#paranormal star reviews

[books-in-a-storm]

Paranormal Star Review

Title: Dragon Goddess #2 Unexpected Mate

Author: Sedona Ashe

Pages: 228

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐(4/5)

Synopsis:

With my mates by my side, it’s time to hunt down the one who destroyed my life. I have a habit of biting off more than I can chew, but this time will be different! Right? …Right?

My bond with Mithraheal, Luke, and Levi has unlocked more of my powers, and now I’m ready to hunt down the evil that destroyed my peaceful life. My determination and sheer power is formidable, but will it be enough for the coming battle?

My mates and I find unlikely allies in the wizards. Unexpected, but I’ll take whatever I can get! Among them is the nerdy genius Leo, who struggles to prove himself and gain the approval of the wizards. Little does he know that meeting me will change his life forever… and the mate bond will unlock even more secrets.

Of course, the beast in me is all about getting horizontal with her mates, while my brain is figuring out who to stab next. Revenge isn’t easy. Knowing who’s on my side isn’t simple. When things take a turn for the worse and our allies turn to adversaries, it seems that all hope is lost.

Ivo cannot resist the desperate call of his mate. Me. But will my dragon mate be able to get to us in time?

I’m going to destroy the evil that killed my parents. I’m going to keep taking the mates that fate keeps throwing at me. I’m going to get stronger, because failure is not an option.

Oh, and I’m going to love every second of it, because life’s too short to do anything but what you love. For me, that’s bonding with my mates and causing bloodshed.

The Dragoness inside me will fight to protect the world and her soulmates. Am I brave enough to break barriers, give in to my desires, and find the true source of my power?

[hannahwatcheshorror]

INSIDIOUS (2010) + REWATCH

An underwhelming horror movie that relies heavily on jumpscares and musical stings for its frights. What can I say? It’s just not for me. Sure it has a lot of good elements to it, spooky characters, good pacing, great actors, but this film just falls short of my standards. Above all else, it was boring. Nothing really memorable happened and that is why I think I have to stick with my guns and keep this at a 2 star rating.

⭐⭐

Hot dad from The Conjuring series is forced to go into the upside down when his loser kid goes into "not a coma." The reactions to the horrors are believable but the horrors themselves flip from demons to creepy old lady's to an old time-y horror picture show… For a movie with so much build up I was expecting something much more exceptional. The pace of the movie was pretty good, starting with spooks pretty much off the bat but… I'll watch the others in the series I just can't say that I'm excited to.

REWATCH REVIEW

A child of the house falls into what is certainly not a coma but is a very long sleep and the mom is very quick to blame ghosts which, I mean, good for her, but also, damn, she’s crazy. A psychic comes in to inform us that this little kid is a terrific astral projector so much so that he went into a different dimension of sorts (bring back Gabbie while you are there, why don’t ya) and left his body to be possessed by any number of demons… Seems wack. Because they buried the lead that the dad also is “a traveler” so his mom had to go through this same demon spiel with him when he was a kid. They do some automatic writing which I think is pretty neat but that makes more ghosties come. Finally it is decided that the dad has to astral project to save the boy (who didn’t see that coming?).

The astral projection is BORING. It is a black empty space, the two houses, or a dungeon. That is it. Nothing fresh, new or exciting. Nothing “Astral.” Anyway, hot dad gets his kid and makes it out, or does he? I don’t know that I believe a child is strong enough to fend off a demon that is basically Satan but a grown man isn’t able to beat an old woman. I get she was his nemesis or whatever but wow did they just throw that in at the very end. You would think Elise would notice sooner given that she is a psychic… She didn’t actually use her “abilities” she just was there and saw things everyone else who was a non-psychic could see. I guess she did talk to the son for them but that just invited more chaos into the home. Whatever, all's well that ends up setting us up for the sequel, I guess.

[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]

[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: Demons of Morningstar #2 Demon Gambit

Author: Debbie Cassidy

Pages: 313

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐(4/5)

Synopsis:

If you play with fire, you’re sure to get burned.

The Powers that rule Morningstar believe death is a game, and my siblings and I are the unwilling players.

The only way to be free is it to destroy the ascension contracts.

So, I’m headed into the demon realm to convince the princes to do just that.

I won’t be going alone. I’ll have Artimus as a guide, a bodyguard provided by the Duke of Flame, and my siblings.

I know we can do this.

But there are unseen forces determined to stop us. Forces that want to tear us apart and take us down.

