Posts Tagged ‘Horror’

Saturday Screams #63 ~ Congeal

Posted: July 6, 2019 in apocalypse, horror, reviews
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Welcome to my Saturday Screams where I share books that thrill and chill!

Today I’m sharing an ooey gooey one!

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Congeal

by John F. Leonard

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Genre: Horror

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My Review

I love a scary good read, whether in large doses or in nibbles. Congeal is a small book with plenty of big scenes. One in particular was sad and I wished hadn’t happened.

How do I describe the plot. I’m thinking equal parts The Blob and Cloverfield, the movies. With some touches of John Carpenter’s The Thing. Whatever it is that oozes up from the bowels of the earth and seeks to consume everything on the planet is terrifying.

The author sets up the story quickly, brings the characters to life and then unleashes some wild scenes. Many don’t survive.

Take a look at the fabulous cover. That’s just one of the things you have to worry about with this stuff. Is it sentient? What will stop it? Can it be stopped? All questions I had to know the answers to. Did I get those answers? Some, yes. Some, I drew my own conclusions. And that’s okay. A good book should keep me thinking about if afterwards.

I was wrapped up in this immediately and could easily have read Congeal as a full length novel. Short stories are meant to be read in gulps and the author did a great job.

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Synopsis

It starts with reports on the news of an inland lake turning semi-solid.
Surely, a media joke, some lame April Fool’s prank?
The before and after pictures are vaguely ludicrous and oddly disturbing, the contrast stark and strange.
First, darkly rippling water that hints at hidden depths. Slightly spooky and perfectly normal. Next, a putrid blotch of clotted sludge which bears little resemblance to anything aquatic.

It isn’t a joke.
And pretty soon, that greasy, sickening substance isn’t confined to an inland lake.
It’s spreading. Flowing over fields and filling streets.
Each morning brings a new revelation. Countryside denuded of life and towns empty and echoing.
The night is when it changes, becomes something that consumes. Something infinitely worse than a congealed impossibility.

CONGEAL is a short tale of apocalyptic horror. How the world ends may not be how you expect. Nuclear Armageddon or a zombie apocalypse could get beaten to the punch.
Our apocalypse may come from below.
An ancient, cosmic entity bubbling up to the surface in search of food.
It’s also the story of one individual and her fight to stay afloat in a sea of despair.

Amazon

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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 go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

Rose by Rami Ungar ~ Spotlight and Giveaway

Posted: July 5, 2019 in Fantasy, giveaways, horror
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Rose
by Rami Ungar
Genre: Fantasy-Horror
 
Rose Taggert awakens in a greenhouse with no clear memory of the
past two years and, to her horror, finds her body transformed into an
unrecognizable form.
Paris Kuyper has convinced Rose that they are lovers and as Paris
could not bear for her to die, he has used an ancient and dark magic
to save her from certain death.
But the dark magic Paris has used comes at a price. A price which a
terrible demon is determined to extract from Rose.
As Rose struggles to understand what is happening to her, she must
navigate Paris’s lies and secrets; secrets that Paris will
do anything to protect.
 
 
Rami Ungar knew he wanted to be a writer from the age of five, when he
first became exposed to the world of Harry Potter and
wanted to create imaginative worlds like Harry’s. As a tween, he
fell in love with the works of Anne Rice and Stephen King and, as he
was getting too old to sneak up on people and shout “Boo!’ (not
that that ever stopped him), he decided to merge his two loves and
become a horror writer.
Today, Rami lives and writes in Columbus, Ohio. He’s self-published three
novels and one collection of short stories, and his stories have
appeared in other publications here and there. Rose, his first novel
with Castrum Press, released June 21st, 2019.
When he’s not writing your nightmares or coming up with those, he’s
enjoying anything from the latest horror novel or movie to anime and
manga to ballet, collecting anything that catches his fancy, and
giving you the impression he may not be entirely human.
 
