently, the killer using the very themes the park is based on to display his victims. Grimm Fairy Tales come true.

Sound good? It is. And the thing I enjoyed most…the author spares no one. Yep, don’t get attached to any of these characters as they drop like flies.

4 Stars

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Check out this glimpse inside!

July 7th, 5:44 a.m.

One hacksaw. One hammer, six boxes of nails. Twelve Mason jars, four hunting knives, two pairs of handcuffs. Fifteen gallons of gasoline divided evenly among three dented jerry cans.

It’s time.

A work glove hovered over the table where the objects were laid out side by side and began ticking the air as though marking off an invisible checklist. The chamber reeked of mildew, and the walls had no windows or electrical sockets—no lamps, no wires, no switch covers. A single red candle provided the only light, its crimson wax dripping down its shaft like blood.

The hand picked up a piece of paper from the table and slipped it into a blank envelope. Below, a beetle scuttled across the floorboards. The insect—its gangly antennae tuned to some foul frequency in the gloom—raced past the sole of a giant boot just as a drop of liquid fell through the air and struck it dead center, engulfing its body in a hot, gelatinous blob that filled its orifices and burned it from the inside out. Another droplet tumbled from the candle, plopping onto the envelope this time, and then a brass stamp came down and pressed the wax into a hardened seal.

Drawing in heavier, raspier breaths, the figure held the envelope up to a corkboard that was bolted to the wall. More than a dozen pictures of young men and women were tacked to the panel by their throats and foreheads, smiling in the shadows.

The figure pinned the envelope to the board and stepped back to take in the room again.

The table and the switchblade.

The book of matches.

The iron rods, the hatchet, the .22 Smith & Wesson.

The smiling faces.

Now, the figure mused, watching the photographs flicker in the bloodred light. Who’s the nicest, who’s the worst, who wants to hear a story first?

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About D. Melhoff

D. Melhoff was born in a prairie ghost town that few people have heard of and even fewer have visited. While most of his stories are for adults, he also enjoys terrifying younger audiences from time to time, as seen in his series of twisted picture books for children. He credits King, Poe, Hitchcock, Harris, Stoker, and his second grade school teacher, Mrs. Lake, for turning him to horror. For more information, visit grimmwoods.com.

 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram

Follow the Grimm Woods tour HERE

Brought to you by Worldwind VBT

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

For a list of my reviews go HERE

For a list of free eBooks go HERE

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

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Saturday Screams #24 ~ Mutation Z Omnibus by Marilyn Peake

Posted: January 21, 2017 in Fantasy, horror, reviews, Zombies
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Thanks for stopping by for some Saturday Screams.

I have a special treat for you from Marilyn Peake.

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Genre: Horror / Fantasy

My Review

I first read this as individual novellas in the series. It was fun to finish one and make myself wait until the next night to read another. I did that for all six novellas, and when I finished them, I wanted more. Now I’ve read them all back to back in this omnibus and found them even more emotional.

It’s too often true that the monsters we need to fear the most are the human ones. Those with power and money want more power and money and don’t hesitate to unleash hell on the innocent to fulfill their own desires. What happens is wrong on so many levels. You’re put through the emotional wringer as characters struggle to survive and make sense of the end of their world.

Once the human monsters let loose the Z Virus, the zombies wreak havoc and blood and brains splatter throughout. Marilyn knows how to please her zombie fans.

I’m one of those zombie fans and ate this up!

5 Stars

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Synopsis

Omnibus Edition of All Six Books in the Mutation Z Series

Ebola, one of the most feared of the hemorrhagic diseases, begins spreading across the borders of countries in West Africa. Soon after, the disease mutates into the “Z” or Zombie Virus. Journalist Hunter Morgan uncovers a disturbing connection between Chen-Zamora Pharmaceuticals and this mutation. Further investigation reveals a web of sinister intrigue connecting the pharmaceutical company to a treatment and research camp in West Africa, U.S. government officials, the CDC and the World Health Organization. Racing against time to find a cure, Hunter and several scientists go underground in order to hide from powerful forces trying to silence them forever.

Amazon

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Author Marilyn Peake

Marilyn Peake

Marilyn Peake is the author of both novels and short stories. Her publications have received excellent reviews. Marilyn’s one of the contributing authors in BOOK: THE SEQUEL, published by The Perseus Books Group, with one of her entries included in serialization at THE DAILY BEAST. In addition, Marilyn has served as Editor of a number of anthologies. Her short stories have been published in seven anthologies and on the literary blog, GLASS CASES.

