Feed Your TBR - Girl Dinner

 

Can't Wait Wednesday, which I have adapted to better suit my blog as "Feed Your TBR" is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings to spotlight highly anticipated books.  It is based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme which used to be hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

October 21, 2025

FROM GOODREADS: Every member of The House, the most exclusive sorority on campus, and all its alumni, are beautiful, high-achieving, and universally respected.

After a freshman year she would rather forget, sophomore Nina Kaur knows being one of the chosen few accepted into The House is the first step in her path to the brightest possible future. Once she's taken into their fold, the House will surely ease her fears of failure and protect her from those who see a young woman on her own as easy prey.

Meanwhile, adjunct professor Dr. Sloane Hartley is struggling to return to work after accepting a demotion to support her partner's new position at the cutthroat University. After 18 months at home with her newborn daughter, Sloane's clothes don’t fit right, her girl-dad husband isn’t as present as he thinks he is, and even the few hours a day she's apart from her child fill her psyche with paralyzing ennui. When invited to be The House’s academic liaison, Sloane enviously drinks in the way the alumnae seem to have it all, achieving a level of collective perfection that Sloane so desperately craves.

As Nina and Sloane each get drawn deeper into the arcane rituals of the sisterhood, they learn that living well comes with bloody costs. And when they are finally invited to the table, they will have to decide just how much they can stomach in the name of solidarity and power

WHY I CAN'T WAIT:  This is the author's first adult horror and dare I say, vampires?  That's all I need to know.

WHAT BOOK CAN'T YOU WAIT FOR THIS WEEK???

I Think I'll Stay Away From Moors!

 

TITLE: HollowGround (Detective Jacob Knox Thriller #1

AUTHOR: Freya Wallace

PUBLISHER: Hamya Press

PUBLISHING DATE: February 17, 2025

PAGES: 244   

SOURCE: ARC

FROM GOODREADS: In the rugged wilderness of Dartmoor, school teacher Sophie Parsons vanishes without a trace during a weekend trek. For Detective Inspector Jacob Knox, Sophie’s disappearance stirs unsettling echoes of a previous case involving another woman who vanished in the same desolate moorland six months earlier. 

As Knox delves deeper, he uncovers the complexities of Sophie’s personal life, including a secret affair with a charismatic colleague and a tense relationship with her long-term boyfriend, Peter. But Sophie’s tangled love life is just the beginning of Knox’s troubles. A local legend about a beast stalking the moors resurfaces, fueling public fear and media speculation. Is it just a myth, or could something more sinister be at play? 

With time running out and the possibility that two women have been claimed by the moor, Knox faces his toughest case yet—one that will test him professionally and personally. As the case unfolds, Knox realizes the dark truths buried beneath the surface of Sophie’s life may be the key to unlocking the mystery.

MY THOUGHTS: I wanted to read this book the minute I saw that handsome dog on the cover.  Well, I now know his name is Dylan and my instincts were correct.  

Jacob Knox relocated to Dartmoor following his divorce a few years back.  Since then, he has enjoyed a bit slower pace than his previous job but is still struggling with some aspects from his past. Out on a run one morning, Sophie Parsons vanishes.  As Knox and his team start investigating, they uncover some similarities between Sophie's case and an unsolved case from six months ago.  Knox learns that Sophie's life was a bit messier than anyone knew, which leads to more suspects each time he turns around.  He and his partner Ava work to connect the two cases and hopefully, find out what is really going on. 

Initially I thought Dylan was Knox's police dog, but he isn't.  Knox purchased Dylan for companionship following his divorce and move.  Dylan does play an adequate role in the book though as he helps Knox unwind and also helps him form a growing connection with his dog-sitter, Lucy. Knox is also battling some family demons as his brother, an active alcoholic, has resurfaced and Knox tries to help him clean up his life.  

The "thriller" part of this book was pretty solid as long as you enjoy police procedurals.  In fact, there were aspects that were pretty creepy at time, especially the few select chapters that were told from Sophie's POV.  Although I felt like the ending was a tad rushed, this was a great first installment from a debut author and I'm excited to see where the series heads.  

MY RATING: 4 PAWS

Is Your House Sick? Hope Not!

 

TITLE: Sick Houses: Haunted Homes and the Architect of Dread

AUTHOR: Leila Taylor

PUBLISHER: Repeater

PUBLISHING DATE: February 11, 2025

PAGES: 322   

SOURCE: ARC

FROM GOODREADS: The history of horror begins with a house. From Otranto to Amityville, the haunted house story endures because it perverts what is equally the most universal and the most personal of the home. Our home is an extension of our self, a manifestation of our identity, and a repository of our memories. It is a micro-universe of our own creation that we control. It is also where we are the most vulnerable because we are supposed to be the most safe. 

