Small Town Slasher by Stephanie Rose
This book had me immediately hooked. It's like a slasher film with lots more room for character development and Jenna is a great protagonist. I loved the chance to walk in her shoes for a couple hundred pages and I especially love that the author didn't immediately date the book by making specific references. We can all imagine what "those most overplayed Christmas song ever" is or what current events Jenna is alluding to and, even if we don't come up with the exact ones the author intended, it still works. Once the killings started and the plot moved away from Jenna, I found myself enjoying the read a little less, but overall it's a fun fast paced treat for horror fans.
The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts by Kim Fu
Eleanor's mother has always taken care of her, doing her laundry and cooking her meals and all of the other tasks that make up adult life. Then her mother is dead and Eleanor is alone. She has her career as a therapist, her inheritance, and a real estate agent who quickly walks her through the process of buying a house in an abandoned development far from town. Imagine The Haunting of Hill House, but the threat doesn't come from the ghosts, it comes from the structure itself. The story is definitely bleak and moves slowly, but I couldn't look away from the nightmare that was Eleanor's life. For me, one of the most interesting parts was watching her try to help her clients when she couldn't help herself. The book wasn't what I expected, but I enjoyed the experience of reading it.
What Digs Itself Free by Stoney Brooks
The most effective part of this book for me was the jarring transition between an extremely dark prologue to Zap Rogers. Host of a popular and long-running show about ghost hunters, Zap is determined to regain his former popularity, whatever it takes. He'll buy new equipment. He'll consider hiring new cast members and changing his look. Zap is a jerk, and he's not an entertaining one. I didn't care if the ghosts got him or if he lost his show.
Discloure -- The publishers provided me with advance review copies.
