Darcy Coates is one of the authors I go to whenever I need a comfort read. She’s great at crafting supernatural stories with likable characters that I want to succeed.
Voices in the Snow is book one in a series about Clare and Doran that find themselves together in a snowed in mansion surviving a sudden deadly storm. Soon they realize that there is much more than just weather and lack of supplies threatening them, but something much more dangerous.
I love the mystery here and will be continuing this series to find out what’s going and what happened! I’m a sucker for Clare and Dorran and their interactions were just as fun to read as the action. Looking forward to book two!
A bizarre horror story full where two newlyweds find themselves trapped inside their new apartment which happens to be infested with a malicious mold. Very weird, and you need to just go with the flow or you won’t enjoy it. Very gross, very weird.
It started out with so much promise and the beginning of the book is vastly different from the rest. I found out this is because the story of Etain is actually an old Irish folktale that the author is retelling and using in his own story, which explains why that part is so good and the rest is a total mess.
The plot and storyline was confusing and lacked direction, like the author himself didn’t know what he wanted to write. Is this horror? Is this fantasy? Is this a retelling? Is this a sapphic YA romance? I don’t know and the author clearly doesn’t know either.
The characters were all unlikeable and unrealistic in my opinion, they were also all incredibly cringey with the most try hard dialogue I’ve read in a while. This made sense, when again I read the afterward and found out the author was a theater major. He should stick with that, because there are so many plot holes and lack of consistency or real depth in these characters that makes a poor novel. But some of his scenes I could tell he wrote with a scene for a play in mind.
The way he wrote the female characters as well was poor in my opinion. These were not strong women, these were a man’s idea of what a strong woman would be and we ended up with a cast of pixie dream girls. Also why did Etain suddenly turn into a completely different person and then at the end was like oh sorry my bad girl? The characters made no sense just like the story made no sense.
Nothing was explained, nothing was solved but the ending acted like it was. How did literally anything happen or work? And why? How? I still don’t even understand the deal at the beginning with the box? When NO ONE else makes a deal? Was that a one time thing? There was so much potential here but the author got carried away with a romance that honestly changed the entire genre of the book. You have a few chapters in the beginning and the end focused on the mystery and lore of this tv program, and then the majority of the book is this goofy, unrealistic sapphic romance with some random woman named Betty that never ends up being more than just Ashling’s girlfriend. Why did Betty move in with Ashling? That bothered me the ENTIRE novel. I have to break up with you because you’ll have to move in with me and my mom sucks. I’m sorry why does she have to move in with you at all? Explain that. Never explained we just turn the page and Betty has been living there for months. Just one example of the lack of flow and detail and common sense in this book, that really ruined my enjoyment of the narrrative.
Inconsistent and unrealistic characters, poor plot, plot holes, confusing storyline, lack of direction, and cringe ended up with a 1/5 for me. The synopsis detailed an entirely different book than what I got.
A concise nonfiction book on the history of different Yuletide monsters and their lore. This book gives a short little snippet of each monster and its lore, but not an exhaustive source. This is perfect if you want to know general stories and lore in regard to these creatures with beautiful illustrations. I wouldn’t recommend this if you’re looking for an in depth analysis but it’s great for those looking to dip their toes into the complex history of Yule.
Abusive parents deny their daughter sleep to the point she can’t tell if the monster under her brother’s bed is real or a sleep deprived illusion. I’ve almost read all of Farthing’s short stories at this point and out of them all this one I’ve enjoyed the most.
Firstly, the audiobook for this novella is phenomenal!! There are sound effects, music, different talented voice actors, and you can tell this audiobook was a production with a lot of care put in. I honestly don’t think I would have rated this as highly if I hadn’t listened to the audiobook, it was that good! I also love that the audiobook has other short stories after His Black Tongue.
A priest and his disciple travel to a small medieval town in hopes of finding the root to the evil plaguing it. A short, epic demon novella with amazing acting! Highly recommend the audiobook!
I saw this all over Christmas horror recommendation lists and was so excited to finally read it. I’ve read campy slasher horror before and it’s always pretty surface level but this one was just way too bland to me.
The characters do not feel like real people and the writing is too simple for my tastes. Glad I was able to know this Christmas slasher off my list even though it was a big disappointment.
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
First thing, this is a long one! I’ve had this on my shelf for years and when they made a tv adaptation I had to read it. I finally picked it up this winter and while I enjoyed it, this book was a commitment.
I honestly feel, this was a little too long but understand why it was and appreciate the historical accuracy. This is an excellent read for those looking for historical fiction but with a touch of horror and the supernatural.
A fictional twist on the arctic expedition of the Terror and Erebus!