I Think I Need a Cowboy Romance Slasher for Summer of Horror!

TITLE: Halfway Home (Clear River Ranch #1)

AUTHOR: Janalyn Knight

PUBLISHER: Independently Published

PUBLISHING DATE: July 14, 2026

PAGES: 174   

SOURCE: KU

FROM GOODREADS: Addie Kingsley never outgrew the habit of loving Talon McGraw. He was her big brother Silas’s best friend. Her shadowed childhood hero. The city boy her father took in and taught to rope, ride, and tend cattle. The boy who let her trail after them no matter how close she followed—who gave her the nickname Tagalong and never once told her to go home—until the day he left town. 

After ten years as an Army Ranger, Talon returns to Clear Water Ranch a different man—wounded, hardened, and carrying scars he won’t explain. He takes up residence in a remote hunting cabin and makes one thing he doesn’t want to be found. 

Addie should respect that. She should listen to her brother. She should stay far away from the man who has always been off-limits. But she can’t. Because behind Talon’s silence is something darker than pain—something that isolates him, consumes him, and calls to every part of her that’s loved him for years. 

Talon knows better than to let her close. Silas would never allow it. And more than that, Talon doesn’t trust himself with her. Not now. Not like this. But Addie isn’t the girl he left behind. She’s stronger. Braver. And far too determined to walk away from him. And when she finally steps into his solitude, refusing to be shut out, the line Talon has held for years begins to fracture. Because wanting her was always dangerous. Now it might be inevitable. And if he gives in—if he lets her see the man he’s become—he risks losing the only family he’s ever had. But walking away from her might cost him everything he is.

MY THOUGHTS: I needed something to break up all the horror I've been reading so I put my Kindle Unlimited subscription to good use and grabbed a cowboy romance.  

Talon has returned home from service with a few injuries.  Needing some time along and some solitude, he ends up staying in a cabin on his best friend's family farm.  However, this puts him in close proximity of his best friend's sister, Addie.  Addie has always had a crush on Talon and truth be told, he always had feelings for her as well, but he never acted upon them because he was afraid of angering his best friend.  

Addie starts texting Talon and leaving care packages on his porch and eventually they start hanging out with each other behind every one's back.  Things start heating up, and let's get real, we knew they would, and Talon has to decide between possibly losing his best friend or losing his chance at happiness.

This was a fun quick read which is on the shorter side at under 200 pages.  It scratched my romance itch, and I really did like Addie and Talon as characters.  My main complaint was that the ending seemed to be rushed and left me wanting more of the in between. Of course, there was your happily-ever-after epilogue, and the writing is on the wall for the next installment.  I will probably pick it up eventually because I am curious and want to see how thing progress on the ranch.  If you are looking for a quick fix, this would work, but if you want a longer read, there are plenty of other places to start.

And by the way, does anyone know of any cowboy romance slasher novels.  Now THAT would be something I would jump on!

MY RATING: 3 PAWS

Feed Your TBR (Summer of Horror 2026 Edition)

 

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.

Also, since it is Summer of Horror, each week I will be trying to do one horror and one horror pick - at least through August.  Except today, yo get two horror choices!  

August 18, 2026

FROM GOODREADS: It needs to feed.

After the recent separation from his wife Trish, Victor hopes his friends' annual weekend retreat to the Californian desert town of Superstition will loosen him up and reforge the group's fraying bonds. But something is waiting underneath Superstition, crawling its way into their group, and feeding into their desires.

Victor knows too well what it means to repress his desires. He's always attempted to be the perfect partner, yet often found himself lacking. With Trish skipping the trip, he begins falling into the wild underbelly of Superstition in new ways. When the leader of the town's Welcoming Committee approaches him with a romantic, sexually charged offer, Victor wonders if it's too good to be true.

But the Welcoming Committee expects a price to be paid for its services. One that cannot be fulfilled by willing bodies alone. By the end of the weekend, group bonding will have developed a whole new meaning.

Because something is hungry for Victor and his friends.

WHY I CAN'T WAIT:  First of all, it's vampires.  Secondly, I've seen blurbs referencing From Dusk till Dawn.  That's enough for me.

October 13, 2026

FROM GOODREADS: This humorous, heart-pounding, feminist slasher takes on misogynist social pressures with one former scream queen as she is pursued by a serial killer impersonating the antagonist of her films. 

Former scream queen Barbra Jacobs desperately wants to break out of the box Hollywood has neatly packaged her in. Cast as the star of the Mirror horror franchise films twenty years ago, the breakout role that shaped her career has also destroyed her dreams of being taken seriously as an actress. Now forty, and still seeking the approval of everyone around her, she makes ends meet by signing old photos of herself and doing meet and greets at horror conventions. 

So when a producer calls asking her host The Monsters We Made, a hot new horror docuseries, she sees it as a step in the right direction. But when fans begin dying around her—and in ways that mimic the kills in her films—Barb is thrust back into a role she can’t seem to walk away The Final Girl. Will she ever break out of the display-box-life she’s been imprisoned in, or will Mirror Man end it all in Barbie’s Scream House?

WHY I CAN'T WAIT:  I am really enjoying the slasher subgenre lately and this one sounds a bit campy and a lot of fun!

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

2 Bloggers 1 Book - Night of the Crabs

 

Stormi was hosting a Red, White and Retro Readathon on her YouTube channel this month so we decided to do an older horror buddy read which would work for her and also fulfill my participation in Summer of Horror. Our choice this month is basically a creature-feature novel, and I have to admit I had a lot of fun with it, and it was a pretty quick read.  So read on for my thoughts and then hop over to Storm Reads to see Stormi's.

TITLE: NIght of the Crabs (Crabs #1)

AUTHOR: Guy N. Smith

PUBLISHER: Black Hill Books

PUBLISHING DATE: January 1, 1976

PAGES: 187   

SOURCE: Own

FROM GOODREADS: Professor Cliff Davenport's nephew disappears with his girlfriend while swimming off the Welsh Coast. Davenport discovers that a colony of giant crabs is responsible and resolves to track down and destroy them. Will he succeed before the monstrous crabs devour entire human populations? Full of action, suspense and gore, this is classic 1970s animal attack horror by bestselling British author Guy N. Smith (1939-2020).

MY THOUGHTS: This book was a lot of fun.  Was it perfect? No.  But it was a summer creature feature I thoroughly enjoyed and was a nice change of pace for some of the more slasher/psychological horror I have found on my shelves lately.  

Professor Davenport's nephew and his girlfiend, also Davenport's assistant, go missing while on vacation.  While it is being reported the allegedly drowned, their bodies have not been recovered and he questions what really happened because he knows they were both well-established swimmers.  He decides to travel to the Welsh Coast himself and after a bit of investigation, he finds out what really happened.  Davenport runs across a group of giant crabs, led by King Crab himself who actually seems to be a thinking, intelligent entity out to cause murder and mayhem.  

Davenport uses his connections to engage the military to stop the crabs while a town still exists.  He also ends up meeting a newly divorced woman named Pat who is staying at the same end that wants to help him.  Can they stop the crabs in time to save the town, and how many will die in the process?

As I said, this was a lot of fun.  It was action-packed and on the shorter side.  Davenport was an interesting character and if you've ever read "Rats" which I have, it reminds me of it in a lot of ways.  However, it also had a few flaws.  You will notice one of the questions I didn't ask above is where did these giant crabs come from?  Well, they didn't ask it either and I just couldn't let it go.  They all wanted to kill them and save the world, but no one questioned how they got here in the first place.  Also, I really don't need insta-love and a marriage proposal in a under 200 pages horror book but apparently the author did.

Overall, I am glad I picked this one up.  It's nice to read older books sometimes.  Also, this is apparently an 8-book series and while I might be interested enough to pick up the second one someday, I can't ever see me reading all eight!

MY RATING: 4 PAWS (more like 3.5 but will round up for Goodreads).

Feed Your TBR (Summer of Horror 2026 Edition)

 

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.

Also, since it is Summer of Horror, each week I will be trying to do one horror and one horror pick - at least through August.  So, enjoy!

August 25, 2026

FROM GOODREADS: Juliette Macintyre has never met a dog she didn’t love. For one thing, dogs don’t judge, unlike the human residents of Labrador Falls. Most locals look at her with suspicion because her father was once a dirty cop, even though Juliette is upbeat, helpful, and the best pet groomer around. She just needs to prove it…starting with new resident Joel Cunningham, an enigma wrapped in a checked shirt and a scowl.

Joel runs the Brewed Awakening café, where the coffee is as smooth as Joel is surly. He doesn’t serve pumpkin spice, he doesn’t chitchat, and he claims he doesn’t like dogs. Yet when Juliette stumbles upon a dead body in the dog park, strangled with one of her custom leashes, Joel becomes an unexpected ally.

He has no intention of opening up, to either his cute neighbor or the foster pup she foists on him. But he can’t let a biased detective frame Juliette for murder. Whoever killed the widely loathed Maurice Allsop may be desperate enough to strike again. If they can just ignore their chemistry and focus on the clues, Juliette and Joel might be able to solve the case—before somebody else bites the dust…

WHY I CAN'T WAIT:  Dogs and a small town called Labrador Falls.  This seems like an auto read for me right?

March 23, 2027

FROM GOODREADS: In a quiet suburb in the mid-1990s, nothing ever seems to happen. Then a teenage boy dies, and the adults are quick to call it suicide.

His friends aren’t so sure.

Drawn together by grief, boredom, and a creeping sense that something is terribly wrong, a group of teens begins to fixate on an abandoned house at the end of a cul-de-sac—a place everyone avoids, although no one can explain why. Once the gang crosses its threshold, they find that, somehow, the house seems to know them—showing them what they long for most, feeding on their fears, their shame, their secret rage.

As the line between nightmare and waking life erodes, the group is forced to confront not only the house’s sinister power, but the violence, cruelty, and despair festering inside their families and their town. What begins as a dare becomes an obsession—and then a reckoning.

The Ravaged Night is a coming-of-age horror novel from one of France’s most brilliant novelists about friendship, desire, and the terrible cost of growing up. An exhilarating celebration of Stephen King and the cult slasher film, this is a story about the places that shape us—and the ones that devour us.

WHY I CAN'T WAIT: I love a good coming of age horror story, and I've seen this one compared to Stephen King.

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

Wow! They Got It Right!

TITLE: Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die

AUTHOR: Mallory Arnold

PUBLISHER: Poisoned Pen Press

PUBLISHING DATE: July 14, 2026

PAGES: 352   

SOURCE: ARC

FROM GOODREADS: One isolated cabin. One cheating boyfriend. One plan to get even. 

When Nora, Ruby, and Cham discover that they've each been dating the same man, what starts as outrage quickly spirals into a plot for revenge. Together they hatch a plan to lure their boyfriend to a romantic getaway in a secluded cabin at the top of a snow-covered mountain. 

Only what was meant to be harmless payback soon takes a chilling turn when their not-so-adoring boyfriend is found dead in the cabin. 

Stranded and snowed in, the women begin to look at each other with increasing suspicion. And as tensions rise, hidden motives come to light. To survive, each woman must confront her own demons as they fight to uncover if one of them is the killer, or if something else lurks in the freezing wilderness, waiting to pick them off one by one.

MY THOUGHTS: After reading several books marketed as horror but which ended up being primarily thrillers, I was a bit nervous to start this one.  However, I can happily say they got this one right!  This definitely has a slasher vibe with a side order of cults and bunches of blood and gore. 

The story is told from three perspectives - Nora, Ruby and Cham.  In the beginning the reader sees that each one is very different, and each have a boyfriend who probably relies on them more than he should.  It doesn't take long to deduct that while the women are very different, the boyfriend is actually the same man, and he is taking them all for a ride. 

By some miracle which I am actually shocked happened at all, the three women end up meeting and are surprised to learn what they actually have in common.  Together, they trauma bond and they devise a plan to get even.  Ruby, who is adopted, recently inherited a remote cabin owned by her actual parents in a small town.  They all know how what a coward Jason is when it comes to scary movies, so they recruit a fourth woman to lure him to the cabin where they plan to scare him into giving him back all he has taken from them. Little do they know Ruby's parents were members of an old cult who once tried to take over the town and when a snowstorm strands them all at the cabin, it may be the three of them that are in for the scare of their lives.

This book really has it all - action, suspense, a snowy isolated setting, creepy town residents and a few twists and turns I never saw coming.  Also, surprisingly, I loved all three women, and it was nice to see them band together for a common cause and even nicer to see their friendship truly grow. The book starts with the three women being interviewed at the local police station so off the bat, the reader knows something happens to Jason, but I had no idea for the ride I was in for.

I have a copy of this author's last book and never got around to it but now I am anxious to pick it up as well.  If you love your thriller more on the horror side, this is one to check out!

MY RATING: 5 PAWS

Don't Trust Anyone!

TITLE: The Wasp Trap

AUTHOR: Mark Edwards

PUBLISHER: Atria Books

PUBLISHING DATE: September 16, 2025

PAGES: 327   

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: Six friends reunite in London to celebrate the life of their recently deceased ex-employer, a professor that brought them together in 1999 to help build a dating website based on psychological testing.

But what is meant to be a night of bittersweet nostalgia soon becomes a twisted and deadly game when the old friends find themselves held at gunpoint. They are given an ultimatum: reveal their darkest secrets to the group or pick each other off one-by-one. 

It soon becomes clear that their current predicament is related to their shared past. The love questionnaire they helped develop in 1999 for the dating site was also turned into a tool for weeding out The Wasp Trap. This and the other tragic events of that summer long ago may help reveal the truth behind a killer hiding in plain sight. 

