#paranormal star reviews

[books-in-a-storm]

Paranormal Star Review

Title: The Chaos of Foxes #3 What the Fox

Author: Emma Dean

Pages: 312

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐(4/5)

Synopsis:

Kenzie is a void witch. Only a handful have ever existed. And now she's trying to find out where she belongs in the paranormal world. Thankfully her mates have never cared about her witch status. They love her for her - even if one of them is playing hard to get. Kenzie plans to make Hunter beg.

Meanwhile they still have to bring down Bradley Davis. But there are complications to their plans no one could have foreseen. Will Kenzie be able to handle her newly discovered abilities and any threat until she can master them? Will they be able to take down the jerk who cursed her sister after finding out what he's really after?

[yourfavebooklrsfavebooklr]

Dying Inside by Pete Wentz & Hannah Klein, illustrated by Lisa Sterle

3.5 stars

This was a fun read! Lisa Sterle's art was beautiful, I liked the story for the most part but thought some bits seemed a little random (why did they have a friend breakup for like 3 pages which literally affected nothing...). I liked the twist and ofc witchy stories are always a fun time. I thought the romance was sweet, I thought they saw each other as best friends a little too quickly for my taste but it developed well after that. I also like how this book combined ideas of autonomy with mental health and different forms of ethics, and I really liked the happy ending. I also thought the darker humor came across well in my opinion, it was pretty funny at times.

I'd recommend this for people who want a fun paranormal read for Halloween, fans of witchy books, and people looking for graphic novels with dark humor. However, if you struggle with mental health, definitely check the content warnings first!

[melaniem54]

Review:  A Highland Gargoyle's Lucky Star (Tales from the Tarot story) by Chloe Archer

Rating: 4🌈 A Highland Gargoyle’s Lucky Star, while definitely in the Tales from the Tarot multi-author series, is firmly rooted in Chloe Archer’s Monster Hollow universe and her latest novel from that, The Gargoyle and the Romance Writer.   The main gargoyle characters here (and an unfortunate member under going punishment here), are met for the first time in that book. And in a delightful…

[lilibetbombshell]

[noctem-novelle]

Book: Gallant by V. E. Schwab Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩

Review below the cut!

This book promises a spooky family legacy, and it DELIVERS. Gallant follows Olivia, a young orphan who has spent her whole life at a dreary school for girls, perpetually othered and picked on for her inability to speak. But Olivia is also keeping a secret: she can see strange spectres. Shadowy, half-formed, and very clearly dead. Her only real companion is her mother's old journal, full of odd drawings and notes that seem to spiral into madness and ending with a warning to Olivia to stay away from something called Gallant. One day, Olivia receives a letter from her uncle and is suddenly shipped off to live with a family she never knew existed at a manor house that bears a familiar name: Gallant. Gallant is The Secret Garden meets Shirley Jackson. That combination of strange, whimsical, and a little disturbing that makes you shiver (and of which V is an absolute master). Imo, it also falls somewhere between YA and middle grade, with serious Addie LaRue and The Near Witch vibes. I absolutely devoured this book and any minute not spent reading felt like a waste.

TW: death, grief and loss, ghosts

IG: @noctem.novelle

[giannabooknook]

Attention: New Blog Post!!!!

All the books you've never stumbled upon before…

[andreai04]

Bruises from those who should love you sting more than others. Deep and lasting, they bleed into your spirit, no matter how common they become. Something shatters with each strike, and it isn’t always bone.

[somewherelostinbooks]

The Witch Queen of Halloween- Review

The Witch Queen of Halloween By Kresley Cole Genre: Paranormal Romance Series: Immortals After Dark #20 Publisher: Valkyrie Press Publication Date: March 26,2024 Source: Received an ARC in exchange for an honest review Rating: 4.75 Stars Amazon Description: Take a spooky Halloween tour of the mysterious Lore in this stand-alone installment of the Immortals After Dark series by #1 New…

[alexislunacreations]

Tomorrow is the official release day for Love in the Occult Traumatic, and the first review is five stars. I couldn't be happier 🥹 Stay tuned for tomorrow's announcement to find out where you can get your own copy!

[lifesarchive]

THE BURNING GIRLS by C. J. TUDOR (REVIEW)

quickly: a woman of the cloth relocates to small-town England and uncovers a long-kept community secret. (single mom with a repressed past and a rebellious teen daughter / creepy blair witch stick dolls / ghostly apparitions / family secrets turning into community secrets / rich men controlling local government / a random spree killer).

quaint, quiet English towns are some of the most dangerous places on Earth. this is what The Burning Girls confirms in a story that feels like the UK version of a Fear Street novel. the chapters are short and quick, often ending with a cliffhanger. ‘good vs. evil’ and ‘nature vs. nurture’ are major motifs in this story, sometimes stereotypically so, sometimes uninspired. i wish there was more thrill and horror… with the lore behind what a ‘burning girl’ represents, there was the potential to go so much further. while i love the author’s tone and style, the substance lacked.

★ ★ ★

more thoughts: SPOILERS!

