Books Read in 2024

THE LOVER:

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

THE TIGER CAME TO THE MOUNTAINS:

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

HER HEART BEATS FOR ANCIENT BEASTS:

Calvin Demmer

OPEN HOUSE:

Nico Bell

BLACK VAULT:

Alma Katsu

MANDY:

Stephanie Sparks

THROUGH THE BLUR:

Yolanda Sfetsos

HELENA:

Claire L. Smith

TRUE CRIME:

Samantha Kolesnik

BLEEDING INTO NEW WORLDS:

Sarah Jane Huntington

PIRANESI (DNF):

Susanna Clarke

BARREN COVE:

Ariel S. Winter

THE CRANE HUSBAND:

Kelly Barnhill

IN EXCESS OF DARK:

Red Lagoe

WINGS OF SORROW:

Yolanda Sfetsos

GOBLIN MONDAY

(Goosebumps House of Shivers #2):

R.L. Stine

THE FIRST EVIL

(Fear Street Cheerleaders #1):

R.L. Stine

THE PROM QUEEN

(Fear Street #15):

R.L. Stine

BLUEBEARD'S CASTLE:

Anna Biller

CHOPPING SPREE:

Angela Sylvaine

BURY THE CHILD:

L.C. Marino

DAISY JONES & THE SIX:

Taylor Jenkins Reid

WOMAN, EATING:

Claire Kohda

THE IDEA OF YOU:

Robinne Lee

THE WICKED UNSEEN:

Gigi Griffis

MY ROOMMATE IS A VAMPIRE:

Jenna Levine

THE FIRST HORROR

(99 Fear Street: The House of Evil Trilogy #1):

R.L. Stine

SHORT SCARES

Two Sentence Horrors Anthology:

edited by Lauren Carter

YOU LIKE IT DARKER:

Stephen King

EARTHLINGS:

Sayaka Murata

NIGHTBITCH (DNF):

Rachel Yoder

COUNTDOWN TO OBLIVION:

Brian Bowyer

VERITY:

Colleen Hoover

A CERTAIN HUNGER (DNF):

Chelsea G. Summers

RED:

Daniel Lorn

INSOMNIA:

Sarah Pinborough

THREADS OF ASH: SOUTH

(The Frayed Kingdom #1):

S.H. Cooper

POOR UNFORTUNATE SOUL (DNF):

(Disney Villains #3):

Serena Valentino

MISTRESS OF ALL EVIL

(Disney Villains #4):

Serena Valentino

BEAUTY & THE BEAST

(Usborne Peek Inside a Fairy Tale):

Anna Milbourne

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

(Usborne Peek Inside a Fairy Tale):

Anna Milbourne

SLEEPING BEAUTY

(Usborne Peek Inside a Fairy Tale):

Anna Milbourne

NUMB:

Yolanda Sfetsos

THE RACK

Stories Inspired by Vintage Horror Paperbacks:

edited by Tom Deady

ONLY DARKNESS:

Yolanda Sfetsos

BLACKOUT

Micropoetry:

Brian Bowyer

NANA:

Mark Towse

STATIC:

Stacey L. Pierson

LADY MACBETH:

Ava Reid

SWEETPEA:

C.J. Skuse

SOXORCIST II:

Jamie Kort

REALITY BUT MORE FUN:

Madeleine Swann

CASTLE OF THE CURSED:

Romina Garber

SALLY'S LAMENT:

Mari Mancusi l

DIAVOLA:

Jennifer Marie Thorne

NOW OR NEVER

(Stephanie Plum #31):

Janet Evanovich

TROG:

Zachary Ashford

MELANCHOLY DELUSIONS:

Yolanda Sfetsos

REAP, SOW:

S.H. Cooper

Books Read in 2024: 55/52

(DNF books: 4)