Awards: Silver Award, two Honorable Mentions and eight Finalist placements in the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards, two Winner and two Finalist placements in the EPPIE Awards, Winner of the Dream Realm Awards, and eight Top Ten Finisher Awards in the Preditors and Editors Readers Poll.

Website / Twitter / Amazon / Goodreads

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

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Freakin Fridays #42 ~ Bad Wolf and B&B ~ Creeeepy

Posted: January 20, 2017 in horror, Paranormal or fantasy, reviews
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32468428  Bad Wolf (Bad Wolf Chronicles Book 1) by [McGregor, Tim]

Welcome to Freakin Fridays, where I share my reviews of books that scare you, thrill you, and get those endorphins pumping.

Oh yeah, have I got some good ones to share today!

B & B

by Amy Cross

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Genre: Horror / Paranormal

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My Review

Que to the opening of The Twilight Zone. This one gave me the willies.

Bobbie’s done something unforgivable. Now on the run, in the middle of cold winter’s night, she seeks refuge at an old B & B. But this isn’t your normal bed and breakfast. The woman who checks her in barely speaks a word and her face is covered in gauze and the other guests are odd and won’t let her sleep.

She’s stuck between a rock and a hard place. Stay at the Inn with it’s creepy guests and mysterious goings on, or face the killer stalking the snowy streets outside. He likes to kill when the pristine snow covers everything in shining white. The blood looks so red then.

From the beginning, you are pulled into this mystery, and when the weird stuff starts happening, you won’t want to stop until you get answers.

This was creepy on so many levels. A pleasant surprise for this horror fan.

4 Stars

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Synopsis

A girl on the run, hiding from a terrible crime.

An old B&B in a snowy city.

A hidden figure lurking in the streets, waiting for his next victim.

When Bobbie takes a room at the rundown Castle Crown B&B, all she wants is to get some sleep and make a tough decision about her future. Unfortunately, the B&B’s other guests won’t give her any peace, and Bobbie soon realizes that she’s stumbled into a world with its own rules. Who is the mysterious bandaged woman? Why is there a dead man in the bathtub? And is something deadly lurking in the basement?

Before she can leave, however, Bobbie learns that the city of Canterbury is being terrorized by a mysterious figure. Every time snow comes, the Snowman claims another victim, leaving their blood sinking into the ice. If Bobbie leaves the B&B and ventures out into the empty streets, she risks becoming his next target. But if she stays, her soul might be claimed by something even more deadly.

B&B is a horror story about a girl with a secret, and a building with a past.

Amazon

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I grabbed this one free on Amazon. Click on the cover to get your free copy.

Bad Wolf

Bad Wolf Chronicles #1

by Tim McGregor

Bad Wolf (Bad Wolf Chronicles Book 1) by [McGregor, Tim]

Genre: Horror / Paranormal

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My Review

Two hardened detectives, a rampaging pack of wild dogs, and a killer who believes he’s a werewolf. I don’t know about you, but this sounds too good to pass up.

I enjoy police stories. There’s always that one guy no one wants to work with. John is just that guy. Tons of baggage and an eat shit attitude. Partnered with Detective Lara Mendez, neither ones happy about it.

As much as I loved the idea of the werewolf using his pack of wild dogs to kill, the dynamics between the two detectives was even better.

Lara wasn’t a pushover. She’d put up with lots of crap to make it to Detective. She wasn’t going to take any from John. How these two navigated around each other was a whole lot of fun. I wondered if they might actually end up being good together and kept my fingers crossed.

The killer and his dogs were super bad ass. Was he a werewolf? You’ll have to read it to find out.

And watch out for the ending. It’s a twister and I sure loved it. It wraps up this chapter and leaves things open for more.  A little birdie told me there is.

4 Stars

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Synopsis

Detective Lara Mendes’s hard work pays off when she finally gets to join the homicide detail. There’s only one catch; she has to partner up with a cop no one wants to work with.

John Gallagher is a veteran homicide detective who wants nothing more than to work alone. When the Lieutenant partners him with Lara Mendes, his first reaction is to ditch her but a call comes in about a body on the river bank and the rotation says they’re up.

What they find are human remains, mutilated and partially devoured. Their investigation reveals a killer stalking the city with a pack of vicious, feral dogs.
And the suspect believes he is a werewolf.

