What It Does: Delivers volume and length, almost giving the illusion of false lashes.
Verdict: I’m on the fence with this mascara because it does deliver in the sense of lengthening your lashes, but I’m not really a fan of the formula. The formula is kinda gloopy and clumpy, and tar-like. I can see this working if you do one coat of the mascara and then use a clean mascara wand to fix up any clumping the mascara creates. Sadly, this is the issue with mascaras that have fibers, they do give you maximum length and volume, but there’s a learning curve on how to apply it without creating a total mess. It also flakes a little by the end of the day or if you nap. I don’t completely hate this, but there are so many other amazing mascaras out there for less price that I don’t necessarily recommend it either.
Price: $26
Where To Buy It: MAC, Ulta, and Sephora.
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Summer has so many new book releases, that I’m looking forward to these titles so very much. Many of these I’ve already read ARCs for, so I’ll be thrilled to pick up physical copies to add to my ever-growing library once they’re out into the world.
Here are a few of my fave Summer picks:
MISTER MAGIC BY KIERSTEN WHITE
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. . . .
101 HORROR BOOKS TO READ BEFORE YOU’RE MURDERED BY SADIE HARTMANN
Curious readers and fans of monsters and the macabre, get ready to bulk up your TBR piles! Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann has curated the best selection of modern horror books, including plenty of deep cuts. Indulge your heart’s darkest desires to be terrified, unsettled, disgusted, and heartbroken with stories that span everything from paranormal hauntings and creepy death cults to small-town terrors and apocalyptic disasters. Each recommendation includes a full synopsis as well as a quick overview of the book’s themes, style, and tone so you can narrow down your next read at a glance. Featuring a foreword by New York Times bestselling author Josh Malerman and five brand-new essays from rising voices in the genre, this illustrated reader’s guide is perfect for anyone who dares to delve into the dark.
EVERYTHING THE DARKNESS EATS BY ERIC LAROCCA
An insidious darkness threatens to devastate a rural New England village when occult forces are conjured and when bigotry is left unrestrained.
After a recent string of disappearances in a small Connecticut town, a grieving widower with a grim secret is drawn into a dangerous ritual of dark magic by a powerful and mysterious older gentleman named Heart Crowley. Meanwhile, a member of local law enforcement tasked with uncovering the culprit responsible for the bizarre disappearances soon begins to learn of a current of unbridled hatred simmering beneath the guise of the town’s idyllic community—a hatred that will eventually burst and forever change the lives of those who once found peace in the quiet town of Henley’s Edge.
THE BEAST YOU ARE: STORIES BY PAUL TREMBLAY
A haunting collection of short fiction from the bestselling author of The Pallbearers Club,A Head Full of Ghosts, and The Cabin at the End of the World.
Paul Tremblay has won widespread acclaim for illuminating the dark horrors of the mind in novels and stories that push the boundaries of storytelling itself. The fifteen pieces in this brilliant collection, The Beast You Are, are all monsters of a kind, ready to loudly (and lovingly) smash through your head and into your heart.
In “The Dead Thing,” a middle-schooler struggles to deal with the aftermath of her parents’ substance addictions and split. One day, her little brother claims he found a shoebox with “the dead thing” inside. He won’t show it to her and he won’t let the box out of his sight. In “The Last Conversation,” a person wakes in a sterile, white room and begins to receive instructions via intercom from a woman named Anne. When they are finally allowed to leave the room to complete a task, what they find is as shocking as it is heartbreaking.
The title novella, “The Beast You Are,” is a mini epic in which the destinies and secrets of a village, a dog, and a cat are intertwined with a giant monster that returns to wreak havoc every thirty years.
A masterpiece of literary horror and psychological suspense, The Beast You Are is a fearlessly imagined collection from one of the most electrifying and innovative writers working today.
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What It Is: A brightening and depuffing eye cream.
What It Does: Brightens, depuffs, and hydrates the eye area.
Active Ingredients: Vitamin C, Niacinamide, Peptides, and green caffeine.
