Tag Archives: Horror

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Dust to Dust

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17608220

Dust to Dust (Experiment in Terror #9)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
 Here we are at the end of a great series that brought a lot of smiles, tears, laughter, dread, and sometimes major scares. This was the kind of send off you would expect from characters who have been involved in the business of ghost busting/investigating who had not a clue as to what they had been doing. This story was closer to home and gave a better look into the life that Dex had led as a child and points out even more why he turned out like he did. This is a walk down memory lane where we get to see where they were and hopefully where they are going in the future. The story is solid, just like every story that has come before it.

Perry and Dex are staying with her parents while Perry tries an experiment on her mother that she last did to test Dex. While they have been working hard on the footage they shot at the school Perry has gone out for some fresh air and left Dex at home with Ada since her parents are also out of the house. When she returns after an encounter that left her disoriented and a little lost she finds that Dex has spirited away and Ada has been knocked out.

Perry and Ada take off to find Dex before anything can bad can happen to him, or so they hope. They have only one clue which leads them to New York, where Dex was born and lived until he could get away. They do not know it yet but they are being herded to a place that will try to rip the very soul from them and make them the destroyer of worlds.

I have loved Dex from the beginning because he was not this straight, boring guy but a total knob who loved everything so viscerally. Perry took a little longer to grow on me because she had so many hang ups, but most of them were due to her parents, but she finally had started to see how amazing she was. Together these two were a power couple os another kind and I am going to miss them. I can hope that they will make an appearance when someone else has a story told or maybe just a short to catch us up on them.

I loved the books for their paranormal elements and the glimpses of a world on the other side that was both good and bad while being neither. There were some serious scares and some minor ones, I got to laugh with them over crazy stuff, and got to cry with them when they hurt each other, and I got to be a part of a love that was hot, sexy, and very real. I would recommend this book and the entire series to anyone who wants a bit of darkness with their love story.

“I love you, beyond death.”
― Karina Halle, Dust to Dust  Karina Halle

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Ashes to Ashes

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19370020

Ashes to Ashes (Experiment in Terror #8)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Reading this book was bittersweet for me because I knew that there was going to be only one more when I finished this one. So I have to say that this one turned out to be one of the most scary adventures that Dex and Perry have been on so far, and as usual their personal life had to make an appearance in the midst of the terror. The characters have continued to grow and change throughout the series, starting as one-dimensional and arriving here as fully formed people who can make you feel their fear, their passion, and anything else which may pass over them. The story is always entertaining because you never really know what might be around that next corner or who might find something behind them unexpectedly.

Dex, Perry, and Rebecca are not going very far from home for their next episode of Experiment in Terror, making a move back to the beginning and the place that they met. There is a school on the Oregon coast that was originally a Sanitarium used for housing TB victims, most of them children. Thousands died within its walls, some of the disease and others with the help of those charged with taking care of them. The building is being haunted and they have been requested by a teacher who has seen and heard things as well as a student who communicates with some of the ghosts.

Perry’s family is still upset over her move to Seattle and into the apartment of Dex, who they hate. They are running a campaign of doubt with Perry, who has a habit of falling for their disinformation. How can she allow them to get into her head and make her doubt her feelings for him or his for her. Dex has shown that she is his world and home, she needs to get with the program.

My only problem is that they seem just as scared now as they did when they first started out. You would think that they would have at least gained a little thicker skin where the ghosts are concerned. This is full of the love they share, the dark and scary place, danger to mind-body and spirit, and the determination they always show in the face of chilling odds. Perry & Dex forever ∞

