Review: Little Secrets by Megan Hart

Little Secrets by Megan Hart

My Rating:


I received a free copy of Little Secrets from the publisher in return for an honest review.

They’re not alone in the house. With a baby on the way and a brand new house, it seems Ginny and her husband,Sean, are on their way to a fresh start. But strange occurrences and financial strain seem determined to keep Ginny and Sean stuck in the past. Ginny begins to believe the house may be haunted…or that her husband might be trying to trick her into thinking so. As Ginny researches the house’s former owner and the tragedy that happened there, it becomes clearer than ever that something is in the house with them. The question is, who…or what… is it?

Little Secrets didn't meet my expectations. I was hoping for a nice creepy atmospheric ghost story and instead I feel like I have been tricked into reading a romance book. The book is sold as horror but honestly it's more troubled romance trying to pass as horror. I would go as far as to say that this is probably predominantly a womans book because of all the pregnancy and relationship talk. I know not all women like romance and relationship stuff, I avoid romance books myself, but I just can't imagine male horror fans enjoying this one at all.

The MC annoyed me so much, all she seemed to do was moan or play the weak fainting, nauseous, light headed pregnant woman. Much of the pregnancy side of things was over exaggerated., she's pregnant, not an invalid about to keel over at any minute!

The ending was the best part, it finally started to go somewhere that was darker and a lot more sinister, but at that point the book was at 85% so it was only a very small percentage of the book. 85 to 98% to be exact. However, the ending felt like it came out of nowhere, there was a little build up towards it but not enough hints during the previous parts of the book for it to really work.

There was very little atmosphere to the story and almost nothing in the way of a haunting or building of tension and suspense. It's certainly not horror. The only horrifying thing in this book is how awful the MC is at being pregnant and the cliché stereotyping of the lazy husband.

Not one I would recommend for horror fans at all.



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Review: The Red Highway by E. Robert Dunn

The Red Highway by E. Robert Dunn

My Rating:


I received a free copy of The Red Highway in return for an honest review.

At first I found The Red Highway a struggle, not because it wasn't enjoyable but because there was so much to take in. However, once I got into the flow of the writing style and got all the characters straight in my head, I couldn't put it down.

There is a lot to The Red Highway, it covers lots of topics such as racism, the porn industry, sexism, transgender, faith, abuse, police brutality, alcoholism and more, and it's done very well. Many of these topics are hard to read or a bit risqué to approach within a story and the author has done an excellent job. If I had been informed beforehand that race was going to play such a significant part in the story I'm sure I would have thought twice about reading the book. Usually I'm not comfortable reading books where race and racism are present, I normally find myself getting irritated and angry as it's major a pet peeve of mine - but I didn't find that at all with The Red Highway. I commend the author for going places that many would find uncomfortable or see as too risqué, it was a brave move and one that makes for excellent reading.

The characters are well portrayed and fleshed out. They are normal everyday people who are down on their luck, outcasts, struggling to survive yet ready to take that leap. Real people that are willing to step up and become the true heroes that every reader can sympathise and root for.

The pacing was consistent, there's always something happening that has you turning just one more page, then another, and although I stumbled a little in the beginning I was soon hooked and flying through the pages dying to know what came next.

The Red Highway is by no means a easy read, it's a book to get your teeth into. A book that requires you to pay attention and to really digest the pages before you. It's thrilling, it's tense, it's risqué and it's one that I really enjoyed and would recommend highly so be sure to check out the giveaway further down this page!

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The Red Highway, Synopsis

Necro Publications/Bedlam Press
PAGES: 282
ISBN: 978-1-939065-82-7
UK: Kindle Edition £1.99 / Paperback £8.45
US: Kindle Edition $2.99 / Paperback $12.95
Distribution: Trade Paperback: Amazon, LSI and CreateSpace eBook: Kindle, Smashwords, Baker & Taylor, Nook, LSI, Apple, Kobo, Sony and others

In 1992, as Los Angeles begins to simmer in the heat of racial injustices, one dark man appears everywhere, spreading his message of race war. At the same time, Paul Souther, a homeless drunk, joins a strange group of outsiders. Some black and some white, they all carry the weight of broken lives and lost faith. They are all drawn to LA, for the arrival of a child, impossibly carried by Mary Prince, a sterile porn star.