Verdict: First things first, I loved the consistency of this cream. It’s not too thick and not too thin either. But I also wouldn’t necessarily call it a gel, as it is more of a cream. Now, I have no delusions that this cream would solve my dark eye circles because mine are hereditary, but I do like that it kind of helped (or at least they weren’t as noticeable). Apart from this, the cream is very hydrating and you wake up feeling your eye area is nourished and refreshed. I’ve only been using it at night, so I don’t know how it holds up beneath makeup. Although, since it isn’t greasy, I’d venture that it would do well under concealer. I’ve been wanting to try out Glow Recipe products and was excited that Ipsy had this in their Glam Icon Box this month. I did like this eye cream but overall I wasn’t obsessed with it, but for the price point it is a good investment.
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Do I have to smash a glass over the head of every single man I come into contact with, just so I leave a fucking mark?
PLOT SUMMARY
Exiled from the art world and on sabbatical from her dead-end bar job, Irina obsessively takes explicit photographs of the average-looking men she persuades to model for her, scouted from the streets of Newcastle.
But her talent has not gone unnoticed, and Irina is invited to display her work at a fashionable London gallery. It is a chance to revive her career and escape from the rut of drugs, alcohol, and extreme cinema she’s fallen into. Yet the news instead triggers a self-destructive tailspin, centered around Irina’s consuming relationship with her best friend, and a shy young man from her local supermarket who has attracted her attention. . . .
GRADE: A
REVIEW
If Patrick Bateman were a hot girl living in Newcastle upon Tyne, he’d definitely be Irina Sturges. Despite being a narcissistic and deeply flawed individual, Irina is a trainwreck you simply can’t take your eyes off of. You’re compelled to continue reading what degrading things she has her so-called “models” do in the name of art, as she takes photos of them. I loved how every photograph she had saved unlocked new memories and we got to see what she had been up to in those years prior to us, readers, getting to know her. Clark’s writing is razor sharp, and although we can agree that Irina isn’t the best person and her relationships are all terrible (her mother is evil, her best friend is awful, and the men in her life are either simps or losers), you can’t help but feel some bit of empathy in the way that she’s the way she is because both society and her interactions with people have shaped her in this way (I don’t want to delve too much into her past because of *spoilers* ).
The horror isn’t smack dab in your face, but it’s there and it’s vicious when it comes to the surface. But overall, this is a crazy adventure of human depravity, looking for artistic approval, and trying to leave a mark in the world however fucked up that may be. I totally recommend this if you loved books such as American Psycho, Maeve Fly, and Into The Miso Soup.
*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
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Grieving mother Magos cuts out a piece of her deceased eleven-year-old son Santiago’s lung. Acting on fierce maternal instinct and the dubious logic of an old folktale, she nurtures the lung until it gains sentience, growing into the carnivorous little Monstrilio she keeps hidden within the walls of her family’s decaying Mexico City estate. Eventually, Monstrilio begins to resemble the Santiago he once was, but his innate impulses—though curbed by his biological and chosen family’s communal care—threaten to destroy this fragile second chance at life.
GRADE: A
REVIEW:
What’s there not to like about this book? It was a beautiful family drama with hints of Gothic horror almost. When two parents lose their only child at a young age, the mother, Magos, simply can’t grieve the same way her husband does, and decides to go back to Mexico City. Once there, her mother’s housekeeper tells her a tale of how someone was able to get back someone they lost, and Magos takes that to heart. This is when the story truly takes off, and we’ll go on a journey with this family over the years and over various cities such as Mexico City, New York City, and Berlin. I loved that the book was written from the POV of four different characters, and it wasn’t in alternated chapters, no, you spent several years with each character and you go to see how they grew and how they felt. This was a really moving story, and I love how the “monster” in question wasn’t shown to be evil but at the same time, he couldn’t shirk away from his true nature. This is a beautiful tale of unconditional love, grief, loss, and family. I absolutely recommend this to anyone who loves quirky, dark films but with heart, such as Edward Scissorhands.
*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Zando for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
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Such a pair we make. I don’t know what I’m going to do either, what with the kingdom being eaten to nothing.
PLOT SUMMARY
You may think you know how the fairy tale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now, her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes.
On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood, and the three “saints” who control them.
The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruelest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.
