For the month of August 2022, I managed to read 11 books in total, the last one being finished on just after 8PM on August 31. The best part? Not a single book I read this month was on my August TBR post. Go figure. So what did I read this month?
If Only A Heart and Other Tales of Terror by Caleb Stephens Published by Salt Heart Press on 10/03/2022
Genres: Fiction / Horror
Pages: 216
"If Only A Heart is a series of rich and vivid nightmares. Caleb Stephens powerfully weaves inhuman terrors into all-too-human tales of fraught relationships and personal suffering. Gorgeous prose. A breathtaking collection." - Christi Nogle, author of Beulah
"If Only A Heart, at its core, has many stories that focus on family-found families, chosen yet unwanted families, families that are not actually family-and drags us on journeys that are filled with tension and often also with betrayal. A chilling, heart-wrenching collection perfect for reading under the covers-but don't forget to come up for air." - Ai Jiang, author of Linghun
"Stephens is an emotional torture artist: he's jabbed my heart full of hooks, secured them with string, then played upon my fears like some pernicious puppeteer." - Solomon Forse, editor of HOWL Society
"A cinematic roller-coaster of frightening fun. With steep drops into gory terror that leave you breathless, sharp curves that whiplash between heart and horror, Caleb Stephens' debut collection is an absolute thrill." - C.B. Jones, author of The Rules of the Road
An unlikely friendship is born in the red clay dirt of a trailer park. Two latchkey kids who will do anything to hold onto one other, despite the consequences.
A disabled boy and his sister move into a house by the sea, one haunted by a demon living in the walls.
A father on a camping trip in a remote section of Appalachia wakes to find his daughter missing, taken by something not quite human.
A traumatized teenager stumbles across a strange slide at a waterpark-one only he can see.
If Only A Heart and Other Tales of Terror is a visceral collection of thirteen stories that explores what happens when we open ourselves to others and dare to let them in. There are monsters on these pages, yes, ones whose teeth cut deep, but never as deep as the teeth of the monsters in the mirror.
Trick or Treat Murder by Rachel Woods Published by BonzaiMoon Books on 09/23/2020
Genres: Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Amateur Sleuth, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Cozy / General
Pages: 249
Trick or Treat?
Palmchat Gazette reporter Roland “Beanie” Bean is excited to take his kids, Ethan and Evan, trick-or-treating, but his excitement turns to concern when he discovers a human finger among the candy the boys collected!
Days later, Beanie learns that the finger belongs to someone he knows—Joshua Howard, a missing student who was interning at the Palmchat Gazette before he disappeared.
Beanie plans to find the intern, but soon he’s assigned to a shocking murder--a dead body in the jungle. Beanie heads to the crime scene and realizes he recognizes the victim as his new neighbor, Ivan Volkov.
As Beanie looks into the death of Volkov, he uncovers a strange connection between his neighbor and the missing intern.
Racing to discover the truth, Beanie is stunned when he learns the missing intern and his dead neighbor are linked to a heinous serial killer known as The Fury. But when he comes face to face with the murderer, Beanie must outwit a deranged maniac determined to make sure that secrets buried long ago stay hidden.
Trick or Treat Murder is a contemporary whodunit murder mystery novel in the Reporter Roland Bean Cozy Mystery Series, but can be read as a standalone. With lots of clues and red herrings, it features plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end! Get your copy today!
Gleanings by Neal Shusterman Also by this author: Scythe, Thunderhead, The Toll
Published by Simon and Schuster on 11/08/2022
Genres: Collections & Anthologies, Young Adult Fiction / Dystopian, Young Adult Fiction / Science Fiction / General
Pages: 432
The New York Times bestselling Arc of the Scythe series continues with thrilling stories that span the timeline. Storylines continue. Origin stories are revealed. And new Scythes emerge!
There are still countless tales of the Scythedom to tell. Centuries passed between the Thunderhead cradling humanity and Scythe Goddard trying to turn it upside down. For years humans lived in a world without hunger, disease, or death with Scythes as the living instruments of population control.
Neal Shusterman—along with collaborators David Yoon, Jarrod Shusterman, Sofía Lapuente, Michael H. Payne, Michelle Knowlden, and Joelle Shusterman—returns to the world throughout the timeline of the Arc of a Scythe series. Discover secrets and histories of characters you’ve followed for three volumes and meet new heroes, new foes, and some figures in between.
Gleanings shows just how expansive, terrifying, and thrilling the world that began with the Printz Honor–winning Scythe truly is.
Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman Also by this author: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning
Series: Dragonlance Chronicles #1
Also in this series: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning
Published by Wizards of the Coast Publishing on 11/11/2008
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / General
This Dungeons & Dragons-inspired fantasy adventure is the first installment in the beloved Dragonlance Chronicles, set in the magical world of Krynn.
Once merely creatures of legend, the dragons have returned to Krynn. But with their arrival comes the departure of the old gods—and all healing magic. As war threatens to engulf the land, lifelong friends reunite for an adventure that will change their lives and shape their world forever . . .
When Tanis, Sturm, Caramon, Raistlin, Flint, and Tasslehoff see a woman use a blue crystal staff to heal a villager, they wonder if it's a sign the gods have not abandoned them after all. Fueled by this glimmer of hope, the Companions band together to uncover the truth behind the gods' absence—though they aren't the only ones with an interest in the staff. The Seekers, a new religious order, wants the artifact for their own ends, believing it will help them replace the gods and overtake the continent of Ansalon. Now, the Companions must assume the unlikely roles of heroes if they hope to prevent the staff from falling into the hands of darkness.
Lifelong friends, they went their separate ways. Now they are together again, though each holds secrets from the others in his heart. They speak of a world shadowed with rumors of war. They speak of tales of strange monsters, creatures of myth, creatures of legend. They do not speak of their secrets. Not then. Not until a chance encounter with a beautiful, sorrowful woman, who bears a magical crystal staff, draws the companions deeper into the shadows, forever changing their lives and shaping the fate of the world.
No one expected them to be heroes.
Least of all, them.
Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman Also by this author: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning
Series: Dragonlance Chronicles #2
Also in this series: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning
Published by Wizards of the Coast Publishing on 04/01/2000
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Action & Adventure, Fiction / Fantasy / Dragons & Mythical Creatures, Fiction / Fantasy / Epic
Pages: 400
Return to the mystical world of Krynn, where the heroic Companions continue their fantastical adventures—and face their greatest challenge yet
With the return of the dragon minions of Takhisis, the Queen of Dragons, the land of Krynn has become more dangerous than ever. But as the nations of Krynn prepare to fight for their homes, their lives, and their freedom, longstanding hatreds and prejudices interfere. When fighting breaks out among the races, it seems the battle is lost before it even begins.
Meanwhile, the heroic Companions have been torn apart by war. A full season will pass before they meet again—if they meet again. Raistlin has made an ominous prediction, one that implies not all of the Companions will survive the fight. His warning, along with sinister dreams, haunt the friends as they search for the weapons that will stop the Dark Queen in her tracks: the mysterious Dragon Orbs and legendary Dragonlance.Another riveting tale in the Dragonlance Chronicles, Dragons of Winter Night is an action-packed adventure in which the true value of love and friendship is measured against the backdrop of a catastrophic war between good and evil.
Dragons of Winter Night is the second book in the Dragonlance Chronicles.
Hide by Kiersten White Published by Random House Worlds on 05/24/2022
Genres: Fiction / Horror, Fiction / Thrillers / Supernatural, Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense
Pages: 256
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A high-stakes hide-and-seek competition turns deadly in this “marvelously creepy thrill ride of a book that keeps twisting until the very end” (Karen M. McManus, author of One of Us Is Lying)
“The suspenseful plot combines elements of Thomas Tryon’s classic Harvest Home, Netflix’s Squid Game, and the social commentary of Jordan Peele’s film oeuvre and mixes these with a revelatory pacing reminiscent of Spielberg’s Jaws.”—Booklist
The challenge: Spend a week hiding in an abandoned amusement park and don’t get caught.
The prize: enough money to change everything.
Even though everyone is desperate to win—to seize a dream future or escape a haunting past—Mack is sure she can beat her competitors. All she has to do is hide, and she’s an expert at that.
It’s the reason she’s alive and her family isn’t.
But as the people around her begin disappearing one by one, Mack realizes that this competition is even more sinister than she imagined, and that together might be the only way to survive.
Fourteen competitors. Seven days. Everywhere to hide but nowhere to run.
Come out, come out, wherever you are.
Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman Also by this author: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning
Series: Dragonlance Chronicles #3
Also in this series: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning
Published by Wizards of the Coast Publishing on 11/11/2008
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / General
Will truth and virtue triumph over the deadly darkness of an all-consuming evil?
The war against the dragon minions of Queen Takhisis rages on. Armed with the mysterious, magical Dragon Orbs and the shining, silver Dragonlance, the Companions of the Lance lead their people in a desperate final battle. Knight and barbarian, warrior and mage, dwarf and kender—no one has reckoned how high the price of defeat, or even victory, might be.