But this is Portland, where crazy bastards outnumber normal ones ten to one. Except there’s another catch. The crazy werewolf guy? He isn’t crazy…

Author’s note: Bad Wolf is my first novel and remains a favourite. This free full-length novel is the first in the Bad Wolf series about two homicide detectives trying to stop a monster. A murder mystery and police procedural, it’s premise is simple; cops versus werewolves. I had an absolute blast writing this series. Now that’s it’s done, I miss these characters. The books, in order, are:

1 Bad Wolf
2 Pale Wolf
3 Last Wolf

This free book is the gateway to a world of monsters, gritty detectives and the werewolves that haunt the moonlit night.

Amazon

This is the cover on Goodreads. The one I used is from Amazon.

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Which do you like most?

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

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A Freebie just in time for the weekend! ~ Vampire Blood by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Posted: January 19, 2017 in Freebies!, horror, Paranormal or fantasy, Vampires
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I’ve been reading Kathryn’s books for many years now and still have several to go. These two books, Vampire Blood and the sequel, Human No Longer, are among my favorites.

You’re lucky today! For the first time ever you can get Vampire Blood for FREE! And I’ve provided a purchase link for Human No Longer, just in case you want to grab them both.

Vampire Blood

by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Genre: Horror / Paranormal

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Click HERE for my review.

Synopsis

For years the vampire family lived in the shadows, hidden by the night and people’s disbelief; feeding on animals or throw away people who would never be missed. But as the family moves into an old theater, and uses it to cover up their crimes, the youngest of them are restless and determined to live as they like. Recklessly. Killing and feeding when and where they want. Feeding on who they want.

Only the parent vampires have managed to keep them in check. But no longer.

Unaware of the night stalking menace, the townspeople of Summer Haven, Florida, blithely go about their daily lives until, one by one, they begin to disappear.  Screams are heard in the night. Fear grows. The lost are never found…alive.

But Jenny Lacey and her father, who are hired to renovate the old Grand Theater, can’t escape when they find themselves caught up in the middle of the vampire’s war. And, in the end, it’s up to Jenny, her brother, Joey, and her ex-husband, Jeff (who she still loves and reconnects with in this novel…happy ending there), to get rid of the bloodthirsty fiends that are destroying their town…if they can.

Get your free copy while it lasts!

Go HERE for more sites. Go HERE for Amazon.

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The Backstory of Vampire Blood 2015

By Kathryn Meyer Griffith

In 1990 or so I’d just got done releasing my first three paperback novels with Leisure Books, a romantic historical (The Heart of the Rose 1985) and two romantic horror books (Evil Stalks the Night, 1984 and Blood Forge, 1989), and because I wasn’t making much money on them, was looking, as most so-called restless young authors were doing, to move up in the publishing industry.
So I wrote snail mail letters to three established authors of the day – Dean Koontz, Stephen King and Peter Straub-asking for a little advice and a little help. What do I do next? I want to be one of the big dogs running in the big races. I want to make the big bucks. Be famous like you. (Ha, ha. I was so naïve in those days!)
Well, Stephen King and Peter Straub never answered my letters but one rainy fall night I got a phone call from Gerda Koontz (Dean Koontz’s wife) and she said Dean had gotten my letter and wanted me to have a name of a brand new agent who I should call or write to and say I was recommended by him. If I thought it strange that Dean Koontz himself wasn’t actually talking to me I was told by Gerda that he was a shy man and had had a particularly hard couple of months because of family problems (I think it had something to do with his father in a nursing home or something, but can’t exactly recall now) and he’d asked her to call me. She often did that for him, as well as helping him with the business side of his writing career. He (through her…and I got the impression that he was actually nearby telling her what to say the whole time) said I had to have an agent (I didn’t have one) and then he gave me the name of an ambitious one, Lori Perkins, just starting out and his advice on what I should do to advance as a writer.

