With a fascinating backdrop to the New England vampire panic of the 18th and 19th centuries this novel is set in 1999 though feels ultra modern in tone. As she starts college, Mallory Webb is haunted by a spirit linked to her mother's death and determines to find answers. This is likely to appeal to young adults due to the age of the characters, before you start though, do be aware that this contains sensitive themes including suicide, suicidal thoughts, and coercion as well as the horror elements and two steamy sex scenes. The location of a former sanitarium turned college ... View Full Review
A wonderful premise leads this debut fantasy; management of the worlds monsters falls to the organisation Entity, when two of their employers go in search of a missing warden in the Appalachian Mountains they stumble into the world of the Hollow Walker. This is the start of a series and introduces HR caseworker Alexys who manages District 13 and four wardens, and Director of Research and Categorisation Nic. Author Grace Viall has created a wonderful setting, the mountains come alive with folklore and atmosphere ensuring a deliciously unsettling tone. A slow-burn romance sits alongside some more breezy moments which changes a ... View Full Review
Body of Lies is a phenomenal conclusion to the Kat and Lock series. Jo Callaghan has never shied away from killing off major characters, so in this final instalment, nobody feels safe. As AIDE Lock and DCS Kat Frank work together to stop a cyberattack on the national grid, they're forced to question everyone they know, and every rule they thought they were playing by. The novel is full of clever foreshadowing that I didn't fully appreciate until everything clicked into place during the heart-wrenching finale. View Full Review
OK, I might be bending the genre boundary a little bit with this one but it’s the 50th anniversary of the film adaptation (with Sissy Spacek in the title role) this year, so it feels fitting to include the story of Carrie White, a bullied teenager with the gift of telekinesis. To be invited to prom night by Tommy Ross is a dream come true for Carrie, the first step towards social acceptance by her high school colleagues. But events take a horrifying turn on that deadly night as she is forced to exercise her terrible gift on ... View Full Review
A brilliantly claustrophobic closed-circle thriller set in a single location – a snowed-in highway rest stop in the wilds of Colorado. Student Darby Thorne is stranded and has resigned herself to spending the night waiting out the blizzard with four complete strangers – until she stumbles across a little girl locked in a cage inside one of their parked cars. There is no mobile reception, no telephone, no way out because of the snow, and she doesn’t know which one of the other travellers is the kidnapper…
This is a no-frills, no-holds-barred rollercoaster of a read, with ... View Full Review
Plenty of books fit into the ‘Small town, big secrets’ genre, but for my money this is one of the best. Set in the poorest part of the Missouri Ozarks, the story follows Eve Taggert as she sets out on an all-consuming quest for justice after her daughter is found murdered on the town playground next to the body of her best friend. Eve is a mother with nothing left to lose and her search for the killer leads her into the very darkest depths of the human psyche.
The small, hardscrabble town of Barren Springs is brilliantly ... View Full Review
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Dante Spence is the star quarterback with a secret. He can’t risk anything ruining his chances to make the draft next year. When a failing grade threatens his carefully laid plans, he's assigned a tutor: Savannah Cole, top of the class. Savannah appears to be the perfect overachiever. She plays the part, but she has her own secrets too. They could be each other’s downfall, but both seem unable to stay away. Is following their hearts worth risking their future?
This is a sports romance with an edge. Dante’s determination to ... View Full Review
Ask For Andrea follows three murdered women whose lives were cut short after seemingly ordinary encounters with the same man.
Brecia was murdered two years ago while putting out her bins after rejecting a man she met on a dating app. Since then, she has spent her afterlife haunting her killer.
Meghan was killed in the woods on a dating app date a year earlier, left trapped in limbo where she died.
Skye was murdered after accepting a lift from a charming customer, and now lingers around her grieving mother, who cannot see or hear her.
When the three girls ... View Full Review
If you are on the hunt for a romance that centres on the couple and is up front and personal then step this way. Professional bull rider Emmett agrees to star in a reality dating show to save the family ranch, however the woman to catch his eye is Julia, the location consultant and sister of his longtime rival. Author Elsie Silver is a Sunday Times bestselling author, this novel is her first in a new Western Romance series that centres around Emerald Lake. The romance in Fever Dream is forbidden, hot, and steamy even as a mutual respect grows ... View Full Review
Before diving in, it’s important to know that The Dinner Party isn’t the typical page-turner we’ve come to expect from Freida McFadden, and that’s entirely the point. This book could hitch a ride on the Artemis II spacecraft and still be closer to Earth than it is to a traditional psychological thriller.
Instead, it leans fully into satire. Much like a parody film that pokes fun at horror tropes, this short, choose-your-own-adventure story exaggerates familiar thriller and horror clichés to absurd extremes. The result is a collection of grisly, ridiculous, ... View Full Review
France Quinn is the queen of writing brilliantly addictive, uplifting stories of the underdog triumphing over adversity. I have loved all of her novels, but her latest, The Lost Passenger, is one of her best, and one where you will be routing for her unconventional heroine with every turn of the page.
Elinor Coombes is the daughter of a rich, self-made businessman. She thinks she is living in her very own fairytale when she attracts the attentions of the son of an aristocrat. But once married, she soon discovers the love match she thought she was making, is something ... View Full Review
Continuing the artist theme, my next recommendation is a book written by a wonderfully talented writer of historical fiction, Elizabeth Fremantle. This time, based on the true story of a real female artist.
This is an exquisitely written novel, set in 17th century Rome about the extraordinary painter, Artemisia Gentileschi. Extraordinary because she was working at a time when women were mere chattels and to attempt to make her mark, to compete in a man's world and to go against her father's wishes was a dangerous game.
Artemisia is the daughter of an artist. She grows up with ... View Full Review
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