Book Review: The Graceview Patient by Caitlin Starling

The Graceview Patient book cover overlaid over a photograph of a gallery wall of gothic pictures, including books, a crow with a dagger in it, and a quill
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The Graceview Patient book cover featuring an old-fashioned medical diagran of an open chest cavity, and the chest cavity looks like a window with red light and a dark silhouetteTitle: The Graceview Patient
Author: Caitlin Starling
Genre: Horror
Date of Publication: October 14, 2025
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Synopsis

Misery meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers in this genre-bending, claustrophobic hospital gothic from the bestselling author of The Death of Jane Lawrence.

Margaret lives with a rare autoimmune condition that has destroyed her life, leaving her isolated. It has no cure, but she’s making do as best she can—until she’s offered a fully paid-for spot in an experimental medical trial at Graceview Memorial.

The conditions are simple, if grueling; she will live at the hospital as a full-time patient, subjecting herself to the near-total destruction of her immune system and its subsequent regeneration. The trial will essentially kill most of, but not all of her. But as the treatment progresses and her body begins to fail, she stumbles upon something sinister living and spreading within the hospital.

Unsure of what’s real and what is just medication-induced delusion, Margaret struggles to find a way out as her body and mind succumb further to the darkness lurking throughout Graceview’s halls.

– Goodreads

My Thoughts

“The Graceview Patient” is a gothic, atmospheric horror story that explores the desperation of a chronically ill woman who has depleted (nearly) all her options for a cure. When she’s recruited into a mysterious experimental trial, she can’t afford to say no. She’s alienated her family and friends, has no job, and is broke, so the decision is all but made for her.
 
Graceview Hospital is a haunting and desolate locale, not necessarily conducive to healing. The book is setting-driven, with a very slow pace as the protagonist grows accustomed to her new lifestyle as she undergoes this extreme and debilitating treatment.
 
The writing is visceral, as her physical (and mental) symptoms are devastating and horrific. Her paranoia climbs notch by notch as the chapters progress.
 

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Book Review: My Best Friend’s Honeymoon by Meryl Wilsner

My Best Friend's Honeymoon book pictured on a wooden backdrop with bright yellow and orange flowers, a light green candle, and a bright stack of romance books
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My Best Frien'ds Honeymoon Book cover Title: My Best Friend’s Honeymoon
Author: Meryl Wilsner
Genre: Romance, LGBTQ+
Date of Publication: April 29, 2025
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Synopsis

Elsie Hoffman has been engaged to her college boyfriend for a year and a half. Ginny Holtz has been in love with Elsie for almost a decade and a half.

When Elsie discovers her fiancé already planned their wedding and honeymoon as a surprise and she’s expected to be in a white dress in seven days, she swiftly realizes she’s let herself become too comfortable with a future she never wanted. She breaks things off, and a week later is on a plane to the Caribbean for her non-refundable honeymoon with her best friend Ginny instead.

Ginny thinks it’s high time Elsie learned how to speak up for herself. So, they make a deal with her. For the next week, Elsie can have whatever she wants, wherever, however, and whenever she wants it, as long as she asks. They never expected Elsie to want them.

What starts as choosing activities and taking selfies soon turns to toe-curling kisses and much, much more. But what happens when the honeymoon is over?

Meryl Wilsner’s My Best Friend’s Honeymoon is about not only learning to ask for what you want, but for the happiness you deserve.

– Goodreads

My Thoughts

Elsie and Ginny have been best friends since childhood, and they’ve each harbored an unrequited crush on the other. But they never dared to explore what their relationship could be, out of fear of ruining the friendship. But when Elsie’s engagement crashes and burns, her ex-fiancé insists she go on their honeymoon to Santa Lupita–with her best friend. 

Naturally, there is no more romantic setting, and Elsie and Ginny quickly tear down the wall they’ve erected between themselves all these years. 