“When I first met you, I knew, somehow, that you were going to change my life. I just didn’t know in what way. I didn’t know that you’d make me love you. And most importantly, I didn’t know that you’d make me love me. Baby, you make me see the good in myself and the good in everything on this damn earth. You chase my ghosts away, and…” He cleared his throat, and to my surprise, I saw his eyes were watering. Oh fuck. Please don’t cry, Dex, cuz I will fucking lose it. He swallowed hard, blinking tears back. “And you bring me peace. I can’t thank you enough for being in my life. And I want you there for the whole journey. Through everything—the good and the bad, the batshit crazy and the sane, the scary and the sexy. Especially the sexy. Just you and me, baby, until death do us part.” Somehow I found my voice. “Even though we’ve only known each other for eight months?” I asked quietly, afraid of his answer. But he just smiled up at me. “Time has no bearing on the truth. And what we have, that’s true as fucking anything.” He gave my hand a squeeze and reached into his pocket. I sucked in my breath, feeling all my emotions flood me at once, and watched as he took out a beautiful, sparkling ring, and held it poised at my finger. He gazed at me, and it was like I saw every moment we had with each other captured in his eyes. “Perry Palomino, kiddo, baby—will you be my wife?” I didn’t even have to think about it. “Yes!” I blurted out in a sob as the tears started”
― Karina Halle, Ashes to Ashes  Karina Halle

 

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Poe

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18729914

Poe

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I received this book for free through NetGalley for an honest review.

I was really happy that I decided to get this book, it caught me off guard and made me love the characters. The writing was fun but still managed to convey a feeling of menace, maybe because even the bad guy had a sense of humor. The characters are all well-developed and give you a sense of reality in who they are and who they may become. I could identify with each of the characters on one level or another and that just made it even better for me. I wondered about the title at first but it quickly resolved itself in an interesting way. I am a big fan of Edgar Allan and one of my favorite stories of his is The Tell-Tale Heart, which is referenced here. There was no lag in the story and everything played out quickly with just the right amount of tension.

Dimitri is a nice guy who has had his fair share of tragedy in his life. When his parents died on their way to visit him at college he decided to leave instead of completing the semester. He ends up taking a job with the local paper writing obituaries while he continues to work on his novel, a paranormal tomb about Rasputin, not exactly the life he had envisioned but it pays the bills. There is a girl he is interested in and he has not even asked her out yet, though he talks to regularly as a source, Lisa works at the local convalescent home and gives him information on the residents.

The real complications start when he is sent out to cover a séance at the local haunted house, the Aspinwall mansion, where a lot of people died years before. This assignment changes his life in ways he would never have been able to imagine. It is also the beginning of a rash of killings that are linked to his family which will shock and terrify the community he lives in.

I really ended up liking Dimitri, right from the start he was this gawky, self-effacing guy with a personality you couldn’t help but be drawn to. Lisa was is the cool girl that you wouldn’t expect to be with him but she has more going for her than just looks, she is everything that he needs and they fit together. While you have some good gory scenes they are not over the top but just right to keep the interest. I found myself laughing, smiling, talking back to the characters (out loud) and being worried for their safety. I had a great time reading it and am hoping for more time with them, not to mention Poe and Nachiel. Seems like things ended on a draw and payback would be nice. I definitely recommend this to anyone who likes a little romance, ghosts, demons, angels, and immortal exorcist.

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Dust

by

11327688

Dust

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a seriously short story and can be read in less than an hour, though I took longer. This was a well written short for me because I felt like a part of what was going on. I could feel things closing in as things grayed out. References to events that I had actually seen as a child made it that more personal for me. Though you may not get to know the main character as well as you like you understand him enough and get his motivations.

Clyde Jackson builds a bunker after the attack on the twin towers partly because of the loss of his daughter on that day. He was doing it for his wife and himself bu it didn’t work out. When our return to the moon brings back more than just samples the world is not prepared for the devastation, but Clyde is.

This is a story about how even though you may crave isolation, it is never as good as it would seem to be. A really good look at how we handle being truly alone.

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Dead Petals

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21279473

Dead Petals – An Apocalypse

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I received this book for free through Netgalley for an honest review.

I was expecting another zombie story but got more than that with this tale. There is much more here than just zombies eating and people being eaten. It got my attention because I needed to see where this was going and if some of the characters I had come to like were going to be around by the time it ended. The characters themselves were interesting, some more than others, but not as well fleshed as I would have liked them to be, you never really got a good background on any of them. The dialogue is good but comes off a bit stilted, not sounding smooth like but like everyone is über proper, even the red-neck. The zombies were pretty great though, they were so different from anything I had read about before and sounded worse than anything I have ever seen on a show.

