Tag: 3 stars

Freaky Folklore – Carman Carrion

Clearly I can’t get enough cryptids in my life. This is the second book today I’ve read where they’re featured. I was drawn to this one because of its cover.

This book takes you on a whirlwind trip around the world, introducing you to some of the locals. The local monsters, anyway. Sections are divided by geography: Americas, Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and Asia.

For each entry, you’ll learn the name of the cryptid, monster or urban legend, where it’s found, when it was first sighted (usually by a white person) or mentioned in literature, its classification (eg, bogeyman), a few descriptors for its personality and some general information. This is accompanied by an illustration and a short, fictional account of a close encounter.

There were a bunch of familiar faces but also some that were new to me. I’ve chosen to mention three of them.

In Scandinavian folklore, the Myling is considered one of the most disturbing spirits. This legend revolves around children who were either abandoned or murdered. The souls of these unbaptized children are doomed to wander the Earth, seeking someone who can provide them with a proper burial. They are believed to be particularly dangerous, possessing the ability to harm and even kill people.

Drop Bears are carnivorous koalas found all over Australia. They’re bitey and will drop on you from above when you’re out in the bush. They’re also an urban legend but they’re as Aussie as Vegemite and I can’t get enough of them.

Drop Bear

The Manananggal is said to look like a beautiful woman by day but by night, when she feeds on her victims, she transforms into something else entirely.

When night falls, the Manananggal grows bat-like wings, detaches her upper torso from her lower body, and takes flight in search of her next victim. As she soars through the moonlit sky, you may catch a glimpse of her intestines dangling from her split body.

Beware beautiful women, I guess?

I enjoyed a lot of the illustrations but wasn’t as enthusiastic about the text. I would have much preferred to have been given more information about each monster or cryptid, or read an account of someone who swears they have encountered it instead of stories that weren’t based on real people or experiences.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Wellfleet Press, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Discover the history and culture of over 50 of the most fearsome mythical creatures to capture the human imagination in this startlingly illustrated compendium.

Accompanied by illustrations of each beast, Freaky Folklore is your guide to the world’s most terrifying beings, from ancient times to today. Hosts from Eeriecast, the leading horror podcast network, present the most frightening — and entertaining — tales of these mysterious creatures, revealing everything you need to know.

This beautifully creepy collection is filled with wicked monsters, including:

  • Chupacabra: A legendary monster that is said to drain the blood of livestock throughout Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the US Southwest. 
  • Jersey Devil: Said to have been created due to a mother’s curse upon her newborn in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey, USA. 
  • Kelpie: A shape-shifting water horse told of in Celtic folklore. Whatever form it takes, it is said to lure its victims to their watery graves. 
  • Moehau: A cryptid from Māori mythology, it stands up to 8 feet tall and can be very aggressive when encountered. 
  • Kuchisake-onna: From Japanese folklore, Kuchisake-onna is a yokai with deep gashes that forms a haunting smile across her face. Should you happen to meet her, she will ask you a question – and you had better answer it correctly. 
  • Dogman: A werewolf or werewolf-type creature first reported in 1887 in Wexford County, Michigan, Dogman sightings have been reported in several locations throughout Michigan, primarily in the northwestern quadrant of the Lower Peninsula. 

Freaky Folklore has the stories, culture, and illustrations for you to be on the lookout for these beasts. Dive into the world of mythology and find what makes each creature unique.

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Cuckoo – Gretchen Felker-Martin

You’re forcibly removed from your home by strangers, shoved in the back of a van and driven into the desert. Your destination? Camp Resolution. Welcome to conversion therapy.

The people who signed you up for this horror show? Your family. This is what nightmares are made of.

“There’s something wrong with her.”

I was really looking forward to this read but unfortunately it ended up not being the book for me. While I loved the body horror, I wasn’t a fan of the sex scenes.

This isn’t something that generally happens for me but I got to the stage where I wasn’t always sure which character was which. The initial introductions made me think I was going to connect with at least a few of the teens but there were so many points of view and they switched so frequently that I ended up losing the thread of who was who and what their backstory was.

I usually try to avoid comparing books but one of the reasons I was so keen to read this book was because of how much I loved Chuck Tingle’s Camp Damascus. This inadvertently led to unrealistic expectations and disappointment because I set the bar too high.

