Tag: Horror

And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich

And the Trees Crept In by [Kurtagich, Dawn]

Publisher: Little, Brown Book for Young Readers

Date of publication: September 6th, 2016

Genre: Horror, Young Adult, Mystery, Fantasy, Paranormal, Fiction, Thriller, Supernatural, Suspense

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | AbeBooks | Alibris | Powells | Indigo | BetterWorldBooks

Goodreads Synopsis:

Stay away from the woods…

When Silla and Nori arrive at their aunt’s home, it’s immediately clear that the manor is cursed. The endless creaking of the house at night and the eerie stillness of the woods surrounding them would be enough of a sign, but there are secrets too—questions that Silla can’t ignore: Why does it seem that, ever since they arrived, the trees have been creeping closer? Who is the beautiful boy who’s appeared from the woods? And who is the tall man with no eyes who Nori plays with in the basement at night… a man no one else can see?

I stayed up until 1 am to finish reading this book. I had to finish this book because it had such a grip on me. It scared me to death and fascinated me at the same time. It was good when I can’t sleep after finishing a book because it creeped me out.

This book is written in such a different fashion it is hard to explain. In one chapter, you are reading in 1st person, and then you could be reading in 3rd person. I don’t like it when the book jumps around like that, but it worked in this case. There were also excerpts from Silla’s diary that were creepy. I got the chills from reading it.

This book also fucks with your mind. I won’t go into it, but, baby, things are not what they seem in this book!!!

Like I said above, this book is a mind fuck. The huge twist at the end threw me for a loop. I didn’t even see it coming. Not a hint, nothing.

I would recommend And the Trees Crept In to anyone over 21. It is a clean book with no violence and mild language.

If you enjoyed And the Trees Crept In, you will enjoy these books:

The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Date of publication: July 26th, 2016

Genre: Fiction, Magical Realism, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Fantasy, Adult, Historical, Historical Fiction, Horror, Adult Fiction

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | AbeBooks | Alibris | Powells | IndieBound | Indigo

Goodreads Synopsis:

Fielding Bliss has never forgotten the summer of 1984:
the year a heatwave scorched the small town of Breathed, Ohio.
The year he became friends with the devil.

When local prosecutor Autopsy Bliss publishes an invitation to the devil to come to the country town of Breathed, Ohio, nobody quite expected that he would turn up. They especially didn’t expect him to turn up a tattered and bruised thirteen-year-old boy.

Fielding, the son of Autopsy, finds the boy outside the courthouse and brings him home, and he is welcomed into the Bliss family. The Blisses believe the boy, who calls himself Sal, is a runaway from a nearby farm town. Then, as a series of strange incidents implicate Sal — and riled by the feverish heatwave baking the town from the inside out — there are some around town who start to believe that maybe Sal is exactly who he claims to be.

But whether he’s a traumatised child or the devil incarnate, Sal is certainly one strange fruit: he talks in riddles, his uncanny knowledge and understanding reaches far outside the realm of a normal child — and ultimately his eerily affecting stories of Heaven, Hell, and earth will mesmerise and enflame the entire town.

Devastatingly beautiful, The Summer That Melted Everything is a captivating story about community, redemption, and the dark places where evil really lies.

I don’t even know what to write here (which is a first) because the book was THAT good. It was written so that you couldn’t help but get sucked into it, and then you can’t put it down. As I said, it is THAT good.

I was introduced to the Bliss family in the book’s first chapter. Autopsy, Stella, Grand, Fielding, and Aunt Fedelia. Autopsy is the local prosecutor for the town of Breathed. Autopsy decided, one day, to write a letter to the devil inviting him to Breathed and posted it in the newspaper. Guess what? A young boy claiming to be the devil showed up right before a major heat wave.

This is where the story became interesting. The author kept you guessing if Sal (Satan and Lucifer’s name combined) was the devil. He had insight into the different relationships that were going on in the town that no 13-year-old should know. I never figured out if he was the devil or not.

Strange events started happening every time Sal went into town. The heat kept rising; a woman had a tragic accident, a mob was incited, and stuff along those lines. He isn’t allowed out of the yard/house to keep him safe.

The story is told in flashbacks from a 70-something-year-old Fielding. Who suffers survivor’s guilt. I don’t like it when books are told in flashbacks. You lose something from it. In this case, it worked. I got to see the long-term damage caused by the events of that awful summer/fall, which is heartbreaking. The author did a perfect job of taking older Fielding’s memories and turning them into a story about younger Fielding.

There was a huge twist in the story that I saw coming. It involved Elohim, Fielding’s former mentor and Sal’s biggest enemy in town. I did a WTF when it was revealed.

I would recommend The Summer that Melted Everything to anyone over 21. There is strong language and violence.

If you enjoyed reading The Summer that Melted Everything, you will enjoy reading these books:

Resthaven by Erik Therme

Resthaven by [Therme, Erik]

Publisher: Thecker Books

Date of publication: April 12th, 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Horror, Suspense, Mystery, Fiction, Contemporary, Mystery Thriller

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | AbeBooks | Alibris | IndieBound | Indigo | BetterWorldBooks

Goodreads Synopsis:

The last thing fifteen-year-old Kaylee wants to do is participate in a childish scavenger hunt–especially inside the abandoned retirement home on the edge of town. When she finds a bruised, deaf boy hiding inside one of the rooms, she vows to lead him to safety . . . only to discover the front doors are now padlocked, and her friends are nowhere to be found. Kaylee is about to learn that not everything that goes “bump in the night” is imaginary, and sometimes there are worse things to fear than ghosts.

Have you ever read a book that is so creepy and unsettling that it stays with you afterward? A book that invades your dreams and gives you nightmares?

Well, this is that book.

It starts innocently. A sleepover at a new friend’s house. It turns sinister when the new friend throws a scavenger hunt in the nursing home.

The doors to the nursing home are mysteriously padlocked. Locking Kaylee, Sid, Anna, and Wren inside with an elderly man who is insane. When Kaylee found a 5-year-old abused deaf boy in a closet, my pulse level went through the roof!!!

I could not put this book down and read it in one sitting. Like I said above, it gets under your skin, and you wonder what will happen to the girls and the boy at the end.

Speaking of the end, I enjoyed it. Kaylee did the right thing. I

I would recommend Resthaven to anyone over 16. There is mild violence, mild language, and no sexual situations.

If you enjoyed reading Resthaven, you will enjoy reading these books