Despite the fact these two get together rather quickly, this book is strife with angst. Elsie (she/her) works at her family’s hardware store, and her father doesn’t take her marketing ideas seriously. She’s always been a bit of a doormat–particularly in her relationships. Ginny (they/them), on the other hand, has also always been a doormat, but only for Elsie. Where Elsie goes, they follow–from college to Elsie’s honeymoon. They both have a lot of self-discovery to do before they can be in their end-game relationship. 

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Book Review: Finding Mr. Write by Kelley Armstrong

Finding Mr. Write book cover superimposed on a photograph of a fork in a path in the woods
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Finding Mr. Write by Kelley Armstrong book cover that features a cartoon woman and man in surrounded by trees in front of a lakeTitle: Finding Mr. Write
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Genre: Romance
Date of Publication: June 25, 2024
Publisher: Forever

Synopsis

Daphne McFadden is tired of rejection. After submitting her manuscript to dozens of agents, she’s gotten rejection after rejection, and now it’s time for something drastic. And so, Daphne submits her manuscript again… under a man’s name.

Imagine her surprise when it sells for big money at an auction and soon becomes a publicity darling. Only she needs a man to play her super macho alter ego Zane Remington. Enter Chris Stanton, who absolutely looks the part of a survivalist and has a talent for pressing her piss‑me‑off‑I‑dare‑you buttons while somehow being endearing at the same time. But Chris has a few secrets of his own, including the fact that he’s really an accountant who has no idea how to chop wood or paddle a canoe. When Daphne’s book becomes a bestselling sensation and they’re forced to go on tour together, Daphne finds herself wondering if this city‑boy geek is exactly what she needs to push her to claim her dreams.

– Goodreads

My Thoughts

Finding Mr. Write is a funny rom com with a premise that explores sexism in the publishing industry. 

Daphne is a writer struggling to get represented for her debut young adult zombie novel. One night after having a little too much to drink, she frustratedly rewrites her query letter to remove any mention of romance and signs with a male pen name. She gets an offer of representation, and not long later, her book is sold in auction for $500,000. 

But now she has a problem. Her agent, the publisher, the general public all expect the author to be a reclusive, outdoorsy man named Zane Remington. He needs to do interviews, festivals, book signings, and all the public-facing marketing expected of authors. So what does Daphne do? Hint: She doesn’t come clean. No, she hires an actor to play the part. 

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Book Review: The Shippers by Katherine Center

The shippers book cover overlaid on a wooden background with stacks of romance books, a lit blue candle, a mug that reads "reading is sexy"
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Cover of book "The Shippers" by Katherine Center that is bright pink, showing a cartoon picture of a woman in a red dress dancing with a man Title: The Shippers
Author: Katherine Center
Genre: Romance, Romantic Comedy
Date of Publication: May 19, 2026
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Synopsis

One of the hottest, fastest-rising rom-com stars delivers her latest swoon-worthy novel about a destination wedding on a cruise ship.

After a whole lifetime of being bad at love, JoJo Burton decides to solve her intimacy issues once and for all at her sister’s destination wedding on a cruise ship. With the help of a little pop psychology, she diagnoses herself with a fixation on the neighborhood guy who was her her first crush and first kiss (and who just happens to be a newly-divorced wedding guest ), and she decides to woo him during the cruise for some long-delayed closure. Only problem is, her sister’s a little busy being a bride at the moment—so JoJo ropes in her childhood bestie, Cooper Watts, to be her wing man. Cooper: who RSVPed no, but then showed up, anyway. Cooper: who left town without a word four years earlier and moved to London. Cooper: who was, if she’s honest, the worst heartbreak of JoJo’s life. It’s bliss for her to see him again, and it’s agony, too—and the more they team up for Project Conquest, the more she obsesses over questions she can’t bring herself to ask.

Shipboard antics ensue in this witty, heart-tugging, childhood-friends-to-lovers romance—as JoJo and Cooper fake flirt, slow dance, share a cabin, sing duets, treat sunburns, get jealous, rescue each other over and over, and finally, at last, figure it all out in the most blissful, swoony, romantic way.