Reading other reviews, it seems like views are divided. Some absolutely adore this book. Others seemed to struggle even more than I did. I’d encourage you to read some of the five star reviews so you have a better idea of whether this is the book for you.

“Has anyone else been having nightmares?”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Something evil is buried deep in the desert.

It wants your body.

It wears your skin.

In the summer of 1995, seven queer kids abandoned by their parents at a remote conversion camp came face to face with it. They survived — but at Camp Resolution, everybody leaves a different person.

Sixteen years later, only the scarred and broken survivors of that terrible summer can put an end to the horror before it’s too late.

The fate of the world depends on it.

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Tales from Lovecraft Middle School #4: Substitute Creature – Charles Gilman

Illustrations – Eugene Smith

Standing barefoot on the fourth floor ledge of the school while it’s snowing wasn’t the plan but Glenn had the bright idea to go explore the mansion and here we are. Anyway, it’s the perfect excuse to get out of Lovecraft Middle School’s Valentine’s Day concert. They’re singing all things lovey dovey in there.

Ms Lavinia, the school librarian and one of the only adults the boys know they can trust, isn’t in the library today. Something doesn’t smell right and it’s not just her replacement’s perfume. Miss Carcasse isn’t exactly the most positive person to be stranded with in a snowstorm either.

“In the end, your actions have no meaningful consequences. Your fates were decided long ago.”

I usually try to read a themed book for Valentine’s Day but this year I hadn’t found one in time. Imagine my delight when I discovered that most of this book takes place on Valentine’s Day!

I’ve been looking forward to this series for years and have really been enjoying it. If this was another book in the series, I’d say it was entertaining. As the final book in the series, though, I’m left frustrated, wanting answers to questions I now know I won’t be getting.

I don’t know if there were plans for more books that didn’t eventuate or if the author always planned on leaving the ending open. Regardless, I’m left feeling like I do when one of my favourite TV shows gets cancelled and I’m left in limbo for the rest of my life.

The entire series has been leading up to events that were going to take place in spring but I ran out of pages on 15 February. It sounded like spring was going to be awesome, too. From the third book:

“For centuries, the humans have trampled us! Squashed us! Swatted us! Poisoned us!” Howard said. “But this spring, with Master’s help, you will have your revenge!”

Please don’t hype me up with that many exclamation marks and then not give me spring!

We don’t get to explore the “giant labyrinth of cobwebbed corridors, twisting stairs, and mysterious passages” of Tillinghast Mansion for the first time. I was hoping we’d spend most of the book there, especially after Robert and Glenn went through a gate pretty much straight away. I still don’t understand why that gate didn’t lead where gates usually take them.

Mr Loomis, my favourite teacher, and Ms Lavinia, my favourite librarian, didn’t make an appearance. While I know where Ms Lavinia would have been, I was sure we’d see her before the end of the book. Also, Glenn got hardly any page time.

Some of my unanswered questions relate directly to this book. Others I’ve wondered about in previous books and assumed (wrongly) that I’d know the answers by now.

How does Robert understand Pip and Squeak? What’s their backstory? Why are they so smart?

Why didn’t any of the teachers ever figure out that Karina isn’t like other students?

Why does Karina need to sleep?

How was it possible for the beings from the alternaverse to morph into their true form and then back to human form without destroying their flesh suits?

Are the spirits trapped in urns for all eternity now because the big showdown never happened?

What happens when the kids go back to school tomorrow?

Why didn’t I get to see spring?

It’s not all doom and gloom. Eugene Smith’s illustrations are still a highlight. We do get invited to a slumber party and finally come face to face with Crawford Tillinghast.

Face to face with Tillinghast

We meet some cutie pie furballs and the storyline for one of our main characters has a happy ending decades in the making.

Make sure you bring a torch and some warm clothes.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

It’s Valentine’s Day and a monstrous blizzard has descended upon Lovecraft Middle School, trapping twelve-year-old Robert Arthur inside the building! He and his companions have no choice but to spend the night — while snacking on cafeteria food, sleeping on the gymnasium floor, facing off against a sinister substitute teacher, and thwarting an army of abominable beasts.

This fourth novel in the Lovecraft Middle School series begins right where Teacher’s Pest ended — with more action, more adventure, and more outrageous monsters!

