horror Archives

Play Nice

“But so often, being right means nothing but winning a round of a losing game.” Author: Rachel Harrison A selfish young stylist/influencer who loves her content and feels nothing for people, including family, friends, and lovers. A demon-possessed house in need of some TLC. A traumatic childhood. And A LOT of drinking, drugs, and things that go bump in the night and leave smiley faces etched on the walls. And that, dear potential readers, is Play Nice. A less sarcastic, more complete synopsis looks like this: A divorced mother accused of child abuse and alcoholism finally loses custody and visitation rights [...]

Frances Carden2025-12-22T20:21:44-07:00December 22nd, 2025|Tags: book of the month, book review, botm, haunted house, horror, Play Nice, Rachel Harrison, read, reading|

Hidden, The

Monsters in the Mirror Author: Sarah Pinborough What does a house full of mutilated bodies, broken mirrors, and occult symbols have to do with one children’s book editor, happily sleeping in her cozy apartment? Everything . . . Rachel Wright gets up from a night of bad dreams, goes to the bathroom, and sees something soul shattering in the mirror. When she wakes up in the hospital, she has no memory of it, or of her previous life. The twist? Rachel likes her amnesia. Going around her apartment, she finds her old sensible clothes boring, her job as a children’s book [...]

Frances Carden2025-12-14T12:40:23-07:00December 14th, 2025|Tags: book review, horror, read, reading|

Staircase in the Woods, The

"Home is where the hurt is." Author: Chuck Wendig Four outcasts. One-star student. Five friends. Matty is the star student, the good one, the one who watches after the others. The one who fights bullies, who throws his lot in with his traumatized friends, who sinks his reputation by hanging out with the “bad” kids. The druggies. The kids with no future. Matty is the glue, the hope. Until one night, camping in the woods, when they find a lone staircase. Matty goes up it . . . and is never seen again. Twenty-years later, everyone in the town still thinks [...]

Frances Carden2025-12-08T13:50:48-07:00December 8th, 2025|Tags: book review, horror, read, reading, Staircase in the Woods|