________________________

Number of series/duology/trilogy books read: 13

1. GOBLIN MONDAY (Goosebumps House of Shivers #2)
2. THE FIRST EVIL (Fear Street Cheerleaders #1)
3. THE PROM QUEEN (Fear Street #15)
4. THE FIRST HORROR (99 Fear Street: The House of Evil Trilogy #1)
5. THREADS OF ASH: SOUTH (The Frayed Kingdom #1)
6. POOR UNFORTUNATE SOUL (Disney Villains #3)
7. MISTRESS OF ALL EVIL (Disney Villains #4)
8. BEAUTY & THE BEAST (Usborne Peek Inside a Fairy Tale):
9. LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD (Usborne Peek Inside a Fairy Tale)
10. SLEEPING BEAUTY (Usborne Peek Inside a Fairy Tale)
11. SWEETPEA (Sweetpea #1)
12. SOXORCIST II
13. NOW OR NEVER (Stephanie Plum #31)

My 2024 Reading Goal: 52 books

2024 Goals

Well, it's time to grab the goals list I put together/posted back in January, to see how I went.

This year turned out to be a very strange one. Lots of cool stuff happened, and some not-very cool stuff happened as well. Some shitty people revealed themselves and some disappointing crap went down, but I'm not going to concentrate on that mess because as a result, my first self-published book is now available and I'm SO PROUD of it. Yay! 🥳

Anyway, here's how this year turned out:

• Go for long daily walks: THIS IS SOMETHING I CONTINUED TO DO ALL YEAR. (FROM MONDAY TO FRIDAY, I WALK FOR ALMOST TWO HOURS. ON WEEKENDS WE GO FOR LONG SUBURBAN WALKS.)

• Really get back into yoga and schedule maybe two workouts a week: THIS WAS A TOTAL FAIL. WE SQUEEZED IN SEVERAL YOGA WORKOUTS, BUT THEY WERE SPORADIC. 😬

• Brainstorming a bunch of ideas: YES! I BRAINSTORMED 4 NEW IDEAS & I CAN'T WAIT TO WRITE THEM. (WELL, I ACTUALLY ALREADY WROTE ONE.)

• Celebrate the book/s coming out this year: I CELEBRATED THE RELEASE OF THREE NOVELS (ONLY DARKNESS, NUMB, THROUGH THE BLUR) + HAD A TWO-SENTENCE SHORTIE INCLUDED IN THE VERY COOL SHORT SCARES ANTHOLOGY.

• Write between 100-200k words: I WROTE 196,816 WORDS. 

• Read 52 books: I READ 59 (DNFd 4).

• Revise/finalise the first draft (unhinged women/girls novel) I wrote during November: I REVISED & FINALISED THIS BOOK BACK IN JANUARY.

• Work on edits as they hit my Inbox: I DID THIS AS WELL.

• Write a novel or two: BECAUSE I SPENT SO MUCH OF THIS YEAR EDITING & REVISING, I DIDN'T ACTUALLY WRITE ANYTHING NEW UNTIL NOVEMBER. THEN STARTED WRITING ANOTHER NOVEL THIS MONTH! 😳 YEP. (AND I WON'T BE FINISHING THIS ONE BY THE END OF THE YEAR.)

• Write a novella or two: I DIDN'T WRITE ANY NOVELLAS THIS YEAR.

• Write some new short stories: WHILE I DID START WRITING A FEW SHORT STORIES, I DIDN'T ACTUALLY FINISH ANY OF THEM. 😖

• Finally put together/finalise my first short story collection & find a place to sub it to: I DEFINITELY DID THIS! ACTUALLY, I COLLATED SO MANY STORIES THAT I PUT TOGETHER TWO SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS! I REWROTE/REVISED EVERY SINGLE STORY. THAT'S 34 SHORT STORIES! THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT MY DEBUT COLLECTION, MELANCHOLY DELUSIONS, WILL BE RELEASED BY CEMETERY GATES MEDIA ON JANUARY 28!

• Continue to submit stories: I DID THIS TOO! AND ASIDES FROM THE ABOVE ACCEPTANCE, I ALSO HAD TWO NOVEL ACCEPTANCES: THESE STAINED WALLS (Horrorsmith Publishing) + FALLEN DESTINY (Brigids Gate Press).

• Keep playing Animal Crossing and get into some other cozy, cute puzzle games (ie. Fae Farm): STILL PLAYING ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS. OF COURSE I AM. 😁 BUT I DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO START ANY NEW GAMES. 🫤

As I mentioned above, I had three novels published this year and one shortie included in an anthology:

ONLY DARKNESS is my first self-published book. NUMB and THROUGH THE BLUR were published by Anuci Press.

