The Dolls by Kiki Sullivan (2014)

Eveny Cheval just moved back to Carrefour, Louisiana from Brooklyn with her aunt. Many secrets await, including the cliquey new group to which her family has mysterious ties.  

Long story short: Eveny is a voodoo queen, possibly the most powerful one of all! And the super handsome guy she likes? Generations of his family have protected hers so they can never be together! And her mother's suicide?  Possibly not a suicide! 

That said, it was great mythology and a fun read that, despite the fact that it's no doubt the first in a trilogy, stood alone just fine on its own.

The Silent Land by Graham Joyce (2010)

I loved this book so much that I was searching for books by Graham Joyce before I'd even gotten halfway through this one.

From the beginning to the ending, this is a practically perfect novel--one that I wanted to prolong reading as I was enjoying it so much.

Jake and Zoe are skiing at a resort when they are caught in an avalanche. And the description of Zoe trapped under snow is one of the scariest things I've ever read. Ever. When they finally dig out and return to the resort, everyone is gone, and they can't seem to leave the village. Not only are they trying to figure out what's happening, they're also working on some issues in their marriage.

This novel is subtle and realistic, and beautifully done to the very last page. Everyone I've recommended it to has loved it as much as I have--about six people to date. Yay!

Horrorstor: A Novel by Grady Hendrix (2014)

Horrorstor is so cool, it should have its own theme song.

And yes, as you may have guessed from the cover, it's a horror novel set in the big-box semi-Swedish home furnishing retailer Orsk. The fabulous book design by Andie Reid hilariously replicates the iconic IKEA catalogs.  

Some strange things have been happening at the Orsk store and a few employees have been enlisted to stay after closing and keep an eye out. Another couple of employees are conducting their own ghost hunt and when they get together to have a seance, all hell breaks loose.  

In addition to the great, realistic characters, this novel has a great in-depth backstory that is beautifully supported by the book design.  And it actually had me at the edge of my seat--I was genuinely biting my nails to see if the characters would make it through.  Beautifully done.

The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff (2006)

My bar for horror novels is pretty low.  But I can't resist a good ghost story/haunted house novel, so when this crossed by desk, I gave it a try.

Five students are left alone in their college dorm over the holidays, they get in touch with some scary spirits, and mysterious and spooky things begin to occur.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. Sokoloff created rich and complex characters, and I like that the backstory and mythology was quite in-depth.  I have the attention span of a distracted gnat, but even after reading it six months ago, I can still picture some of the characters and settings.  

Must check out more of her work!  Yay, excellent horror novels by female authors!

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo (2013)

Oh my gosh, I LOVED this book. I have no idea where it came from, why I requested it but it's marvelous.

Li Lin lives in colonial Malaya with her opium-addicted father and her beloved Amah. All is satisfactory pretty much until she receives a marriage proposal from the son of an influential neighbor. However, the son is dead and the proposal is for Li Lin to be his ghost bride. When her intended haunts her in her dreams and she falls in love with the new (live) heir to the family, Li Lin embarks on a fantastical voyage among the dead. 

Choo creates a marvelously rich and detailed world of the dead, from paper funeral offerings and hell money, to the Plains of the Dead and the afterworld bureaucracy. Along the way, she meets Er Lang, a guardian spirit who is not at all what he appears to be. 

This novel is utterly original and impossible to label in a particular genre. It's historical fiction, and fantasy, and a bit of horror, and a bit of romance as well as being wonderfully suspenseful and beautifully written. Much of the mythology is based on Chinese folklore, and Choo's notes section outlines the original stories and her own creations. CRIPES, I loved this book.

Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge (2007)

It’s Halloween night and every teen boy in town has been locked up for five days.  Tonight they are released, ready to do battle with a legend come to life: The October Boy—born in a cornfield and made of candy, vines and a pumpkin head.  The boy who succeeds in killing him gets to leave town and the competition is fierce, but who are they truly fighting?  