Some personal context… I picked this book out based on a search I did for ’theological horror’. I was trying to decide whether or not I was going to read the non-fiction book “Heathen: Religion and Race in American History”. As I’m already reading a non-fiction book on Indigenous American history, ”Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America”, and I just completed the lengthy “The Books of Jacob”, I was hesitant to read another lengthy non-fiction book.

My thought process was… I can soothe my horror itch and my religious history itch by reading a book that combined both. If the book was intriguing enough, then I’d move on to Heathen by Kathyrn. I found several books that fell into the theological horror genre, and ‘Burning Girl’s’ was a newer one, so I picked it. Sadly, it did not inspire me to reach for non-fiction theological history. While not bad, it didn’t capture what was interesting about the religious lore of Sussex England that the title and cover art so openly refer to.

The title is what truly caught my eye: THE BURNING GIRLS. That, paired with the promise of uncovering church mysteries, pulled me in.

The story opens with Reverend Jack, short for Jacqueline, who is being informed that she is being relocated to a distant Sussex community after an unfortunate occurrence at her church in Nottingham. Essentially, she wasn’t able to save an abused child from their parents and was partially blamed when the parents murdered the child. 

She moves to Chapel Croft with her 15-year-old daughter, a small village where everyone knows everyone, and her arrival is big news. Immediately, both mother and daughter have separate encounters with appearances of ‘burning girls’, ghostly apparitions who appear to be on fire, and missing bodily limbs. Reverend Jack is coincidentally informed that the creepy stick dolls everywhere are to commemorate the girls and families burned during religious wars back in Olde England. She’s also informed that seeing a ghost of a burning girl is a warning of impending danger.

As the story goes on, Revered Jack’s back story is unfurled. She comes from an abusive home with a psychotic spree-killing brother who is responsible for the death of her husband (who was also a pastor). Just before her move, she was informed that her brother was released from prison. While she thinks she is evading him by moving to Chapel Croft, unbeknownst to her, he is ruthlessly and methodically making his way to her and leaving a trail of bodies in his wake.

All the characters are dealing with some form of ‘good vs. evil’ struggle, most evident in Reverend Jack’s brother, who seems to have a voice within that he compels him to do evil deeds. There are also several references to the great question of whether or not people can be born bad, and what it means to be bad vs. being a good person doing a bad thing. To be honest, the word count could’ve been better spent exploring the wild history of the burning girls. 

Anyways, fast forward past two girls who went missing long ago being discovered in a well, the dead body of a missing priest being found buried under the church, a devious teenage boy found living with the dead body of his mother, and that same boy plotting the killing of Revered Jack’s daughter simply to please his equally devious killer girlfriend. Oh yeah, I forgot, did I mention that randomly, in the background of the main events, Reverend Jack’s brother has been traveling the countryside on foot and killing anyone who crosses his path?

The story ends in the loud gory cacophony of noise and violence that most B-level thrillers tend to end in. The psycho-killer teens confront Revered Jack and her daughter in the church for the big climax, which results in Jack killing the teens, and the church being set on fire in the process. At the last moment, just before Reverend Jack is engulfed by the flames, her psycho-killer brother rescues her. The people he killed to get to her kind of fade into the background as if his character’s sole purpose was to represent the bad person who does a good thing (in contrast to Reverend Jack being the good person who does a bad thing).

The miasma of “Good and Evil” that this story exists in is muddier than it is inspiring. Too many angels and devils in this garden if you ask me. And again, the gem, the burning girls, barely get any page time! Three stars. Not horrible, but not anything I am compelled to recommend. That said, I’d still love to try THE CHALK MAN, by this author, and give her another chance.

[gahmah-raan]

This is my art summary for 2023.

I made a lot more pieces than I did last year, and I gained some new tools to work with near the end.

[books-in-a-storm]

Paranormal Star Review

Title: Claimed by Lucifer #4 Death Lord

Author: Elizabeth Briggs

Pages: 175

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐(4/5)

Synopsis:

He is Death. The 4th Horseman. The son of Lucifer. And I'm going to kill him.

He's the Grim Reaper of New Orleans, stealing souls to make up for his absent one, but he'll pay for the lives he's taken. Someone has to stop him, and it's going to be me. He murdered my father, Fenrir, and I'm ready to unleash my wolf upon him. I'll tear him to shreds to get my revenge and prevent him from claiming any more lives.

But how do you kill Death - especially when he's your fated mate?

[ya-world-challenge]

Book Review: The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu (🇬🇧Scotland)

[image 1: book cover: a European city at night in moody blues and black with a seated classical statue to each side, and underneath, an underground chamber with pillars and stairs. Title overlaid in yellow whimsical spooky font; image 2: world map showing Scotland; image 3: North Merchiston Cemetery & St. Michael’s Parish, Edinburgh: a green cemetery with some headstones fallen over, behind trees in the background, a square church tower. Source: wikimedia commons]

The Library of the Dead

Author: T.L. Huchu

Category: MG/YA

YA World Challenge read for 🇬🇧 Scotland

My Notes

I rolled the randomizer for Zimbabwe (yeah, we're back to the randomizer, but only sometimes.) So I checked out Tendai Huchu's The Hairdresser of Harare but felt hmm, this is kind of too "mundane adult" for my purposes. But I moved on to the same author's YA book and man am I glad I did because The Library of the Dead is awesome. BUT... it's super super Scottish. Despite the MC's Zimbabwean heritage popping in a little it's one of those books where essentially the city is also a character, you know, and that city is Edinburgh. So I'm going to file this one as a read for Scotland, and either go back to the first choice or see what I can find for Zimbabwe!