But now, in the dawn of a new day, the dark secrets that have long shadowed the hearts of the Companions come to light. If they are to truly defeat the five-headed dragon goddess, they must find a way to overcome their own personal conflicts and doubts. From betrayal and treachery to fragility and weakness, the greatest battle now lies within each of them.
Finally armed with dragonlances, a group of heroes, composed of a knight, barbarian, dwarf, and half-elf, faces a deadly showdown with the evil dragons and Takhisis, the Queen of Darkness.
How to Survive Your Murder by Danielle Valentine Also by this author: How to Survive Your Murder
Published by Penguin on 08/30/2022
Genres: Young Adult Fiction / Family / Siblings, Young Adult Fiction / Horror, Young Adult Fiction / Thrillers & Suspense / General
Pages: 304
Scream meets Happy Death Day in this terrifying stand-alone horror novel from YA scream queen Danielle Valentine.
"This terrifying book reads like a horror movie. No, wait. It has the suspense and shocks and screams of TEN horror movies in one. Great nasty fun!" —R.L. Stine, author of Goosebumps and Fear Street
Alice Lawrence is the sole witness in her sister’s murder trial.
And in the year since Claire’s death, Alice’s life has completely fallen apart. Her parents have gotten divorced, she’s moved into an apartment that smells like bologna, and she is being forced to face her sister’s killer and a courtroom full of people who doubt what she saw in the corn maze a year prior.
Claire was an all-American girl, beautiful and bubbly, and a theater star. Alice was a nerd who dreamed of becoming a forensic pathologist and would rather stay at home to watch her favorite horror movies than party. Despite their differences, they were bonded by sisterhood and were each other’s best friends.
Until Claire was taken away from her.
On the first day of the murder trial, as Alice prepares to give her testimony, she is knocked out by a Sidney Prescott look-alike in the courthouse bathroom. When she wakes up, it is Halloween night a year earlier, the same day Claire was murdered. Alice has until midnight to save her sister and find the real killer before he claims another victim.
If You Tell by Gregg Olsen Also by this author: I Know Where You Live
Published by Thomas & Mercer on 09/01/2022
Genres: TRUE CRIME / Murder / Serial Killers
Pages: 405
A #1 Wall Street Journal, Amazon Charts, USA Today, and Washington Post bestseller.
#1 New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen's shocking and empowering true-crime story of three sisters determined to survive their mother's house of horrors.
After more than a decade, when sisters Nikki, Sami, and Tori Knotek hear the word mom, it claws like an eagle's talons, triggering memories that have been their secret since childhood. Until now.
For years, behind the closed doors of their farmhouse in Raymond, Washington, their sadistic mother, Shelly, subjected her girls to unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture, and psychic terrors. Through it all, Nikki, Sami, and Tori developed a defiant bond that made them far less vulnerable than Shelly imagined. Even as others were drawn into their mother's dark and perverse web, the sisters found the strength and courage to escape an escalating nightmare that culminated in multiple murders.
Harrowing and heartrending, If You Tell is a survivor's story of absolute evil--and the freedom and justice that Nikki, Sami, and Tori risked their lives to fight for. Sisters forever, victims no more, they found a light in the darkness that made them the resilient women they are today--loving, loved, and moving on.
The Never King by Nikki St. Crowe Also by this author: The Never King
Series: Vicious Lost Boys #1
Also in this series: The Never King
Published by Blackwell House LLC on 02/19/2022
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Romance, Fiction / Romance / Fantasy, FICTION / Romance / General
Pages: 206
The stories were all wrong - Hook was never the villain.
For two centuries, all of the Darling women have disappeared on their 18th birthday. Sometimes they're gone for only a day, some a week or a month. But they always return broken.
Now, on the afternoon of my 18th birthday, my mother is running around the house making sure all the windows are barred and the doors locked.
But it's pointless.
Because when night falls, he comes for me. And this time, the Never King and the Lost Boys aren't willing to let me go.
NOTE: The Never King is a reimagining of Peter and Wendy. Characters have been aged up for this darker, grittier version. If you like your enemies to lovers romance with hot, ruthless, morally gray love interests, you'll enjoy The Never King and the Lost Boys. You can expect hate kissing, fighting, bickering, and 'touch her and I'll unalive you' vibes. Book one ends on a cliff.
Please check the author's website for CWs.
There is an eleventh book, called Beyond Human Boundaries by Fakhra Afzal as well, but for some reason the information for it won’t come up. It’s possible that Google Books hasn’t yet discovered that book but I found it on KindleUnlimited.
So there you have it, the 11 books I read in August 2022. What did you read last month?
