An Apple for the Creature by Charlaine Harris

 An Apple for the Creature by Charlaine Harris

Pages: 336

Rating: 3 out of 5 star

This short story collection features scary tales set in schools. Is the teacher really a creature, or does the teacher need to be worried about her students?

This collection features a Sookie Stackhouse story, Playing Possum.

Mysterious Missouri by Ross Malone

 

Mysterious Missouri

by 

Ross Malone

Pages: 157

4 out of 5 stars

A fun book to read around Halloween, or closer to Thanksgiving, if you check out to many books at once. ; )
What do you know about MoMo the Missouri Monster? ...The truth is in this book.
Who are some of the strangest people who have lived in the Show-Me state? Where might you find buried treasure in Missouri?
What do you know about Booger Dogs or those Ozark Howlers?
Are there really ferocious fish bigger than a person in Missouri’s rivers and lakes? Ever seen a phantom light or mysterious floating orbs?”

This book was fun to read and reminded me when in college, a car-load of friends and I went out in search of the ghost light late one Saturday night in the countryside between Bolivar and Springfield. It sounds very similar to the Phantom Light in the book. 

Paranormal Missouri: Show Me Your Monsters

  Paranormal Missouri: Show Me Your Monsters by Jason Offut

Pages: 160 

Rating: 4 out of 5

As we approach the Halloween season, do you wonder where you might find some ghosts or other paranormal activity? This book has all sorts of suggestions throughout the state of Missouri. From lonely cemeteries and abandoned buildings to a secret UFO base in Jefferson City. Come explore the unusual side of your state. 

Attack on Titan: Volume 1 by Hajime Isayama

 

I've been looking for a new manga to read, so I thought I'd try this one out. Matt tried to get me to watch the anime with him, but only two episodes gave me nightmares of being chased by titans, so... no. But he kept raving about the story and the plot twists, so finally I decided to give this another try. It's really good! 

Big scary vivid moving images? Noooooooo. 

Black and white static images narrating a thrilling plot? Yeeessssssss....

208 pages 

Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

This book was awesome. Lovecraftian horror infects two families in Chicago during 1950s Jim Crow era.  Tentacled rock monsters, a secret cult society of alchemists, mechanical clockwork space machinery, ghost mansions, demon dolls, and those aren't even the really scary parts. Set up as a collection of interrelated short stories, it makes for a really fun yet thought-provoking read. Also, I hear it is being turned into an HBO series soon!

Fun, social-commentary filled horror.

372 pages

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

Toss a coin to your Witcher, y'all. After binging the Netflix series, this book series was brought onto my radar. Geralt of Rivia kills monsters, hunts things, you know the witcher business. This book is technically a prequel to the series, so is comprised of a lot of vignettes of some of his adventures. Some were included in the Netflix show, and some I really wish were!! It doesn't try to be more than it is, and the action scenes are written wonderfully.

Pages: 360

Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab

August, your heart. AGH sfdajklsjkld
I live for angsty teenagers having existential crises.
I love Alegro.
Hey look, Dementors and Harry Potter's scar communication.
I just love battle scenes
Henry...Augh why

...There's a song from a French Broadway musical I want to reference, but spoilers.
And it reminds me of an anime where one of the characters plays the violin, but AGAIN spoilers.
.....No one prepared me for this, and it's not fair.
544 Pages

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

I am loving this whole concept!
August, I love you.
Anyone else getting a Warm Bodies vibe?
Warehouses are my jam for reasons that are exemplified at the climax of this book. I love pain.
480 Pages

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Summary: "The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.

But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting. He’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming....

This monster, though, is something different. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth." -Amazon

First of all, we all need to bow down to Mr. Patrick Ness.  He is a wordsmith of the ages.

This story is beautiful in it's complicated simplicity.  Conor's mother is dying of cancer, and he must learn how to face not only this monster killing her but also his feelings and future without her.  The characters have depth and imperfections and there are definitely some tearjerker scenes, especially between Conor and his mother.  I'll leave you with a quote that resonated with me in a deep way: 

“Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both.”

4.5/5

224 pages

Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab

Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The world and concept are so unique in this 2nd book of a YA monster-filled duology.

It explores the very concept of what humanity is and whether or not those traits are inherent to only humans, or just higher lifeforms in general. There's also a brand new monster that is rather chilling in the way it feeds on humans.

For me, the story drug on at times, and I could have used some more compelling forward motion. The characters are indeed fascinating, both monsters and humans alike, but I haven't found my groove with V.E. Schwab yet. She has some of the most fascinating concepts and brilliant worlds ever, but I'm unable to fully immerse myself into the stories for some reason. I can't seem to let go and exist insider her stories and worlds the way I want to, and I'm not sure why. I think it is probably something unique to me. So far, I have read all of her books by audiobook, so perhaps I need to try her out in print, in case that makes any difference...give myself a bit more time and head space to take the stories in at my own rate.

Overall, it's a solid read with a satisfying and realistic ending.

Pages: 510

Monstrous by MarcyKate Connolly

Monstrous by MarcyKate Connolly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an unusual MG fantasy novel that has both an innocence and depth that I found fascinating. Basically, it's the love child of a dark fairy tale and a Halloween horror story.

It's also a novel of contradictions. The story is dark but with just enough rays of hope to make the ugliness feel beautiful. The MC is indeed monstrous, with animal features, instincts, and a strong fight or flight mode, but she's also so desperately human that it almost aches to read about her wants and desires. There are good guys who do bad things and bad guys who do good things. All of this added such interesting textures and layers to the story.

Pages: 432

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Okay. It's about monsters, so that's awesome. The world itself is fascinating, though the world building at times is a bit forced. I like it better when I learn a bit as I go, rather than having the backstory forced on me, which is how I felt at the start of the novel.

However, I have to say things smoothed out for me after a few chapters, and I really got into this. The characters were interesting. Even though I don't feel like a whole lot actually happens in the start of the book, the ending kicked things up a notch. I'm hopefully that this is a great starting point for an interesting series, and the next book just blows my socks off.

There were a few things that seemed a bit inconvenient, and it initially seemed to be leaning hard towards romance over fantasy. However, by the end, I would say the fantasy factor was very high, and the romance factor was extremely low. I can't decide how I feel about that, because I love fantasy. That makes me wish more time had been thrown into the issues of the world, rather than the two main characters and the will-they-or-won't-they-be-a-thing conundrum.

Despite how wordy this review is, I really did enjoy this story and world, and when book 2 comes out, I will definitely read it. I am hoping book 2 embraces the monsters even more, because when you have a world that dark and vicious, I just want the writing to be a bit darker and . . . bloodier? More painful? Messier? I wanted some additional ugly oomph, I guess, if that makes any sense, which it probably doesn't.

Pages: 464