First line

I’m really not supposed to be doing this, but a girl’s gotta get paid.

Review

Ropa is a tough, don’t-give-a-shit teen who’s dropped out of school to be the family breadwinner with her talent for ghosttalking, delivering messages between the dead and their loved ones. She doesn’t have time to deal when a new ghost wants help finding her disappeared son, but ends up getting roped into it anyway. Along the way there’s also a magical secret society library, and Ropa’s excitable new sidekick Priya, who’s riding her wheelchair on ceiling when they meet.

So, Ropa’s voice is what makes this book. She’s cynical, irreverent, oh-so-colorful, and with a fierce duty to protect the family she’s got left. I really enjoy when books have voice, and this one really does. Sometimes I wasn’t sure when the author was using Scottish-isms or when he was making stuff up, because I think there is a mix of both, and it’s fun. 

The setting is a sort of near-future semi-dystopian Edinburgh with Magic is Officially Known mixed in. Through some mix of climate, riots, and resource scarcity that’s only hinted at, Scotland has become a proud but sharply class-divided place under an English absolute monarchy. The city features heavily, and those familiar with Edinburgh and able to recognize the streets and landmarks could probably get extra enjoyment out of this book.

The mystery itself is pretty straightforward. If you are looking for a plot to really flip your world upsidedown you won’t find it here - the book is pretty MG level in that regard. I recommend it more for the atmosphere and the characters. The library and secret society are an intriguing magical academia setting, and this book seems to be setting it up for more exploration in future books.

Though this is upper MG, as far as colorful language I think our British friends are much less prudish than Americans with regard to children’s books - just something to keep in mind. (There isn’t any sexual or overly violet content.)

Overall, I sped through this book and really enjoyed it, and would definitely recommend. It also has an all-POC core cast. 

There is a sequel, Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments, and a third book in the works.

Other reps: #homelessness #disabled wheelchair-using side character #no romance

Genres: #paranormal #mystery #dystopian #magic

★  ★  ★  ★  ★    5 stars    

Read it at  Bookshop.org  |  Amazon

[mandyloves2read]

🩸ARC Review 🩸

The Coven by Harper L. Woods

Coven Of Bones duet book 1

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️+

This was such a good story from the first chapter to the last I couldn’t put it down it completely captivated me and took hostage of me from the amazing world building to the intriguing complex characters this is every fantasy romance lovers dream the chemistry between Gray and Willow was so amazing and that brutal shocking ending I can’t wait for the next book! This is going in my favorites of 2023 list !

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Thirteen promising students destined to change the world.

If the ghosts of Hollow’s Grove's victims don’t kill them first.

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The Coven, an all-new gothic, dark academia, paranormal romance and book one in the Coven Of Bones Duet from USA Today Bestselling author Harper L. Woods is available now!

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Revenge.

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Raised to be my father’s weapon against the Coven that took away his sister and his birthright, I would do anything to protect my younger brother from suffering the same fate.

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My duty forces me to the secret town of Crystal Hollow and the prestigious Hollow’s Grove University—where the best and brightest of my kind learn to practice their magic free from human judgment.

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There are no whispered words here. No condemnation for the blood that flows through my veins. The only animosity I face comes from the beautiful and infuriating Headmaster, Alaric Grayson Thorne, a man who despises me just as much as I loathe him and everything he stands for.

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But that doesn’t mean secrets don’t threaten to tear the school in two. No one talks about the bloody massacre that forced it to close decades prior, only the opportunity it can afford to those fortunate enough to attend.

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Because for the first time in fifty years, the Coven will open its wards to the Thirteen.

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Thirteen promising students destined to change the world.

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If the ghosts of Hollow’s Grove's victims don’t kill them first.

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Start reading today!

Amazon: http://bit.ly/thecoven

Amazon Worldwide: https://mybook.to/thecoven

[lilibetbombshell]

[twochicksobsessed]

Love for the Reaper (The Elite Book 1) by Charlie Cochet: New Release Review

Love for the Reaper (The Elite Book 1) by @CharlieCochet: #NewRelease #BookReview #lgbtq #mmromance #gayromance #romanticsuspense #4stars

.                                       . Devlin “Dev” Espinosa lives in the shadows of the criminal underworld. As a Ferryman, his job is to safely transport “the dead” to their new lives, no questions asked. With no one to answer to, lots of cash, and access to The Anonymous–an exclusive club for the elite–Dev is loving life. Until Remy Corbin gets into his car. Remy is just a regular guy…