paranormal

Brilliant psychic ice queen meets gregarious and equally brilliant changeling Alpha bear and hijinks ensue!  Author Nalini Singh returns to her popular psy-changeling world with this first in a new sub-series. It is a great jumping in point for for fans of paranormal romance/adventure who are not familiar with her work. Full of complex characters, over-the-top heroics, humor and unexpected warmth; this author just keeps me coming back for more and this may be the best book yet!

Yes, Silver Silence is a paranormal romance/adventure but also so much more! The main characters and all their

Ilze Hugo’s debut novel Down Days was written before the Covid-19 pandemic swept the globe, so the eerie similarities between her fictional version of Cape Town, South Africa and the real world today seem prophetic. Readers are introduced to Sick City ( formerly known as Cape Town )  7 years after a pandemic has affected the entire world. The slang term for the virus is called “the joke”, named for it’s symptom of uncontrollable laughter, but the other symptoms are no joke — a fever followed by organ failure leads to death. Although there is no cure for the infected, a vaccine is administered

In The Undefeated we have a lovely novella with a leisurely pace by Una McCormack. This space opera is an introspective reminiscent view of a sixty-year-old's life. The novella blends science fiction life on other planets, colonialism's rise and fall, and an eerie near-apocalyptic setting.

The science fiction novella in the far future in which a woman travels to her childhood home as war looms between humans and modified humans called "jenjers" that humans have enslaved. Much of the story is the protagonist Monica and her homecoming.  I enjoyed the lyrical writing style and the journey Monica

The Terror is a fictionalized account of the real historical event known as Franklin's Lost Expedition. The expedition, a crew of 129 men split between two British Royal Navy ships, set out in 1845 to discover a new route through the Arctic for trade between England and China - a route deemed the "Northwest Passage." Over a year after the expedition initially set sail, both ships (HMS Erebus and HMS Terror) became trapped in thick ice off the northern coast of Canada. The crew, utterly isolated and unprepared, were left to fend off the unrelenting cold of the Arctic with few provisions and

Looking for a fun, scary movie to keep you awake on a cold, dark night? Would you like this movie to be based on an actual location which really was featured on CNN Travel's list of 7 Freakiest Places? Well, here you go!

With a name like Gonjiam, Haunted Asylum, many assumptions you might make would prove correct about this Korean-language horror flick:

• There are ghosts
• The asylum's patients were mistreated (soooo.. angry ghosts)
• Things probably aren't going to go so well for most of the living characters in the film (but hey, sometimes one person survives in the end, right?)

Now, that

The Little Stranger follows Faraday, a respectable country doctor in post-World War II England who is called to assist the Ayres family—an aristocratic family whose once elegant home, Hundreds Hall, has fallen into disrepair as their power and wealth dwindle with the collapsing noble class. His patient, Roderick, lives there with his mother and sister as they all wage daily battles to prevent the inevitable loss of their formerly prosperous country estate. Roderick was wounded in the second World War and has never recovered—but his injuries are not all that plague him. The entire family is

Strange, fascinating, moving, disturbing, challenging, poignant, and human. Oh, so very human.

Lincoln in the Bardo is a book that delves deep into the human condition and the particular human penchant for storytelling. It presents a myriad cast of characters, each obsessed with telling his or her own story to others. And to living it out, over and over. They are stuck in their stories. Limited by them. Blinded by them. Stories of regret, sorrow, and unfinished lives. Unhappy stories.

For the characters are ghosts. Or spirits or phantoms or souls or what you will. Trapped in a limbo of their

The Haunting of Fabian Gray is a classic action and adventure story with some wonderful twists that are fitting for comics. The reader follows Fabian Gray, a treasure hunter, in search of his missing sister after a supernatural incident made her disappear and gave him special abilities.

Fabian Gray is torn, possessed by five ghosts: The Wizard (much like Merlin), The Archer (much like Robin Hood), The Detective (much like Sherlock Holmes), The Vampire (much like Dracula), and finally, The Samurai (much like, well, a samurai). He uses their spirits to enhance his own prowess. I enjoyed that

Sleepy Hollow, the television series, takes an old story and gives it a new twist, blending the original Revolutionary War element with the modern world. 

Ichabod Crane, a British-turned-American-patriot soldier, is a captain in George Washington’s army. According to Crane, Washington was fighting more than a physical war; he was also fighting a supernatural one. Crane is a soldier in both wars. During the course of one skirmish, he battles with a deadly, seemingly unkillable horseman, resulting in Crane’s death and the horseman’s decapitation.

Through his wife’s witchcraft, Crane is set to

"After their English aunt dies, listless American twins Julia and Valentina travel to London to live in their aunt's now empty flat overlooking Highgate Cemetery. There they become embroiled in the day-to-day sagas of their eccentric neighbors. But soon they discover that something is alive in Highgate--something unable to move on."