Partridge creates a suspenseful, chilling novel and beautifully evokes the feeling of autumn and Halloween, while telling a truly original story with well-drawn characters.

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo (2013)

You MUST read this book.

I hear about books from a lot of sources.  Blogs, friends, reviews, whatever.  And then there's the books that I just run across in the library catalog while looking for something else.  Which is to say, I have NO idea how I found this book.  But I'm so glad I did!

Set in colonial Mayala, among the Chinese who reside there, the story is about Li Lin, a young woman of marriageable age who lives with her opium-addicted father and her beloved Amah.  Despite the loss of her mother at a young age, all is pretty much satisfactory until she receives a marriage proposal from Lim Tian Ching, the son of an influential neighbor.  A promising engagement with one small detail: Lim Tian Ching is dead and the proposal is for Li Lin to be his ghost bride.

Lim Tian Ching begins to haunt Li Lin in her dreams, and she is quickly drawn into a dark world of murder, hungry ghosts and restless spirits.  She also falls in love with Tian Bai, the new (live) heir to the family.  Li Lin ventures into the Chinese afterlife, travelling to the Plains of the Dead on an errand for the mysterious Er Lang, a man who may not be what he seems.

Choo creates a marvelously rich and detailed world of the dead:  paper funeral offerings and hell money, afterworld bureaucracy and the shifting corporeal nature of ghosts.  This novel is utterly original and impossible to slot in a particular genre.  It's historical fiction with elements of fantasy, wonderfully suspenseful and spooky with more than a touch of romance.  It's also just beautifully, vividly and cinematically written.  Much of the book's world is based on Chinese folklore, and Choo's notes section outlines the original stories as well as her own creations.  CRIPES, this is a good book.

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King (2013)

Sometimes you're just grateful to be back in the capable hands of a writer you really like. Even the little traits that can sometimes annoy you (like parenthetical comments in italics randomly interspersed in the text) don't bother you.

This sequel to The Shining was a fabulous sequel. I loved how beautifully it built on the original story, and fleshed out the shining in particular so well. I loved seeing Dick Halloran again, and Dan Torrance's struggles with alcoholism and work with AA was really well depicted. 

I love how Stephen King always has unexpectedly good people who are willing to help and fight the forces of evil, like Casey and Doctor John and Billy Freeman. I loved the character of Abra, and the realism of all the relationships. I absolutely the depiction of Dan's work as Doctor Sleep, when he comforted people who were close to death and helped them on their journey. Such a lovely way to use his gift. I just loved this book.

666 Park Avenue by Gabrielle Pierce (2011)

I picked up this book at a charming used bookstore in Winona called Paperbacks and Pieces, and I picked it up purely for its fabulous design.  The cover is not only gorgeous, but has fabulous texture.  Even the edges of the pages and chapter design is really striking and original.

That said, I finally read it, and found it to be way more fun than it should be. Jane Boyle, architect living in Paris meets swoony and rich Malcolm Doran, has a whirlwind romance and goes to NYC to live with him and his rich and influential family on Park Avenue. Only problem is, she discovers that she's a witch, and they want her power. Pierce sets up her world and the mythology very well, and creates a very suspenseful story filled with very well-drawn supporting characters. 

Followed by two sequels: The Dark Glamour and The Lost Soul, both of which I enjoyed every bit as much as this one.  I finished The Dark Glamour and literally immediately picked up The Lost Soul, which is really saying something as I have a very short attention span for series.  Delightful.

An Inquiry into Love and Death by Simone St. James (2013)

This is the second of St. James's books that I've read and although this felt like a slower starter, it was ultimately just as satisfying as The Haunting of Maddy Clare. 

Like The Haunting of Maddy Clare, this novel is set in England after WWI. Jillian Leigh gets notification that her eccentric uncle has died and she has to go to the village where he was working as a ghost hunter to go through his things. 

