BLOG TOUR: The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters

 

BOOK INFORMATION

Genre: Horror/Thriller

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (December 10, 2019)

• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1643851632
• ISBN-13: 978-1643851631

Synopsis: A supernatural thriller in the vein of A Head Full of Ghosts about two young girls, a scary story that becomes far too real, and the tragic--and terrifying--consequences that follow one of them into adulthood.

Red Lady, Red Lady, show us your face...

In 1991, Heather Cole and her friends were members of the Dead Girls Club. Obsessed with the macabre, the girls exchanged stories about serial killers and imaginary monsters, like the Red Lady, the spirit of a vengeful witch killed centuries before. Heather knew the stories were just that until her best friend Becca began insisting the Red Lady was real--and she could prove it.

That belief got Becca killed.

It's been nearly thirty years, but Heather has never told anyone what really happened that night--that Becca was right and the Red Lady was real. She's done her best to put that fateful summer, Becca, and the Red Lady, behind her. Until a familiar necklace arrives in the mail, a necklace Heather hasn't seen since the night Becca died.

The night Heather killed her.

Now, someone else knows what she did...and they're determined to make Heather pay. 

Review:  This was a perfect story to read just before Halloween! It has alternating chapters of past and present so that we learn little bits and pieces of each story as we go along.  
I remember as a young girl doing things with my friends to scare ourselves that seem silly now--saying Bloody Mary three times in the mirror, playing light as a feather stiff as a board, playing with an ouija board, etc. But thankfully we never took any of it as seriously as Becca took her Red Lady story.
I didn't see the ending of this one coming at all, but it certainly made sense of Becca's obsession and made me feel even sadder for her. The same can't be said for Heather, however. As an adult, she is way too paranoid and too suspicious of nearly everyone in her life.
I highly recommend this one. It's got creepy moments, a few laughs, and tons of head-shaking 'yikes, what's wrong with people' scenes. 

Rating:  Four stars

About the author

Damien Angelica Walters is the author of Cry Your Way Home, Paper Tigers, and Sing Me Your Scars, winner of This is Horror's Short Story Collection of the Year. Her short fiction has been nominated twice for a Bram Stoker Award, reprinted in The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror and The Year's Best Weird Fiction, and published in various anthologies and magazines, including the Shirley Jackson Award Finalists Autumn Cthulhu and The Madness of Dr. Caligari, World Fantasy Award Finalist Cassilda's Song, Nightmare Magazine, Black Static, and Apex Magazine. Until the magazine's closing in 2013, she was an Associate Editor of the Hugo Award-winning Electric Velocipede. She lives in Maryland with her husband and two rescued pit bulls.

BLOG TOUR: Little Darlings by Melanie Golding

BOOK INFORMATION

Genre: Thriller

Hardcover: 304 pages

• Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (April 30, 2019)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1683319974
• ISBN-13: 978-1683319979

Synopsis: “Mother knows best” takes on a sinister new meaning in this unsettling thriller perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman and Grimms’ Fairy Tales.

Everyone says Lauren Tranter is exhausted, that she needs rest. And they’re right; with newborn twins, Morgan and Riley, she’s never been more tired in her life. But she knows what she saw: that night, in her hospital room, a woman tried to take her babies and replace them with her own…creatures. Yet when the police arrived, they saw no one. Everyone, from her doctor to her husband, thinks she’s imagining things.

A month passes. And one bright summer morning, the babies disappear from Lauren’s side in a park. But when they’re found, something is different about them. The infants look like Morgan and Riley―to everyone else. But to Lauren, something is off. As everyone around her celebrates their return, Lauren begins to scream, These are not my babies.

Determined to bring her true infant sons home, Lauren will risk the unthinkable. But if she’s wrong about what she saw…she’ll be making the biggest mistake of her life.

Compulsive, creepy, and inspired by some our darkest fairy tales, Little Darlings will have you checking―and rechecking―your own little ones. Just to be sure. Just to be safe.

Review: This is one of the scariest books I've read in a long time. I didn't want to put it down once I started reading. If you are a fan of thrillers that are creepy with a touch of supernatural, this is definitely the book for you.
This book is going to be made into a motion picture, and I am already excited to see it.

Rating: Five stars

About the author

Melanie Golding is a graduate of the MA in creative writing program at Bath Spa University, with distinction. She has been employed in many occupations including farm hand, factory worker, childminder and music teacher. Throughout all this, because and in spite of it, there was always the writing. In recent years she has won and been shortlisted in several local and national short story competitions. Little Darlings is her first novel, and has been optioned for screen by Free Range Films, the team behind the adaptation of My Cousin Rachel.

BLOG TOUR: The Psychology Of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas

BOOK INFORMATION

Genre: Science Fiction/Time Travel

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Crooked Lane Books ( February 12, 2019)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9781788540100
• ISBN-13: 978-1788540100
• ASIN: 1788540107

Synopsis: 1967: Four female scientists invent a time-travel machine. They are on the cusp of fame: the pioneers who opened the world to new possibilities. But then one of them suffers a breakdown and puts the whole project in peril.

2017: Ruby knows her beloved Granny Bee was a pioneer, but they never talk about the past. Though time travel is now big business, Bee has never been part of it. Then they receive a message from the future--a newspaper clipping reporting the mysterious death of an elderly lady.

2018: When Odette discovered the body, she went into shock. Blood everywhere, bullet wounds, flesh. But when the inquest fails to answer any of her questions, Odette is frustrated. Who is this dead woman that haunts her dreams? And why is everyone determined to cover up her murder?

Review: This book creates a world where time travel is an accepted fact of life and looks at how it can (or can't) impact a person's life. It had me thinking about how I might use time travel in my own life, and whether I would want to communicate with my green (younger) and/or silver (older) selves as most of the travelers in this book do. 
The majority of the characters are female, and most of them are strong and smart, with very few exceptions. Females create time travel, females run the Conclave that controls time travel.  The story deals with a multitude of subjects: friendship, family, love, mental illness, betrayal, science, death, anxiety, and a murder mystery that is investigated in the past, present and future. There are also LGBTQ characters who are presented in a very positive manner.
At times the differing perspectives and timelines are confusing, but not enough to detract from the story. This is an amazing debut novel, and I can't wait to read more from this author.

Rating: Four stars

About the author

Kate Mascarenhas is a writer.

Born in 1980, she is of mixed heritage (white Irish father, brown British mother) and has family in Ireland and the Republic of Seychelles.

She studied English at Oxford and Applied Psychology at Derby. Her Ph.D., in literary studies and psychology, was completed at Worcester.

Since 2017 Kate has been a chartered psychologist. Previously she has been an advertising copywriter, bookbinder, and doll’s house maker. She lives in the English Midlands with her partner.