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The City of Stardust – Georgia Summers

A curse can be many things.

I loved the concept of this book. It’s a fairytale come to life. It’s curses and magic. It’s impossible doorways to other worlds. It’s a bookish girl on a quest.

It appears The City of Stardust has already divided the book world in two. There are those who have fallen in love with it and those whose expectations didn’t match reality. Unfortunately, I’m one of the latter.

This book had so much potential but, although the individual elements were right up my alley, it didn’t come together like I’d hoped it would. In saying that, though, I want to acknowledge that I have been in a reading slump recently so this may well have distorted my view.

I usually love the bookish girl, if only because she’s bookish, but I never really felt like I got to know Violet.

The romance didn’t work for me and neither did the friendship, for that matter. Sure, they both have pain. Violet’s been abandoned and Aleksander’s been abused. However, he betrays her time and time again, and every time she forgives him. I’m not someone whose first instinct is violence but Violet’s naivety and gullibility frequently combined to make me wish I could hit her across the head with one of her books. Preferably a hardcover.

I have so many unanswered questions: about scholars, reveurite, Marianne Everly, the way this world works.

I most wanted to know more about Penelope, who has the ability to hold a grudge for all eternity. She has her reasons and I understood those but I craved more depth from her.

I’d be interested in reading more books by this author and I’m considering a reread once my reading no longer slumps to see if this changes my experience of the Everly curse but, for now at least, I’m chalking this one up to not for me at this time.

‘Hello, little dreamer’

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Hodderscape, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

For centuries, Everlys have seen their brightest and best disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor is a woman named Penelope, who never ages, never grows sick – and never forgives a debt.

Ten years ago, Violet Everly’s mother left to break the curse, and never returned. Now Violet must find her mother, or she will be taken in her place.

Her hunt leads her into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods, and monsters bent on revenge. And into the path of Penelope’s quiet assistant, Aleksander, who she knows cannot be trusted – and yet to whom she finds herself undeniably drawn.

Tied to a very literal deadline, Violet will travel to the edges of the world to find her mother and the key to the city of stardust, where the Everly story began…

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Drowned Gods #1: Curious Tides – Pascale Lacelle

It’s been four months since Romie, Emory’s best friend, died along with seven other students from their school, Aldryn College for Lunar Magics. Emory, the only one who survived the tide that night, is determined to find answers.

I was initially intrigued by the magic system, which relates to the moon’s phase when you were born. I was also keen to discover the secrets behind the secret society and learn what really happened in the caves.

“What if it messed up the ritual?”

There is a lot of love for this book and I had high hopes, but ultimately it wasn’t for me. We’re introduced to Romie by those grieving her so I didn’t feel the loss like I would if I’d known a character prior to their untimely demise. I didn’t connect with Emory and I got bogged down in the magic system. It probably didn’t help that I’m anti love triangles.

I’d recommend you read some 5 star reviews before deciding if this is the book for you. It’s clear that the readers who loved it really, really loved it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Children’s Books for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Emory is returning to the prestigious Aldryn College for Lunar Magic for one reason: to uncover the secrets behind the night that left her best friend, Romie, and seven other students dead. 

But Emory has plenty of secrets herself, not least that her healing abilities have been corrupted by a strange, impossible magic, granting her power no one should possess. 

Turning to the only person she believes she can trust, Emory enlists the help of Romie’s brother Baz – someone already well-versed in the dangers of his own dark Eclipse magic. 

But when the supposedly drowned students start washing ashore – alive – only for them each immediately to die horrible, magical deaths, Emory and Baz are no longer the only ones seeking answers. 

There’s a hidden society at the heart of the school, and they’re attracted to nothing more than they are to power…

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Friday the 13th #2: Hell Lake – Paul A. Woods

It’s Friday the 13th and you know what that means! It’s time to visit Camp Crystal Lake! But first we need to escape from hell.

Welcome to Friday the 13th: January 2006 edition, the book where if there’s a slur you really, really don’t want to read, you’re almost destined to find it. Probably more than once.

