I am huge, rabid fan of the Joannes Cabal series by Jonathan L Howard. I might be a little in love with Joannes Cabal, which is super, super fucked up. Regardless, when I saw that Howard was writing a new series with the word “Lovecraft” in it, I went “Ooooooh.” Carter and Lovecraft acts largely as a start to the series and a platform for world building, and as such I’m inclined to cut it … Continue reading Carter and Lovecraft by Jonathan L Howard →
NB: Welcome to Flashback Friday! During FBF, we’ll be resurrecting older posts and reviews that are relevant to things we’ve published on the site this week. Elyse reviewed a pretty creepy horror/thriller, so we thought we’d resurrect a lighter horror novel for other readers. This review was originally published (weirdly a year ago today) August 26, 2015. Horrorstör is basically a novel about a haunted IKEA. There’s no romance in it, but it’s relevant to the interests of … Continue reading Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix →
In one of my more epic Bad Decisions Book Club moments I decided to read The Disappearance at Devil’s Rock by Paul Tremblay (the author that scared Stephen King) immediately before my husband left town for a week. Cue me lying in bed in a cold sweat, sleep deprived, paralyzed with fear because I can smell the rotten stench of zombies, only it turns out to be Dewey’s fetid “salmon and chicken entree” breath, and … Continue reading The Disappearance at Devil’s Rock by Paul Tremblay →
To those of you that have already read The Rook, rejoice, for the sequel, Stiletto, is finally here. For those who haven’t read The Rook, OMG, I’m so jealous, you get to read it for the first time, and unlike those of us who read The Rook in 2012, you get to read the sequel right away. The Rook and Stiletto are fantasy novels that take place in modern Britain. They are not romances. However, … Continue reading Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley →
I hate horror movies. I really do. That last time I willingly watched a horror movie, I saw Paranormal Activity in theaters and slept with the light on for a week. But when I saw The Babadook (an Australian-Canadian psychological horror film) on Netflix, after hearing so many great things about it, I figured I was safe. The Cute Boy™ and one of my roommates were going to watch it with me. We would have … Continue reading Movie Review: The Babadook →
Wake of Vultures is not a romance (although there’s a romance in it) and it ends on a cliffhanger. Seriously – the characters are left on the edge of a literal cliff. I realize that cliffhangers are a non-starter for many readers, but keep this in mind: Wake of Vultures is also an excellent, gritty, terrifying and fantastical Western about Nettie, who dresses as a boy and who is both bisexual and biracial (African American … Continue reading Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen →
Lovecraft Country is tragically devoid of romance and yet I can’t resist reviewing it for you, dear Bitches, because it’s one of the most satisfying books I’ve read in quite some time. Lovecraft Country is a series of connected stories (together they form one cohesive arc, but most of the chapters could easily stand alone) about a Black family living in Chicago in the 1950s. The family business consists of publishing The Safe Negro Travel … Continue reading Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff →
Chimera is the final book in the Parasitology Trilogy by Mira Grant. Having reviewed the first two books, Parasite and Symbiont, I felt obligated to read and review the conclusion. Technically, this review is a DNF because I read the first 70 pages, threw a fit, and then skipped around to get the feel of the rest of the book. I read large chunks of the middle as well as the last eighty pages, but I never … Continue reading Chimera by Mira Grant →
Carmilla is an early vampire novel (it heavily influenced Dracula, which was written twenty-six years later). More specifically, it is Victorian Lesbian Vampire Erotica. People who think the Victorians were prudes clearly haven’t read Carmilla, in which a lesbian vampire seduces her victim night after night and day after day with “languid” movements and many “caresses.” To be honest, I pretty much just summed up the plot for you in the paragraph above. The narrator, Laura, is … Continue reading Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu →
Redheadedgirl and Amanda saw Crimson Peak, as did I (but on the other side of the country). For RHG and I, Crimson Peak is pure crack. It has gothic romance. It has stunning costumes. It has my imaginary movie star boyfriend, Tom Hiddelston, making puppy eyes at everything that moves, and Jessica Chastain looking daggers at everyone and it’s basically everything we love in life. It’s hard to describe the plot without getting into spoilers, … Continue reading Movie Review: Crimson Peak →
H.P. Lovecraft was a creepy dude who wrote creepy stories that made a permanent mark on horror and pop culture. His most famous legacy is a series of stories that makes up the Cthulhu Mythos. In Lovecraft’s world, the universe is populated with bizarre and all-powerful beings (one of which is Cthulhu) who regard us as more insignificant than ants. Heroes in Lovecraft who learn of our true place in the universe almost always go … Continue reading She Walks in Shadows ed. by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles →
