Guillotine ★★★★☆
Written by Delilah S. Dawson
Genre: Thriller, Social Commentary, Horror

This, while not exceptionally written, or doing a service to teach people an extraordinary moral (although I think it may have been trying), was still a fun and violent read. This one is touted as like The Menu meets Ready or Not and I can see that! It's definitely a "you go girl!" type of revenge book, and it does have a happy ending, so it's worth the read.

Scanlines ★★★☆☆
Written by Todd Keisling
Genre: Supernatural, Horror, Suicide

This just did not affect me the way it did other people apparently. It's kinda like The Ring, there's a cursed video of a man committing suicide, and after you watch it, you're compelled to reach the same fate. I guess I don't view suicide in such a dark, wretched way this author does (or other people for that matter), so even hearing about the guy in the video, I was kinda like "good for you!"? I dunno. It just didn't do anything for me.

W1LL1AM ★★★☆☆
Written by Mason Coile
Genre: Science Fiction, Horror, Supernatural

Definitely not what I expected it to be. I love creepy dolls, and this one was supposed to be about an AI-led doll that turns dark, like M3GAN, which I loved. However, this didn't go in a way that I really enjoyed. Although I will say that the twist did catch me by surprise! I wasn't expecting that! The ending also wasn't a good one, but it was to be expected. This was just an alright read.

Haunt Sweet Home ★★☆☆☆
Written by Sarah Pinsker
Genre: Supernatural, Horror, Mystery

This was...alright. The writing style was nice, so it's nothing against how the author writes (as in her voice), but the plot was just, confusing I suppose? The main lesson of the story was basically for the main girl to take charge of her life and stop sitting on the sidelines having a pity party for herself, which I mean, that's a fine lesson. But her family really does suck. They treat her like she's a side character in everything they do, so why is it up to the YOUNGEST member of the family to make the change? She shoulda said "fuck you" to all of them and left town. The whole "haunted piece of wood" thing was strange too. I'm not sure what to think of that.

Allies of the Night ★★★★☆
Written by Darren Shan
Genre: Vampires, Adventure, Supernatural

Now we're getting somewhere! The last book was basically filler, so this is when things start to get good. Darren runs into people from his past, which is exciting, and then things are slowly beginning to get revealed to him about the War of Scars and who he can really trust.

Killers of the Dawn ★★★★☆
Written by Darren Shan
Genre: Vampires, Adventure, Supernatural

More exciting plot! Although, this is definitely the saddest book in the entire series due to a very important character dying. But towards the end of this one an even bigger twist is revealed, which is a very important part of the plot.

Bloom ★★★☆☆
Written by Delilah S. Dawson
Genre: LGBT, Thriller, Horror

I didn't realize this was the same author as Guillotine until I got over halfway through the book. Oh man is the dialogue pretentious in this one! I get that the main character is an English professor, but Jesus H. Christ, she was so annoying. For that, and many other reasons too. She definitely got what she was asking for in the end, I believe, because the object of her affections throws up SO MANY red flags! Anyways, this is a slow burn, kinda like the movie Audition. You don't get to the scary part until the last quarter of the book, and by then I was just ready for it to be over.

The Night Guest ★★★★☆
Written by Hildur Knútsdóttir
Genre: Supernatural, Thriller, Mystery

This one was short, but not very sweet, although it did keep me interested. I've seen other reviews comparing it to Come Closer by Sarah Gran, although this time there's no demon involved. People seem to get up in arms when there's violence against animals in books, but don't mind when there's violence against humans. While, it often does make me more sad to read about animals dying, it doesn't necessarily bother me, but be warned for people that ARE affected by that sort of thing, there's lots of awful scenes with cats in this one. Anyways, the ending was a bit odd, but again, not a bad read.

Comfort Me With Apples ★★☆☆☆
Written by Catherynne M. Valente
Genre: Religious, Mystery, Supernatural

Since reading this one, I have literally already forgotten most of it, which says a lot about how I feel about the book. It is a re-telling of a very well-known religious story, and it's not too hard to figure that out once you get into the story. I wonder if the main character is named Sophia, after the Sophia from Gnosticism, or if she's based on the Greek one... Either way, I seriously can't even remember how this story ended. I'm sorry! It was a short read, and I usually LOVE re-tellings of this Biblical story (I've been working on one myself for like... forever), but this one didn't do it for me.

Lapvona: A Novel ★★★★★
Written by Ottessa Moshfegh
Genre: Historical, Black Comedy, Character Study

I LOVED this book. This isn't even my usual genre (obviously, I usually read more horror), but since I'd read Eileen I figured I'd read this one too. I remember I was in Charleston shopping in Buxton Books (Grady Hendrix goes here sometimes because his mom is friends with the owner) when I saw this came out and it was sitting all over the tables. This book was so bleak, every character was an absolute piece of shit, and so many bad things just kept on happening which lead to more horrible happenings. Seriously, I just kept laughing throughout the entire story. I wish I could find more books like this!

Motel Styx ★★★★☆
Written by Michelle von Eschen & Jonathan Butcher
Genre: Horror, Erotic, Thriller

I guess I'm completely desensitized to hearing about people committ acts of necrophilia, because while sure this book was gross, it didn't bother me the way it apparently did every other reviewer on the internet. I mean, while I wouldn't fuck a dead body, the whole moral argument posed in the book of "if they consented before death, why not?" kinda makes sense? Anyways, I see (from reading this) that there are a LOT of issues that could arise if that did become a real thing, but anyways... I totally guessed the "mystery" behind the main character pretty early. He got a very deserved ending is all I'm gonna say :)

Shy Girl ★★★☆☆
Written by Mia Ballard
Genre: Horror, Psychological, Magical Realism

I did not expect this book to go in the direction that it did, and... I don't think I liked it. The main plot (which you can read on the blurb, so this isn't a spoiler) is that the main girl Gia is broke and signs up for a sugar daddy dating site in hopes that she can just sleep with a couple rich, old dudes so they'll give her money and she won't be homeless... But then things go really bad when she meets a dude who wants her to "be his dog". Yeah... The ending of this didn't sit right with me. I'm... hm... I don't even know what to say. I would have done it differently.

The Unworthy ★★★★☆
Written by Agustina Bazterrica
Genre: Dystopian, LGBT, Social Commentary

I loved this one too! While Agustina's other book Tender is the Flesh had an awful ending that just felt like a punch to the gut, this one had a very hopeful feeling, even if it wasn't entirely happy. The story itself was very cool, and I really liked the main character, and her growth as a person as the story progressed. Some of the "mysteries" of this book weren't very mysterious either (either I'm really good at figuring out plots of books, or all these plotlines are pretty obvious) BUT that doesn't mean it was bad. I think I actually liked this one more than Tender is the Flesh actually. For now it's at 4 stars, but I bet this is gonna be one of those that sits with me, and I'll keep thinking about it, and eventually I'll have to turn it into 5 stars. Just wait.

Rouge ★★★★☆
Written by Mona Awad
Genre: ???

Review to come soon!