The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson
I haven’t been reading a lot because I’ve been swamped by law school work. During the holiday break, I wanted a short read to get the wheels turning again—The Christmas Guest fit the bill, and ended up being my …
So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan
There would be times where I wouldn’t know how prolific and beloved an author is until after I read one of their works for the first time. This was the case with this book and Claire Keegan. Unfortunately, though, …
The Dreaming by Andre Bagoo
I read The Dreaming in record time, especially for a short story collection. I’ve been having trouble getting into short stories lately, and this is the first one that has truly hooked me. The Dreaming is a collection …
Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh
With book synopses, the reader would naturally have preconceived notions about how the author would tackle the premise, initial assumptions that would help them decide whether to pick up a book or not. That said, …
Sleeping Dogs Lie by Samantha Downing
Dog walker Shelby Ryan finds her client dead in his bathroom after walking his husky Pluto. From there, the rich client’s picture-perfect life unravels, uncovering secrets that may have lead to his untimely death. …
Literary Witches by Taisia Kitaiskaia
Literary Witches analogizes the magic of writing to that of witchcraft by picking up on the wonder of word-weaving, of making something out of nothing. From this, Taisia Kitaiskaia takes 30 women writers—the titular …
Someone Had To Do It by Amber and Danielle Brown
In the beginning, the authors paint a clear, if a bit infuriating, picture of workplace toxicity in New York fashion house Simon Van Doren, at the brunt of it is our main character Brandi Maxwell. When she overhears the …
Saint Sebastian’s Abyss by Mark Haber
The book opens with its unnamed narrator en route to Berlin to be by his former friend Schmidt’s deathbed. The two, as art critics, had their bond solidified by their mutual obsession with Saint Sebastian’s Abyss, …
Mothered by Zoje Stage
Mothered channels the suffocation and emotional isolation within fraught parent-child relationships, the feeling of being chained into a volatile dynamic by mere blood relation and nothing else. In this sense, …
Teenage Grave, Edited by Ira Rat
Clocking in at around 90 pages, Teenage Grave packed a quadruple punch of dark, relentless horror stories that kept me turning the pages. This might also take the cake as the first ever …