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review
5feet.of.fury
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Pickpick

I love this series so much. A new case to find 3 missing people takes Evander away from his new home at the Ruby to LA where he has to confront certain aspects of his past (including his mother). At first I wasn‘t as drawn into the case, but the I new faces grew on me & I was pleased with how it wrapped up. Vikas Adam‘s narration is perfect as always.

5feet.of.fury #hauntedshelf @PuddleJumper #RestlessSpirits Time on TBR: new release #swiftieerasghosts “the life of a showgirl” @Charityann #spnbingo2025 “fake ID” @OutsmartYourShelf #bodycountbingo “fantastic noir” #ispy “initials in author name” @TheAromaofBooks 4h
PuddleJumper 🧡🖤🧡 2h
18 likes3 comments
review
5feet.of.fury
Bewitched | Laura Thalassa
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Pickpick

After being unimpressed with another series I started by this author I honestly didn‘t set my hopes too high but it was really a lot of fun and I‘m very curious to see where the series goes and what happens with Selene & Memnon her worst enemy/soul mate. The maturity level of the early college age MC was perfect & I pictured her in my college era taking on sorcerers & monsters in a bandage dress & Charlotte Russe heels. 😂

40 likes2 comments
review
OutsmartYourShelf
The Hong Kong Widow | Kristen Loesch
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Pickpick

Ever since she was a child, Mei has been able to see & speak to ghosts, but even so she is shocked to receive an invitation from former silent film star, Holly Zhang, inviting her to her home - Maidenhair House. The only details are that all of the guests are spirit mediums & will take part in a séance each night for 6 nights. After each evening, one medium will be asked to leave until only one remains. (continued)

OutsmartYourShelf So far, so mysterious. Mei decides to attend but only because it will gain her access to the House which is owned by the man who destroyed her life years before & she still wants revenge. What happens that night becomes an urban legend & in 2015 Maidenhair House lies abandoned....but not empty.

It's not very often that you find me awarding 5 stars to two consecutive books in my TBR pile, but this book absolutely deserves top marks.
3d
OutsmartYourShelf After a slow start, the story starts to draw the reader in with the descriptions & main character, Mei. Beautifully written, it is a mix of horror, historical fiction, & mystery as Mei attempts to find out what was behind the events at Maidenhair House all those years ago. The house is wonderfully creepy, & the characters all have their own secrets - especially the dead. 3d
OutsmartYourShelf I have no hesitation in recommending this if you enjoy slow-building historical fiction with horror elements. 5🌟

Check out link below for TWs (possible spoilers)

My thanks to #NetGalley & publishers, Allison & Busby, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7752045567
Read 6th - 8th Oct 2025
(edited) 3d
See All 6 Comments
PuddleJumper Congrats on finding brackish! I think that's the hardest one to find 3d
OutsmartYourShelf @PuddleJumper Yes, I was surprised to find that one early on. 3d
27 likes1 stack add6 comments
review
peanutnine
Hot for Slayer | Ali Hazelwood
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Mehso-so

A vampire cares for her slayer stalker while he suffers from amnesia. Cute, quick read that is great for the spooky season but it didn't blow me away
#HauntedShelf #GrimReaders @CSeydel
#BodyCountBingo #AfterDarkBingo @PuddleJumper
#ErasGhostBingo reputation @Charityann

PuddleJumper ❤️❤️ 4d
34 likes1 comment
review
kwmg40
Be the Serpent | Seanan McGuire
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Pickpick

A good installment in the October Daye series with a lot of unexpected revelations and the usual amount of faerie chaos.

#HauntedShelf #ScreamTeam
#OneSnacktoRuleThemAll #AllThingsApple
#Witchathon
#BookSpinBingo
#ISpyBingo (author's name in red)
#PumpkabooHunt (large)
@PuddleJumper

Bookwormjillk 🍎 🍎 🍎 4d
PuddleJumper 🖤🧡🖤 4d
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 3d
36 likes4 comments
review
kwmg40
Cryoburn | Lois McMaster Bujold
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Pickpick

An excellent installment in the Vorkosigan series, in which Miles encounters the seedier side of the cryogenics industry.

#HauntedShelf #ScreamTeam
#OneSnacktoRuleThemAll #AllThingsApple
#BookSpinBingo
#ISpyBingo (orange title)
#PumpkabooHunt (large)
#AfterDarkBingo (corporate dragon)
#BodyCountBingo (meddling kids are useless)
#GottaCatchEmAllSpooky (Gimmighoul: greed)

33 likes4 comments
review
5feet.of.fury
Once a Villain | Vanessa Len
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Pickpick

The conclusion of this trilogy was wonderful. I ate up this installment. The premise was weird from the beginning (Monsters that steal life from humans to fuel time travel, the power to “unmake” things/people) and it only gets weirder as they try to set the timeline right once & for all.

