Another month, another Book of the Month club box. This month wasn’t as exciting as last month, but I couldn’t resist padding my bookshelves anyway.
Phantasma by Kaylie Smith Series: Wicked Games #1
Published by Forever on 9/3/2024
Genres: Fiction, Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance
Pages: 512
Format: Hardcover
Source: Printed, Book of the Month
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When Ophelia and her sister discovers their mother brutally murdered, there is no time to grieve: Ophelia has inherited both her powerful death-driven magic and enormous debt on their home. Circumstances go from dire to deadly, however, when Ophelia’s sister decides to pay off the loan by entering Phantasma—a competition where most contestants don’t make it out alive and the winner is granted a single wish.
The only way to save her sister is to compete. But Phantasma is a cursed manor, with twisting corridors and lavish ballrooms, and filled with enticing demons and fatal temptations. Ophelia will need to face nine floors of challenges to win... if her fears don’t overtake her first.
When a charming, arrogant stranger claims he can protect and guide Ophelia, she knows she shouldn’t trust him. While Blackwell may not seem dangerous, appearances can be deceptive. But with her sister’s life on the line, Ophelia can’t afford to turn him away. She just needs to ignore the overwhelming, dark attraction drawing them closer and closer together.
Because in Phantasma, the only thing deadlier than losing the game is losing your heart.
This sounds completely up my alley, but I am weary about it. I have this gut feeling that I’m going to be disappointed. I’ll get to it, just not rushing to read it. I love the cover though. Maybe I will be more excited to read it when the next in the series is out for a synopsis.
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow Published by Tor Books on 10/3/2023
Pages: 308
Format: Hardcover
Source: Book of the Month, Printed
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Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.
Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.
As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.
If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.
This one is so on brand for right now. I’m tossing this one in my October TBR. I need some spooky vibes.
Sleep Tight by J.H. Markert Published by Crooked Lane Books on 09/10/2024
Genres: Fiction, Adult
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Source: Book of the Month, Printed
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The sole survivor of a serial killer might hold the key to stopping a new spree of murders in this propulsive thriller in the vein of The Black Phone and The Whisper Man.
Dark and twisting at every turn, fans of Catriona Ward will love this chilling new tale from the deviously inventive horror author that Peter Farris calls the “clear heir to Stephen King.”
Beware the one who got away . . .
Father Silence once terrorized the rural town of Twisted Tree, disguising himself as a priest to prey on the most vulnerable members of society. When the police finally found his “House of Horrors,” they uncovered nineteen bodies and one survivor–a boy now locked away in a hospital for the criminally insane.
Nearly two decades later, Father Silence is finally put to death, but by the next morning, the detective who made the original arrest is found dead. A new serial killer is taking credit for the murder and calling himself the Outcast.
The detective’s daughter, Tess Claibourne, is a detective herself, haunted by childhood trauma and horrified by the death of her father and the resurgence of Father Silence’s legacy.
When Tess’s daughter is kidnapped by the Outcast, Tess is forced to face her worst fears and long-buried memories. With no leads to follow, she travels back to Twisted Tree to visit the boy who survived and see what secrets might be buried in the tangled web of his broken mind.
This is the book I’m the most excited for out of this lot. I don’t know why I am so addicted to thrillers lately. I never used to care and then last year I suddenly got into the mood. I’m just hopeful this one isn’t nightmare inducing. I’m a huge wimp and lately my reading free time has all been in the late evening.
What did you choose for your September box?
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