I do remember being incredibly touched that he, a famous busy novelist that I admired- I loved his Twilight Eyes – would take the time to talk to me, even though his wife.
I took their advice and contacted that agent and she agreed immediately to represent me on my fourth book, Vampire Blood, no doubt, because I said Dean Koontz had recommended her. But Vampire Blood was the reason I’d contacted those authors in the first place. I thought it was the best book I’d done so far and wanted it to go to a better publisher than Leisure, which hog-tied their writers with a horrible ‘potboiler’ one-size-fits-all ten year contract with 4% royalties. Yes, I got a whole whopping 14 cents a book in those days, but they did print thousands of paperbacks each run and had a huge distribution area. I thought I could do a lot better. Anyway, Lori Perkins eventually sold it, and then three others after, to Zebra at 6% royalties and double the advances. They slapped a sexy blond vampire with a low dress on the cover and a hazy theater behind her. Lovely colors. An eye-catching cover. I was so happy. I thought I’d made it! Again,naïve.

My husband and I lived in this small town at the time and there was the neatest little hole-in-the-wall theater in a shopping center we used to go to…run by a family of a sweet man, Terry, and his wife, Ann, and sometimes their children, two teenage boys and a girl named Irene. Such a friendly, but odd couple. The run-down theater was their whole world. The kids helped take in the tickets, pop the popcorn and sell the candy snacks.

Now the minute Terry and Ann found out I was a published novelist they were my greatest fans. Terry went right out and bought all my books and read them. Terry always thought they’d make great movies. Next time my husband and I went to the theater Terry and Ann greeted us like old friends, delighted to see us, and refused to take a dime from us for anything. We got in free whenever we went from then on. Now in those days my husband, my son, James, and I were pretty broke. I worked as a graphic designer at a big brokerage firm in downtown St. Louis but my husband was in between jobs. We lived on a shoestring. Hard times. So I always was so tickled that we could get into the local movies for free. We went a lot, too, as we loved movies, especially science fiction and horror films.

One night I was watching Terry and Ann and their joy in running that little theater, with the kids bustling around doing their jobs, and I got the idea for Vampire Blood. Just like that! Use them and the theater as a backdrop for a vampire novel. Hey, wouldn’t it be neat, I offhandedly mentioned to Terry one night, if I wrote a book about a family of vampires that was trying to pass as a real human family, the man and woman wanting so badly to fit in and lead a normal life for a while, renovating and then running a theater together…but the kids are wild and, as kids always do, make trouble for them in the town…killing people? Terry loved the idea and I asked him if it’d be all right to use him and his family as a template for the vampires. He was thrilled to be part of anything to do with my books and said yes. So…I wrote this book about them (sort of), the theater (making it much grander than it was, of course), a small town terrorized by cruel, powerful vampires who can change into wolves at will….and a saddened lonely woman, her brother, and her ex-husband (who she still loves and ultimately ends up with again after he saves her life) who finds herself again, but loses a lot, as well, fighting these vampires. Vampires she doesn’t believe in at first.

I was very happy with the book when it was done and dedicated it to Terry and Ann when it came out in 1991. Terry and Ann were thrilled, too.
So Vampire Blood came out and did very well for me, second only to my Zebra 1993 Witches. As the years went by it went out of print like many of my 1970 &80’s paperback books and in 2015, with my other 21 novels, I brought it out again. I’d begun self-publishing in 2012 and will never go back to the legacy publishers. I love having complete control over my books now!

So…here it is…Vampire Blood…twenty-three years later, alive again and better, I believe, than the original because my writing then was done on an electric typewriter, with gobs of White-Out and carbon paper (I couldn’t afford copies), using snail mail; all of which didn’t lend itself to much rewriting. And in those days, editors told an author what to change and then the writer only saw the manuscript once to final proof it. Who knew what those sneaky editors were slipping in in between and before the final book was in an author’s greedy little hands. Hey, and I was working full time, raising a son, living a life and caring for my big extended family in one way or another, too. Busy, exciting, loving, happy and sad times.

A lot has happened to me and my family in these twenty-three years, as well. Both my parents, and my beloved maternal grandmother, the storyteller of her generation, have since passed away. My sweet musician brother, Jim, too. Many people we used to know have. Old boyfriends, old friends and relatives. I miss them all! I no longer have that agent; she went on to bigger advances and bigger writers. I lost my good job at the brokerage firm, bumped around in lesser jobs for years, always writing in my spare time, and now, at long last, write full time while my husband works way too hard in a machine shop to support us.
The theater closed sixteen years ago. Terry and Ann, heartbroken, were never the same. Ann is still with us, but Terry died years ago. We lost contact once they stopped running the theater.