The end of the world came suddenly and with no warning to those around the world. One day they were going about their every day business and the next it seemed everyone had died and were returning from the grave or simply getting up and walking. While most people die immediately there are still pockets of survivors trying to say ahead of the ravenous crowd of walkers. Among these the survivors are 6 people who are drawn to each other and to a forest that has nothing special about it except that it has been made fairly safe by one man.

Oz was a teacher and trucker before things fell apart and took off looking for a place he could live in as long as possible. He was joined by a doctor named Masaaki, twins Jack and Selene, cop Mason, and country boys Luke and Bob. They were living their lives day by day until they were brought into a secret place that gave them insight into what was really happening with the dead. This was no accident but a deliberate attempt to change life on the planet and they were going to have to stop it.

This had elements of time travel, mystery, horror, as well as an end of the world story. There was greed, vanity, avarice, god complexes, and just simple hate for what had been. I found myself cheering on the small group and sometimes being disappointed in them as well for their lack of follow through when it counted. But really it made me wonder if I would do anything different if I found myself in their situation. Good read but do not expect a lot blood or gore, this is more about the people than the zombies.

 

 

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Bell Hallow

by

7083562

Bell Hollow: The Ghost Hunters’ Files

3.5 stars for this horror/ghost story. The story itself was not particularly scary but it had a feeling of menace running throughout that made it compelling. The establishing chapters which laid out the area and some of the characters was straight forward and flowed well. but when it came into the present time you had to pay very close attention or lose track of where in the timeline you were. I had a good idea of where it was headed once we got to the sixties but I had to read on just in case I was wrong.

There are forty acres or more tucked away near Nashville, TN that has been shunned since the beginning of time because it has been the site of strange smells, unnatural deaths, and an evil aura. Even the local tribes avoided the area, then a trapper shows up in 1750 and decides to build there and the evil gets more active forcing the local medicine man to try to contain it. He does but settlers come and not recognizing the signs awaken it once more.

This is about a family who becomes embroiled in the supernatural through no real fault of their own. Jared accepts a job that will destroy his close-knit family and drive him to brink.

We don’t even meet the ghost hunters until the last several chapters of the book. But that is alright because they are not a major part of the story. The characters were quickly constructed and did not have a great deal of depth but some still managed to stand out. This was a decent read and I enjoyed it but there just seemed to be something missing. I liked the history of the area that was talked about. Read but don’t look to deep.

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Captured

by

15059301

Captured (The Captive #1)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really liked this story and the writing style of Erica Stevens, since this was the first book I read from this author.I felt like I really got to know the characters and that they were very real for me. I got interested from the very beginning and it kept me interested through the end. The story was fluid and there was nothing which did not make sense about what was happening. The world they inhabited was dark and dangerous but it had lightness to it also. The characters have personalities that are three-dimensional and not flat, giving you a chance to know them as people.

Vampires have taken over the world and have ruled for 100 years, meaning that many humans do not even remember what the world was like before they took over. While the vampires live in the cities, in homes and palaces and conduct regular business, the humans who still resist live in the forests in caves and makeshift camps.

Arianna is young and is part of the resistance outside of the town where the vampire royal family lives. She is captured while protecting a young boy and put up for auction along with all the other captives, she can only hope for death or to become a blood slave giving her a short and brutal life, she prays for a quick death. Arianna is a strong character but has some tendencies that make her seem weak at the same time, but I still liked her even she was all over the place emotionally.

Braith is the vampire prince who claims Arianna as his blood slave, even though he has never  had one in all his years of existence. Braith  fought in the war which reduced humanity to slaves and servants. Braith is not like the other vampires, he does not have a cruel streak but has a core of caring. I wasn’t sure what he was doing but felt sorry for him because he wanted something more than just killing and torture in his life.

This is a story about two people who have lived very different lives. While Arianna has heard all these horror stories about vampires she learns that not all of them are the same. Braith finds that love can come even to the most jaded and from the least likely person. They find each other but can they keep each other. I will be reading further because I really need to know what happens to them.