Through back roads and freeways everyone is pulled into LA and Mary's side just as the baby is born. None of them have any idea that the city is a ticking bomb of anger. As riots explode, the mysterious man reveals himself to be an ancient, dark spirit using the rage of the people to stoke his own, literal, fires. He demands Mary’s child as sacrifice to keep the city, and perhaps the nation from burning. It falls to Paul, a faithless man, and a drunk with blood on his own hands, to make the impossible choice between the child and the city, and to save the people he has come to care about.

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Biography, Robert E. Dunn
Robert E. Dunn was born an army brat and grew up in the Missouri Ozarks. He wrote his first book at age eleven, stealing, or novelizing, as he called it at the time, the storyline of a Jack Kirby comic book. His college course of study, philosophy, religion, theatre, and film/TV communications, left him qualified only to be a televangelist. When that didn’t work out, he turned to them mostly, honest work of video production. Over several years he produced everything from documentaries, to training films and his favorite, travelogues. Still always writing for the joy of it he returned to writing horror and fantasy fiction for publication after the turn of the century. It seemed like a good time for change even if the changes were not always his choice.
He lives in Kansas City with three daughters, a young grandson, and an old dog. He tweets sometimes as @WritingDead but makes no promises how interesting those little posts will be.

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 Praise for The Red Highway

“The Red Highway is not one of the best books that I’ve read so far this year, or that I’ve read in a long time…it’s one of the best books that I’ve ever read!  It was an incredible read, one that has so many layers that I was completely enthralled with the story.” –2 Book Lovers Reviews


"A thoroughly gripping read. Dunn is a writer with guts and the chops to grab his readers by the eyeballs and dare them to look away." –Hunter Shea, Author of Tortures of the Damned

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 Giveaway!!!

Enter for your chance to win either a copy of The Red Highway, Behind the Darkness, or a print of the beautiful cover artwork from The Red Highway done by Erik Wilson! You can do multiple things each day to gain more entries! Just click the rafflecopter link. Forward any questions to Erin Al-Mehairi, publicist, at hookofabook@hotmail.com.

Media, information and review copy provided as part of the Hook of a Book blog tour by Erin Al-Mehairi from Hook of a Book Media & Publicity.


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Review: Consumed Volume 2: A Horror Anthology by Kyle M. Scott

Consumed Volume 2: A Horror Anthology by Kyle M. Scott

My Rating:


I received a free copy of Consumed Volume 2: A Horror Anthology in return for an honest review.

I first came across Kyle M. Scott's writing when I was recommended his first collection Consumed: Volume 1 and I have been a huge fan and devoured every book by this author ever since. Consumed Volume 2 is his latest release, which I enjoyed every bit as much as all of his previous works.

Kyle as the ability to not only disturb you with his grisly scenes but to also make you think and contemplate the deeper underlying theme or message found in each story. Each short touches on many different aspects of society today and all the things that are wrong in the world. Kyle's uncanny ability to mix horror with a deeper underlying message causes the reader to look inside and to consider their own views and is part of what makes his short stories so unique.

Kyle's writing style is reminiscent to the horror that I grew up reading, the kind that I continually search for in every book that I pick up. The stories are full of not only blood and gore horror but also the horror of humanity, and they never cease to draw me in and entertain me in the most twisted way.

Definitely one I would recommend, in fact I would recommend all books by this author to horror fans out there.



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Review: The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood

The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood

My Rating:


I received a free copy of The Darkest Secret from the publisher in return for an honest review.

The Darkest Secret didn't turn out to be the read I was hoping for. I can't say I liked many of the characters, they were just unlikable and horrible human beings. I found almost every character in the book to be either narcissistic, materialistic, shallow, spineless and god awful parents. I wanted to shake almost every single one of them. Writing characters that a reader detests in this way is as hard as writing characters that a reader will like and relate to, so although these characters weren't my thing I can see the positive in my reaction to how the author portrayed them.

The writing style was good but the plot felt drawn out. The twists, although there were plenty, felt predictable. The book just didn't draw me in and have me eager to know what happens next. There was also a lot of filler throughout the book. Many of the chapters, especially those in the present day section, weren't really needed.

All in all it wasn't the most gripping read but if you like your characters more on the mean and self absorbed side then perhaps you'll enjoy this one more than I did. I do enjoy the odd nasty character but I prefer there to be an explanation behind it and I would have preferred to see flawed/damaged characters hiding behind all that meanness.




