At Home with the Horrors by Sammy Scott

 This book of short stories is fabulous! I enjoyed every single story. They varied in true sense of horror, but they all had horrific endings, most you won’t see coming.

What We Have Here is a heartwarming and terrifying story about a married couple who have some communication problems. 

Theresa is a never ending love story. This one will stick with me for a long time. 

Blackbird is when a dream becomes a nightmare. 

In the short story Sisters, a daughter needs help moving her mom to a retirement home. The mom doesn’t want to leave the home she grew up in.

Peeping Tommy is your average neighborhood boogeyman. Or is he….

In Becca; Becca and Bryan need help with someone watching their house at night. He keeps standing there staring and then starts to make some noises. 

Sleeptalker is an odd story about talking in your sleep. The couple use their phone to record what is being said.

Re-birth is an outstanding story. I don’t want to give anything away, but the title is perfect for this story. 

Katherine is a good ghost story. The ending was definitely eerie. 

Scared Mary involves mom, Mary, constantly being scared and recorded for her husband's YouTube channel. She is getting tired of the scares and asks her husband to back off a bit. It is causing her a lot of stress and anxiety.

Something Else Entirely, nobody is who they seem to be. In my opinion, this one is probably the scariest of all the short stories.

Nancy is about karma. A good story with some solid revenge.

People You May Know , a Facebook horror short story! This one is actually good. It is about a husband/father who decides to send a friend request with an old college friend. 

Emil Bones is actually a Novella. A mom and her son move to a new home, the son starts at a new school and the mom starts a new job as a librarian. She finds an old journal one day at work and decides to read it. She probably shouldn’t do that, but you know, curiosity killed the cat.

 

Sammy Scott is a talented writer. He has quite an imagination and it shows with the endings of the short stories and the novella. I would love to see how he does with a full length novel. He is an author you need to put on your radar. I am going to keep an eye on his books, I want to read some more. 

The Day Before You Came by Matthew Cash

 The Day Before You Came by Matthew Cash is one of those stories that keeps building and building upon itself until it explodes massively into a final conclusion that is so sad and satisfying all at once. 

Niamh and Phillipa have been friends for decades. They have been through so much together. The story starts when they are in school and lean on each other throughout all the bullying and everything else that comes along the way. It progresses up to their adulthood. 

Niamh has a special gift of feeling negative or positive energy. Phillipa has a hard time believing this, until Phillipa buys a house and gets to experience what Niamh has dealt with all her life. 

There are so many connections with all the characters in this story. A did a lot of  “oh my god” after finishing a chapter. A bunch of karma, too!! 

Some trigger warnings though: domestic abuse, suicide, animal cruelty, and mild sexual assault.

Meditations on Butterflies by Kristen D'Angelo

 This book is truly beautiful and breathtaking!

The beginning of the book has a section called "Butterfly Families". Six different butterfly families are identified and goes into detail how to spot them.
The next section gives detailed instructions on how to build a butterfly habitat. It goes on to explain what kinds of plants are best to host butterflies and what not to feed or use around them. 
Next, the butterfly's life cycle. All the stages of the butterfly's life.

After learning all these important steps on saving the butterflies and protecting them, an A to Z section of butterflies! You get calligraphy exercises, coloring sections, a journal section, and random facts. And every once in awhile a need little tidbit is added, such as a mini "to-do" list tucked in a tiny corner of one of the activity pages. 

If you know anyone who is interested in nature, butterflies, and art; this is the book for them or yourself!

Thank you #NetGalley and #GirlFridayBooks for letting me review #MeditationsonButterflies by Kristen D'Angelo.

Hella Chill Monsters, Volume 1 by Shuji Takeya

 First impressions, love the artwork. 

Limbo is the place between heaven and hell and monsters live there, they aren’t good or bad and they are immortal in this world. Hella Chill Monsters, Volume 1 introduces Bonzo, a skeleton; Vamp, a vampire; and Nero, a stray zombie. The shorts graphic stories are about what their detective agency does. We then meet many friends and acquaintances along the way!

 

This needs a coloring book to go with the series. I think coloring in some of these pages would be fun!!

I look forward to reading Volume 2!!

Thank you #NetGalley and #Kodansha for letting me read and review #HellaChillMonstersVolume1.

Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga Edited by Lindy Ryan, Written by many authors

 Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga.

This is a book of 22 short stories and one poem all about Baba Yaga. All of the stories are written by women. Each story is a rendition of who the author thinks Baba Yaga is and tells her story. 

Many of the stories are dark and elegant. They depict Baba Yaga as evil with good intentions or a woman scorned by humanity. There is sadness and happiness in these short stories. 

I have no favorites of these. They all touched my heart in one way or another. I will be getting a copy of this book to have in my personal library once it is released. I also think this would make a great gift for any of our witchy friends and family. Especially if they love the story of Baba Yaga.

Thank you #NetGalley and #BlackSpotBooks for letting me read and review #IntotheForest.

Camp Silver Oaks by Leeroy Cross James

This is my first time reading Leeroy Cross James, and definitely will be reading the next book in this series! The first book in the series “Camp Silver Oaks” releases August 26, 2022.

Brody Jackson, highschool student, has gone too far with crime. He is sent to Camp Silver Oaks, an experimental rehabilitation camp for young delinquents. It is a picturesque and typical camp that everyone imagines. 

However, underneath this quiet and beautiful atmosphere, something evil is lurking. Brody means to find out why everyone is so happy and loving. This is a camp full of delinquents, it just does not make sense to him.

This is a fantastic creature feature, switching between the 1980’s and present time. You get teenage drama, adult drama, campfire stories, an evil creature, and a stubborn delinquent. 

The cover of this book fits the story perfectly, too! Once the second book releases, I am planning to read it!

Thank you #Leeroycrossjames for sending me an ARC of #CampSilverOaks

Gallows Hills by Darcy Coates

 Gallows Hill by Darcy Coates is probably the most difficult book of hers that I have read yet. Coates has a method of writing. There is depth to the story and a lot of emotion with the characters. Coates likes to draw you in and make you feel exactly what the characters in the book feel, even the small cast characters and all the creatures.

Margot, our main character, has returned to her childhood home after her parents have unexpectedly passed away. When she was eight years old, her mom and dad sent her to live with her grandmother. They never called or visited her. Margot never understood why, all of a sudden, she no longer had a life with her parents.

Now that they have passed away and left Margot the home and wine business, Margot is finding answers she has longed to know. Except, they aren’t answers she wants. 

This is a mind twisting, psychologically deep, and eerie story that just keeps pulling you back in. The ending was nothing I was prepared for. There is no way anyone could have predicted that ending. 

I am ready for my next Darcy Coates!!

Thank you #NetGalley and  #PoisonedPenPress for sending me this ARC for an honest review.