Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

“We Need to Talk About Kevin meets Gone Girl meets The Omen....a twisty, delirious read that will constantly question your sympathies for the two characters as their bond continues to crumble.” —Entertainment Weekly

"A pulse-spiking thriller." —PopSugar

“Unnerving and unputdownable, Baby Teeth will get under your skin and keep you trapped in its chilling grip until the shocking conclusion.” —New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline

Sweetness can be deceptive.

Meet Hanna.

She’s the sweet-but-silent angel in the adoring eyes of her Daddy. He’s the only person who understands her, and all Hanna wants is to live happily ever after with him. But Mommy stands in her way, and she’ll try any trick she can think of to get rid of her. Ideally for good.

Meet Suzette.

She loves her daughter, really, but after years of expulsions and strained home schooling, her precarious health and sanity are weakening day by day. As Hanna’s tricks become increasingly sophisticated, and Suzette's husband remains blind to the failing family dynamics, Suzette starts to fear that there’s something seriously wrong, and that maybe home isn’t the best place for their baby girl after all.

Alex and Suzette are madly in love, the perfect couple, a match made in heaven. What a blessing a baby could be to this union. How lucky a child would be to have such loving and devoted parents. Suzette is especially determined to be a better parent than she had, to be the mother she wished she had instead of the neglectful and uncaring mother who was too wrapped up in herself to even notice that Suzette needed medical care. Sadly, no amount of love and attention seems to please Hanna unless it comes from her father. Suzette's days are spent taking Hanna to appointment after appointment in search of a reason for her lack of speech. Home schooling Hanna as best she can since she can't fit in at school, and being the object of Hanna's hatred. When Alex is home Hanna is all smiles. the perfect little silent angel. But Alex can't always be there, and when he is he prefers to bury his head in the sand. Meanwhile Hanna's hatred for her mother is escalating into something dangerous. Does Hanna have reason to hate her mother or is she just a born psycho? You be the judge.
4 out of 5 stars from me.

I received an advance copy for review

Final Season: A Lovecraftian Quartet by Wahabah Hadia Al Mu'id

Truth and fiction meet in this collection of unnerving tales that merge Lovecraft with actual paranormal experiences, current events and conspiracy.



The only positive thing I can offer about this collection of 4 short stories is that when the second story began with 
"I should have known that something was up when the cat brought in a mouse she’d caught and I absently took it from her and ate it."

I knew this would likely remain as one of the top 10 most memorable opening lines to any short story I have ever read. It was also the only story out of the 4 that I came close to enjoying. I like stories that I can get lost in. I like stories that make me feel something. These were more like reading a lecture with no suspense and nobody to care about.


I received a complimentary copy for review.

The Forsaken: Stories of Abandoned Places

We’ve all seen them.
The abandoned gas station, its pumps gone to rust. The once popular diner, now boarded up, its bright colors fading. A luxury yacht, adrift and alluring. An amusement park, once filled with the laughter of children, now a place of eerie silence.
A church, a factory, a drive-in. Once hives of activity, now they stand mute, each one containing its share of memories…and secrets.
In this collection, editors Joe McKinney and Mark Onspaugh select twenty-two guides who take you to those places of barely glimpsed phantoms and uneasy mysteries, including contributions by Deborah LeBlanc, Harvey Jacobs, Gene O'Neill, Piers Anthony, Lisa Morton, and many others!

I love short horror stories and these 22 dark tales  will make you wonder whether abandoned places are really as empty as they appear.
My favorites were The Storybook Forest by Norman Prentiss in which a small group of friends gather in an abandoned children's theme park for a few beers and a night of terror. Along that same theme was Lullaby Land by Mark Onspaugh. A once crowded theme park long since closed after a tragedy... but children still manage to find their way there as kidnappers Mitch and Del are about to discover. The Theater by Dennis Copelan finds Leonard Brown, taking a bittersweet final walk through of  his movie theater before signing the final sale papers.
Drive-In of the Damned by Michael Arruda was another of my favorites. Three paranormal investigators stake out a haunted drive in hoping to gain enough popularity on their YouTube channel to get a tv show. Bodies Without Souls by L.L. Soares finds Michael about to give a beach party while his parents are away, when an empty yacht mysteriously floats into easy reach. What's the worst that could happen if he turns his beach party into a boat party?  Emily by JW Schnarr is the story of a missing girl and what happens to two friends who joined her search party in the woods.
High Desert by Lisa Morton finds Kara seeking shelter from the heat when Tadd goes off for help after they have car trouble in the desert while checking out an area where a religious cult mysteriously disappeared. Dream Home by D.L. Snell  is not exactly about a haunted house, but a house that will haunt you. The Pressboard Factory by Peter N. Dudar was my absolute favorite. Billy and Ryan grew up together, but were not much alike. Ryan was picked on, belittled and bullied not just at school but abused at home right up until the day he just couldn't take it anymore.
All of the above, for me were the 5 star stories in this collection.

I received a complimentary copy for review.

Defiant Souls by Kathleen Chadwick

Description

When Kyle Chase accepted his Aunt Cindy’s invitation to spend his summer vacation with her, he thought they would be exploring old caves, looking for arrow heads, and honing his skills as a young Archeologist. He never dreamed the fate of the world would rest on his small shoulders. Kyle, his aunt and a small group of travelers have been imprisoned by a mad-man.

Man’s arrogance has opened a doorway of evil and it’s up to Kyle to close it. He will need to trust in his sixth sense, strength, and intellect to escape and find the one man who can help him destroy the evil that holds them captive.

 

 

First off look at this gorgeous cover! That is what first caught my eye before I even read the description.

Kyle's vacation pretty much goes off the rails as he is thrust into a battle of good against evil when he and his aunt are hijacked on the road by an otherworldly being. It was a pretty creative story and although I read a lot of horror I was surprised by some of the gruesome events and language since this was categorized under the teen and YA section. It didn't bother me, but it may bother some who are expecting something a little more tame.

I received a complimentary copy for review.