reading Archives

What the River Knows

“In Egypt? We’re all looking for something.” Author: Isabel Ibañez A plucky young heroine, willing to risk life and reputation for answers. An embittered man with a shady past and the capability to fight crocodiles in the Nile. A mysterious, underground artifact stealing ring. Pyramids and magic and Cleopatra. Secrets and betrayal. Forbidden love and broken families. Death, disaster, and hope. It’s all here. I first encountered Isabel Ibanez in Woven in Moonlight, another YA novel where she blends magical realism with fairy-tale like worlds, plucky heroines, danger, and betrayal. I fell in love, so when my beloved Book of the [...]

Frances Carden2025-11-06T12:58:40-07:00November 6th, 2025|Tags: action, adventure, book of the month, book review, botm, magic, magical realism, read, reading, romance|

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|