Another thing that I did this year was deactivate my Twitter account. Yep. After 15 years, I had no choice but to leave. I had enough of the right-wing bullshit, the pathetic non-stop ads, the AI crap, and the disgusting owner. And I haven't looked back.

Instead, you can find me on Bluesky. 😁

Oh, and another thing I've managed to do is to keep posting on my blog. Yes, right here!

That's it for now. Guess I should put together a 2025 list soon...

More words added...

Hey! How are you today? I hope you're all having an awesome and safe festive season.

We're now in the middle of that liminal time between Christmas and New Year's, which always feels a little strange. Something about this particular time of the year seems... unreal. But unlike every other year, when I usually wander around aimlessly, I'm actually still writing a story.

So, this week was pretty cool. My husband worked two days, had two days off, went to work on Friday, and now the weekend is here again. Yay!! 😁

As a result of the above, I didn't actually write every day this week but I did make some great progress on my WIP.

Here's how it went:

• Monday: 26,359 (+5050w)
• Tuesday: 31,555 (+5196w)
• Friday: 36,856 (+5,301w)

Not bad, I reckon! I honestly didn't plan to spend the rest of the year writing a novel first draft, but here we are.

As I've already mentioned, this character is just SO loud and pushy that I have no choice but to keep writing. Keep telling the story, from the other side. And the coolest thing is that while so much of this intersects with the book I wrote last month, plus a lot of what's happening has been inside my head for ages, new things keep popping up!

I'm having such a GREAT TIME writing this story, and after not writing anything new for MONTHS because of excessive editing and shit that was out of my control, it feels so freaking good to get totally lost in a world that's serving up many enjoyable hours of entertainment.

You know how they say you should write the stories you want to read? Well, these two WIPs are exactly that. They're fun, cathartic and downright exciting. Plus both feature vampires, which I absolutely love. 🦇

I'm going to keep writing until I reach the end of this one, which I predict will be sometime in January. And that's fine. This year has served a lot of changes, and that includes a shift in my attitude to not be so rigid with self-imposed plans and goals.

Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

I didn't get a chance to read anything this week, but that's cool because I spent most of my time either writing or taking notes. And creating individual graphics for the short stories in my upcoming short story collection, MELANCHOLY DELUSIONS.

BTW, did I mention that I read the first review for my collection on IG the other day? Well, I did. Here it is! I want to thank jen_reads_horror for taking the time to read it and share her thoughts, too. 😍

Okay. That's about it. I'm going to enjoy the next few days with my husband and take a short mental break before going back to my WIP.

Have an awesome weekend!!

Busy, busy...

Hey there! How are you today? As I mentioned in the title, this week was a busy one.

Last Saturday we got the latest Covid booster (finally available in Oz) and had to take it easy over the weekend because of the usual side effects: headache, sore arm, tired, sleepy. We had plenty of snacks, stayed hydrated, and took several naps. Almost a week later, I think that the hardest parts are over. Well, I did wake up with a killer headache this morning that eventually subsided, but sucked a lot of energy out of me. 🫤

Anyway, onto what I got up to this week.

The other day, Cemetery Gates Media revealed the fantastic cover for my upcoming debut short story collection! And it's beautiful. Hit the link if you'd like to see it, or scroll down a bit. Seriously, it's stunning and totally fits the dark vibes. Luke Spooner/Carrion House nailed it. I absolutely love it!

So, that means that I spent most of the week working on the final proofread of 17 short stories. Yikes. I'm SO excited, and very proud of this book. I can't wait to share it with the world. Actually, I've already seen a few ARCs in the wild, which is SO freaking cool!!

Not long to go now. The release date is: January 28!

Since I've been working on something else and my husband had an RDO on Thursday, I put my WIP aside for most of the week. But I still got a chance to add some words and have been taking a bunch of notes on my phone.

So, here's my progress for this week:

• Monday:  17,037 (+2,661w)
• Friday: 21,309 (+4,272w)

Not bad! I managed to cross the 20k mark, and that makes me happy. I'm having such a great time writing this story. The images, situations, dialogue and words are coming as fast and clear as the draft I finished writing last month. This character has a LOT to say and this POV is revealing heaps of stuff I didn't expect. Things that will affect both stories.