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Review: The Red Mohawk by Anonymous

The Red Mohawk by Anonymous

My Rating: 


I received a free copy of The Red Mohawk from the publisher in return for an honest review.

The Red Mohawk is worth a read as long as you are willing to ignore the mistakes, bad formatting and repetitiveness. It's a throw back to the cheesy 80s slasher movies with a decent amount of twists and an OK plot. In fact the plot is the best thing about the book but it wasn't as good as I feel it could have been.

The characters are rather flat, the story is repetitive and it's stuffed to the gills with female objectification. I lost count of how many times the females were on their knees pleasuring one person or another, mostly the one person, or being treated like property and running around in heels barely clothed.

I can't say I liked it but I also can't say that I hated it, it was a little bit of both. I did enjoy the character of the Red Mohawk and together with the twists there was enough to keep me reading but everything else was so cheesy and cliché.

If you can ignore all of the above and just enjoy it for what it is, a trashy, cheesy throw back that is full of gore, sex and violence, with bad formatting and errors, then The Red Mohawk is worth a read. It's not one I would go out of my way to recommend however.




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Review: Those of My Kind by Jennifer Loring

Those of My Kind by Jennifer Loring

My Rating:


I received a free copy of Those of My Kind from the publisher in return for an honest review.

I love to find books with strong female leads and Those of My Kind certainly has that. The characters are strong and fiercely independent females who have had a very rough life. They fight the good fight, battling evil, sacrificing love and happiness for the good of mankind despite the temptations put in their path. All under the radar without any thanks or recognition.

Although the characters were well rounded and complex, I feel that I didn't get to know them as well as I would have liked. I am left with a lot of questions but that's not as negative as it sounds. I'm curious, the characters and plot intrigue me. I want to delve deeper, understand them, their culture and history and background from beforehand and the author can only cover so much in one book. The fact that I want to know more and get a deeper understanding of the characters is a testament to how well the author drew me into the story and captured my attention.

There were a few niggly inconsistencies. No electricity yet the stove clock was still working. The placing of tea leaves in the tea kettle, which then changes to tea bags in the cups, then back to tea leaves in the bottom of the cups after that, and a few other similar things. Not huge inconsistencies and not important to the plot, just little things that popped out at me while reading.

Those of My Kind was totally different from what I was expecting and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The storyline is unique, it draws you in and moves at a very fast pace. Definitely one I would recommend.



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Review: Riding the Centipede by John Claude Smith

Riding the Centipede by John Claude Smith

My Rating:


I received a free copy of Riding the Centipede in return for an honest review.

Riding the Centipede is very much a "what the hell did I just read?" kinda book. It's horror on drugs. The author takes you on a weird surreal and bizarre journey and as dark and twisted as the story gets you just can't help but read on.

The characters are well fleshed out. They are fascinating and multi-layered and you really get a good rummage around inside their minds as the story unravels. You want to get to know them, want to understand the depravity and what drives them. There are so many great characters that it's hard to pick a favourite, they all stood out in their own way but after meeting the Ratman I think I have gone off cheese for life.

Riding the Centipede is a book that I won't forget in a hurry, it's full of visceral stomach turning scenes that are so well written that, even though you're cringing, you keep on reading out of morbid fascination and curiosity. You just can't help yourself.

Highly Recommended.



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Review: Dark Inspiration by Russell James

Dark Inspiration by Russell James

My Rating:


I received a free copy of Dark Inspiration from the publisher in return for an honest review.

It's not often I come across a ghost story that really works for me, I find many of them rather cliché. While haunted house stories like Dark Inspiration have been done before, the author writes this one in a way that draws you in and creates a chilling atmosphere that really sets the scene for a good ghostly read. It has it all, a big old house, creepy children, things that go bump in the night and strange happenings all around.

The pacing and flow were consistent and held my attention from start to finish. I couldn't put the book down. I was planning originally on just reading a couple of chapters before bed but kept finding myself thinking just one more chapter. Before I knew it I found myself at the end of the book not knowing where the time had gone and wishing there was more.

Dark Inspiration isn't a ghost story that will have you checking the corners of your room or reaching for the light switch but it certainly has many chilling moments and a good ghostly mystery that will draw you in and have you wanting more. There were a few cringe worthy moments that involved taxidermy and some cute fluffy animals, so animal lovers beware and be warned, fictional animals were harmed in the making of this book.

Definitely one I would recommend.



Reviews also posted to my blog: Scarlet's Web
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