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The Hybrid’s Mate

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16092178

The Hybrid’s Mate

 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a very nice novella which would have been even better if it had been expanded on. At least that’s the way I felt about it because I was enjoying it and was really sad to see it end where it did. I wanted more of the story and to find out what happened to everyone. The characters are different but not to different from what you would expect when reading about vampires and werewolves. Though the story started a bit slowly it picked up quickly enough that I was wiling to forgive the drag of the introduction. Once things started it flowed and made perfect sense within the explanations for what had happened in the world. I don’t think that the characters are as well-developed as they could have been but they still manage to capture your imagination.

Shay is a hybrid, half vampire and half something else, she has been looking for her mate for years with no success. When she finally finds him it turns out that he is a vampire, much to her surprise. Draven is more than just some vampire, he is royalty and has been looking and waiting for her arrival so that he can really begin his life. Though the world is now ruled by the vampires and humans are nothing more than cattle and slaves, Shay hopes that it can change now that she has found her other half.

While they are trying to settle into their life together there is someone who is plotting against them. Just as their lives start to look up one of them is taken and the other must go and rescue them before it is too late.

 

 

 

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Ghost Betweens

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13644342

Ghost Betweens

My rating 4 of 5 stars
I usually like my horror a bit more bloody and dark but for this I will make an exception. While not bloody it did have a dark edge to it. It was an easy read that allowed you to get to know the characters in increments as the book progressed. Some were better represented than others but you still had an idea of who they were in relation to each other. The reasons behind the haunting was never made completely clear but the story was still good even without knowing every detail. It was able to keep my interest and keep me turning pages wanting to find out what would happen next. The term Ghost Betweens was a new one on me and I think I like it, it seems very apt for the teens here.

Citrus Valley is located somewhere between Los Angeles and Orange County in California. There is a farmhouse just outside the town which is said to be haunted and no one can say how long it has been empty. The local kids don’t party there and no one has even stayed for a night in the abandoned house, but it has a feeling that keeps people away. There is a sign out front which changes year to year or month to month and sometimes day by day, yet no one has ever been seen doing it.

Josh and Zach are high school boys who decide to go out and take pictures around the old farm and maybe capture some ghosts on film. They definitely get there wish and when the pictures are shown to one of their teachers he enlists them to continue their search for ghosts. They in turn bring into it Kendra, the girlfriend of Zach, and a new girl in school, Whisper who at first thinks she is joining a photography club. They wake up an evil that wishes to use them and they must race to master skills which will keep them alive and save more than their town from what could be released.

While light on scares it gives a nice story of young love blossoming in the face of horror. Finding the person who completes you before you are even complete yourself and learning to work together for the greater good. There was only one thing that bugged me and that was we never really got any answers about the teacher, like how he knew so much about ghosts, and spells, and evil entities, he was a history teacher after all. But that was a small thing and did not detract from the overall enjoyment of the story. This book is YA and so has no major heavy content.

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On Demon Wings

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On Demon Wings (Experiment in Terror, #5)On Demon Wings by Karina Halle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The intensity keeps going up right along with the terror. Each entry takes you a little deeper into the mystery, a little deeper into the horror, and a little deeper into a tangled romance.

Who will we get to see here: Ada Palomino is Perry’s younger sister and would do anything to help her mend her broken heart. She knows that Perry is not crazy and actually does see ghosts. She may be a fashionista but she is a smart girl with a quick mind.

Mom & Dad Palomino, they love their daughters but have decided that Perry is crazy and that they know what is best for her. The problem is that everything they do shows they may want to help but it pushes Perry further away because their love seems to be conditioned on her being a more perfect child.

Maximus was last seen in “Red Fox“, he was Dex’s best friend in college but there is no love lost between them. He shows up on Perry’s doorstep as if he cares about her, but his motives are much more shady. He may be a handsome man but the things he is willing to do for revenge make him less than desirable.

This installment revolves around Perry and what happens to her in the aftermath of her broken relationship with Dex. As someone who can see spirits Perry needs to protect herself, but in her weakened mental and physical state she leaves herself open to the spirits who would take advantage of her. Perry is faced with fighting for life and sanity and the only person who truly has her back is Ada, a fifteen year old who understands more than she is given credit for.

Though I have loved all the previous books, this one really gave me something to think about. We get some big reveals which make some of the earlier encounters make more sense. And we do get some Dex. 😉

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