Tag: horrorbook

Book Review: The Rotting Room by Viggy Parr Hampton

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God is not present in this place.

PLOT SUMMARY:

Sister Rafaela, a newcomer to the cloistered Sisters of Divine Innocence, yearns for redemption from her horrific past. However, her new abbey, bound by a vow of silence and a disturbing burial ritual, hides its own sinister secrets.

When a mysterious stranger arrives and dies soon after, her body resists decomposition, sparking fevered claims of sainthood among the nuns… but Rafaela suspects something far darker.

As the abbey teeters on the edge of madness, Rafaela and local priest Father Bruno race to uncover whether the Sisters of Divine Innocence are graced by a divine miracle—or consumed by unspeakable evil.

GRADE: A-

REVIEW:

This was my first time reading Viggy Parr Hampton and wasn’t sure what to expect. However, I’ve been on a historical horror kick lately and I truly enjoyed this novel. The Rotting Room is an unrelentingly bleak and atmospheric horror novel that grips the reader from the first page. The setting, an isolated convent swallowed by shadows and unspeakable secrets, seeps into every scene with suffocating dread. Hampton masterfully crafts a world where time feels suspended, and every toll of the bell or flicker of candlelight becomes a harbinger of something deeply wrong. The rot isn’t present solely in the literal rotting room, but it’s in the characters, the history, and the very air.

The novel’s sense of unease is nearly unbearable at times, but in the best way. Hampton sustains a tone of quiet terror, opting for psychological unraveling over cheap scares. As the protagonist Rafaela explores deeper into the Sisters of Divine Innocence and the newcomer Berta, the line between reality and hallucination begins to blur. The narrative plays heavily with isolation, guilt, and memory, keeping the reader on edge throughout.

If there’s a flaw, it lies in the repetition of certain scenes, but seeing that a nun’s life is very repetitive, there was no way around it. Still, this minor issue doesn’t undercut the novel’s power. The Rotting Room is a compelling, claustrophobic descent into rot and ruin that lingers long after the final page.

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Book Review: The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim

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This is the meal I’ve been waiting for, and I’m going to savor it.

PLOT SUMMARY:

Ji-won’s life tumbles into disarray in the wake of her appa’s extramarital affair and subsequent departure. Her mother, distraught. Her younger sister, hurt and confused. Her college freshman grades, failing. Her dreams, horrifying… yet enticing.In them, Ji-won walks through bloody rooms full of eyes. Succulent blue eyes. Salivatingly blue eyes. Eyes the same shape and shade as George’s, who is Umma’s obnoxious new boyfriend. George has already overstayed his welcome in her family’s claustrophobic apartment. He brags about his puffed-up consulting job, ogles Asian waitresses while dining out, and acts condescending toward Ji-won and her sister as if he deserves all of Umma’s fawning adoration. No, George doesn’t deserve anything from her family. Ji-won will make sure of that.For no matter how many victims accumulate around her campus or how many people she must deceive and manipulate, Ji-won’s hunger and her rage deserve to be sated.

GRADE: A+

REVIEW:

I devoured this book in two days (probably would’ve read it in one sitting if I didn’t have to do life things like work, eat, and sleep). I love how unhinged this book was. When we meet Ji-Won her father has just left his family to get with another woman, leaving her and her sister to deal with her grieving mother on their own. Ji-Won is also beginning her first year of college and once her mother starts dating a new man George (who she’s certain has an Asian girl fetish) things begin to to truly escalate. First of all, Ji-Won becomes obsessed with George’s eyes and her nightmares explore that obsession. As Ji-Won’s life begins to derail (she’s failing in college – her relationship with her sister and mother is strenuous and trying to fit in at college is difficult) – the book takes a very dark and twisted turn that I highly enjoyed.

I don’t want to say much about the plot because I wish you to experience this book the way I did – totally diving into it blind and staying for the wild ride. This is one excellent horror thriller with one of the best endings I’ve ever read (and I’m very picky when it comes to endings – I’m rarely satisfied by them).

Read this if you’re a fan of unhinged female characters ala Maeve Fly or Bunny.

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Erewhon Books for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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Book Review: The Haunting Of Velkwood by Gwendolyn Kiste

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You’re not a very nice girl, are you?

PLOT SUMMARY:

The Velkwood Vicinity was the topic of occult theorists, tabloid one-hour documentaries, and even some pseudo-scientific investigations as the block of homes disappeared behind a near-impenetrable veil that only three survivors could enter—and only one has in the past twenty years, until now.

Talitha Velkwood has avoided anything to do with the tragedy that took her mother and eight-year-old sister, drifting from one job to another, never settling anywhere or with anyone, feeling as trapped by her past as if she was still there in the small town she so desperately wanted to escape from. When a new researcher tracks her down and offers to pay her to come back to enter the vicinity, Talitha claims she’s just doing it for the money. Of all the crackpot theories over the years, no one has discovered what happened the night Talitha, her estranged, former best friend Brett, and Grace, escaped their homes twenty years ago. Will she finally get the answers she’s been looking for all these years, or is this just another dead end?

GRADE: A+

REVIEW:

I absolutely loved this novel. Usually, reading about hauntings isn’t my thing because books with ghosts tend to be so tropey- however, Kiste’s novel is so intriguing and fresh that it takes haunting to a whole new level. A whole neighborhood disappears with the people that lived there and no one can enter it except for the three friends that used to live there and are the only survivors. I love the idea of childhood friends that return to their original home to try to understand what exactly happened twenty years ago. I love the dynamic that Talitha and Brett had, you couldn’t help but root for these childhood friends that realized years ago that maybe their feelings verged more than friendship but in the world they lived in, their love couldn’t ever be front and center. This is a character driven novel, but the lush, Gothic atmosphere will completely seduce you too. I couldn’t put this book down and read it in two days! That’s to say that I was completely mesmerized by the story and just wanted to bask in it, and I loved that it had The Virgin Suicides vibes but being told from the female perspective instead of the male gaze.

I recommend this book if you love hauntings, ghosts, Gothic feels, queer characters, and mystery soaked in suspense.

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Saga Press for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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