 
 
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

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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

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

Books From The Backlog #13 ~ Creatures Of The Storm

Posted: July 4, 2019 in horror
Tags: ,
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If you’re like me, you have a pile of books beckoning to you from your lists. Carole hosts this fun feature where you can share some of those older books and perhaps nudge you to finally read them. If you want to join in on the fun, head over to Carole’s Random Life In Books and leave a link to your post.
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Creatures Of The Storm

The Rain Triptych #1

  by Brad Munson

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Genre: Horror

Synopsis

It hardly ever rains in Dos Hermanos. Not until one day, when the skies open up and it beings to pour–and it just won’t stop.

For the first twenty-four hours, the 3,721 citizens of Dos Hermanos will struggle to stay alive. Then things begin to appear out of the storm. They are eyeless, skinless, razor-edged creatures in a thousand different shapes–some as small as a tumor, some as large as a house. They share only two things–a boundless hatred of humanity and an endless, unquenchable thirst. Few will survive.

But a handful of extraordinary people will fight these monsters:
Ken Mackie, a software genius with a broken spirit.
Rose, his bitter, street-smart daughter.
Lucy Armbruster, a slightly mad scientist who may be the only one who knows what’s really happening.
Michael Steinberg, a man who gladly abandons his humanity to become something more and something far worse.

Who will live? Who will die? And who will learn the secrets of the Rain?

Amazon

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I added this book back in August of 2015. It’s got creatures so how could I resist! LOL

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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 go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

Teaser Tuesday #259 ~ The Sensitives

Posted: June 18, 2019 in horror, Paranormal or fantasy, Teaser Tuesdays
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Welcome to Teaser Tuesday hosted by Ambrosia  @ The Purple Booker.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read.
• Open to a random page.
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 

My Teaser for this week is from

The Sensitives

Book #1

by Rick Wood

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Genre:

  Teaser from 1% in the eBook.

You never expect a sweet, darling little girl to be the source of a man’s deepest fears.

And from 2%.

“Why the bloody hell is that door locked?” Jason commanded. 

“That’s where we’re keeping that Kaylee Kemple girl, boss,” Gus replied.

“Yes, I know that,” Jason spat through seething teeth. “Why is it locked?”

“Have you met her?”

“No, I have not.”

“Then you wouldn’t understand.”

I decided to you part of the opening scene in the book. It sure gets creepy.

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Synopsis

You’re not crazy, you just see dead things

“Why are you so scared?” he asks. “It’s just a little girl…”

Oscar is a loser, living with his parents, with no ambition and no friends.

Enter April and Julian. They, like him, are Sensitives – a person who is paranormally gifted. Together they show Oscar how he could finally do something amazing with his life.

Then there’s Kaylee. She may be ten years old, but there is nothing sweet or innocent about her. She reeks of evil, with eyes of fire and a smile that makes hardened police officers run with terror.

As Oscar enters a full-on battle with the demon possessing this girl’s body, he discovers that the use of his gift will require him to go through more terror, and face more evil, than he could ever have possibly imagined…

Discover the first instalment of the compelling horror series from the next big name in horror, Rick Wood, and experience a new level of fear in the world that he has created…

Amazon

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The above cover is the version I own.

This is an alternative one from Amazon.

The Sensitives: A Paranormal Horror Novel by [Wood, Rick]

Which do you like more?

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How about you? Got a tease? Tell me!

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 go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

Books From The Backlog #12 ~ The Game Warden Of Black Swamp

Posted: June 13, 2019 in Fantasy, horror
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If you’re like me, you have a pile of books beckoning to you from your lists. Carole hosts this fun feature where you can share some of those older books and perhaps nudge you to finally read them. If you want to join in on the fun, head over to Carole’s Random Life In Books and leave a link to your post.
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The Game Warden Of Black Swamp

The Game Warden Chronicles #1

  by Quentin Wallace

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Genre: Horror / Fantasy

Synopsis

The Black Swamp. Some say it’s haunted. Others say it’s the gateway to Hell. Only a few have ever seen it and survived. For hundreds of years, the denizens of the swamp have preyed upon the unsuspecting.

Enter former Navy SEAL Shade Channing, who, in a strange twist of fate, finds himself employed as the game warden of the infamous Black Swamp. Instead of managing wildlife, Shade finds himself fighting a horde of creatures straight out of mankind’s darkest nightmares. Mentored by fellow warden, Native American Shaman Waya Firehat, Shade must learn how to battle them all.

