Puzzle House by Duncan Ralston

 

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Five "Twisted Terror" Stars

Can Anyone Escape Puzzle House?

A small taste of what lies within:

Alexei Vasiliev a puzzle master had passed away and left quite a bit of money to six beneficiaries that will need to split the monies if they survive his last puzzle which has to do with escape rooms and survival in a building with unique trap settings. Six strangers come together for a fight of survival - who wins and who dies?

No spoilers here as that is about all I can hand out with a small taste so if you want to know more than you will need to read this book and series!

Thoughts:

This book grabbed me from the beginning as I was intrigued by all the different characters and their backgrounds. This book is being compared to the Saw movies which I tend to agree as the author took what happens in those movies and added his own unique twist to it.

I have read many books by this author and this one does not disappoint. It took me on a twisted ride into an escape room hell as I found myself staying up late a few nights as I could not seem to "escape" out of the book! :)

I loved all the characters in this book and with this being a series I am looking forward to reading book two here soon.

Attached is the author Duncan Ralston profile page from Amazon:

Duncan Ralston

My Goodreads Review:

My Review

The Coworker by Freida McFadden

 

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Four "Twisted Suspense" Stars

Do You Really Know Your Coworkers?

A small taste of what lies within:

Dawn Schiff and Natalie Farrell work for a nutrition company called Vixed and they only co-exist alongside each other because they have to but when Dawn Schiff does not show up to work one morning it throws her office workers off kilter because Dawn is never late - she is always there at her desk. 

When Natalie becomes concerned she expresses that concern to her other coworkers and her boss but as time goes on something is off kilter about Dawn missing and then when a dead body turns up that throws the employees at Vixed into a tizzy and Natalie somehow becomes the focus of the police!

That is about all I can hand out with a small taste without giving away spoilers so if you want to know more then go read this book!

Thoughts:

This was my fourth book by author, Freida McFadden. I have read all her Housemaid book series and loved them. This book grabbed me right away as there was quite a bit of mystery and suspense at the get-go and the momentum of that suspense kept flowing throughout the rest of the book to the point where I could barely put it down!

There were a lots of twists and turns in this book but the last 40% of the book is when the book goes into overdrive and just kept me riveted to my cozy chair! Freida McFadden pulled the rug out from under me and gave me a jolt of surprise - that rarely happens but in this book there is a jolt! :) 

I have a few more books by this author on my kindle and will be reading them soon.  I have found a mystery/suspense/thriller author that I love and I am sticking with her! 

Attached is the author, Freida McFadden, profile page from Amazon:

Freida McFadden

Attached is my review from Goodreads:

My Review

Fave Horror Authors - Part 1 (June 2026)

 My first 10 horror authors - in no particular order are:

Two of my favorite books by Graham Masterton

Website: Graham Masterton

Amazon Profile: Graham Masterton

Two of my favorite books by Catherine Cavendish
     

Website: Catherine Cavendish

Amazon Profile: Catherine Cavendish

Two of my favorite books by Brian Moreland

 Website: N/A

Amazon Profile: Brian Moreland

Two of my favorite books by Lee Mountford

Website: Lee Mountford

Amazon Profile: Lee Mountford

Two of my favorite books by David Haynes

Website: David Haynes

Amazon Profile: David Haynes

Two of my favorite books by Hunter Shea

Website: Hunter Shea

Amazon Profile: Hunter Shea

Two of my favorite books by John Everson

Website: John Everson

Amazon Profile: John Everson

Two of my favorite books by Tim Meyer

Website:  Tim Meyer

Amazon Profile:  Tim Meyer






Two of my favorite books by Ambrose Ibsen

Website: Ambrose Ibsen

Amazon Profile:  Ambrose Ibsen

Two of my favorite books by Eric Butler

Website:  Eric Butler

Amazon Profile: Eric Butler

That is my wrap up for my fave horror authors and two of my fave books by them. In August I will do my next 10 horror authors I love to read. See you in August! 😁

Perfect Specimens: A Horror Collection by Patrick James Ryan

 

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Five "Gore & Goo" Stars

I am not doing my traditional small taste as this book was a collection of horror short stories along with some horror poems too. Going to list out my favorites that I really enjoyed with a small cryptic note next to it to just give a peek into what to expect. 

Favorite stories are:

January 31st - A parasite turns a man into something tasty

It Awakes - A corpse gets his revenge.

Border Journey - A surprise transformation. 

You've Got Grubs - Not your garden variety grubs. 

So those were my favorites, but this book has a whole lot more for readers that will delve down deep under your skin and take you on a blood and gore ride of stories that will keep you glued to your cozy chair. It was a good thing  I had my gore suit handy as it was needed for this book! 

Another great book by this author and looking forward to whatever else he has coming down the pike! 

Attached is the author, Patrick James Ryan, profile page from Amazon:

Patrick James Ryan

Attached is my review from Goodreads:

My Review

The September House by Carissa Orlando

 

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Five "Twisted Spooky Suspense" Stars

Would You Dare Enter September House?

