Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey

The Labasques aren’t like other families.

Living in a shack out in the swamps, they made do by hunting down alligators and other animals. To the good people of Jacknife, Louisiana, they are troublemakers and outcasts, the kind of people you wouldn’t want in your community.

So, when Cutter Labasque is found face down in the muddy swamp, no one seems to care, not even her two brothers. The only person who questions the official verdict of suicide is Cutter’s childhood friend, Loyal May, who has just returned home to care for her mother. When she left town at eighteen years old, she betrayed Cutter. Now with a ragtag group from the local paper where she works, Loyal goes in search of answers, uncovering a web of deceit and corruption that implicates those in town. It may be too late to apologize to Cutter, but Loyal has restitution in mind.

Weaving through the swamps and bayous of rural Louisiana, Our Last Wild Days is an atmospheric, smoldering suspense about our darker impulses—and how to set things right.

A reporter returns to her childhood home in Jacknife, Louisiana, to care for her mother. Word around town is that she's gone crazy. People like to gossip in Jacknife, and they all have their opinions, but not many are interested in talking when a body is found face down in the swamp. Most chalk it up to a girl who lived a rough life and died the way that she lived. 

"Some people go through life like broken bones that haven't been properly set, never really getting better, just slowly racking up damage for later down the line."

Our Last Wild Days pulls the reader deep into the mosquito-infested swampland of Louisiana, where hunting alligators or choking on fumes from the factory can mean the difference between a meager existence and starvation. Evocative prose, intriguing characters, and intense situations kept me glued to the pages. 

5 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Atria Books

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The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig

 A group of friends investigates the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods in this mesmerizing horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Accidents.

Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what.

Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something a mysterious staircase to nowhere.

One friend walks up—and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears.

Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods. . . .

This gorgeous cover and the description pulled me in. I was so excited to read this book, having loved the author's previous works, especially Book of Accidents.

Years ago, five high school friends went to party in the woods and only four returned. Now, years later, those remaining four have drifted apart, but are called back together when an email from one of them says he is dying.

All of these characters are both more and less than they seem. Those who appear weak have a hidden strength. Those who appear to have it all together don't. Secrets and past traumas are revealed.

I was prepared to love all over this book! Unfortunately, even though it reminded me a great deal of that tv show "Channel Zero" specifically the seasons of No End House, and Butcher's Block with the staircase in the woods I struggled to stay interested. I didn't like any of the characters, although I did have some empathy for Owen who is dealing with OCD among other things. As many times as they invoked their commitment to stay together and support each other the characters did not appear to like each other any more than I liked them. After what felt like a very long read, the ending, when it finally arrived, left me unsatisfied. You may enjoy it more than I did, but it was just not for me.

2.5 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Del Rey for the e-ARC

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The Ghost Woods by C.J. Cooke

In the midst of the woods stands a house called Lichen Hall.

This place is shrouded in folklore—old stories of ghosts, of witches, of a child who was not quite a child.

Now the woods are creeping closer, and something has been unleashed.

Pearl Gorham arrives in 1965, one of a string of young women sent to Lichen Hall to give birth. And she soon suspects the proprietors are hiding something.

Then she meets the mysterious mother and young boy who live in the grounds—and together they begin to unpick the secrets of this place.

As the truth comes to the surface and the darkness moves in, Pearl must rethink everything she knew—and risk what she holds most dear.

 

Ghost Woods is told from two points of view, on two timelines that eventually converge since they are less than a decade apart, from 1959 to the mid-1960s.

It begins with a folk tale of a girl who fell asleep in the wood where the trees were so old that their trunks had whitened, and awoke pregnant with a child that wasn't human. It is on the grounds of these Ghost Woods that later become Lichen Hall, owned by a couple surrounded by rumors of a dead son they stole from the morgue, where Mabel is sent to give birth.

Mabel is a young woman who believes ghosts live under her skin. She is shocked to be told that she is pregnant since she has never been with any man. She has never been away from home, and it is unfortunate that Lichen Hall is her first experience. 

A few years later Pearl is also sent to this home. She had been a nurse but lost her job when she got pregnant in the days when it was considered shameful to be pregnant outside of marriage. The home is in a state of disrepair, with mold and mushrooms growing in much of the house. Mrs. Whitlock, the owner of the house is sometimes pleasant and other times cruel, giving an unsettling feeling of never knowing what to expect.

I loved the majority of this book. I had a lot of sympathy for both Mabel and Pearl and I loved to hate the mean girls who were there when Mabel first arrived. If I had any issue, it would just be one line concerning female anatomy that I am certain every nurse and hopefully all women will know was mis-stated. Situations grow more ominous as the pregnancies progress in this historical gothic horror. The pacing gathers speed as the timelines converge, and the sense of imminent danger for all of the remaining women in the home is constant. 

4 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Berkley Publishing for the e-ARC.

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What Swallows the Light: Alien Horror Novellas

Three stories. One terrifying we are not alone!

Suffocating Skies by John

Working Thanksgiving was supposed to be an escape for Carrie Richardson—a shift at Sinclair Pharmaceuticals meant avoiding her abusive boyfriend. But when the sky darkens and the office goes silent, escape becomes a trap. Whispers slither through the air, colleagues freeze in eerie trances, and something hungry moves unseen in the halls. As reality unravels and terror closes in, Carrie must uncover the truth hidden within Sinclair’s walls—before it suffocates her.

We Were Who We Were by Gage

Sometimes it looks like an accident, until you discover who is really pulling the strings.

When Tess visits the man who killed her brother in a drunk driving accident, she discovers the facts were not as they appeared to be, and someone else may have been involved. Her investigation brings her down a path of horror, lies, secrets, and a mysterious figure who haunted her brother for years.

Dark Matter Dreams by Andrew Van

An alien vessel powered by dreams. A human nightmare on board.

For millennia, the Grays have visited earth, seeing humans as simple and safe. They were wrong.

Aboard their living, star-spanning vessel, a forgotten horror awakens. Born of primal fear, stalking humanity since the dawn of time. Watching and waiting. Hungry to twist our desires against us.

As reality warps and crew members succumb, researcher Jin'qua-33 must forge an unlikely alliance with those he once abducted. Because there is something worse in the darkness than the aliens looking down. There is an unrelenting nightmare that will fill the cosmos with screams.

Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Where Stories Come Alive!

Dark Tide 19 : What Swallows The Light contains 3 out of this world Novellas.

I usually stay away from stories about aliens and outer space but the thought of alien "horror" was intriguing and I'm glad I gave it a chance.

First up is Suffocating Skies by John Durgin

It's Thanksgiving day and a group of disgruntled coworkers have been ordered to work a shift at Sinclair Pharmaceuticals. The janitor is the first to see it out the window. Something dark and deadly has arrived to claim what should never have been hidden there in the first place. This will be a holiday they remember for the rest of their lives, however short that may be! This was a suspenseful and gory read.

Next is We Were Who We Were by Gage Greenwood

As Tess confronts the man who killed her brother in a drunk driving accident, she recalls their childhood together and the way he changed after the night of the mysterious blue light that he so wanted her to see. He was never the same after that, and her grief and guilt haunts her. Sometimes the truth is best left buried. This was my favorite novella in the book. It's dark and terrifying.

Dark Matter Dreams by Andrew Van Wey was more Sci Fi  than horror, and although it is a well written story I am just not the target audience for this type. 

My thanks to Crystal Lake Publishing for the e-ARC

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