I fought to get all my full rights back on Vampire Blood and self-published it in 2015 (as well as all my other 23 novels) and now only self-publish…which has allowed me to finally make a living at my craft.
But I’ll never forget those early days and the stories that came with them. Days of high hopes and far distance future dreams…some of which have come true and some which haven’t.

So, all you writers out there…never give up and never stop writing.***

Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Author Links

Twitter / Blog  / Author’s Den / Facebook / Goodreads / Amazon

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After reading Vampire Blood you may find you want more! Go HERE to purchase a copy of the sequel!

Human No Longer

Sequel To Vampire Blood

Genre: Horror / Paranormal

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Click HERE for my review.

Synopsis

Jenny and Jeff Sanders become victims of a bizarre crime; leaving Jeff dead and Jenny in a temporary coma. She returns to her children. With Jeff’s death she must move back to her childhood home, a haunted farmhouse, in Summer Haven, Florida, where once they destroyed a family of vampires.

Jenny has no appetite. She’s edgy. Her eyes hurt. She thinks it could be trauma or grief. Until one night she can’t resist the night woods or the overpowering urge to drink warm animals’ blood–and accepts the truth. Her attackers were vampires.

Now she’s becoming what she once reviled. She can’t abandon her children but must find a way to live in the human world. At night she hunts, hides what she’s becoming and attempts to fit in.

Then townspeople begin dying. Like years before. With her blackouts, she fears she may be the killer, or is it her vampire attackers? They find her and demand she joins them–or her family will die. She resists until they kidnap her children. Then she has to find a way to outwit and ultimately destroy them.

Amazon

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For a list of my reviews go HERE.

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Saturday Screams #23 ~ I Am Not A Serial Killer: John Cleaver #1

Posted: January 14, 2017 in audible, horror, reviews
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Welcome to my Saturday Screams. This is where I share my love of horror and things that go bump in the night.

Today I have something different. I’m reviewing an audible book. I just started getting into audibles and, or course, I chose a scary good one. LOL

TITLE: I Am Not A Serial Killer: John Cleaver #1

AUTHOR: Dan Wells
NARRATOR: John Allen Nelson
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio
PUBLICATION DATE: March 30, 2010
FORMAT: Unabridged Audiobook
LENGTH: 7 hrs. and 37 minutes
GENRE: Horror
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My Review

It’s kind of scary that I can somewhat relate to John Wayne Cleaver, the 15-year-old boy in this story. He has a fascination with serial killers and so do I. Where we differ is, while we both wonder what makes them tick, I just wonder why, but he worries he might become one.

 His therapist says he’s a sociopath and has plenty of the predictors pointing towards a serial killer. That’s why John has rules. He made them so he won’t become one. But there’s something inside him, sleeping now, but soon to stir. You see, there’s a serial killer operating in his town. But it’s not your normal one, or, I should say it’s not human.

As more people fall victim to the beast, the one inside John struggles to be unleashed. It may take a monster to kill a monster. And John worries that he won’t find his way back once it’s let out.

The first I heard of this story was I came across the movie. Being a horror fan, I watched it. It reminded me of Dexter, the serial killer show on Showtime. I’m sure you’ve seen it or heard of it. John could be a young Dexter, almost. He hasn’t taken to killing people, yet.

John is a fascinating young man. He’s intelligent and creepy at the same time. I worry whether he can keep his urges contained. He’s constantly fighting with his mother. She pushes him too hard, worried about what he might do and what he might become. I’d probably be the same way, thinking I could change him, make him normal. He knows he’s not normal, practices to appear that way, and tries to fit in. It’s a pressure cooker under that roof, waiting to let off steam. I just hope he uses that steam on the monster and not on someone trying to help him.

The first part of the story is mostly about John. About half way in you start to learn about the killer. Then it really gets going and the hairs on your arms will stand on end. It’s a race to the finish with plenty of action and a great ending. About that ending. I felt like it was kind of a vindication. Well done.

This is a study on character and humanity as much as it’s about serial killers and beasts. I found it thrilling and down right horrific, both must haves in horror.

I’m on to the next in this series, worried and excited about where John goes from here.

5 Stars

I received a complimentary copy from Tantor Audio.

My review is voluntarily given.

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Narration.

This is narrated by John Allen Nelson. He was not what I was expecting. The stories told from a teenage boys point of view so I would have preferred a younger voice. His inflection is okay, but I just couldn’t help but feel like he was reading more than telling the story. If he’s the narrator in the second book, I’ll still give it a try. Maybe he’ll grow with the stories and grow on me.

