Review of Don’t Date the Haunted

Every horror reader knows the basics: “Don’t go into the basement (or attic)”, “Don’t stare at your reflection in the lake for too long”, “Don’t play some creepy old game you found in a trunk (unless it’s Jumanji),” etc. Pansy Finster lives her life by these rules, and they have […]

Review of The Wish Granter

C. J. Redwine’s The Wish Granter is the second novel in her Ravenspire series in which a popular fairy tale is reimagined into a more realistic (yet still fantasy) setting with serious consequences for the main characters. In this novel, she highlights the town of Sundraille where the royal family […]

Review of Shadows On Snow

Starla Huchton’s Shadows on Snow is a retelling of Snow White but with males taking traditional female roles and vice-versa. Yes, this means that Snow White is a man in this story. He is Prince Leopold, the evil step-mother becomes an evil step-father, and the seven “dwarfs” become seven sisters. […]

Review of Ashen

Forget everything you know about fairytale retellings when you read Ashen by H. L. Burke. Most retellings either are a straight-up novel length version of a story you’ve read before, or they include some type of gimmick to make the narrative fresh. Reading these types of retellings are like playing […]

The Snow White Read-Off

I was writing a blog about the traditional fairy tales and my novel Kingdom Come. At the end I recommended some fairy tale retellings of that particular story. I suddenly had an idea. What if I read them to compare their treatment of the Snow White character? Not rate the […]

Review of Blind Date with a Supervillain

H. L. Burke’s Blind Date with a Supervillain is a short spin-off series from her Superhero Rehabilitation Series. In this world, superheroes and supervillains face off around the world. Most superheroes are aligned with the Department of Super Enabled (DOSA) which regulates their actions.  Surge (or Shawn Park) is a […]

Review of The Guest List

Mysterious, isolated island? Check. List of victims…er, guests? Check. Atmospheric setting? Check. Victim? Uh…victim? Hello? The Guest List is a mystery without a victim through most of its story, and therein lies the genius. Lucy Foley has concocted a story where the reader has to make it through most of […]

Review of Monster

Karen Diem’s fourth superhero novel, Monster, starts out with an international incident of city-sized proportions. When our three favorite heroes: Arca, Muse, and Wingspan show up to take care of business, they are immediately upstaged. Much like the opening segment to an Indiana Jones adventure, this episode serves to introduce […]