PuddleJumper 🖤🧡🖤 1w
OutsmartYourShelf 🧡that cover! 1w
TheAromaofBooks I loved the first book but haven't come back since the other two were published - definitely need to make that happen!! 6d
30 likes4 comments
review
OutsmartYourShelf
Medlock | S.G. Hartnell
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Mehso-so

1978 & Mrs. Medlock is housekeeper to Lord & Lady Ashton at Marwood Manor including caring for their sickly young son. When an orphaned distant relative, a young girl named Mary, comes to live at the Manor, Mrs Medlock knows she is going to be trouble from the off. Sullen, uncooperative & unruly, the only thing that interests Mary is a locked door in a long wall outside.....

OutsmartYourShelf Probably like a lot of people, I was drawn to this one by the seeming 'Secret Garden' references (Medlock, Mary, sickly son, etc). but it feels a bit like bait & switch. Rather than a retelling or even reimagining, the similarities are surface only. I can't understand the decision to set it in the 1970s, it doesn't fit the characters who seemed like they were from an earlier time, & I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn't a period piece. 1w
ShananigansReads A secret garden imagination? Interesting (at least the concept) 1w
OutsmartYourShelf Also the female characters were either vapid flibbertigibbets or matronly dragons - a bit of nuance was badly needed. Sadly I found this one to be a bit of a disappointment (except for the cover which is great). 2⭐

My thanks to #NetGalley & publishers, Little, Brown Book Group UK/Sphere, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7731397534
Read 4th-5th Oct 2025

#GrimReaders @CSeydel #HauntedShelf
1w
See All 9 Comments
ShananigansReads @OutsmartYourShelf I should have read your whole review first. 🤣🤣🤣 1w
OutsmartYourShelf #ReadAway2025 @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
#BodyCountBingo Can You Help Me Hide the Body?
#AfterDarkBingo Unfazed everyman @puddlejumper
#SPNBookBingo2025 Men of Letters
#ISpyBingo Orange Title @theAromaofBooks
#TBRCampSlasher Orange on cover

Words found: Autumnal & Darkly
1w
OutsmartYourShelf @ShananigansReads Quite a few reviewers seemed to like it. It was not for me though. 1w
DieAReader 👋🏻👋🏻 1w
TheAromaofBooks It annoys me when it sounds like a book can be an interesting riff on a classic, but it ends up just being a bit of a trick to convince you to read it. 6d
OutsmartYourShelf @TheAromaofBooks Other people liked it but it just didn't work for me. 6d
30 likes9 comments
review
OutsmartYourShelf
The Lingering | S.J.I. Holliday
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Pickpick

Jack & Ali move to a self-sufficient commune in the English Fens. They are desperate for a fresh start & hope that the quiet & communal living will help. The commune is situated in 'Rosalind House' a former psychiatric facility (or as they used to be known, an insane asylum) with a chequered history & one of the commune residents, Angela, is trying to prove the existence of ghost activity there.

OutsmartYourShelf The other residents start to become suspicious when it's clear that Jack & Ali have secrets they are running from, but with the weird occurrences since their arrival & the local history of the witches who once lived there, Ali wonders why no-one seems to want to talk about it.

I wasn't sure about this one at the start but it turned out to be worth sticking with. It's told from several points of view but the main voices are Ali & Angela.
1w
OutsmartYourShelf It does jump the shark a little towards the end, but it was a good read although I'm not sure it would hold up to repeat readings once you know the ending. 4🌟

Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4589134059
Read 2nd-3rd Oct 2025

#GrimReaders @CSeydel

#ReadAway2025 @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
#Witchathon @TEArificBooks
#ISpyBingo Initials in Author's name @theAromaofBooks
1w
See All 6 Comments
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 1w
PuddleJumper 🧡🖤🧡 1w
DieAReader 👻👻👻 1w
31 likes1 stack add6 comments
review
5feet.of.fury
Fear Nothing | Dean Koontz
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Pickpick

Soft pick. It gets weirder & weirder as it goes. It began with the MC (who has a rare genetic condition) uncovering a conspiracy, I was hooked from the start and further in it was easy to get caught up in the action.

5feet.of.fury 2nd book read for #HauntedShelf #RestlessSpirits @PuddleJumper Time on TBR: 3 years #swiftieerasghosts “debut” @Charityann #spnbingo2025 “men of letters” @OutsmartYourShelf #bodycountbingo “lights off. Somebody dies.” (edited) 1w
PuddleJumper 🖤🧡🖤 1w
OutsmartYourShelf Can I just check the prompt as Research is 'read any nonfiction book' & I think this is fiction? 1w
5feet.of.fury @OutsmartYourShelf oh dang, I was hoping it was a mad scientist category 😂😅 lemme go read the paper haha 1w
31 likes4 comments