A small taste of what lies within:

Hal and Margaret move into a house that they soon learn to be haunted but only in September as the house emits strange sounds along with moans and then the walls start bleeding.  When Hal ends up disappearing though is when things go bad for Margaret as she believes that Hal left her as he couldn't deal with the haunting. 

When Katherine shows up (Hal and Margaret's daughter) is when things go more awry as Katherine knows something has gone horribly wrong when her father no longer answers her phone calls so she decides to go see her parents to see what is going on but little does she know that the house is not ready to reveal its secrets until it wants to and when that happens all hell will  break loose! 

That is about all I can hand out with a small taste so if you want to know more then go read this book! 

Thoughts:

This was my first time reading this author but I had been seeing this book circulating over in my Goodreads feeds for the last three years as quite a few of my Goodreads friends have read this book.  This book was almost like a slow burn horror - normally I struggle with slow burn books but this one just kept piquing my interest and I would have a hard time putting it down. 

Lots happen within this story that kept me invested with keeping on reading to see what would happen next as this story goes on an emotional roller coaster of a ride with lots of twists and turns that kept me pinned to my cozy chair. The haunted part of the story was never really scary - this haunted house book is a little different then some other haunting books out in the world. There was almost like a satire weaved into the story and I would find myself chuckling at different scenes in the story. 

All in all this story was crazy wild near the end of the book which I ended up reading the last 30% in just a few hours as things escalated in the house and the book made me feel like I was on a bullet train that just sent me careening to the end of the story! What a wild ride this story turned out to be and I can see now that the hype for this book is real! 

Attached is the author, Carissa Orlando, profile page from Amazon:

Carissa Orlando

My Goodreads Review:

My Review

The Selkie Wives (Old Wives' Tales Book 2) by Tamara Thorne

 

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Five "Spooky Selkie" Stars

What Happens in Fort Charles Stays in Fort Charles!

A small taste of what lies within:

Sheriff Tully has been asked to take over sheriff duties in the coastal town of Fort Charles so him and his wife, Kate leave Eternity to go to Fort Charles. 

They are not there very long when a dead body is found pinned to a boat mast and is unrecognizable. When more bodies start turning up, Tully finds out that living in Eternity with all its problems was a walk in the park compared to what he has to deal with in Fort Charles as there are secrets that are to be kept within the town.

Mythical lore of Selkies are surrounding the deaths which Tully is finding hard to accept but he is wondering if there really is any truth to the sailor tales which he intends to find out one way or another!  

(Selkie on the beach in Fort Charles)

That is about all I can hand out with a small taste so if you want to know more then go read this book and series! 

Thoughts:

Once again, author, Tamara Thorne hooked me into the clutches of this story as I was thrown straight into a spooky mystery that is wrapped around mythical lore creatures and the story just runs smoothly along with Sheriff Tully trying his best to make sense of what is happening in the town of Fort Charles.  

There are quite a few characters in this book and there are cameo appearances from characters that were in the first book, Eternity. This story goes deep into mythical lore and I could see the lore research the author took as she created this story. I found myself being caught up in the web of intrigue as the story rolled along.  There is tons of suspense wrapped within the pages of this story and the pace became faster as I careened through my kindle pages which one night I stayed up till near 4 am reading this book as I just could not lay it down! 

There is another book coming down the pike with Sheriff Tully and I am looking forward to seeing what other mysteries he will need to solve.

Attached is the author, Tamara Thorne, profile page from Amazon:

Tamara Thorne

Attached is the website of author, Tamara Thorne:

Tamara Thorne

My Goodreads Review:

My Review

Note:  

These books might seem to be stand alone but they are not as characters from previous books make appearances and things happen within the lives of the main characters that are in these books so these books need to be read in order to understand the lives of the characters.   

Eternity (Old Wives' Tales Book 1)

The Selke Wives (Old Wives' Tales Book 2) 

Fave Horror Authors Blog Addition from Book Nook Retreat

I have decided to do something different with highlighting favorite horror authors that I have read in the past and enjoyed their work. 

Every other month I will be listing out 10 favorite horror authors with an author link to their website (if they have one) and/or a link to their Amazon profile. I will also be listing two of my favorite books by the authors. 

This will be for all horror authors that write horror whether they are in the indie horror community or even if they are traditionally published.  All horror authors will be listed together in a blog edition every other month.  

This new blog edition that I will be working on will replace my "author's discovered list". I have decided to do a complete favorite horror author list as I think it will help friends and blog followers to see who I love to read and what books I loved by each horror author. 

Sometime this month I will be putting out my first 10 favorite horror author list and will publish it to my blog then post it over to my Facebook.   

To find each list I do for every other month in one easy step -  I have added a tab to my scrollbar on my blog which is under my blog art header. You cannot miss it - you will see a tab that says "Fave Horror Authors". 

So get ready as it will be coming sometime this month. 😁