A haunted, aging apartment in north London, bordering one of the most famous cemeteries in the world, complete with an unusual set of inhabitants and a bit of London's darker history sprinkled throughout . . . no one had to convince me to pick this one up. 

Un

Quite possibly the best Stephen King mini-series adaptation so far, 11.22.63 finds English teacher Jake Epping traveling back in time though a portal in his local diner to September 9, 1958. His plan is to thwart the assassination of John F. Kennedy in five years, living off of bets he places using sporting events he already knows the outcome of. While waiting for that fateful day in Dallas, Jake ends up becoming a teacher again using false credentials, falling in love with school librarian Sadie, and investigating any potential clue to Lee Harvey Oswald's involvement. Time has other ideas for

This is a very interesting, hard-to-pin-down film. It's a Persian-language, American-produced and filmed, black-and-white vampire flick. The title itself, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, invokes our culturally-ingrained sense of danger at the concept of a woman being alone on the streets after dark. In this instance, since she's a vampire, it's the nameless girl of the title who is the danger lurking in the shadows. Again defying expectations, far from being a source of evil, it seems as though the girl is the ethical force in her chaotic and amoral surroundings. She warns a young boy to

The Last Star is the final book of The Fifth Wave trilogy and picks up six weeks after the events of The Infinite Sea. After the Others, an alien race, sent four waves of death they killed seven billion people. The final wave of brainwashed humans will kill off the remaining survivors including Cassie, Sam, Ben, Megan, and Ringer. This installment is darker and more desperate than the preceding two books and unfolds from multiple perspectives which add dimension and depth to this portion of the story. Strong characters and a fast-paced plot drive this story making it impossible to put down

Seattle Private Investigator Harper Blaine is just a woman trying to pay her bills. But after a near death experience, her life is changed forever. Since the accident Harper has not been feeling well and sees strange shadows during the day. The doctor is no help and she slowly begins to realize she is seeing into the Grey, a place between the living and the dead. The Grey is full of vampires, ghosts and magic unknown to the everyday human. Harper needs clients and she cannot ignore the "Grey creatures" that seek out her help. Now, she must decide how much help is too much . . . because she

Zebulon Finch, known as "the Black Hand," is a seventeen-year-old gangster operating on the streets of 19th-century Chicago, dealing death and visiting whorehouses. His lifestyle earns him a bullet in the back of the head and a one-way trip to the bottom of Lake Michigan. Only Finch does not die. His ability to move, think, and speak stays, but his body is slowly decomposing. Think Warm Bodies, but with not as nice a protagonist. With no clue why this has happened, Finch sets off on a long journey in search of... what? Love? Atonement?

Through the rotting eyes of his leading man, Kraus leads

The second book in the Echo Park Coven series picks up immediately after the end of the first book, The Witches of Echo Park. Lyse and her fellow witches, or blood sisters as they prefer to call themselves, have a major threat called "the Flood" looming over them. It isn't long before the Flood comes in and washes the coven, and the plot, in many different, dangerous directions.

When I reviewed The Witches of Echo Park, I said the book moved at a leisurely pace, slowly introducing the cast of characters and the urban fantasy setting, letting the readers get to know everyone, until the end of

The Elliott family is not exactly usual. They dwell in an ancient and very much haunted manor perched on the top of a lightning-struck hill. Not only do some of their members predate time, many are undying, undead, or some variation thereof. Their story is told in a series of chapters that read like vignettes of various extraordinary family members. Some of these stories are bitter, some sweet, most are a bit of both.

Cousin Cecy has the unusual ability to inhabit the minds of any living thing, from the smallest blade of grass to a newborn baby across the world. Cousin Angelina Marguerite was

Young Rachelle was trained to protect her people from the dark creatures that surround them, which she has always been determined to do. But she hasn't wanted to simply defend, she wants to boldly attack them. She learned the hard way that, unfortunately, sometimes the only effective way to attack the darkness is to embrace it. Now she clings desperately to her soul as one of those creatures, trying to hold off the darkness within herself while still protecting the people. And her work has moved her from a woodland village to the court of the king.

Hodge has meshed a nice array of elements

Night of the Living Deed, is the first in a new cozy mystery series by E. J. Copperman. Alison Kirby wanted a new start. After breaking with her daughter’s father, “…hereafter known as The Swine,” Alison pins all of her hopes (and savings) on renovating an old Victorian beach house on the Jersey Shore. Things are proceeding moderately well but why do unexplainable mishaps always seem to occur just after she leaves a room? When a large tub of joint compound comes down on her head, Alison awakens with the unwanted ability to see ghosts and the knowledge that they won’t leave her alone until

Steven Universe is everything I never knew I wanted in a show.

I was initially put off by the animation.  The character designs just struck me as weird and more than a little doofy.  Still, I'd heard a lot of good things about it, and I figured it couldn't hurt to try—each episode is only about eleven minutes, after all.  Plus, it's created by Rebecca Sugar, best known for her work on Adventure Time.

