Hello my lovely friends!

What a summer it has been! I have been insanely busy IRL and haven’t dedicated much time to my beloved blog. I’m so sorry for my negligience and I hope to rectify it now that my baby girl has started school (Waahhhhhhhh), with more of a regular schedule.

What I haven’t neglected is my reading suprisingly. When you move to a new city and it’s a bit quieter than what your use to, and you’re constantly getting kicked out of your own house due to renovations, you find yourself with many opportunities for reading. I have been reading A LOT, so I have put quite a sizable dent in my TBR. Hooray! Unfortunately, I now have a backlog of reviews to write, and while some might consider this cheating, I thought sharing my summer reading with you would be a good way to tackle some of them 😉

Horror & Paranormal

Damned by the Ancients by Catherine Cavendish (Nemesis of the Gods Series)

INFINITY IN DEATH

Vienna, 1908

Gabriele Ziegler is a young art student who becomes infatuated with charismatic archeologist Dr. Emeryk Quintillus. Only too late does she realize his true designs on her. He is obsessed with resurrecting Cleopatra and has retained the famed artist Gustav Klimt to render Gabriele as the Queen of the Nile, using ashes from Cleopatra’s mummy mixed with the paint. The result is a lifelike portrait emitting an aura of unholy evil . . .

Vienna, 2018

The Mortimer family has moved into Quintillus’s former home, Villa Dürnstein. In its basement they find an original Klimt masterpiece—a portrait of Cleopatra art scholars never knew existed. But that’s not all that resides within the villa’s vault. Nine-year-old Heidi Mortimer tells her parents that a strange man lives there.

Quintillus’s desire to be with Cleopatra transcends death. His spirit will not rest until he has brought her back from the netherworld. Even if he has to sacrifice the soul of a child.

My Thoughts…

This is book 3 of Cat’s series but she assured me it can be read as a standalone, which is good because I haven’t read the previous books.

The author’s specialties are the gothic paranormal type and traditional ghost stories and she is very good at what she does. What makes this one special is that it also contains ancient Egyption mythology as well which was fascinating.

My only complaint is that though it technically can be read as a stadalone, I think I would have preferred reading the other books first. Despite that, I very much enjoyed it and would recommend it to paranormal fans.

Rating… A

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

Aging, self-absorbed rock star Judas Coyne has a thing for the macabre — his collection includes sketches from infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy, a trepanned skull from the 16th century, a used hangman’s noose, Aleister Crowley’s childhood chessboard, etc. — so when his assistant tells him about a ghost for sale on an online auction site, he immediately puts in a bid and purchases it.

The black, heart-shaped box that Coyne receives in the mail not only contains the suit of a dead man but also his vengeance-obsessed spirit. The ghost, it turns out, is the stepfather of a young groupie who committed suicide after the 54-year-old Coyne callously used her up and threw her away. Now, determined to kill Coyne and anyone who aids him, the merciless ghost of Craddock McDermott begins his assault on the rocker’s sanity.

My Thoughts…

Joe Hill rarely disappoints and this one is no exception. The premise is really unique and the story was truly a frightening journey. If you like ghost stories with a liberal dose of gore then you will really enjoy this book.

Rating… A

Extinct by Ike Hamill

Channel Two predicted a blanket of snow for Thanksgiving weekend–unusual, but not alarming for the little Maine island. What comes is a blinding blizzard, and a mass disappearance of nearly every person Robby Pierce knows. He and his family flee, trying to escape the snow and the invisible forces stealing people right from the street.
Miles away, Brad Jenkins battles the same storm. Alone, he attempts to survive as snow envelops his house. When the storm breaks, Brad makes his way south to where the snow ends and the world lies empty. Join Brad, Robby, and the other survivors as they fight to find the truth about the apocalypse and discover how to live in their new world.

 

My Thoughts…

Now this book I really liked. I love disaster/ end of the world stuff so this book was right up my alley. It was sort of a cross between the Gone series by Michael Grant and Stephen King’s, The Mist. I was riveted from page one and was delighted to learn that there is a sequel despite not ending in an obvious cliff-hanger. The end of the book took quite a bizarre twist, one I wasn’t expecting but overall, a solid read.

Rating… A+

Amity by Micol Ostow

Here is a house of ruin and rage, of death and deliverance.
Here is where I live, not living.
Here is always mine.

When Connor’s family moves to Amity, a secluded house on the peaceful banks of New England’s Concord River, his nights are plagued with gore-filled dreams of demons. destruction, and revenge. Dreams he kind of likes. Dreams he could make real, with Amity’s help.

Ten years later, Gwen’s family moves to Amity for a fresh start. Instead, she’s haunted by lurid visions, disturbing voices, and questions about her own sanity. But with her history, who would ever believe her? And what could be done if they did?

Because Amity isn’t just a house. She is a living force, bent on manipulating her inhabitants to her twisted will. She will use Connor and Gwen to bring about a violent end as she’s done before. As she’ll do again. And again. And again.

Inspired by a true-crime story, Amity spans generations to weave an overlapping, interconnected tale of terror, insanity. danger, and death.

My Thoughts…

This book was recommended as a “must read” by Book Riot and I was so excited to read this classic horror as a YA retelling that I downloaded it right away, TBR be damned!

I was incredibly disappointed! All of the elements are there and it was mildly entertaining but there really wasn’t anything original about it. Instead of the father or husband being possessed by the infamous house, it’s the children. That was the only unique thing about it.

I wouldn’t say don’t read it but be prepared for a meh kind of read.

Rating… C+

Well I would keep going but my laptop’s is running on fumes. To be continued!