No one does summer romance quite like Katherine Center. THE SHIPPERS will take readers on the cruise of a lifetime in a story awash with romantic longing, top-notch banter, long-held secrets . . . and true love rediscovered.

– Goodreads

My Thoughts

Some people will complain that this book is predictable. And I don’t mean predictable in the typical romance “must have an HEA” way. But predictable in the sense that we know–from the start–that our heroine’s best friend, Cooper, is madly in love with her. We know he left town and broke off contact with her four years ago because she got engaged and he was heartbroken. We know he came back just in time to stop her wedding because he’s in love with her. We know he intends to confess his undying love. 

But JoJo doesn’t know.

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Book Review: The Night Birds by Christopher Golden

The Night Birds book cover overlaid on a picture of an old ship that looks like the Titanic docked
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Image

Title: The Night Birds 
Author: Christopher Golden
Genre: Horror
Date of Publication: March 6, 2025
Publisher: St Martin’s Press

Synopsis

The next gripping, atmospheric horror novel from NYT bestselling author Christopher Golden, set in a deteriorated, half-sunken freighter ship off the coast of Galveston, TX.

Charlie Book and Ruby Cahill have history. After their love ended in heartbreak, they never expected to see each other again, but when terror enters Ruby’s life, Charlie Book is the only safe harbor she can believe in.

In his work for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Book has been living aboard and studying the Christabel, a 19th century freighter that lies half-sunken in Gulf waters, just off the shore of Galveston. Over many years, a massive forest of mangrove trees has grown up through the deck of the ship, creating a startlingly beautiful enigma Book calls the Floating Forest, full of birds, crabs, and snakes. Though a powerful storm churns through the Gulf, Book intends to sleep on board as usual.

But when he arrives at the dock, preparing to motor out to the Christabel, he’s stunned to find Ruby there waiting for him. And Ruby’s not alone. With her are a mysterious, terrified woman named Johanna and an infant child. They need Book to hide them safely aboard the Christabel while they’re on the run, only it isn’t the police who are after them. It’s the coven of witches Johanna has fled, stealing away the helpless infant for whom they had hideous plans…or so Johanna claims.

It’s lunacy. Book wants nothing to do with it. But after the way he and Ruby ended things, and the unspoken pain between them, he can’t refuse. Yet even as he brings them out to the ruined ship and its floating forest, back in Galveston there are shadowed figures out in the storm, sniffing the air like bloodhounds. And despite the worsening wind and rain, the night birds are flying, scouring the coastline as if searching for their prey.

– Goodreads

My Thoughts

The Night Birds features a unique and haunting setting – an old, sunken shipwreck that was recovered and now  features an ecological marvel – a mangrove forest. Book and his team are scientists documenting this unique environment with the hopes that it can be someday transformed into America’s smallest national park. When the story opens, a horrible hurricane is sweeping across the coast, but it’s expected to bypass the ship. Book heads out to sleep, but he encounters his ex-girlfriend who’s on the run with her dead sisters’ baby. He offers them shelter, but he hasn’t the slightest idea that the people searching her will be able to find her anywhere… because they’re witches. 

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Book Review: Serial Killer Support Group by Saratoga Schaefer

PIcture of the book Serial Killer Support Group on a wooden backdrop with a stack of books about serial killers, including "Lady Killers", and a red rose
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serial killer support group book coverTitle: Serial Killer Support Group 
Author: Saratoga Schaefer
Genre: Thriller
Date of Publication: March 18, 2025
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books 

Synopsis

After her sister is murdered, a woman infiltrates a support group for serial killers in this biting queer feminist debut thriller, perfect for fans of The Final Girl Support Group and My Sister, the Serial Killer.

When Cyra Griffin’s younger sister is murdered by a serial killer, Cyra knows better than to expect  justice from the hands of the police department. With the investigation already dying its own slow death, Cyra follows the blood trail and finds her own way forward. 