When Wayne Sanchez, the Daytona Beach Devil Boy, is executed, he anticipates fanboying over Satan. Instead, the rapist and murderer finds himself in the thirteenth circle of hell with none other than the legendary Jason Voorhees, his other hero. The hell experience isn’t quite as advertised, though, so Devil Boy starts looking for a ticket out of hell. He thinks he’s found one because if anyone’s going to be able to find their way topside again, it’s gonna be Jason.

Wayne riles up some of the locals and pretty soon they’re out of there like bats out of hell. Or a bunch of serial killers and rapists.

Destiny had led Wayne Sanchez to Jason Voorhees, even if that destiny had meant the extinction of his earthly life.

So, this is really bad news for the hundreds of drunk and stoned party goers who conveniently ignored every single Friday the 13th slaughter up until now. Unfortunately for them but fortunately for those of us reading about them, the University of Forest Green sophomores aren’t as invincible as they’d like to think they are.

Here you’ll meet such party goers as Josh Logan, Trey Leblanc, James Fitzgerald, Lisa Applebaum, Shawna Black and Gretchen Andrews but don’t bother trying to remember their names because most of them will be casualties of the “Friday the 13th crime-wave”.

Then the first scream filled the air.

This Friday’s victims are lining up to be decapitated, garrotted, strangled and impaled.

I’d been anticipating this read since the last Friday the 13th but I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first book in the series. There wasn’t as much Jason as I’d hope there would be and I absolutely hated all of the slurs, so much so that I started skimming the book instead of looking forward to the carnage.

Next Friday the 13th read: Hate-Kill-Repeat, in which Jason meets a cultish serial killer couple.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Jason Voorhees. Unstoppable. Camp Crystal Lake’s most infamous son is back, and he’s doing what he does best!

When serial killer Wayne Sanchez was executed, he was looking forward to meeting his hero, Jason, in Hell. When they discover there is a way back up into the real world, Sanchez persuades Jason to go back with him, assembling an army of Hell’s worst inhabitants along the way. The world will soon be at the mercy of an army of the most terrifying and infamous killers in history brought back from the dead, with Jason at their head!

Full of thrills, spills and good old-fashioned slasher mayhem, Hell Lake proves that death is not the end … of fear.

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Fat Witch Summer – Lizzy Ives

“Will you run away with us? And choose your own destiny?”

A group of teenage witches go on a road trip… That’s all I needed to know to pick up this book. I was ready for the bonding that comes from shared experiences and the hope our four witches would meet some interesting people along the way.

Thrash really wants the Gift of Sight. Her mother wants Thrash to have the Gift of Glamour. This is a problem for Thrash because, in this matriarchal society, mothers get to choose which Gift their children receive. What’s a girl to do?!

Well, if you’re Thrash, this is the perfect opportunity to go on a road trip with three witches from school she barely knows. They’re on a mission to liberate the Gifts they want. They didn’t expect things to spiral this much out of control.

I was entirely on board with learning how magic works in Thrash’s world. I thought some bonding time between myself and the girls was inevitable but didn’t connect with any of the characters. There were also fewer scenes involving Thrash, Saki, Em and Cresca bonding and more with a bunch of people chasing them across the Thirteen States than I expected.

This is marketed as a body positive novel and there are some elements of that. This was offset for me by many of the characters having significant struggles with their bodies, though, including those who use magic to change their appearance.

While this was an entertaining read, I wasn’t captivated by it like I’d hoped. I’m left with quite a few unanswered questions, the most pressing of which is, did Takoda survive?

I definitely need a magical bottomless trunk to store all of my books.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Sword & Rose Press for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Sixteen year old Thrash doesn’t enchant eyeliner over her lids or clear her acne with magic. She is plus-size, but she doesn’t hate what she sees in the mirror – that’s the realm of her mother, Osmarra, a slim and elegant Glamour witch. When Thrash unexpectedly breaks a mirror with her mind, she discovers she has a knack for magic and will receive one of the three sanctioned Gifts: Glamour, Growth, or Sight. The only problem is that mothers choose the Gifts, and Osmarra is convinced that the Gift of Glamour will fix her daughter’s looks.

When Thrash fails to persuade Osmarra to accept her as she is, a trio of cool witches who call themselves The Lunes offer her an out. Their leader, fiery and charismatic Cresca, recruits Thrash for a road trip to New Salem University, where the girls plan to steal their own Gifts. As Thrash crosses the magical Thirteen States of America, Osmarra hot on her heels, she discovers bewitched diners, haunted tourist traps, and a secret about the Gifts that will change the Thirteen States forever.