Whether it is a decrepit Victorian mansion, a modernist luxury high-rise, a little cottage in the woods, or a starter house in the suburbs, Sick Houses explores how the horror genre in film, television, and literature uses architecture and the ideology of the home against us. It looks at the mythology of the American Dream and how the lure of homeownership becomes a trap. It celebrates the witch house, the power of the crone, and the fear of aging women who live alone. It explores how concrete utopias became ready-made mise en scene for urban terror. 

From the betrayal of sentient shape-shifting houses to shadow-self dollhouse doppelgangers, Sick Houses examines how the horror genre subverts and corrupts that which is the most sacrosanct.

MY THOUGHTS: I'm not a big reader of non-fiction titles but one sure way to suck me in to give me a supernatural subject matter.  When I saw this book pop up on Netgalley, I knew it was one I wanted to check out and I'm glad I did.

Sick Houses analyzes houses of all kinds.  The chapters are broken down into specific categories and include American Houses, Dead Houses, Doll Houses, and Witch Houses to name a few.  The author has definitely completed the necessary research and used examples and references from houses featured in horror movies, houses built by renowned (and sometimes odd) architects, houses lived in by famous killers and television shows such as The Twilight Zone.  This was a definite plus for both a pop culture and true crime junkie like me.  I learned a lot about what really makes a home evil and why haunted house intrigue so many of us.  In fact, the author basically states that since our home is supposed to be our safe place and our second bodies, haunted house become the most intimate kind of horror.  

My only complaint was at times this book read a little bit TOO much like a textbook.  But even so, it was the best kind of textbook in my opinion (kind of the like the summer in college when I took Deviant Behavior and Abnormal Psychology back-to-back for four hours each morning and became good friends with the guy ranting about cutting his ex-girlfriend up into "itty bitty pieces." Don't worry, he was weird but harmless).  Sick Houses contains photos and movie shots, and I added a few older movies I had never heard of but now want to see to my watchlist.

If topics like this interest you, then you definitely want to pick this book up.  The author also has another book out Darkly: Black History and America's Gothic Soul that I also want to pick up eventually.  

MY RATING: 4 PAWS

Feed Your TBR - Fiend

 

Can't Wait Wednesday, which I have adapted to better suit my blog as "Feed Your TBR" is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings to spotlight highly anticipated books.  It is based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme which used to be hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

September 16, 2025

FROM GOODREADS: Imagine if the Sackler family had a demon at their beck and call.

The Berisha family runs one of the largest import-export companies in the world, and they’ve always been lucky. Their rivals suffer strokes. Inconvenient buildings catch on fire. Earthquakes swallow up manufacturing plants, destroying harmful evidence. Things always seem to work out for the Berishas. They’re blessed.

At least that is what Zef, the patriarch, has always told his three children. And each of them knows their place in the family—Dardan, as the only male heir, must prepare to take over as keeper of the Berisha secrets, Maris’s most powerful contribution, much to her dismay, will be to marry strategically, and Nora’s job, as the youngest, is to just stay out of the way. But when things stop going as planned, and the family blessing starts looking more like a curse, the Berishas begin to splinter, each hatching their own secret scheme. They didn’t get to be one of the richest families in the world without spilling a little blood, but this time, it might be their own.

WHY I CAN'T WAIT: I have a love hate relationship with Katsu (The Hunger, I am looking at you), but the cover of this one caught my attention last week.  This is also Katsu's first foray into a book that is set in modern-day times and not historical.  I'm ready to give her another shot because I really want to love her.

WHAT BOOK CAN'T YOU WAIT FOR THIS WEEK???

"I See Dead People"

 

TITLE: A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer (S.C.Y.T.H.E. Mystery #1)

AUTHOR: Maxie Dara

PUBLISHER: Berkley

PUBLISHING DATE: October 1, 2024

PAGES: 352   

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: Kathy Valence is forty-two, mid-divorce, and pregnant with her ex's baby. She's also a modern-day grim reaper employed by S.C.Y.T.H.E. (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences), but frankly that's the easiest part of her life right now. Or at least it was, until her latest client's soul goes missing. 

When she finally tracks down seventeen-year-old Conner Ortiz, he angrily denies he died of natural causes, despite what his file says. He insists that someone at S.C.Y.T.H.E. murdered him, and he demands Kathy find out who and why. 

Kathy has only forty-five days to figure out what happened to Conner and help him move on before the boy's soul is doomed to roam the Earth as a ghost forever. She’s forced to rely on the help of her retired mentor, her almost ex-husband—and some sneaky moves by Conner himself. This is the wildest case of her career. . .and one wrong move could cost Kathy her job, not to mention her life.

MY THOUGHTS: This book took me forever to read but it isn't a reflection of how much I enjoyed it.  I think because it was a physical library book, I just kept picking other things up instead.  I made myself sit down this weekend determined to finish it and I'm glad I did.  Now I am excited about the next installment.

