read Archives

This Wretched Valley

A Climb To Die For Author: Jenny Kiefer Haunted, magical forests covered in bones, echoing with the chilling wails of the damned. A big climb, an untouched cliff. A potential legend. Four young people, excited for their unprecedented discovery, the climb of a lifetime, and a geological feat, walking into the unknown. No cell service. No help. No way out. The Wretched Valley caught my attention first with the cover, and then with The Ruins-like vibe. I enjoy survival horror, but more than that I like the creeping paranoia of isolation (a horror love I got from John Carpenter’s The Thing, [...]

Frances Carden2025-11-04T11:03:52-07:00November 4th, 2025|Tags: book review, horror, Jenny Kiefer, read, reading, survival horror, This Wretched Valley|

Eat The Ones You Love

“Lay waste to yourself all you like, I will grown in your ruin.” Author: Sarah Maria Griffin There is nothing more attractive to a horror-hound/B-movie monster lover than the idea of a sentient, carnivorous plant. It evokes the lovably laughable Little Shop of Horrors while still hitting all the right tones of horror. After all, what is more terrifying than being secretly observed and puppeted by something that should be so ordinary, so innocuous? And that, dear reader, was the siren call that led me to this book. Well, that and the gorgeous cover. What it promises (feed me Seymour!) is [...]

Frances Carden2025-11-03T15:32:10-07:00November 3rd, 2025|Tags: book review, horror, read, reading, Sarah Maria Griffin|

If You Really Loved Me

Like Daughter, Like Father? Author: Ann Rule California, 1985. A 17-year-old woman (Julia Brown) calls the police, weeping. She thinks her sister, Linda Brown, who is sleeping in the next room, has been shot. The police arrive and Linda’s husband, David Brown, opens the door. In the background, they see Julia in the living room cradling her sister’s baby. Neither Julia nor David had gone into the room to check and see if Linda was indeed shot. Both, however, instantly accuse David’s missing fourteen-year-old daughter, Cinnamon, of the crime. Fast forward – Cinnamon has confessed to killing her stepmother and is [...]

Frances Carden2025-11-02T16:37:12-07:00November 2nd, 2025|Tags: ann rule, book review, Cinnamon Brown, David Brown, murder, read, reading, true crime|