I was instantly captivated.  The titular character is extremely doofy in the most charming ways imaginable.  Steven is the kindest, most loving and generous soul you could imagine, while still

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this is the single best movie in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The exploration of friendships and trust was stunningly well done.  Friendships betrayed over ideals, history forgotten in new circumstances, and the risk you inherently take in opening your heart to someone—and not a hint of romance to cloud the issue!  Combined with brilliant performances, adrenaline-packed action sequences, and world-changing scope, this is just the best MCU movie to date.

Of course, it doesn't exist in a vacuum, so be sure to watch the first Captain America a

One day, fifteen year old teenager Camille walks back up the winding mountain road and into her house, shocking her family. What seems like it should be a completely mundane act most patently is not; Camille died in a bus accident four years earlier. Camille has no memory of that event and no apparent understanding that she has died. As far as she knows, it's the day of the bus accident. But her family, while still grieving, has moved on. Her parents have split up, and most strikingly, her twin sister Léna is now several years older than Camille. The family member's responses to her return

A plumber and hockey player fall in love. I'm sure that would make a perfectly good romance novel, but in the case of Beast Behaving Badly, there is so much more going on. Bo Novikov is a professional hockey player for the New York Carnivores and just happens to be a shape-shifter. Half polar bear and half lion, Bo is very detail-oriented and has his day planned by the minute. Blayne Thorpe is a plumber by trade and a wild dog/wolf mix by birth. She is anything but punctual, but they say opposites attract.

Beast Behaving Badly is the fifth book in Shelly Laurenston's Pride series. Each book

Vampires in Saint Louis? Yes, and they need help. Guilty Pleasures is the first of the Laurell K. Hamilton’s wildly popular Vampire Hunter stories. Anita Blake is a necromancer, with an affinity for the dead in all their guises, but that doesn’t mean she wants to work for them. When the Master Vampire of Saint Louis sends sexy Jean Paul to procure Anita’s help her main response is, “I don’t date vampires. I kill them.”

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Anita Blake. In this narrative told entirely from her point of view, Anita comes across as a sharp, strong woman with a biting sense of humor and a

Lockwood & Co. is a paranormal investigative team comprised of three teens: Anthony Lockwood, George Cubbins and Lucy Carlyle. Because only children can see and hear ghosts they are ideal hunters of the paranormal. In The Whispering Skull, second in the Lockwood and Co series by Jonathan Stroud, the team is hired for what seems a simple job in the cemetery. But nothing is ever simple for this trio. What's found in and stolen from the cemetery leads to a fast-paced and thrilling investigation into the late Dr. Edmund Bickerstaff, and his methods for contacting the dead. The skull jar introduced

In her debut novel, Natalie C. Parker brings together a unique southern gothic mystery in the thrilling Beware the Wild. One day, after a particularly awful fight, Sterling's brother Phin runs into the mysterious swamp outside their home and never returns. Instead, a strange girl named Lenora May emerges and the entire town (including Sterling's family) treat her as if she's always been Sterling's sister and that a boy named Phin has never existed. Only Sterling remembers her brother and she is determined to get him back from the dark swamp. 



I never knew where Parker was going to take the

When his mother began cancer treatments, Connor started experiencing nightmares: screaming, darkness, howling winds, slipping hands and a monster. But tonight is a little different because when Connor wakes from his nightmare, he hears something calling his name. It really is a monster, in the shape of a yew tree, slowly approaching his window. It wants something from him, something Connor is not ready to give.

A Monster Calls is illustrated in black and white images that beautifully complement the text. This book is extremely intense, I was completely engulfed by the story. How do you

Katie is the talented young chef running the kitchen in a critically acclaimed restaurant. But she is ready for the next adventure...starting her own restaurant. She has a partner, she has the building, now she just needs to make her dream a reality. But things just keep getting messed up! A delay from the contractor renovating the building throws a wrench in the works, overdue bills and collectors calling, her partner not picking up his phone! Everything begins to fall apart until Katie is visited by a house spirit who offers her a chance to change the past. Eat a magic mushroom, write her

—An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel—

Before there was Sookie Stackhouse, before the Twilight movies and Vampire Diaries, there was the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. It is one of my favorite vampire series and, although this book is #22 in the saga, I still found it engaging enough to tough out reading 569 pages in a week.

 Affliction has everything: vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghouls and more.  Anita is a serious necromancer and vampire hunter living in St. Louis, but she never really mentions which side of the state line, Missouri or Illinois. Then throw in a love affair between

I love superheroes and I like them colorful, weird, larger than life, heroic and good, inspirational and insightful. I don't generally go for deconstructions of or dark takes on the genre. But I liked Vicious. A LOT. It strips down the idea that people with superpowers see themselves as above us mere mortals and it tears apart the whole Good vs Evil, black-and-white tradition of superheroes and supervillains, but it does it with compelling, charismatic characters and an exciting, enthralling plot.

Victor Vale and Eli Cardale are college roommates and best friends who become fascinated with