It’s time to show our enemies that we’re more than the sum of our parts.

It’s time to show them that together we’re a force to be reckoned with.

[hannahwatcheshorror]

DEAD SILENCE (2007)

Who doesn’t love a creepy puppet? I remember being so afraid of this movie when it came out, just the commercials freaked me right the heck out and when I was finally brave enough to watch it for the first time I was certainly right to be creeped out! This movie does an excellent job with the makeup and effects, Mary Shaw is downright terrifying. The story can get a little ridiculous at times but overall it is very theatrical and spooky.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

A mysterious package arrives at Jamie and his wife's doorstep, inside is a ventriloquist dummy. That same night Jamie’s wife is brutally murdered. Now, I love that Jamie immediately doesn’t trust the doll but still props it up in the seat of his car and in a chair at the motel. That thing would be in my trunk or in the closet, are you for real? (Yes I realize that the damn thing would probably move but I would still try to put it somewhere away) Jamie has it set up looking out the window like Billy is thinking about who he wants to kill next, no, put him in time out! We got DONNIE FUCKIN’ WAHLBERG AKA Detective Eric Matthews from SAW. Amazing, simply amazing to see him in another horror movie as a detective busting another dudes balls over a different creepy puppet named Billy. Amazing. The universe is good.

Back to the film, there are whispers about Mary Shaw, a ventriloquist of yesteryear who maybe/ probably killed a child. There is a whole nursery rhyme about her where if you see her you better not scream or she will cut out your tongue. Cute right? Anyways, when she died she had a very special request and I gotta call shenanigans because there is no way that any mortician would turn Mary Shaw's body into a doll, it is so highly unethical, wild, wack and WHAT? Seriously, a spooky idea for sure but there is no way it would have happened and no way that the mortician's son would have just told Jamie about it (because jail). 

Jamie goes to the old theatre where Mary Shaw used to live and for no real reason he goes up on the decrepit catwalk that is literally falling apart as he is walking on it. What is this man doing? Oh, Mary Shaw’s room is up there, but how did he know that? He just assumed it was up in the rafters? Wack. He doesn’t really find anything but goes back to his dad to talk about his missing uncle. The dad is really quick to give up the story about Mary Shaw after he is caught and he was very quick to believe that Mary Shaw is an evil ghostie which is why the dad has always been a dick to his son, to push him away from the curse (ha). Jamie doesn’t take that answer lying down and sorta storms out (but gets interrupted by Don Walhberg) so he has to run back to the theatre to try and get some answers solved. Small chase then both boys are at the creepy theatre and now Jamie finds the hidden room behind the hidden room (couldn’t have found it the first time?). 

We find every doll that Mary Shaw ever had in this room as well as the missing uncle who Mary Shaw attempted to turn into a puppet at one point (wack). The dolls all start moving at this point and even talking, Donnie is shooting them up but there are too many, they must be cleansed with fire. As they attempt to escape Donnie Walhberg gets a gruesome end because he starts to fall off the catwalk which makes him scream so our lady in black scoops him up and takes out his tongue. Poor guy! He knew not to scream too but falling to your death will make a guy yell! Jamie does a pullup but gets scared by Mary so he falls and crashes through the floor into the dark water below! There are all these dolls and mannequins under the water so it is really spooky when he is under there, I hate/love it so much because dark water is one of my fears!

Jamie runs to find Billy, the last doll and therefore the last piece of the puzzle, and finds out his dad took him home? But how? His dad was paralyzed after the stroke, right? Jamie gets to his dads house, burns Billy and goes to face his father… Twist of all twists! Daddy is deady! He has been a puppet this whole time! Pretty unique movie with a twist I didn’t see coming. Sure I noticed that the wife was with the dad always but I didn’t think he was a puppet all along! How spooky! Too bad Jamie screamed at the end, if only he could have held it in! Either way Mary Shaw got really good at making dolls to make the wife and also the dad. I am unsure if the wife is a full puppet or if she is just a dead lady or what but again it was a solid twist so I will forgive them for not explaining every little detail of it.

[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 !

⠀

⠀

Thirteen promising students destined to change the world.

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

⠀

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!

⠀

Revenge.

⠀

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.

⠀

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.

⠀

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.

⠀

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.

⠀

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

⠀

Thirteen promising students destined to change the world.

⠀

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

⠀

Start reading today!

Amazon: http://bit.ly/thecoven

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

[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…

[lilibetbombshell]