GRADE: C-
REVIEW
I truly wanted to love this novella, because I’m a huge fan of mermaids in general and the premise sounded so damn exhilarating and dark. However, same as the previous book I read from this author, Nothing But Blackened Teeth, the purple prose made the reading experience truly tedious. Yes, I can understand trying to make the text sound old-timey when the protagonists are a killer mermaid and Plague Doctor, but one can do that without continually using words that are obscure to mean simple concepts. If there were a few thrown in the text it wouldn’t be so terrible, but the fact that the short novella was littered with them, it truly took away from the reading experience. I will say that I loved the ending and it truly aches me that the novella was kind of dull until then. This novella could’ve been so much more, especially if it hadn’t begun in medias res, but we would’ve gotten a bit more history or flashbacks of what went on prior to the mermaid running away with the Plague Doctor. The ending was truly beautiful and it’s sad that this story couldn’t have been so much more. The author is talented and has excellent ideas, but executing them seems to be an issue. I don’t know if I’ll read another work from this author since this is the second one I’ve read and wasn’t truly a fan. Maybe I’m not the right audience, but many people who love horror did enjoy this novella, so I don’t want to discourage you from checking it out.
*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
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What It Is: A retinol and Vitamin-C-infused moisturizer that visibly smooths, hydrates, and brightens for radiant, refreshed skin.
What It Does: Resurfaces, firms, and brightens skin during sleep.
Active Ingredients: Retinol, Vitamin-C, and Wild Gooseberry Extract
Verdict: I’m a big fan of Kate Somerville skincare products because not only are they effective but have some of the best ingredients for your skin. This moisturizer is no different. From the very first moment that I applied this I was in LOVE. The texture is rich and hydrating but also lightweight and not greasy. I saw results within a few days where small dark spots from previous blemishes visibly vanished and helped even out my skintone. I know it’s on the pricier side, but at the same time, it’s very effective and you only need a dime-size amount for your whole face. I highly recommend adding this moisturizer as a step in your night time skincare routine.
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If the remainder of your life was only as long as your ability to avoid your own reflection, how long would you last?
PLOT SUMMARY:
An hour? A day? Perhaps a week?
It’s been said that at the core of every legend lies a seed of truth. For four American tourists vacationing in Greece, this is a lesson learned the hard way.
When the group sets out to find a subterranean pool that’s rumored to be the one by which the demi-god Narcissus once wasted away in self-obsession, what started as a fun excursion quickly escalates into a full-blown nightmare. After looking into the waters of the pool, they come to find their own reflections have become infected by an ancient evil. As they’re picked off one-by-one by a malevolence that resides in the reflective world, those remaining race to find a way to bring the nightmare to an end before it takes them all.
In the meantime, all they’ll have to do is avoid their own reflections.
GRADE: A-
REVIEW:
I’ve always been a big fan of Greek mythology, so I was totally pulled into the premise of this novella. What I love best about novellas is that we’re pulled right into the action, the friends are looking for a secret cave that has the famous waters that Narcissus gazed upon. Only these waters are cursed, and the four friends soon find out that going there was a huge mistake. The deaths were really gory and I liked the myth behind the reasoning as to how the curse worked. I can see this novella becoming a horror movie, it would be cool to see, especially one death in particular that was the most extreme/gory and happened at the beach. This is a fast-paced horror that explores insecurities that we all may have, through the lens of a curse and the demi-god Narcissus. A must for fans of Greek mythology and vacation horror.
*Thank you so much to Night Worms and Shortwave publisher for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
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Cynthia Pelayo sings a song for the least of us, the victim we want to forget as soon as possible, the one who disappeared before ever really appearing. With a fairy tale gaze and a heart bigger than the world, her siren song insinuates itself past our defenses, past the hardened calluses and apathy we’ve erected to protect ourselves from the everyday horror of another missing girl.
Pelayo relates the familiar story, poem by poem; a body is found, a brutal crime investigated, clues take us in circles, and lead us nowhere. We are on an epic journey, the hero’s journey, and it must play out to the end in all its painful, ticking moments. Pelayo imbues her hero, Agent K, with the entirety of our dedication and that crumb of hope we’ve been hiding, saving for later. We will need to save for years, for decades, if we want to come out the other side. The job takes its toll, the answers are never complete and whys fracture, crack and spread. Still there is no turning away. We must bear witness, though it changes and contorts us.