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The Witching Tide – Margaret Meyer

Cover image of The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer

‘It’s like Cleftwater’s got ringed about by badness – by ill luck,’ she said. ‘And at its middle is you.’

Dedicated to the women who “fell victim to the 1645-7 East Anglian witch-hunt”, this was never going to be a light read. I’m not generally drawn to historical fiction but can’t help myself where witches are concerned, probably because if I’d been born in the wrong century, it’s very likely I would have been burned at the stake.

Master Makepeace, “with his great knowledge of witches”, is on his way to Cleftwater. This is really bad news for the women of the coastal village. Having “gathered considerable evidence of their Devilish work”, Master Makepeace quickly stirs up a witch-hunt. Loyalties are tested and accusations are made.

Martha, mute since childhood, is caught in the middle. Trusted by her community as a midwife and healer, Martha is now tasked with searching the bodies of the accused for telltale signs of witchcraft.

When? When would they come for her? If they came, what then? Nothing then. She would be less than nothing. Disowned, stateless. Worse than that: she would be reinvented, made monstrous; every one of her misdeeds and defects – real or imagined – magnified a thousandfold.

God help her then. God help them all. All the taken women.

I could practically smell Cleftwater as I followed Martha but, try as I might, I didn’t form a connection with any of the characters so when the stakes were raised (not literally), I didn’t feel the danger. It was as though I was watching from a safe distance rather than being in the thick of it. The poppet’s role was not as integral to the story as I had hoped and the resistance was quieter.

I expect those who read a lot more historical fiction than I do will appreciate the research that has gone into making this story as accurate as possible. My expectations and reality were never destined to meet, though. Martha’s story was never going to fire me up like Alix E. Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches did. In hindsight, it was unfair of me to expect it to.

Thank you so much to Hachette Australia for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

East Anglia, 1645. Martha Hallybread, a midwife, healer and servant, has lived for more than four decades in her beloved coastal village of Cleftwater. Everyone knows Martha, but no one has ever heard her speak.

One morning, the peaceful atmosphere is violently shattered and Martha becomes a silent witness to a witch hunt. As a trusted member of the community, she is enlisted to search the bodies of the accused women. But whilst Martha wants to help her friends, she also harbours a dark secret.

In desperation, she revives a witching doll that she inherited from her mother, in the hope that it will bring protection. But the doll’s true powers are unknowable, the tide is turning, and time is running out …

A spellbinding and intoxicating novel inspired by true events, The Witching Tide breathes new life into history whilst holding up a mirror to the world we live in now. A story of loyalty and betrayal, fear and obsession, the impact of misogyny and the power of resistance, it is a magnificent debut from a striking new voice.

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The Dead God’s Heart #1: Spring’s Arcana – Lilith Saintcrow

“This, then, is the way to the Dead God’s Heart”

When her mother’s health began to deteriorate, Nat’s plan to move out and go to college came unstuck. Now, her mother is dying and has given Nat cryptic instructions to save her. Accompanied by a thief on a road trip to retrieve a stolen object, Nat is about to discover that there’s a lot her mother never told her about the world. Or herself.

This is a highly descriptive read, which may appeal to some readers. There are some books where I soak up every detail offered to me. Here, though, it resulted in a read that often felt dragged out. While I loved the concept, I never became invested in the characters or Nat’s quest.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

American Gods vs. Baba Yaga in this Russian-inspired contemporary fantasy Spring’s Arcana, by New York Times bestseller Lilith Saintcrow.

Nat Drozdova is desperate to save a life. Doctors can do little for her cancer-ridden mother, who insists there is only one cure – and that Nat must visit a skyscraper in Manhattan to get it.

Amid a snow-locked city, inside a sleek glass-walled office, Nat makes her plea and is whisked into a terrifying new world. For the skyscraper holds a hungry winter goddess who has the power to cure her mother…if Nat finds a stolen object of great power.

Now Nat must travel with a razor-wielding assassin across an American continent brimming with terror, wonder, and hungry divinities with every reason to consume a young woman. For her ailing mother is indeed suffering no ordinary illness, and Nat Drozdova is no ordinary girl. Blood calls to blood, magic to magic, and a daughter may indeed save what she loves…

…if it doesn’t consume her first.