Meanwhile, there's a ghost to catch and her uncle's murder to solve, and a handsome but unreliable Scotland Yard inspector to help out. St. James's novels are dark and melancholy and romantic and give a lovely feel of the time after WWI. And the ghost stories really are scary. All so good!

The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James (2012)

This is a lovely ghost story/love story/historical novel.

Sarah Piper is a lonely soul, working in London in the years after the first World War when she gets an unexpected assignment from her temporary agency--to assist an author and ghost hunter. They travel to a small village to track down the ghost of Maddy Clare and both love and mystery ensues.

The haunting itself is quite dark and violent and she writes quite unsparingly about the emotionally turbulent years after the war.  The story is excellent and the romance is lovely. Fun fact for Downton Abbey fans: the ghost hunter Alastair is a dead ringer for Matthew Crawley and if you squint a bit, his assistant Matthew could be mistaken for a slightly more broken Mr. Bates.

Quite lovely.

The Edge of Dark Water by Joe R. Lansdale (2012)

Prepare for massive gushing ahead ...

First, the plot summary:

Trying to escape her worthless life leads to unexpected and disastrous consequences when Sue Ellen steals money and a raft and embarks on a journey to dig up her best friend's body, burn it, and sprinkle the ashes in Hollywood.

You can see how this is not an easy sell plotwise, but let me tell you that I loved this book. LOVED it. LOVE Joe R. Lansdale.

His writing about East Texas (see also The Bottoms), so evocative and filled with dark insight about the area always reminds me of Harper Lee. His writing about Texas is incredibly vivid and almost affectionate (despite the darkness of the events that occur.)

He writes amazingly realistic but unusual characters and the dialogue is perfect--I'd love to see him write a play. The characters in this book--Sue Ellen, her friends Terry and Jinx and her alcoholic mother-- are as vivid to me now as when I read the book months ago--I loved spending time with them and the very dark journey that they are on.

Their trip down the river reminded me so much of the river trip that the children take in Night of the Hunter. It's as if that trippy, black and white journey was transformed into an entire book, in full color with fully fleshed out characters, and it sustains that eerie, unsettling atmosphere through the whole book.

Trust me on this one--it's MARVELOUS.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (2012)

I adore Gillian Flynn and I loved this book.  Her third novel, and an immediate bestseller, lived up to all of the hype, and to my fond memories of reading her other two books. 

The story is told by a husband whose wife goes missing, and also through journal entries of the wife previous to the disappearance.  And yet we don't know the whole story.  Chilling and surprising, and includes some really great, insightful and often funny writing.  See below:

"I am not interested in being set up.  I need to be ambushed, caught unawares, like some sort of feral love-jackal.  I'm too self-conscious otherwise.  I feel myself trying to be charming, and then I try to be even more charming to make up for the fake charm, and then I've basically turned into Liza Minnelli: I'm dancing in tights and sequins, begging you to love me.  There's a bowler and jazz hands and lots of teeth."

"Mainly, I will admit, I smile because he's gorgeous.  Distractingly gorgeous, the kind of looks that make your eyes pinwheel, that make you want to just address the elephant--'You know you're gorgeous, right?'--and move on with the conversation.  I bet dudes hate him:  He looks like the rich-boy villain in an 80s teen movie--the one who bullies the sensitive misfit, the one who will end up with a pie in the puss, the whipped cream wilting his upturned collar as everyone in the cafeteria cheers."

 A page-turning novel that absolutely refuses to get off the bestseller lists.  Good for Flynn!  Write more books!

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist (2006)

Searching for readalikes for Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, I came across this Swedish novel set in a dystopia where single, childless men and women of a certain age (50 and 60) are sent to 'the unit', a compound where they are studied for scientific research and provide 'donations' for the public. Very interesting and compelling look at a society that values having children above all else.   A fascinating exploration of relationships, considering that the main character's primary romantic relationship in her adult life was with a married man.  Also, there's a beautiful thread about the main character's great love for her dog.  Very unusual, but very well done.