Fans of true crime will love this, although these poems are very heartbreaking and brutal.
LOVE FOR SLAUGHTER by SARA TANTLINGER
This debut collection of poetry from Sara Tantlinger takes a dark look at all the horrors of love, the pleasures of flesh, and the lust for blood. For discerning fans of the macabre, look no further than Love For Slaughter.
A must for readers who love their love poems with a dash of violence.
I AM NOT YOUR FINAL GIRL by CLAIRE C. HOLLAND
From Claire C. Holland, a timely collection of poetry that follows the final girl of slasher cinema – the girl who survives until the end – on a journey of retribution and reclamation. From the white picket fences of 1970s Haddonfield to the apocalyptic end of the world, Holland confronts the role of women in relation to subjects including feminism, sexuality, violence, and healing in the world of Trump and the MeToo movement. Each poem centers on a fictional character from horror cinema, and explores the many ways in which women find empowerment through their own perceived monstrousness.
Fans of slasher movies will love this collection of poetry about some of the most famous female horror icons.
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“She is such a writer that she puts words in my mouth while I’m standing right here, rewriting life in real time, and no, she can’t do this to me, to us.”
PLOT SUMMARY:
Joe Goldberg is ready for a change. Instead of selling books, he’s writing them. And he’s off to a good start. Glenn Shoddy, an acclaimed literary author, recognizes Joe’s genius and invites him to join a tight-knit writing fellowship at Harvard. Finally, Joe will be in a place where talent matters more than pedigree . . . where intellect is the great equalizer and anything is possible. Even happy endings. Or so he thinks until he meets his already-published, already-distinguished peers, who all seem to be cut from the same elitist cloth.
Thankfully, Wonder Parish enters the picture. They have so much in common. No college degrees, no pretensions, no stories from prep school or grad school. Just a love for literature. If only Wonder could commit herself to the writing life, they could be those rare literary soulmates who never fall prey to their demons. Wonder has a tendency to love, to covet, but Joe is a believer in the rule of fiction: If you want to write a book, you have to kill your darlings.
With her trademark satirical, biting wit, Caroline Kepnes explores why vulnerable people bring out the worst in others as Joe sets out to make this small, exclusive world a fairer place. And if a little crimson runs in the streets of Cambridge . . . who can blame him? Love doesn’t conquer all. Often, it needs a little push.
GRADE: A-
REVIEW:
I’ve been a fan of Joe Goldberg since book one, and although he’s a crazy stalker serial killer, he’s also somewhat charming and hella funny. Not to mention that he seems to put himself in the craziest situations that offer a lot of dark humor. Now, Joe finds himself being the recipient of a writing fellowship at Harvard and instantly falls in love (as usual) with a fellow autodidact and fellowship classmate Wonder. Maybe I’m a little biased when it comes to this book being a writer myself, but I found so many things relatable to both the writing process and being in critique groups with other writers. I know non-writers may find some of the scenes boring, but I enjoyed the classroom scenes a lot. I’ll say that I was a little bummed at first thinking that Joe had turned over a new leaf and was giving up his murderous ways, however, he didn’t! Although, he didn’t kill as many people as he has in the past. I don’t know if I really liked his love interest Wonder that much, she was very family orientated, obsessed with her job at Dunkin’ Donuts, and didn’t seem to really care about her writing as much initially. And honestly, she never seemed that interested in Joe either. Then again, other than Love Quinn, I never felt like Joe’s love interests have really been that crazy about him. Having said that, I know the ending hinted at a certain type of ending, but I really hope that Joe decided to take a different approach and if there’s ever a sequel, I do hope to see a certain thriller writer in it! Sarah Beth was by far, the most interesting character in the whole bunch. My only gripe about the novel is that the True Crime podcast was only mentioned a few times and quickly forgotten so that plot wasn’t explored as much as I had hoped. This book didn’t have as many crazy plot twists as book three had, and at some point, the book did feel like it was dragging along for too long for no apparent reason. But I enjoy Joe, so I didn’t mind being in his head again for this adventure.
*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
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The Inkblotters 