The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon is a story that goes between generations and centuries. West Hall, Vermont, is a place with a mysterious past and a devastating present. Sara Harrison Shea is a woman who adores her husband, Martin, and adores her daughter, Gertie, even more. When Gertie passes away, Sara is devastated, and no matter what Martin does she just can't get over the loss. It becomes so hard for her that eventually she too dies. In present day, Ruthie, a nineteen-year-old, comes home to find her mother Alice missing, and she and her sister must find their mother or call the police. Then there is Katherine, a woman who has lost everything and is in search of answers in West Hall. Before they know it their stories are intertwined, and they must decide what it the truth, and who is good and who should be protected.
 
When I bought this book, I thought it was going to be about a haunted house, which it was not. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't a haunted house, but it had an interesting idea behind it. The story really is about what people will do to get back the ones they love, which is not a new story, but the story is more seeped in legends and folk tales. This is more a story long the same lines of Pet Semetary by Stephen King, when the dead die, they don't always stay dead.
 
So, while this wasn't a haunted house story, it was a story that ended up being right up my alley (yes, I know that was a cliché, as often as I go on about clichés I shouldn't use them myself). Without giving too much away, this was sort of a zombie story. This was a little bit surprising, as the reader gets a hint of it throughout, but they don't really get to see it until later in the book. There are quite a few surprises in the book, such as who is related to who, and who is and who isn't dead. 
 
This wasn't a suspenseful or terrifying story. It didn't frighten me, nor did it keep me up reading because I couldn't put it down. However, I did enjoy it. I was a little annoyed by the back and forth between the years and the stories, only because this seems to be done more and more with books. Multiple points of views is fine, but multiple points of views from different times periods or different timelines is a little frustrating.
 
I think this is a fine read, and it really is an interesting idea, so it wouldn't be a waste of time like some of the books I've recently read. So, if you are looking for something to read, give it a try, and if this doesn't seem like your type of book, I'm sure you can try any one of Jennifer McMahon's books.

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall follows Naomi Shaw, a young woman who is almost killed when she was eleven. Her best friends, Liv and Cass, were there for her in the aftermath and as they grew older. When the man who allegedly attacked and almost killed her dies, the young women get together to support each other and work through the lies they may have told.

I felt that this novel was interesting, and I enjoyed some of the characters, especially Naomi's father and Ethan. I actually enjoyed several of the characters who were not main characters. Naomi's father is an alcoholic and hoarder who does not always get along with his daughter, but the reader can tell that they love each other. Like a lot of parental and adult child relationships, their relationship is complicated. The father daughter relationship also made it easier to see some of the characters as human. Ethan was an interesting, although obvious, character who led the reader away from the childhood trauma that takes over most of this novel. Bishop was a great officer who wanted to question things that were not "normal" even in a small town.

The small town feel of the book can be claustrophobic, especially since a lot of the scenery (besides the woods) isn't described so the reader doesn't really get the feel of how the town is laid out or really how small it is. I would have liked more descriptions of the scenery as Naomi drove around town, especially since she was almost always driving away from the motel she was staying at.

I had one issue with this novel, the obvious ending and none of the twists were really a surprise. I thought the ending was much too obvious and came too quickly. It reminded me of a movie that I watched where it basically told the audience in the beginning few minutes who the killer was. I would have liked a little less "guidance" in regards to who was where or doing what.

I prefer thrillers, mysteries, and suspense novels, who have me gasping at the end because I did not see it coming.

The Supernaturals by David L. Golemon is a novel about a haunted house that has been killing people for decades. The novel begins with a death and a professor who is suspected of killing his student. He loses his reputation, and when a paranormal reality show wants to go back to the haunted house to prove that the supernatural lives there, the professor decides he has to prove that he was right, and the house is hungry for more souls.
 
As a haunted house novel this was a little repetitive. There were moments that were written over and over again, and several of the scenes were the same thing. Often they revolved around the television shows host being overly sensitive or angry about people stepping in and telling her what she could and could not do, but even then she was overreacting. Other scenes revolves around the group of "supernaturals" and what they felt (often an oppressive evil), or thought about the situation. It started to become annoying.
 
