News — Tav

Full Throttle by Joe Hill

This is a thick collection of thirteen short stories from Joe Hill. A few of the stories are new and just for this collection where he references some of his favorite writers.  My average rating for these stories is 3.3 stars, which is a kind of disappointing considering how much I love Joe Hill. I just think his talent is better suited to longer stories and maybe his dad should stick to short stories. 

The collection begins and ends with a story co-authored...

Beth's Review

“The Toll” by Cherie Priest is southern gothic horror at its finest. I have high expectations when it comes to gothic horror. Like Gothic architecture, gothic horror must give a sense of impending doom. Your imagination must work overtime, filling every shadowy crevice with unspeakable menaces. Gothic horror is less about full out face to face encounters with boogeymen -although Priest was successful in doing that too- and more about creating a foreboding atmosphere and sense of unease. Creating such an oppressive atmosphere requires more than just festooning a couple of live oaks with...

Gretchen by Shannon Kirk

A review by Tav @readswithdogs

Last year I read and loved Into the Vines by Shannon Kirk, so I was really excited and a bit nervous to receive a copy of her newest novel, Gretchen!

Gretchen is about a fifteen-year-old named Lucy who’s been on the run from her supposedly estranged father since age two, with her mother. When they arrive in their eleventh state (New Hampshire), Lucy is determined to obey her mother’s rules: don’t make eye contact with...