Tag: gothic

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#BookReview: The Residence by Nicola Marsh

Southern Gothic Amuse-Bouche. This is a short story (really short, with barely enough pages to qualify as a review in some sites if page count were word count in the review) that has one specific goal: To get your mind in the world of the Outer Banks Secrets and the Southern Gothic tone the series is built around. (Which is interesting indeed, given that Marsh is an Australian who I don’t know has ever been to North Carolina’s Outer Banks at all… but more on that momentarily.)

Y’all, as someone who has *been* to the Outer Banks and has lived every day of his (non-vacationing, and even some vacationing) life no further north than 30 minutes or so below the Georgia-Tennessee State Line and has most of the last decade barely six miles off the coast not far from St Augustine… Marsh *nails* Southern Coastal life, at least the parts of it she chooses to expose and explore here, and she absolutely uses it *perfectly* in her Southern Gothic approach. Yes, this isn’t *all* that the American South is, and perhaps it isn’t even a great representation of all that the American South *can be*, but on the creepy/ gothic side? Marsh captured it quite well indeed, particularly if my assumption is true that she’s never actually been here.

Truly an excellent short story that does everything it is intended to do *and* serves as a nice lunch break read when you want something a bit creepy but don’t have much time to read for whatever reason.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Residence by Nicola Marsh was originally written on October 15, 2024.

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#BlogTour: In The Hour Of Crows by Dana Elmendorf

For this blog tour, we’re looking at an atmospheric Southern Gothic tale perfect for fans of Emily Carpenter or Robert Gwaltney. For this blog tour, we’re looking at In The Hour Of Crows by Dana Elmendorf.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (Hardcover.app / BookHype.com / BookBub.com / TheStoryGraph.com / Goodreads.com):

Atmospheric Southern Gothic Perfect For Fans Of Emily Carpenter Or Robert Gwaltney. This is one of those trippy atmospheric southern gothic tales where folklore plays a central role. Set in the 1980s in Appalachia, it is perhaps *too* reliant on folklore in reality, but the story works within itself. As someone who grew up in the 1980s in the foothills of the Appalachians in the borderlands between Appalachia and Atlanta, the tale perhaps makes my people seem a bit backward and mystical than most of us really were, though there were (and are) absolutely pockets of people who were in fact very similar to the characters portrayed here.

Still, for the story being told here, it absolutely works within itself and creates a compelling story of a young woman struggling to find herself and the man of her dreams. But you’re going to get a *lot* of southern mysticism within that more general tale, and it is this very southern mysticism that gives the book its gravitas, atmosphere… and challenges for many readers, almost to the level of being more literary fiction than popular fiction. Not quite that far, but certainly not a too casual read either.

If you’re looking for an easy, casual summer read… this aint that. If you enjoy more spooky reads with a dash of horror but still more of a typical mystery/ drama, you might like this one. Ultimately, I thought it was well done and the release date separates it a bit from the more typical fall/ Halloween window many readers might be looking for this type of tale during – which actually gives those who like this story that much longer to find it, and for those who do find it near release date, something to enjoy outside of the “spooky season”.

Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: In The Hour Of Crows by Dana Elmendorf”

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#BookReview: The Haven by Nicola Marsh

Sold Short Sychological Sequel. (Yes, the alliteration didn’t work with “psychological”, so I had to misspell it. :D) This is one of those sequels where you actually really need to read its prior book, in this case The Retreat, first. But since both are actually perfect for when you want a spooky read (such as during Halloween, when this book releases)… that is actually a great thing in this case.

This one is perhaps a bit less gothic, though it certainly has the creepy old mansion. It also has an even deeper tangle of secrets, as characters from the first book come back to play roles in this book as well – though certainly not all of them, and even in nearly every horror tale out there, at least one person survives. So the prior bit isn’t really a spoiler of anything. 😀 But *does* point to *why* you need to read The Retreat first.

In both cases though, you get quite a bit of tale packed into relatively short (here, 260 ish pages) books – making them a bigger bang for your buck than longer, slower tales. And making them overall better for when life is busy and/ or you are doing other things, but also want to read some books.

And as explosive as the ending was in The Retreat… here, while the explosions are of a different type… they may be even bigger and more devastating…

Very much recommended.

This review of The Haven by Nicola Marsh was originally written on October 11, 2023.

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#BookReview: The Retreat by Nicola Marsh

More Dual-Timeline Suspense Than Hotel California. For whatever reason, I went into this book thinking it would be some level of Hotel California type story. Maybe the whole “bed and breakfast where people seem to wind up dead” thing? Just to clarify for anyone who may be getting that vibe as well… this is not that, not really. Instead it is more of a dual timeline suspense with secrets and connections both obvious and not. A lot of people are tossing around the word “gothic”, but I’m not quite sure I personally picked up on that. But maybe I’m just not as certain of what a “gothic” story is supposed to be? Regardless, this was truly a well written and well told story, one that is both compelling and creepy enough to keep the reader engaged without being so over the top as to compel the reader to throw the book out the nearest window (which is even rougher on Kindles than it is on paper books, just sayin’). As I’ve noted with at least a couple of other authors who normally do romance books (as Marsh is more known for) but who open themselves up to more suspense/ thriller/ etc… Marsh does a truly excellent job in both spaces, and seeing her expand her stories into these new (to her) spaces is quite interesting and a mark of a strong storyteller regardless of chosen genre. Very much recommended.

This review of The Retreat by Nicola Marsh was originally written on January 13, 2023.

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#BookReview: Hollywood Scent by Nick Winters

Creepy Gothic Hollywood Glitz. First things first – I’m writing this review *years* after I read the dang book, because I just saw that apparently when Winters *finally* released it long after I read it as a very early ARC, I never came back and wrote a review for it. Indeed, it was while writing another review for a February 2022 release – A Lullaby For Witches by Hester Fox – that I made the connection to this book due to their blends of historical and modern fiction via witchcraft (and in particular, ghost witches)… and then realized I had never reviewed this book. 😀

ANYWAY… this book really will stick with you, long after you thought you had long forgotten about it. It does a phenomenal job of showing Golden Age Hollywood glitz as well as a more modern look at Hollywood… and it gets creepy early and never really lets up. The finale here is particularly well done and particularly memorable, and really the fact that I could very easily spoil large sections of this book in a discussion even so many years and literally thousands of books later… that should tell you how well crafted this story is and just how much it will crawl into your brain like few others. Very much recommended.

This review of Hollywood Scent by Nick Winters was originally written on February 19, 2022.

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#BlogTour: A Lullaby For Witches by Hester Fox

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a book I haven’t had a chance to read yet (see below), but which sounds very promising. For this blog tour, we’re looking at A Lullaby For Witches by Hester Fox.

Gothic. Witchy. Near Perfect Blend Of Historical And Modern. This is one of those witch tales that blends the modern and the historical particularly well – in this case, via a ghost witch. We see her travails in her own mortal time in the middle of the 19th century… and we also get a remarkable view of the life of a museum worker in 21st century New England as well. How these two blend – and why – is what makes this book so remarkable. Fans of Nick Winters’ Hollywood Scent will particularly love this, as both books share a particularly creepy finale mechanism (and indeed have similar *general* arcs blending historical and current). Overall a great creepy witch tale, perfect for cold gray days by a campfire. Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book description, author bio, and social and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: A Lullaby For Witches by Hester Fox”