The haunting itself was obvious, and it became clear at one point who was haunting the house and why. This was way before the end of the novel, which made me not sure if I wanted to finish it, but since I had read over 2/3 of the book I decided to finish it. The ending was a little too obvious, and yet the author didn't go into enough detail to state why one of the characters would accept what was going on. It also didn't really go into detail how the current owner of the house came to be the owner, or how he was even alive in the first place.
 
In the end this was a novel that was a lead up to the rest of the series. I didn't know this was the first book in a series, but as a lead in, it was okay. I feel that there could have been more about some of the characters, like Julia or Jennifer, who were added to the story but not given much backstory.
 
So for a haunted house, it wasn't horrible, but the evil was continually referred to as a darkness, and two rooms of the house were continually referred to, but the room that the ghost hunters should be going into they continually start going to, but then get distracted by what they think is the heart of the haunting... the sewing room.
 
It wasn't as interesting as it could have been. I probably won't read the rest of the series, only because I want a real scary haunted house novel, and this wasn't really frightening or scary.

The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas is about Monica, a young girl who lost her sister, Jen, to suicide five years earlier. Also, five years earlier, two cheerleaders died in a car accident, and two cheerleaders were murdered causing the school to disband the cheerleading squad and start a dance team (seems like the same thing to me). Monica is trying to find out why her sister killed herself and falls into a web of secrets that she didn't expect to find.
 
Okay, usually I start a review by telling you all what I liked about the book, then I lead into the things I didn't like, however, that is not what I am going to do this time, mostly because there wasn't a lot that I did like.
 
First problem is that the main character isn't named until pretty far into the book. I didn't even know what the main characters name was until later when someone addressed her in conversation. It was annoying to go through the book not knowing what the characters name was, and it was confusing because I wasn't sure who was being spoken to. This book is written in first person, which I don't mind, but it was not written well. Another problem I had with the main character was her lack of, well, anything. She kept stating she needed to talk to people and ask them specific questions, but when she did confront or speak with people she never asked the questions she went to ask. She was seriously whiny, and she repeated herself over and over, which also became annoying. Monica was not a likeable, or interesting character, and where we start in the beginning of the book seems to have almost no relevance to the rest of the book, except as something that is supposed to maybe drive the plot and further her depression.
 
Second problem is I don't know why I should care about all of the dead cheerleaders because they died so long ago. If this book is trying to be a thriller or murder mystery, it doesn't do a good job because there is no reason for me to care about the dead girls, or care about why Monica is trying to find out what happened. I don't get to know any of the dead girls except for Jen, but the only reason I got to know anything about her was to see how depressed she was, and maybe learn why she committed suicide.
 
There were a lot of secrets in this book, and only a few of them interested me in the characters. Mostly, they seemed like red herrings, put out there to lead me or mislead me in what is going on, or who might be a killer.
 
The ending wasn't as satisfying as it could have been, and seemed abrupt. It almost seemed as if the author didn't know how she wanted to end the book, and she sought out the easiest way to do so.
 
This was the first book I've read by Kara Thomas, and I hear that it isn't as good as her other books, especially Little Monsters. I may go back and read one of her books that is considered better, partly because I like giving most authors the benefit of a doubt and partly because I would like to see if her other books are actually better. I wish this had been up to my standards, but when you write about depressing characters with no redeeming values it makes it hard to care about them.

Cherie Priest's Boneshaker is the first in a series of several books. This is the second steampunk book that I've read in a while. It was more western than Victorian, and it takes place in a universe of alternate history during the civil war.
 
This book revolves around a young woman named Briar Wilkes, and her son, Zeke. Briar was married to a man who destroyed a city and caused a gas influx that turns people into vicious monsters. After, her married name, Blue, is stained by what her husband did, and the hundreds of people he killed, she lives in the outskirts of the city, which is now surrounded by a wall to keep the monsters inside. After her son, Zeke, decides that he wants to prove his father's innocence and travels into the city, not knowing what he will find. When Briar finds out she rushes after him, full of regret that she hasn't told Zeke the truth about his father. Both mother and son run around trying to find each other, while trying to escape from the hands of a maniacal man who acts like he runs the city, and a horde of dead who just want to take a little bite.
 