Using insider information (don’t ask) Cyra infiltrates a support group for serial killers by pretending to be one herself in the hopes of finding the person who ended her sister’s life. Proving herself to them comes at a cost, but it’s one Cyra is willing to pay in the name of revenge.

Unfortunately, the dangerous men in the group aren’t the only obstacle in Cyra’s path for vengeance, and the further Cyra descends into the deadly world of serial killers, the harder it becomes to hold on to her own humanity. 

This dark, witty debut novel is a cunning homage to women’s wrongs that will have you wondering exactly how many monsters walk unseen among us.

– Goodreads

My Thoughts

Cyra’s sister died several months ago and the police have yet to catch her killer. Cyra spent her entire life protecting her baby sister, and now that she’s gone, she’s lost, numb, and wanting nothing more than justice for her sister. The police have no leads–but they let it slip that her death had an unsettling similarity with those of others in the area. Her sister was the victim of a serial killer. When Cyra finds out there’s a local Serial Killers Support Group, she does what any other grieving sister would do–she joins it. And she will do whatever it takes to get vengeance for her sister. But will she kill? 

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Book Review: My Throat an Open Grave by Tori Bovalino

My Throat an Open Grave picture on top of a background of wood, ornate books, and a black quill
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My Throat an Open grave book coverTitle: My Throat an Open Grave
Author: Tori Bovalino
Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Young Adult 
Date of Publication: February 20, 2024
Publisher: Page Street Kids

Synopsis

Labyrinth meets folk horror in this darkly romantic tale of a girl who wishes her baby brother away to the Lord of the Wood.

Growing up in the small town of Winston, Pennsylvania feels like drowning. Leah goes to church every Sunday, works when she isn’t at school, and takes care of her baby brother, Owen. Like every girl in Winston, she tries to be right and good and holy. If she isn’t the Lord of the Wood will take her, and she’ll disappear like so many other girls before her.

But living up to the rigorous standards of the town takes its toll. One night, when Owen won’t stop screaming, Leah wishes him away, and the Lord listens. The screaming stops, and all that’s left in the crib is a small bundle of sticks tied with a ribbon.

Filled with shame and the weight of the town’s judgment, Leah is forced to cross the river into the Lord of the Wood’s domain to bring Owen back. But the devilish figure who has haunted Winston for generations isn’t what she expects. He tells her she can have her brother back―for the price of a song. A song that Leah will have one month to write.

It’s a bargain that will uncover secrets her hometown has tried to keep buried for decades. And what she unearths will have her questioning everything she’s been taught to fear.

– Goodreads

My Thoughts

Teenaged Leah lives in the small town of Winston, Pennsylvania, where the townsfolk whisper stories of the mysterious and feared Lord of the Wood. Every few years he steals away babies–if you let him. Leah’s baby brother won’t stop crying. In a fit of frustration, she leaves him alone in his room, wishing he’d stop. Later, she returns to find he’s gone missing–stolen in the middle of the night. She’s terrified and racked with guilt, because she hadn’t truly believed in the Lord of the Wood. Had she? Her mother and the other churchgoers send her into the woods to bargain to get her brother back. This has been done before with many girls before her, but the girls have never returned…

From the title to the cover and blurb, My Throat an Open Grave is marketed as horror, but it’s far closer to a romantasy novel with darker themes.

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Book Review: Mister Magic by Kiersten White

Mister Magic book cover in front of a TV with white static
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Mister Magic book cover

Title: Mister Magic
Author: Kiersten White
Genre: Horror
Date of Publication: August 1, 2023
Publisher: Del Rey

Synopsis

Who is Mister Magic? Former child stars reunite to uncover the tragedy that ended their show—and discover the secret of its enigmatic host—in this dark supernatural thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hide.

Thirty years after a tragic accident shut down production of the classic children’s program Mister Magic, the five surviving cast members have done their best to move on. But just as generations of cultishly devoted fans still cling to the lessons they learned from the show, the cast, known as the Circle of Friends, have spent their lives searching for the happiness they felt while they were on it. The friendship. The feeling of belonging. And the protection of Mister Magic.

