Last year, I enjoyed Marina Scott's novel, The Night Guests, and I was excited to read more from her. Today she releases her newest novel, My Darling Girls. Set between 1894 and 1904, this novel follows an opium-addicted widow named Jo. Since her husband's death a year ago, Jo has taken over his photography business.... Continue Reading →
I've been wanting to read Jason Rekulak since he released Hidden Pictures in 2022. That's still on the TBR (very high up on it!), but I did finally dive into his work with his latest book, Look What the Cat Dragged In. This is a supernatural thriller for cat lovers, and indeed, that's what first... Continue Reading →
Happy release day to It Looks Like You in the Dark by Mathilda Zeller! The first in her new Kobuk Valley series, this horror novel centers Iñupiat people, history, and folklore. It takes place in an Indigenous Alaskan village in 1994, and white men have just arrived to mine, heedless of the health issues their... Continue Reading →
Today, Kelley Armstrong releases her latest horror novel, Dive Bar at the End of the Road. This is my second time reading her, but what a different book this one is! It starts with Ellie, driving down a dark road in the woods, a bit disoriented about the time. Suddenly a woman is right in... Continue Reading →
Last week saw the release of Something Followed Us Home: Tales of Latiné Horror, edited by Cynthia Pelayo. This anthology features 18 short stories by a variety of Latine authors. Some I've read and enjoyed before, such as Isabel Cañas, Zoraida Córdova, and Carolina Flórez-Cerchiaro. Some are authors I've been wanting to read, including Mariana... Continue Reading →
Happy book birthday to Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm. This has been one of my most anticipated debuts of 2026, and it is as moving as I'd hoped. In 2002, Marina is preparing to travel to her late grandmother's childhood home in Haifa, Palestine. Though reluctant at first, her mom, Haifa (named for... Continue Reading →
I'm a sucker for anything with a classic horror premise, so when I first heard about I Am the Monster Under the Bed by Emily Zinnikas, I was instantly drawn in. As a kid, Willa could see things her parents couldn't, and her best friend was the invisible monster under her bed. Then, during her... Continue Reading →
One of my most anticipated books of the year is out today: An Immaculate Deception by Isabela Livino. This debut horror takes readers to 1877 in Brazil. Madalena is young and pregnant, and the only way she'll be allowed to keep her baby is if her beau, Leandro, marries her. Madalena is excited to tell... Continue Reading →
Iceland is a country that keeps pulling me back in, so I'm always on the hunt for more books set there. This made Freyja by Margrét Ann Thors one of my most anticipated books this year. This dual timeline thriller brings Iceland—and its folklore—to vivid life. When Unnar was just eleven, her aunt (and legal... Continue Reading →
Ever since I saw that stunning cover, I've been looking forward to C.D. Major's debut novel, The Residency. Ginny is a single mother to six-year-old Isla, and every day brings ever more challenges. Broke, needing a change from London, and wanting to restart her art career, Ginny accepts a paid art residency on a remote... Continue Reading →
Last year Shannon Morgan released her third novel, Grimdark. With her fourth book just around the corner, I wanted to catch up on this one first. Grimdark starts off when Cló's husband, Jude, unexpectedly inherits his estranged family's estate in Norfolk. The couple travel there to oversee the new ownership, but Jude's cruel, much older... Continue Reading →
Charlotte Cross's debut novel, The Brides, just came out this week. This is for all the Dracula fans out there: In this retelling, we get accounts from Mafalda Lowell, Lucy North, schoolfriend Eliza, and lady’s maid Alice from their travels to Budapest and Transylvania in 1884. Twenty years later, Dr. John Seward is a psychiatric... Continue Reading →
As a lifelong fan of horror, I was intrigued by Mallory Arnold's debut novel, How to Survive a Horror Story. It follows a group of seven authors (aspiring and published) who have been invited to the reading of a will. Iconic horror author Mortimer Queen has passed away, and he has bequeathed something special to... Continue Reading →
Happy release day to the English translation of The Summer of the Serpent by Cecilia Eudave. First released in Spanish in 2022, this novella takes place in the summer of 1977 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Two daughters witness bizarre horrors in their neighborhood, while the adults are wrapped up in their more mundane problems, unaware of... Continue Reading →
Earlier this month, Jasmine Holmes released her debut novel, Our Sister's Keeper. Set in the all-Black town of East Cobb, Mississippi in the 1920s, it follows two women who live in this seemingly utopian city. Thea has just moved there with her husband, Kid, but immediately feels like she won't fit in. Thea wants a... Continue Reading →
This year I've been increasingly drawn to horror novels set around the world, including African horror in particular. House of Margins by Tlotlo Tsamaase piqued my interest for its setting in both Botswana and South Africa, its focus on African literature, and a missing person mystery told through the lens of a true crime podcast.... Continue Reading →
Sunyi Dean's new novel, The Girl with a Thousand Faces, was one of my most anticipated releases this year. Divided between 1940s and 1970s Hong Kong, it follows Mercy, a middle-aged woman with a knack for talking to ghosts and sending them on their way. But Mercy has no memories before the age of 20,... Continue Reading →
I've been looking forward to Gabrielle Sher's debut novel, Odessa. Set in 1905 during the pogroms in Russia, it focuses on a Jewish family fighting for their safety. Yetta is a teenager, engaged and ready to embark on her future. But then her Jewish community is attacked, and she's one of the many killed. Her... Continue Reading →
One of my most anticipated books of 2026 is out now: Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker. I've wanted to read this author since she released The Keeper of Night in 2021, and I'm glad to finally be diving in now. The title Japanese Gothic may recall Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, but that's where... Continue Reading →
Olesya Salnikova Gilmore is an author I've been wanting to read since her debut, The Witch and the Tsar. Now her third novel is out: The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru takes place in 1924 Paris, where a Russian immigrant family is haunted (literally!) by the past. With a decades-old murder mystery or two, out-of-control... Continue Reading →
Happy book birthday to Linda Hamilton's The Fourth Wife! This debut gothic novel takes readers to 1880s Utah and a polygamous Mormon family. Hazel and her childhood friend Elijah have long planned to marry only each other, but when she's pushed into a marriage to another man, Hazel reluctantly accepts. She's now Jacob's fourth wife,... Continue Reading →
CG Drews recently released their adult debut novel, You Did Nothing Wrong. This psychological horror follows Elodie, the 22-year-old mother to her six-year-old son, Jude. She spent years with her neglectful parents in Australia, but upon meeting Bren, she packed up her life to live with him in the United States. Bren has a large... Continue Reading →
One of my most anticipated books of the year was Clay Cane's Burn Down Master's House. Though I don't read much fiction about slavery these days, the title of this one was impossible to ignore. Inspired by real people, including some of the author's own ancestors who were enslaved, this novel plays out like four... Continue Reading →
Last May, Carolina Flórez-Cerchiaro released her debut novel, Bochica. Today, the Spanish version is out, and though I'm not yet fluent in the language, I celebrated by reading the ebook in English and listening to the audiobook in Spanish. Set in Colombia in 1936, it follows Antonia in the aftermath of her mother's death. She... Continue Reading →