When Waya’s daughter is taken hostage by bank robbers that escape into the swamp, Shade and Waya find themselves in a race against time-and the monsters of the swamp-to find her.

Amazon

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I added this book back in February of 2015 and I can’t believe I haven’t read it yet. Going to fix that soon!

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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 go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

Spotlight and Giveaway ~ Grey Skies by William Becker

Posted: June 11, 2019 in giveaways, horror
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Grey Skies
by William Becker 
Genre: Horror
 
Roman Toguri finds himself burying the body of a nun in Boone, North
Carolina. As the skies darken and it begins to storm, he is forced to
shove the corpse into his trunk and take it home for the night,
unaware of the torment that playing God will bestow upon him.
Enter Hell with two bonus short stories: The White Shade, an ultra-violent
look into the mind of a mass shooter, and The Black Box, a
psychedelic dive into weird horror.
 
 
 
 
William Becker is an 18-year-old horror author with a mind for weirder sides
of the universe. With an emphasis on complex and layered storylines
that tug harshly on the reader to search for deeper meanings in the
vein of Silent Hill and David Lynch, Becker is a force to be reckoned
within the horror world. His works are constantly unfathomable,
throwing terror into places never before seen, while also providing
compelling storylines that transcend the predictable jumpscares of
the popular modern horror.
His first novel, WEEPING OF THE CAVERNS, was written when he was 14.
After eight months of writing, editing, and revising, the story
arrived soon after his 15th birthday. During the writing sessions for
his debut novel, he also wrote an ultra-controversial short story
known as THE WHITE SHADE that focused on the horrors of a shooting.
Living in a modern climate, it was impossible for THE WHITE SHADE to
see the light of day. Following a psychedelic stint that consisted of
bingeing David Lynch movies, weird art, and considering the depth of
the allegory of the cave wall, he returned to writing with a second
story, THE BLACK BOX, and soon after, his second novel, GREY SKIES.
 
 
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

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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

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

Giveaway ~ Haunted Charlottesville and Surrounding Counties

Posted: June 1, 2019 in giveaways, horror
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Haunted Charlottesville and Surrounding Counties
by Susan Schwartz
Genre: Ghost Stories
 
Charlottesville, Virginia, and its 12 surrounding counties are filled with history
and charm. They also hold spirits who aren’t ready to leave their
beloved homes or families behind. Visit more than 75 haunting
locations with this experiential and historical guide. Shiver your
way through haunted graveyards, mansions, parks, private residences,
and other locations as you discover the past and learn of current
lingering ghosts and the havoc they continue to instigate. Have you
ever pondered about the spiritual implications from murders of olde?
Think you might like to be pinched by a ghost or have your name
called when no one is there? Interested in what a paranormal
investigative group might find? Then make plans to explore these
strange and frightening locations. Contact information is provided
for those places allowing visitations. But when you visit, be ready
for a haunting good time!
 
 
Susan Schwartz RN, MSN, MSHA has been an avid writer for around 10 years
doing everything from writing freelance articles to editing
manuscripts for other authors. She loves to write horror stories that
have a twist at the end.
Her alter ego is a former Operating Room Nurse, current Nurse Educator
who loves creating tales from the interesting and weird things she
has seen. She is a member of the Horror Writers Association and the
Virginia Writers Club where she has served as President of the
Richmond Chapter in the past. She also has two novels in the works, a
paranormal romance and a medical thriller. In her spare time, she
loves to read, crochet, and travel to such places as Italy, Spain,
Australia, and Korea.
 
 
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive content and a giveaway!
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

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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

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

Books From The Backlog #10 ~ Haven, Kansas

Posted: May 30, 2019 in horror, YA
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If you’re like me, you have a pile of books beckoning to you from your lists. Carole hosts this fun feature where you can share some of those older books and perhaps nudge you to finally read them. If you want to join in on the fun, head over to Carole’s Random Life In Books and leave a link to your post.
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Haven, Kansas

  by Alethea Kontis

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Genre: YA Horror

Synopsis

Never reap a harvest sown with blood.