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Synopsis

John works in his family’s mortuary and has an obsession with serial killers. He wants to be a good person but fears he is a sociopath, and for years he has suppressed his dark side through a strict system of rules designed to mimic “normal” behavior.

Then a demon begins stalking his small town and killing people one by one, and John is forced to give in to his darker nature in order to save them. As he struggles to understand the demon and find a way to kill it, his own mind begins to unravel until he fears he may never regain control. Faced with the reality that he is, perhaps, more monstrous than the monster he is fighting, John must make a final stand against the horrors of both the demon and himself.

Click HERE to listen to a sample.
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Purchase on: Amazon / Tantor
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Author Dan Wells
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Dan Wells is an American horror fiction writer and the author of the John Cleaver series. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University, earning his bachelor’s degree in English with a writing and editing emphasis. He currently resides in Orem, Utah, with his wife and four children.
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For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

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Freakin Fridays #40 ~ A Christmas Tale ~ Review and Giveaway

Posted: January 6, 2017 in giveaways, horror, reviews
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It’s a brand new year and time to share some new horror!

I’ve got a good one for ya.

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A Christmas Tale

by Austin Crawley

28337038

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Genre: Horror

My Review

I’ve always enjoyed stories based on Charles Dickens tale A Christmas Carol.

Three good friends spend Christmas Eve together. They may live to regret it.

I remember gathering with my friends on the Eve of Christmas. I don’t think it entered our minds to do a seance. These three girls should have known better.

As each is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and yet to come, they must face some horrible truths.

I liked where the author went with his story. There are no happy moments. All of the girls are forced to face things they fear, things they want to forget.

The atmosphere is eerie, the story unpredictable, and the ending is a shocker. What more could I ask for!

4 Stars

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Synopsis

Few Christmas stories hold as much fascination as the story, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Inspired by the Dickens tale, A Christmas Carol, three young women decide to hold a séance to raise the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future. They don’t expect a result, but what they call out of the aethyr gives them a creepy holiday they will never forget, if they live to tell the tale!

Amazon

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Author Austin Crawley

Austin Crawley has written stories for more than ten years, usually involving ghosts, demons or spirits in some form. In 2015, he decided it was time to publish. He is currently working on a Dystopian series with a supernatural twist.

Blog / Facebook / Twitter

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Austin is giving away three eBook copies!

Choice of format – Mobi – ePub – PDF

Entry is easy. Please leave your email address so I can contact you if you win and answer this question:

If you were given a choice, would you want the Ghost of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, or Christmas Yet To Come to visit you?

Giveaway ends January 16th.

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Other books.

28806244

Genre: Horror

Synopsis

In a small English village, an abandoned black post box stands testament to the failing Royal Mail service where post box collections have ceased and letters must be delivered to the post office in the local shop.

However, the residents of this village continue to drop irregular letters into the black box. Messages to dead relatives are not only delivered, but often requests for supernatural intervention are acted upon in the world of the living where the dead and damned can only enter by special invitation.

When a visitor learns of the black post box, he dismisses it as local superstition and chides the villagers for their simple beliefs, until he accepts the challenge to test the box for himself. What would you ask for, if you could send a message to the damned?

Amazon

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

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The Friday 56 #133 ~ 77 Shadow Street

Posted: January 6, 2017 in horror, The Friday 56
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Welcome to The Friday 56 hosted by Freda’s Voice.

 

This is a really fun meme!

The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader and find a sentence or a few (no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.

Then go over to Freda’s Voice and leave your link so we can visit your 56!

My 56 for this week is from:

 77 Shadow Street

by Dean Koontz

15797369

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Genre: Horror

From page 56 in the paperback.

He didn’t think he was a berserk killer, but he had never been tested.  One thing Winny had learned from books was that you had to be tested in life to discover who you were and what you were capable of doing.

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Read on if you want to know more.

Synopsis

Welcome to the Pendleton. Built as a tycoon’s dream home in the 1880s and converted to luxury condominiums not quite a century later, the Gilded Age palace at the summit of Shadow Hill is a sanctuary for its fortunate residents. Scant traces remain of the episodes of madness, suicide, mass murder—and whispers of things far worse—that have scarred its grandeur almost from the beginning.