It's exciting. ☺️

To be honest, I don't think I'll finish the first draft of this story by the end of the year, but that's fine. I'm just going to keep going until I reach the end because I'm loving every minute of it.

I also had the pleasure of reading an amazing ARC. An upcoming novelette called Reap, Sow by S.H. Cooper that I thought was dark and awesome. Here's my review.

Well, that's it for today. Just thought I'd post an update because blogging again is something I'm really enjoying.

Have an awesome weekend!!

REAP, SOW by S.H. Cooper

Reap, Sow by S.H. Cooper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This week, I got the chance to read an ARC of this awesome novelette, and I was hooked instantly.

When Lucky finds herself inside a long corridor with closed doors that have no handles and faceless people who hunt her down, she doesn't know what's going on. But as her family members start showing up, the past returns with a vengeance...

Wow. This story is as dark as it is fantastic. I enjoyed every minute of it and loved how the mystery started to unravel. It's raw and tragic, full of heartbreak and the worst kind of betrayal. It's about the worst choices we make and how easily they can ruin our lives and chase us forever.

Loved it!!


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Cover Reveal!

The other day, Cemetery Gates Media revealed the cover for my debut short story collection, MELANCHOLY DELUSIONS, and I think it's time to post it here.

Take a look at this beauty:

 Isn't it AMAZING? I think it's fantastic!

This gorgeous piece of art captures the essence of my short story collection, which features different characters leading strange and dark lives. But all of them find themselves in weird/bizarre situations.

Luke Spooner/Carrion House did such an awesome job, and I can't stop looking at it!

Today, I finished the final proofread of the ARC and I loved spending time with these characters in their bleak and nightmarish worlds.

The release date is: January 28, 2025.

I can't wait for you to read my 17 dark and melancholy, horror short stories.

Have a great day!

More words?

Yep!

So, how are ya on this fine Friday the 13th? I didn't think I'd be writing a blog post this week because December is supposed to be my mental break month.

I mean, it's the end of the year and I'm usually exhausted by this point, so I prefer to spend my time reading and spring cleaning. Thinking about new ideas...

Yet, in typical 2024-style, that's not what happened.

Instead of sitting back and taking it easy after finishing the first draft of a novel last month, I ended up spending the beginning of this month making additions to that story. I also updated my research and inspirational pics last weekend. Hell, I even wrote a bunch of backstory notes and figured out several timelines on my phone.

When I said this story was eating my brain, I wasn't kidding. At the beginning of the week, after I made the latest lot of changes and additions, the word count jumped to 88k. Yikes.

Then THIS happened. 😳

Yep. You read that right. I ended up starting another story. And here's how it went:

• Tuesday: 1,968w
• Wednesday: 5,500w (+3,532w)
• Thursday: 9,503w (+4,003w)
• Friday: 14,376 (+4,873w)

As you can see, I ended up writing quite a few new words. I honestly didn't plan to start another project so late in the year, but the words just came out of nowhere on Tuesday. So, I typed them out on my phone and thought that would be it, but the character didn't stop. The next day I woke up with more of the story and everything started coming together, and I went with it.

And now, well, you can see how the word count is going.

The thing about this story is that it's not something new that came out of nowhere. It's directly related to the WIP I worked on last month. It's got the same characters and setting. Pretty much takes place at the same time, but it's from the POV of a different character. One who wouldn't shut up. This guy wanted his story told weeks ago, but I just thought it was a funny/cute thought. I honestly didn't think I would actually start writing it.

But hey, I'm not going to fight my muse. Like I mentioned above, 2024 has played by its own rules since the beginning. In some awful ways, it hasn't been a very kind year in regards to my writing... yet, a lot of cool stuff DID happen.

Anyway, there you have it. I started a new WIP that is a direct companion to the novel I wrote during November. I've never done this before while a story was still in first draft status. And I honestly don't think I'll finish this first draft by the end of the year. I still don't even know if this will be a novella or novel. *shrug*

Asides from the above, I also read a very cool ARC.

Well, that's it for today.

Have a great weekend!