150 years ago, in Haven, Kansas, a witch was burned at the stake. This October, in Haven, Kansas, a boy plays a prank on his big sister. Suddenly, crows fill the skies, a female scarecrow plagues the town, and teenagers are dying left and right. Amidst the violence, strange things keep happening. Lora Townsend discovers a secret room behind the wall of her bedroom, in which a dark and foul Book of Shadows has been hiding for over a century. The book belonged to an ancestor who documented the spells and stories of the strange woman he loved…a woman the town later killed for practicing witchcraft.

There are whispers on the wind. The death toll is rising. And Lora and her family seem to be the center of it all. They must call upon Lora’s small knowledge of magic to help them. Will they be able to take the town back from the witch, and can they manage it without losing their lives in the process?

Lois Duncan meets Joss Whedon in this literary slasher for the twenty-first century!

Amazon / B&N

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I added this book back in November of 2016 and I own a copy. It’s been ab it since I read a story about witches and this one sounds chilling.

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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 go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

It makes itself known……. Shantallow ~ Excerpt and Giveaway

Posted: May 27, 2019 in giveaways, horror, YA
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cara banner

Shantallow
by Cara Martin
Published by: Cormorant Books
Publication date: May 26th 2019
Genres: Horror, Young Adult

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Synopsis

Tanvi isn’t the girl of Misha’s dreams; she’s the girl from his nightmares. She has appeared in his chilling dreams before he even meets her; when he DOES meet her, he falls for her.

Their relationship turns stormy, bordering on abusive, and takes a dramatic turn when they are held captive by a group hoping to extract money from Tanvi’s wealthy family.

But there is something more sinister at work, and the kidnappers and their victims find themselves struggling for survival as a supernatural force from Misha’s nightmares makes itself known in the real world.

Purchase: Amazon / B&N

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Enjoy the excerpt:

Keion came in his cab when I texted him, like an indie 911. He shook his head at me as I dove into the front seat next to him. “I’ve never seen you in this sorry ass state,” he said. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” I told him.

“Yeah, you do.”

“Yeah, I do,” I admitted. I’d walked too far out on the ice and realized it could crack under my feet. “But not now, okay? I need to get home.”

Keion nodded as we pulled away from the curb. “I can see that, all right.”

I leaned my head back against the headrest and shut my eyes; I’d downed too many shots to keep them open. Sleep curved its velvety black wings eagerly around me. I didn’t fight it.

In some other place, Tanvi stared at me with eyes like a starless night sky. “Shantallow,” she said, her cheeks slick with blood and her lips not moving. “Run.” My shirt was torn at the elbow. It flapped as I ran, my ribs twitching underneath my skin, clawing me from the inside.

“We should have reached a road by now,” Tanvi said. Misery bent her voice, like a branch drooping under the weight of too much snow. “How can there be no road?”

I jolted myself free from sleep. Keion’s eyes were on the road ahead. “Shantallow,” he hissed. “We shall all be changed.” Sharp fingernails scraped violently against the passenger side of the car. Keion grinned maniacally, his teeth broken and gray. Only he wasn’t Keion anymore. My father was at the wheel. Soil spilled from his mouth. Chunks of his skull were missing, the glare from a passing car illuminating the clumps of raw, uneven flesh left in their place.

“Hey, hey!” a voice called. “Wake up, Misha.” A car horn blared. It sliced through my fear, hurling me back to the world. My head knocked back against the headrest, Keion’s right hand closed firmly around my arm. “Whoa. You were having a night terror or something. I couldn’t wake you up. You damn scared me.” He promptly released his hold, his right hand joining his left on the wheel.

“I’m okay,” I said unconvincingly. “Must’ve been all the beer.”

We were back in Balsam, a couple of blocks from my house. Keion sighed through his teeth, his concerned eyes worse than any lecture. Thirty seconds later we veered onto my street. About six houses down from mine a guy with his hood up sat on a neighbor’s steps, hunched against the wind. He cocked his head in my direction as I exited the car, like we knew each other.

Keion called after me, “Be good, Misha. Call me if you want to talk.”