Alternating between the past and present with a colorful ensemble of characters, The Wasp Trap is a fast-paced and twisty thrill ride that is perfect for fans of Lucy Foley and Alice Feeney.

MY THOUGHTS: If you love a good thriller where you have some truly despicable characters you are going to love to hate, this might be the book for you.  It is the first book I've read by the author, but I will definitely be checking out his backlist for more to add to my backlist.

Will and his post-college friends haven't seen each other in 25 years.  Following college, all six of them spent the summer at a reclusive professor's estate working on a dating app called Butterfly.net.  Soon though, the dating app wasn't enough and a side project, a test to see if someone is actually a sociopath, starts taking shape.  One night, during project ending celebration, something tragic happens and the project dissolves and everyone is sent home.  

Fast forward and the professor has passed away. Georgina and Theo, who married after that summer, and who are probably the most successful of the group have invited everyone to their home for a dinner and celebration of Professor Marlowe's life.  When they arrive, everyone soon realizes they have unpacked baggage and secrets from years ago.  In fact, Georgina and Theo have a college aged daughter themselves who has recently disappeared.  As the evening goes on, they gang finds themselves being held hostage by the chef catering the party and his assistant. They are demanding that someone in the group is holding a secret and unless they spill it, no one may make it out alive.  The problem is, there are so many secrets from that summer how will they know which is the right one?

This book was a lot of fun, and I basically read the whole thing one Sunday afternoon.  I found it hard to put down, in part because I love an alternating timeline and in part because this group of individuals was one hot mess.  Edwards managed to surprise me with some reveals as well as more than one twist and turn. The ending might be predictable to some, but it caught me off guard, furthering cementing my belief that I need to read more by this author. 

If you are looking for a solid lock-roomed mystery, then I definitely feel this is one you should grab.

MY RATING: 5 PAWS

I Am Groot! No Sorry, Root, It's Root!

TITLE: Carry Me to My Grave

AUTHOR: Christopher Golden

PUBLISHER: St. Martin's Press

PUBLISHING DATE: July 21, 2026

PAGES: 336   

SOURCE: ARC

FROM GOODREADS: Maggie Wise will take your eyes.

When Malcolm was growing up, the local kids made up that chant about his mother, claiming she was a witch. He and his siblings did their best to ignore it. Now, Maggie is dying, and those same siblings have left Malcolm and his sister-in-law Violet to hold a vigil at her bedside. 

But they’re not as alone as they think they are. A dark figure waits and watches from beneath the willow tree across the street. Hundreds of miles away, an ancient evil stirs in its burrow under a farmer’s cornfield. Across the country, other buried things begin to dream in anticipation of Maggie’s demise. On her deathbed, the old woman elicits a promise from Malcolm, her youngest child―when she dies, he and Violet must return her body to her birthplace in Shediak, Maine. 

From the moment she takes her last breath, before her remains are even loaded aboard the baggage car of the Imperial Limited, there are forces trying to stop Malcolm from fulfilling that promise. Violence erupts on the train, evil preys on its passengers, and once the sun goes down, those long-buried things are coming to make Maggie Wise pay for her past. God help anyone who stands in their way.

MY THOUGHTS: I have always loved Christopher Golden's horror and if you haven't checked him out yet, I highly recommend you do.  I have read at least five of his books, with All Hallow's Eve still remaining my favorite, and have several more on my shelves.  However, I have to say that this newest novel threatened to knock All Hallow's Eve off the top spot once or twice.  

Malcomb's mother is dying.  He and his sister-in-law Violet have been at her bedside for several days and when she finally passes, Maggie explains that Malcomb has a limited amount of days to travel to Sediak, Maine to bury her remains and if they fail, they cannot imagine the repercussions.  

Malcolm's family has never been close.  His brother is basically a gambler who hasn't been home in years and his older sister, even longer.  Violet is the only help he has had and together they have formed a forbidden love.  Maggie has always been rumored to be a witch but Malcolm never believed.  However, as the trip progresses, Malcolm starts to realize there may be some truth to the tall tales and that he has no idea who his mother really is or about the life she has lived.

This book kept me engaged from the first chapter and never let up.  The chapters on the train where Malcolm, Violet and Maggie's body are holed up in the cargo train are some of the most atmospheric and suspenseful ones I've read in a long time.  Also, the evil entities they contend with throughout their journeys are original and terrifying.  I won't clue you in to their supernatural nature (and no, they aren't really Groot) but they have lived underground for hundreds of years and when they finally pop up to introduce themselves, people all around better run.

I cannot recommend this book enough and am so glad I picked it up.  I really need to find time to read some backlist titles from the author because he hasn't disappointed me yet.

MY RATING: 5 PAWS