But with no surviving video of the show, no evidence of who directed or produced it, and no records of who—or what—the beloved host actually was, memories are all the former Circle of Friends has.

Then a twist of fate brings the castmates back together at the remote desert filming compound that feels like it’s been waiting for them all this time. Even though they haven’t seen each other for years, they understand one another better than anyone has since.

After all, they’re the only ones who hold the secret of that circle, the mystery of the magic man in his infinitely black cape, and, maybe, the answers to what really happened on that deadly last day. But as the Circle of Friends reclaim parts of their past, they begin to wonder: Are they here by choice, or have they been lured into a trap?

Because magic never forgets the taste of your friendship. . .

– Goodreads

My Thoughts

This is an intriguing book with a unique premise. A woman with a hazy past learns she was once the star in a cast of characters on a popular children’s TV show. Thirty years ago, something terrible happened and now not a single episode of this show can be found. What happened back then? And why can’t she remember?

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Book Review: The Love Haters by Katherine Center

The Love Haters book on a wooden backdrop
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The Love Haters

Title: The Love Haters
Author: Katherine Center
Genre: Romance
Date of Publication: May 20, 2025
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press 

Synopsis

It’s a thin line between love and love-hating.

Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West.

The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but fakes it that she can.

Plus: Cole is Hutch’s brother. And they don’t get along. Next stop paradise!

But paradise is messier than it seems. As Katie gets entangled with Hutch (the most scientifically good looking man she has ever seen . . . but also a bit of a love hater), along with his colorful Aunt Rue and his rescue Great Dane, she gets trapped in a lie. Or two.

Swim lessons, helicopter flights, conga lines, drinking contests, hurricanes, and stolen kisses ensue—along with chances to tell the truth, to face old fears, and to be truly brave at last.

– Goodreads

My Thoughts

The Love Haters is yet another delightful rom com by Katherine Center! 

This book is both hilarious and wholesome. Despite giving me the impression that it would be an enemies-to-lovers or even a grumpy-sunshine trope, the dynamic between Hutch and Katie is much more complex than that. Katie’s job as a videographer is on the line, so she takes the job her coworker, Cole, doesn’t want–to film an advertisement for the National Coast Guard. The catch? The coast guard’s “hero” doesn’t want to be famous, doesn’t want to be filmed, and is annoyed that she’s there and not Cole because the only reason he agreed to any of this is because Cole is his long-lost brother. 

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Book Review: The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel

Hitchcock Hotel book cover on a wooden backdrop. In the back are stacked Hitchcock DVDs, a Hitchcock figurine, a stuffed crow, and a Psycho VHS tape
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hitchcock hotel book coverTitle: The Hitchcock Hotel
Author: Stephanie Wrobel
Genre: Thriller
Date of Publication: September 24, 2024
Publisher: Berkley

Synopsis

A Hitchcock fanatic with an agenda invites old friends for a weekend stay at his secluded themed hotel in this fiendishly clever, suspenseful new novel.

Alfred Smettle is not your average Hitchcock fan. He is the founder, owner, and manager of The Hitchcock Hotel, a sprawling Victorian house in the White Mountains dedicated to the Master of Suspense. There, Alfred offers his guests round-the-clock film screenings, movie props and memorabilia in every room, plus an aviary with fifty crows.

To celebrate the hotel’s first anniversary, he invites his former best friends from his college Film Club for a reunion. He hasn’t spoken to any of them in sixteen years, not after what happened.

But who better than them to appreciate Alfred’s creation? And to help him finish it.

After all, no Hitchcock set is complete without a body.

– Goodreads

My Thoughts

A book handcrafted for fans of Hitchcock, though non-fans will appreciate the story just as much! 

A group of college friends who haven’t seen each other in almost twenty years are invited to spend the weekend at a Hitchcock-themed hotel that’s run by an old friend of theirs, someone who happens to have a bone to pick with all of them. But how far will he go for revenge? And just how inspired is he by his obsession–Hitchcock films? 

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