I was as shaky as hell, freezing on the inside. The dream had been so real that I easily might have thrown myself from the car to escape it. One of my hands flew instinctively up in the air to wave off Keion, my feet pausing until the cab was gone and then padding me over to the neighbor’s front yard like they had their own ideas about what was supposed to happen next.

“Thought that was you,” the guy said from the stoop. He tugged his hoodie down, revealing a familiar face.

Author Cara Martin

Cara

Cara Martin is the author of several acclaimed novels for young people published under the name C. K. Kelly Martin. Her most recent novel, Stricken, was released in 2017. A graduate of the Film Studies program at York University, Cara has lived in the Greater Toronto Area and Dublin, Ireland. Within the space of 3500 miles she’s worked a collection of quirky jobs at multiple pubs and video stores, an electricity company, a division of the Irish post office, a London toyshop, and an advertising analytics company. She’s also been an image editor for a dot-com startup that didn’t survive the 90s, and a credit note clerk for Canada’s largest national distributor of General Merchandise. Cara currently resides in Ottawa, Ontario with her husband and is still afraid of the Child Catcher from the film adaptation of CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG.
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Author links: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
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GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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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

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

Inside The Asylum ~ A Supernatural Horror Spotlight and Giveaway

Posted: May 11, 2019 in giveaways, horror, Supernatural
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Inside the Asylum
A Kathy Ryan Novel #2
by Mary SanGiovanni
Genre: Supernatural Horror
Pub Date: 5/7/19
 
From “master of cosmic horror” (Library Journal) Mary
SanGiovanni, comes the latest terrifying novel featuring occult
specialist Kathy Ryan . . .
A mind is a terrible thing to destroy . . .
Kathy has been hired to assess the threat of patient Henry Banks, an inmate
at the Connecticut-Newlyn Hospital for the Criminally Insane, the
same hospital where her brother is housed. Her employers believe that
Henry has the ability to open doors to other dimensions with his
mind—making him one of the most dangerous men in modern history.
Because unbeknownst to Kathy, her clients are affiliated with certain
government organizations that investigate people like Henry—and the
potential to weaponize such abilities.
What Kathy comes to understand in interviewing Henry, and in her
unavoidable run-ins with her brother, is that Henry can indeed use
his mind to create “Tulpas”—worlds, people, and creatures so
vivid they come to actual life. But now they want life outside of
Henry. And they’ll stop at nothing to complete their emancipation.
It’s up to Kathy—with her brother’s help—to stop them, and if
possible, to save Henry before the Tulpas take him over—and
everything else around him.
 
 
Behind the Door
A Kathy Ryan Novel #1
 
Occult specialist Kathy Ryan returns in this thrilling novel of paranormal
horror from Mary SanGiovanni, the author of Chills . . .
Some doors should never be opened . . .
In the rural town of Zarepath, deep in the woods on the border of New Jersey and
Pennsylvania, stands the Door. No one knows where it came from, and
no one knows where it leads. For generations, folks have come to the
Door seeking solace or forgiveness. They deliver a handwritten letter
asking for some emotional burden to be lifted, sealed with a mixture
of wax and their own blood, and slide it beneath the Door. Three days
later, their wish is answered—for better or worse.
Kari is a single mother, grieving over the suicide of her teenage daughter. She made a
terrible mistake, asking the powers beyond the Door to erase the
memories of her lost child. And when she opened the Door to retrieve
her letter, she unleashed every sin, secret, and spirit ever trapped
on the other side.
Now, it falls to occultist Kathy Ryan to seal the door before Zarepath
becomes hell on earth . . .
 
 
Mary SanGiovanni is the author of the Bram Stoker nominated novel The
Hollower, its sequels Found You and The Triumvirate, Thrall, Chaos, Savage Woods, Chills—which
introduced occult security consultant Kathy Ryan—as well as the novellas For Emmy,
Possessing Amy, and The Fading Place, as well as numerous short stories.
She has been writing fiction for over a decade, has a masters in writing popular fiction from
Seton Hill University, and is a member of The Authors Guild, Penn Writers,
and International Thriller Writers. 
 
 
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive content and a giveaway!
 

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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

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

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