Kathy is a grim reaper for S.C.Y.T.H.E.  When someone dies, she collects their souls and makes sure they move on to processing.  It's usually fairly uncomplicated until she is dispatched to the death scene of 17-year-old Conner.  Conner's death was described as a medical condition but when she arrives, his soul is nowhere to be found.  Kathy needs to find him stat because after 45 days of limbo, Conner is destined to be a restless ghost for eternity.  When she does finally find him, he tells her he was murdered, and he thinks someone from S.C.Y.T.H.E. did it.

Kathy is a really fun character.  She believes everyone in her family is cursed and that being a grim is the only thing that she is good out. She cannot tell her husband anything about her job, so she has shut him out and filed for divorce, even though she "accidentally" ends up pregnant after they separated.  She also has a great friend sidekick, Jo, who was a former S.Y.C.T.H.E. employee and who has lived a wild and eventful life.

The mystery in the book was a fun element but what I loved most was the relationship between Conner and Kathy.  Throughout the book they work together to find Conner's murderer and learn a lot about each other, and themselves, along the way.  I would consider it a "found family" trope but with a ghost.  

If you love cozy mysteries with less emphasis on the cozy part, then this book is one you might want to consider.  It's a solid opening to a new series and I can't wait to see what supernatural fun lies ahead!

MY RATING: 5 PAWS

2 Bloggers 1 Series - Proven Guilty (Dresden Files #8)

 

I can't believe I have been going strong with this series for eight months now.  Thank goodness I have Stormi to motivate me.  This one really knocked it out of the park and is probably one of my most favorites so far.  So read on to hear my thoughts and then hop over to Stormi's at Storm Reads for hers.  

 

TITLE: Proven Guilty (Dresden Files #8)

AUTHOR: Jim Butcher

PUBLISHER: Doubleday

PUBLISHING DATE: February 6, 2017

PAGES: 547   

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: There's no love lost between Harry Dresden, the only wizard in the Chicago phone book, and the White Council of Wizards, who find him brash and undisciplined. But war with the vampires has thinned their ranks, so the Council has drafted Harry as a Warden and assigned him to look into rumors of black magic in the Windy City. 

As Harry adjusts to his new role, another problem arrives in the form of the tattooed and pierced daughter of an old friend, all grown-up and already in trouble. Her boyfriend is the only suspect in what looks like a supernatural assault straight out of a horror film. Malevolent entities that feed on fear are loose in Chicago, but it's all in a day's work for a wizard, his faithful dog, and a talking skull named Bob....

MY THOUGHTS: As I just mentioned, Proven Guilty is one of my favorite installments in this series yet.  Harry is now a designated Warden which brings on new responsibilities.  The beginning of the book opens up with a dramatic scene (let's be honest, what Dresden book doesn't open with a dramatic scene) which really foretells the direction the book is heading.  

There are no baddies invading Chicago who take the form of horror movie monsters and feed on someone's fear. Someone has summoned these creatures, and Harry needs to figure it out before more people die.  Along the way, Harry ends up getting help in some form from about everyone we have encountered previously, including Michael, Murphy and Thomas.  My beloved Mouse plays a big role and even though there is a scene where he gets hurt, I will assure you Mouse does not die (if he ever does, I'll probably stop reading).  We also get a lot of Molly, Michael's daughter. There are quite a few new developments and reveals in this book and Molly is at the center of both of them.

This book had it all - action, character development, strategic reveals and of course, Mouse.  I loved it when Harry and Murphy work together and seriously, just kiss already guys.  This book contains very little romance, which is fine, but I seriously need these two together stat!  I also enjoy seeing Thomas working with Harry and am loving seeing the brotherly love between these two grow.

I am so glad Stormi convinced me to read this series and am looking forward to what the next one has to offer.  I can now see why so many people love this series.

MY RATING: 5 PAWS

Feed Your TBR - Sour Cherry

 

Can't Wait Wednesday, which I have adapted to better suit my blog as "Feed Your TBR" is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings to spotlight highly anticipated books.  It is based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme which used to be hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

April 1, 2025

FROM GOODREADS: In a mysterious apartment filled with ghosts, our unnamed narrator attempts to explain this to her child - how do I talk about this? she wonders.

The truth must become something beautiful. We must begin with a fairy tale.

And so she begins to construct a beautiful fairy tale for her child - one that begins with a strange baby boy whose nails grow too fast and whose skin smells of soil. As he grows from a boy into a man, a plague seems to follow him everywhere. Tragedy strikes in cycles - and wife after wife, death after death, plague after plague, every woman he touches becomes a ghost. These ghosts call out desperately to our narrator as she tries to explain, in the very real world, exactly what has happened to her.

And they all agree on one thing, an inescapable truth about this man, this powerful lord who has loved them and led them each to ruin.

WHY I CAN'T WAIT: I initially fell in love with the cover and after reading the synopsis, I grew a bit confused.  I need to read this one to learn more. It sounds really weird and sometimes I just love a weird story!

WHAT BOOK CAN'T YOU WAIT FOR THIS WEEK???