Others: Positive When the bodies of two girls are found torn apart in the town of Smiths Hollow, Lauren is surprised, but she also expects that the police won't find the killer. After all, the year before her father's body was found with his heart missing, and since then everyone has moved on. Even her best friend, Miranda, has become more interested in boys than in spending time at the old ghost tree, the way they used to when they were kids. So when Lauren has a vision of a monster dragging the remains of the girls through the woods, she knows she can't just do nothing. Not like the rest of her town. But as she draws closer to answers, she realizes that the foundation of her seemingly normal town might be rotten at the center. And that if nobody else stands for the missing, she will.
Genres: fantasy, horror, mystery, thriller, young adult
Lists: …
Krystal Sutherland
2023 · 1 review
Others: PositiveThree girls, one supernatural killer on the loose . . . Zara Jones believes in magic because the alternative is too painful to consider—that her murdered sister is gone forever and there is nothing she can do about it. Rather than grieving and moving on, Zara decides she will do whatever it takes to claw her sister back from the grave—even trading in the occult. Jude Wolf may be the daughter of a billionaire, but she is also undeniably cursed. After a deal with a demon went horribly wrong, her soul has been slowly turning necrotic. It’s a miserable existence marred by pain, sickness, and monstrous things that taunt her in the night. Now that she’s glimpsed what’s beyond the veil, Jude’s desperate to find someone to undo the damage she’s done to herself. Enter Emer Byrne, an orphaned witch with a dark past and a deadly power, a.k.a. the solution to both Zara’s and Jude’s problems. Though Emer lives a hardscrabble life, she gives away her most valuable asset—her invocations—to women in desperate situations who are willing to sacrifice a piece of their soul in exchange for a scrap of power. Zara and Jude are willing, but they first have to find Emer. When Emer’s clients start turning up dead all over London, a vital clue leads Zara and Jude right to her. If a serial killer is targeting her clients, Emer wants to know why—and to stop them. She strikes a tenuous alliance with Zara and Jude to hunt a killer before they are next on his list, even if she can’t give them in return what Zara and Jude want most: a sister and a soul.
What made the match, strongest first
Chuck Wendig
2021 · 544 pages · 3 reviews
Others: MixedLong ago, Nathan lived in a house in the country with his abusive father—and has never told his family what happened there. Long ago, Maddie was a little girl making dolls in her bedroom when she saw something she shouldn’t have—and is trying to remember that lost trauma by making haunting sculptures. Long ago, something sinister, something hungry, walked in the tunnels and the mountains and the coal mines of their hometown in rural Pennsylvania. Now, Nate and Maddie Graves are married, and they have moved back to their hometown with their son, Oliver. And now what happened long ago is happening again . . . and it is happening to Oliver. He meets a strange boy who becomes his best friend, a boy with secrets of his own and a taste for dark magic. This dark magic puts them at the heart of a battle of good versus evil and a fight for the soul of the family—and perhaps for all of the world. But the Graves family has a secret weapon in this battle: their love for one another.
What made the match, strongest first
Erin E. Adams
2022 · 352 pages · 2 reviews
Others: PositiveIt's lurking. Liz Rocher returns home, albeit reluctantly, to a predominantly white town in Pennsylvania. She braces for an uncomfortable weekend, but when her best friend's daughter, Caroline, vanishes at the wedding, Liz notices a chilling girls gone missing on summer nights, last seen at parties in the woods. As she delves into the town's past, she uncovers a terrifying secret - Black girls have been disappearing for years. With evil closing in, Liz must find Caroline or risk being consumed by the darkness.
What made the match, strongest first
Victor D. LaValle
2017 · 431 pages · 8 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positive"The wildly imaginative story of one man's thrilling odyssey through an enchanted world to find his wife, who has disappeared after having seemingly committed an unforgivable act of violence, from the award-winning author of The Devil in Silver and Big Machine"-- "Apollo Kagwa has had strange dreams that have haunted him since childhood. An antiquarian book dealer with a business called Improbabilia, he is just beginning to settle into his new life as a committed and involved father, unlike his own father who abandoned him, when his wife Emma begins acting strange. Disconnected and uninterested in their new baby boy, Emma at first seems to be exhibiting all the signs of post-partum depression, but it quickly becomes clear that her troubles go far beyond that. Before Apollo can do anything to help, Emma commits a horrific act--beyond any parent's comprehension--and vanishes, seemingly into thin air. Thus begins Apollo's odyssey through a world he only thought he understood to find a wife and child who are nothing like he'd imagined. His quest begins when he meets a mysterious stranger who claims to have information about Emma's whereabouts. Apollo then begins a journey that takes him to a forgotten island in the East River of New York City, a graveyard full of secrets, a forest in Queens where immigrant legends still live, and finally back to a place he thought he had lost forever. This dizzying tale is ultimately a story about family and the unfathomable secrets of the people we love"--
What made the match, strongest first
Brandon Massey
2018 · 290 pages · 5 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveMissing for her daughter's entire life, Grace now wants to be called "Nana." And that's not all she wants... Monica Stephens never knew her birth mother. Raised by a strict but loving adoptive parent, she blossomed into a woman with a thriving career as a pediatrician and a family of her own. But sometimes, she wondered about her origins. Especially her biological mother. Until Grace arrives. Confessing to be the birth mother Monica had long wanted to meet, Grace quickly becomes an indispensable member of the Stephens household. Cooking their meals. Looking after the children. Comforting Monica when the family dog is inexplicably killed. Tending to Monica as she falls ill to a mysterious sickness that, every day, makes Monica look and feel older. Meanwhile, Grace is looking better. More vibrant. More youthful. More seductive... Monica's husband, Troy, knows something is up. He launches an investigation into the woman who demands to be called "Nana," and has taken over his home. But the truth is beyond their wildest imaginings. It seems Grace has done this before...
What made the match, strongest first
Aiden Thomas
2021 · 384 pages · 3 reviews
Others: MixedFrom the instant New York Times-bestselling author Aiden Thomas, comes Lost in the Never Woods, an atmospheric, supernatural Peter Pan retelling . . . It has been five years since Wendy and her two brothers went missing in the woods but, when the town’s children start to disappear, the questions surrounding her brothers’ mysterious circumstances are brought back into the light. Attempting to flee her past, Wendy almost runs over an unconscious boy lying in the middle of the road. . . Peter, a boy she thought lived only in her stories, asks for Wendy’s help to rescue the missing kids. But, in order to find them, Wendy must confront what’s waiting for her in the woods.
What made the match, strongest first
Loved iti just love this story christina henry is an amazing storyteller and i will say that this is somewhat of a predictable horror story in the way that it really does play into a lot of the tropes you will see in a lot of popular books but they are done so well that i just found this book to be incredibly comforting