This is the way to the Dead God’s Heart.

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The Camp – Nancy Bush

Spoilers Ahead! (marked in purple)

“I know you’re trying to leave. I’m here to help you on your journey.”

This book and I were not meant to be. It’s not the book’s fault. The mismatch is entirely on me. I’m usually quite particular about my bookish choices: I read early reviews, I research the author’s previous books and read excerpts when I can. I didn’t do any of that here because the blurb dazzled me.

I saw “Friday the 13th meets Friends Like These at a summer sleepaway camp isolated in the woods of Oregon, as New York Times bestselling author Nancy Bush puts a diabolical modern twist on the classic 1980s slasher film trope!” I’m pretty sure I only absorbed ‘Friday the 13th’ and ‘1980s slasher film’, then expected something along the lines of My Heart Is a Chainsaw. I was ready for slasher horror when, if I’d done my usual due diligence, I would have realised I was signing up for suspense with a hefty dose of drama.

All of this to say, please read some reviews by people who read the book they thought they were going to read before deciding whether this is the book for you. Their reviews should carry much more weight than mine.

When Emma Whelan was about to begin her senior year, she attended Camp Fog Lake, known by the campers as Camp Love Shack. What takes place at camp that year cements the rumours about what happens when the fog rolls in. It also shuts the camp down.

“The fog rolls in, covers everything in a cold, gray blanket, then recedes, leaving a trail of death in its wake.”

Twenty years later, a new generation of campers are set to experience Camp Love Shack, now under new ownership. An alumni and parents’ weekend is coinciding with the Fourth of July which, if Jaws taught us nothing else, is when the chaos will reach its bloody crescendo.

Now, I questioned the return of the main players in the death scenes twenty years ago but without them there’s no story. I don’t know if anything attests to the level of damage camp did to them more than their individual decisions to allow the next generation of their families be the Guinea pigs for the grand reopening. That’s seriously messed up. But also good for the drama.

Because I spent much of the read anticipating some slicing and dicing, the drama between the characters initially threw me. You’ve got angst about exes, blackmail and rumours. There are love triangles (and a dinner triangle).

While I generally love plot twists, I tend to struggle with unreliable narrators. Deceit plays a part in the events of this book. How else could the real story of what happened that night be hidden for twenty years?

A lot of readers probably won’t even blink at the part that, had I known about it ahead of time, would have prevented me from picking up this book in the first place. I have a real problem reading books where a character lies about having been sexually assaulted. The overwhelming majority of people who disclose having been sexually assaulted in the world outside the pages are telling the truth, yet some individuals and institutions still respond to them from a position of disbelief. Stories where characters lie about this type of trauma only make it easier for people to continue to deny the experience of those who have been sexual assaulted. Regardless of how good the story is, I’m never going to be okay with that.

Please take my three stars with a grain of salt. I wasn’t the audience for this book. Chances are, you will be.

“Looks like the fog is coming.”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Zebra Books, an imprint of Kensington Books, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Friday the 13th meets Friends Like These at a summer sleepaway camp isolated in the woods of Oregon, as New York Times bestselling author Nancy Bush puts a diabolical modern twist on the classic 1980s slasher film trope!

There are always stories told around the fire at summer camp – tall tales about gruesome murders and unhinged killers, concocted to scare new arrivals and lend an extra jolt of excitement to those hormone-charged nights. At Camp Luft-Shawk, nicknamed Camp Love Shack, there are stories about a creeping fog that brings death with it. But here, they’re not just campfire tales. Here, the stories are real.

Twenty years ago, a girl’s body was found on a ledge above the lake, arms crossed over her heart. Some said it was part of a suicide pact, connected to the nearby Haven Commune. Brooke, Rona, and Wendy were among the teenagers at camp that summer, looking for fun and sun, sex and adventure. They’ve never breathed a word about what really happened – or about the night their friendship shattered.

Now the camp, renamed Camp Fog Lake, has reopened for a new generation, and many of those who were there on that long-ago night are returning for an alumni weekend. But something is stirring at the lake again. As the fog rolls in, evil comes with it. Those stories were a warning, and they didn’t listen. And the only question is, who will live long enough to regret it?

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