Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

The Haunting of Paynes Hollow by Kelley Armstrong: When family secrets won’t stay buried

When Kelley Armstrong writes horror, you know you’re in for a story that goes beyond simple scares—and The Haunting of Paynes Hollow (releasing October 14, 2025) is no exception. This chilling, supernatural thriller digs into the shadows of family history, twisted memory, and the things we inherit whether we want to or not. The book is available now for pre-order on Amazon.

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Samantha Payne never expected to inherit anything from her grandfather, not after years of distance and the painful memory of her father’s alleged crime. Fourteen years earlier, Sam witnessed her father burying the body of a child—an image that convinced her he was guilty, despite his own father’s unshakable belief in his innocence. But at the reading of the will, Sam is shocked to discover she’s been left the family’s valuable lakefront property at Paynes Hollow, with one strange condition: she must stay in the cottage for a month and “face the fact she was wrong.”

That’s when the real terror begins.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

The Empty Cradle by Lisa Rookes is folklore-infused horror at its finest

What happens when the dream of a family turns into something dark and uncanny? The Empty Cradle by Lisa Rookes blends psychological suspense, folklore, and magical realism into a story that unsettles you in the best possible way.

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The novel follows Amy, who has been going along with her husband Joel’s dream of starting a family—even though she’s never been completely sure motherhood is what she wants. Joel, more than Amy, is the one determined to have a child. But when she discovers he’s having an affair with her best friend, Amy flees to a dilapidated cottage in a Yorkshire village. Originally, she had bought the cottage with plans to flip it as a short-term rental, not to make it a home. Yet once she’s there, she begins to imagine that maybe she could create a life for herself in the village—if only the unsettling occurrences around her would stop.

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Why Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan is the best novel I’ve read so far in 2025

Every once in a while, a book comes along that completely captivates your imagination and refuses to let you go. Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan is that book for me—the #1 best novel I’ve read so far in 2025.

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Set against the stark, blistering backdrop of the Mexicali borderlands and the eerie Salton Sea, Salt Bones is a darkly lyrical story of mothers and daughters, folklore and truth, justice and horror. Malamar Veracruz has lived her whole life in El Valle, raising two daughters while carrying the pain of her sister Elena’s disappearance years ago. When another girl goes missing, Mal is thrust back into that old nightmare, haunted by visions of a horse-headed woman tied to local legend. But as Mal and her daughters uncover layer after layer of family secrets, folklore, and lies, the story reveals what women have always known: men are the destroyers, and the women who try to protect others are too often turned into monsters themselves.

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