The Raising by Laura Kasischke (2011)

Compulsively readable novel about a boy returning to college after being involved in an accident that killed his girlfriend. But here's the weird thing: he keeps seeing glimmers of her around campus and his memory of the crash still hasn't returned.  Kasischke skillfully weaves together chapters from the present with chapters from the year leading up to the accident.  Eventually the threads meet in such a way that I may have actually gasped out loud.  Beautifully written, suspenseful, and unbelievably absorbing.  I liked this so much I sought out the rest of Kasischke's novels and read them all.  I love the moody, thoughtful, elegiac, but spooky tone of her novels.  See also Feathered and Boy Heaven, two YA novels by Kasischke.

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (2003)

Unbelievably gripping book written as a series of letters from a woman to her estranged husband. The subject of the letters is her relationship with him, but primarily the subject is their son Kevin--a very troubled young man who shot up his school. The strange thing about this book is that the subject matter is so very shocking and horrific, which is normally is found more in pulpy, mass market novels, and yet it's written at an incredibly high level, vocabulary-wise and structurally.  It's incredibly compelling, and almost like a more literary The Bad Seed.  So creepy. For a nonfiction take on a similar subject, check out Columbine by Dave Cullen.

What You See in the Dark by Manuel Munoz (2011)

Fascinating, spare novel that tells the story of a few inhabitants of Bakersfield, California, from a young singer, her handsome boyfriend, and his hotel owning mother to the Actress and the Director, who are scouting locations for a new film. The film is clearly Psycho, and the story of the singer, her beau and his mother has some interesting parallels to that film. Quiet, melancholy and deliberately written.  From the Director's musing:

"The Americans were always good at dying, but not death. Good at plot, but not fatalism. Good at cowboys shot down from the backs of horses, but not the finality of writhing in the dust. Good at the cars roaring lustily into each other as if no one were in them, but not the full horror of a boy hurtling into the rigidity of the steering column. Good at the beautiful Radcliffe heroine succumbing to cancer in her bed, but not the ugly business of the night nurse wiping her clean at two in the morning. What they didn't know is that you take the little glimmer of the truth of death when you see it, and then have the nerve to give it light."

Girl's Guide to Witchcraft by Mindy Klasky (2006)

Very cute chick lit about a librarian who discovers a hidden store of witchcraft books in her basement and begins to explore her witchcraft skills.  Fun, dishy blend of fantasy and romance.

Undead and Unwed by Mary Janice Davidson (2004)

Young, single girl who loves shopping gets hit by a car and wakes up in the morgue as a vampire. Oh, not just a vampire, but the vampire queen.  Very funny chick lit, very untraditional vampire story. An enjoyable, fun read and set in Minnesota, no less!  Continued for many, many volumes, but as I don't really like long-running series, I can't attest to more recent volumes.

Stephen King - Adored Author

Well, of course.  It's Stephen King.  One of the first authors of grownup books I remember reading, I can remember precisely on which shelf of my childhood library Carrie was located.  And I remember the cover perfectly and how I felt reading it.  If I had to pick an all-time favorite, it would probably be The Stand.   Incredibly long, but incredibly absorbing tale of a virus wiping out most of the world. I think of The Stand every time I'm in close quarters with a stranger with a hacking cough.  I also love his short stories collections like Night Shift, which contains the fabulously weird "The Mangler" and the never-leave-your-closet-door-even-slightly-ajar tale of "The Boogeyman."  Also love Skeleton Crew, which includes the wonderful novella "The Mist," as well as standout stories such as "The Monkey," "The Jaunt" and "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut."  And of course, there's It.  Still super scary, although I'm not exactly sure what happens at the end.  But eek.  Particularly if you have a deep and abiding fear of clowns. And who doesn't?  And then the more serious King, such as The Green Mile.  Not so much spooky as his other books, but genuinely good. Incredibly suspenseful, absorbing and touching.  And I adored On Writing , which is half autobiography, half writing guide. The only writing book I've ever actually finished. Great insight into the life and writing style of a popular author.