But now inexplicable shadows caper across walls, security cameras relay impossible images, phantom voices mutter in strange tongues, not-quite-human figures lurk in the basement, elevators plunge into unknown depths. With each passing hour a terrifying certainty grows: Whatever drove the Pendleton’s past occupants to their unspeakable fates is at work again. And as nightmare visions become real, as a deadly tide begins to engulf them, the people at 77 Shadow Street will find the key to humanity’s future . . . if they can survive to use it.

AMAZON

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Leave your link and I’ll drop by your 56.

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

You can find a list of my reviews HERE.

For a list of free eBooks go HERE

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My Monday Minis Reviews #51 ~ Ink and Bone and Ink and Bone

Posted: January 2, 2017 in Fantasy, horror, Monday's Minis, Mytery/Thriller, reviews, YA
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Welcome to My Monday Minis Reviews where I share short reviews of books I’ve read. For today I’ll be sharing two books with the same titles but different authors and story lines.

Ink and Bone

by Lisa Unger

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Genre: Mystery / Thriller / Horror

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My Review

After reading the synopsis for this book, no way was I not reading it.

A father and son shot, left wounded in the Hollows while the daughter, Abbey, is dragged away by her abductor.

A young woman, haunted by dreams and ghosts, paints her body with tattoos, slowly losing control of her gifts.

The Hollows, buried in winter snow, not giving up it’s secrets.

A mother struggling to stay sane, makes a last desperate attempt to find her daughter.

I enjoy it when a story pulls me in right from the beginning and the author did just that. I lost track of things going on around me and kept reading …. kept reading, until I was done.

The character’s are strongly developed and drive the story, and the plot is busy and exhilarating, reminding me of a dangerous winding road. You race around each bend, never knowing what waits in the road to send the story out of control.

A real page turner for anyone looking for a thriller with some suspense and horror, plus a bit of the paranormal thrown in.

4 Stars

Synopsis

An instant page-turner (Lisa Gardner) that straddles the line between thriller and horror…sure to appeal to a wide range of readers, including Stephen King fans. (Booklist, starred) A young woman’s mysterious gift forces her into the middle of a dangerous investigation of a little girl’s disappearance.

Twenty-year-old Finley Montgomery is rarely alone. Visited by people whom others can’t see and haunted by prophetic dreams, she has never been able to control or understand the things that happen to her. When Finley’s abilities start to become too strong for her to handle – and even the roar of her motorcycle or another dazzling tattoo can’t drown out the voices – she turns to the only person she knows who can help her: her grandmother Eloise Montgomery, a renowned psychic living in The Hollows, New York.

Merri Gleason is a woman at the end of her tether after a ten-month-long search for her missing daughter, Abbey. With almost every hope exhausted, she resorts to hiring Jones Cooper, a detective who sometimes works with psychic Eloise Montgomery. Merri’s not a believer, but she’s just desperate enough to go down that road, praying that she’s not too late. Time, she knows, is running out.

As a harsh white winter moves into The Hollows, Finley and Eloise are drawn into the investigation, which proves to have much more at stake than even the fate of a missing girl. As Finley digs deeper into the town and its endless layers, she is forced to examine the past, even as she tries to look into the future. Only one thing is clear: The Hollows gets what it wants, no matter what.

Amazon

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Ink and Bone

by Rachel Caine

27068793

Genre: YA Fantasy

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My Review

A book about the Great Library of Alexandria, and a fantasy to boot. I was sold and knew it would be a good fit for me.

Owning books is forbidden in this world. You can view and read books through the use of alchemy, but can’t actually own a book.

I don’t know about you but I love my physical books. I just know I’d break the rules and something terrible would happen. And so it goes with this story. Jess breaks the rules with his illegal cache of books. How interesting as he’s assigned to spy on those who break those very rules. When something wondrous and potentially dangerous is created it could change the world. Chaos ensues and it’s not just books that will be burned.

Ooh, now how does that grab ya? Once I got familiar with this world I was quickly swept away. Lots of intrigue and suspense kept me enthralled right to the finale.

This is an exciting beginning to a promising fantasy series. I’ll be visiting it again.

4 Stars

Synopsis

In an exhilarating new series, “New York Times” bestselling author Rachel Caine rewrites history, creating a dangerous world where the Great Library of Alexandria has survived the test of time.
Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden.
Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family. Jess has been sent to be his family spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library s service.
When his friend inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe knowledge is more valuable than any human life and soon both heretics and books will burn.”

Amazon

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

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