TROG by Zachary Ashford

Trog by Zachary Ashford
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Firstly, I want to thank Zachary for sending me an ARC of his upcoming novella.

After a traumatic ordeal in the city, Aisha's parents decide to relocate to a property in the middle of nowhere to keep her out of danger. What they don't know is that something is imprisoned beneath their new house, and that danger isn't limited to the city...

Wow. This novella is an action-packed, chaotic creature feature full of interesting characters, terrifying situations, human monsters, and a Yowie with a taste for human meat.

I had a total blast reading this bloody tale about a teenage girl trying to get over a terrible incident that almost ruined her life. Sometimes a fresh start isn't the answer, but you'll have a great time finding out all the things that can go wrong in the sticks.

I know Trog is a wild, feral creature hellbent on destruction, but I did feel for the beast. Humans have a tendency to make everything worse.

Anyway, this is a great and very cool novella!


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Thinking & Adding

Hey, how's it going? 

December is here and for us, that means that the temperature is heating up. That's right, our festive season is in the middle of summer, so we've been having some super hot days this week. And that leads to a bunch of storms. It's actually raining today and when we went to bed, a thunderstorm was raging outside.

I don't mind thunderstorms and rainstorms. Unless I get caught in the downpour, which happened to me last Friday. 😖

Well, this week turned out to be a bit wobbly, which always happens when I finish writing a first draft. I mean, it's also a thing during revision, but after a first draft the story is still so fresh in my mind, and it's all I've been thinking about all month, that there's bound to be some leftover thoughts.

A hangover, really.

Last (long) weekend I started a Revision List that ended up including a lot of extra stuff. So, I decided to tackle some of the more involved changes/additions on Tuesday. I even updated my research/inspirational pic folders, and reshuffled my Playlist. There are 31 songs from the 80s on this awesome Playlist that I've been listening to all week.

Anyway, after that, I thought I was done with the story until the second draft. So I spent a few days hanging out with hubby before work, going for walks, daydreaming about other stories, and I read the latest Stephanie Plum book.

Then Friday hit and I woke up from a dream about my characters, and several songs from the Playlist were actually playing in these dreams like a soundtrack. So, I opened up the doc again and spent last night making a few more changes/additions.

This is the new word count: 87,148.

I have no doubt that part of the reason why so many thoughts were circling my brain had something to do with watching THE LOST BOYS last weekend. I mean, I've seen this movie a thousand times but never get sick of it. Actually, I love it more each time. And the fact that it's one of the inspirations for my WIP, well... it was bound to affect me.

BTW, both THE LOST BOYS and NOW OR NEVER were my rewards for finishing the draft. 😁

Now that I've made these changes I need to take a break from the story. I usually like to take one or two months away to get some distance. Either way, I won't be revising until next year.

Writing this novel has been a LOT of fun, and that means a lot to me. In many ways, this year hasn't been kind in regards to publishing and I didn't get a chance to write anything new. Until now. And that makes me very happy.

That's it for now. Just wanted to spill some of my muddled thoughts.

Hope you all have an awesome weekend!

NOW OR NEVER by Janet Evanovich

Now or Never by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A few weeks ago, we went to K-Mart and my husband found this book on the shelf. I was so excited and couldn't wait to get stuck into it, but I was busy writing a book of my own during November and decided this would be my reward.

Stephanie has managed to say yes to the two men in her life, and still can't decide which one she's going to marry. Luckily, she's got a lot on her plate at the moment. There's an influencer, a YouTube star, a wholesale criminal, and a vampire. That's before considering the new man trying to insert himself into her life...

OMG. As usual, I had a blast with Stephanie's latest adventure. In typical Plum style, the hilarious situations and zany characters are balanced out by some pretty serious and dangerous situations. And everything fits together seamlessly.

This instalment also had an added mystery that you don't find out until the very end: who does she choose as her husband? Is it the hot and dangerous Ranger? Or the hot and irresistible Morelli? Hard choice. No wonder she said yes to both. 😅

Anyway, Lula, Grandma Mazur, Connie, Bob, and Steph's family go along for the ride. Like I said before, SO MUCH FUN!!

One last thing: it was great to meet Mr. Big because you can never have too many cool doggies in the mix.

Can't wait for the next book!


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