As the first in a series of books I wanted to like it then read the next to find out what happens to Briar and Zeke, but I looked and found out that the books don't follow the same characters, which I found annoying. The book ends without a real ending, with Briar and Zeke not knowing where to go or what to do. I guess this might have been a good thing though. I, honestly, found Zeke to be a very annoying boy. He asked too many questions, and made too many stupid errors. His character went through the entire book making mistakes and believing the best of people he knew he shouldn't trust.
 
Briar on the other hand, goes through the entire book regretting not telling her son about the things she should have. She feels that everything is her fault, and she takes any chance she can to tell anyone, including when she tells herself. I feel her character should have been stronger, as she has lived on her own during her entire pregnancy and she raised her son alone, without help, and with a curse over her head from her husband's name. Yet, every chance she got, she questions a lot, and she doesn't act when she should. She should be the type of person who can make decisions fast, and she doesn't make them, or doesn't seem to understand the situation around her.
 
Even though the characters aren't what I expect, or as strong as I expect, they did make me want to read the story and find out what happened to Briar's husband. I also enjoyed the zombies, but alas, this seems to be something that is only in book one of the series as well. I actually do read a lot of zombie novels, and I was excited to read a steampunk novel set in an alternate history with zombies, until I realized that this was the only one in the series.
 
So, while I enjoyed this a little (mostly for the zombies), I don't think I will read any of the other books in the series, and I can't really recommend it for others to read. It might be good, and some people might like books that follow different characters in each novel, I want things to be more cohesive. I want to have someone to follow in each book, someone to care about.

This is not the adventures through Wonderland that you grew up with.
 
Alice by Christina Henry is a gritty telling of Alice and her survival after following the Rabbit down the Rabbit hole. Alice is in a a mental asylum, after life has been changed due to her tea party with the Rabbit. She has no solid memory of what went on, just a vicious scar on her face, brought on by her encounters with the Rabbit and his cohorts. She meets Hatcher, a boy with his own secrets, who finds a way to save her, and himself, from the tortures of the asylum. They are on the run from the Jabberwocky, a monster who can insert itself into the mind of Hatcher. Alice and Hatcher are on a quest to stop the Jabberwocky, and save whoever they can.
 
I really enjoyed this book. I didn't know what to expect from this, but I got more than I expected. Some of the characters that are in Carroll's books are in this recreation of the story. The readers meet the Caterpillar, a monster who enslaves and traps women to do his bidding in a certain type of club. There is the Walrus, a huge man who was at one point an adversary to Hatcher, and eats the lovelies. The Carpenter is a man who ruthlessly tears through cities and takes what he desires and leaves behind what will serve him. Then there is the Cheshire cat. He continues to be full of riddles and ideas, and no one knows if he is on the side of good or the side of bad. Alice doesn't know if she should trust him, but she does know she should be careful around him.
 
If you are a reader who is uncomfortable with adult situations such as murder, violence, the abuse of women, and rape, this may not be the book for you. If you are interested in what this might have to offer in regards to a new story, much different from what you might have read before, you will want to check this out. The characters are complex, although there are times when Hatcher is overdone, as he is violent for the sake of being violent. And Alice can be a little whiny, as she depends on Hatcher a lot to save her, or give her the hope of rescue if it is needed.
 
While the characters can be annoying, I felt that some things could have used more or differing description. All of the characters started blending in with each other, and in the end I couldn't remember what was different about the Caterpillar and the Rabbit, as both were seemingly described the same. The scenery could have been described better as well. Nothing really was described of the scene around them. The city was dirty, and bland, but there wasn't much to remember.
 
These things didn't hurt the story. It was an interesting idea, and there was a lot to go through, but it wasn't bad. It was a gritty drama with a lot of violence and two people who you root for, even though you aren't sure what you are rooting for.

Do you like weird movies with crazy weird music in the background? If you like movies that make little sense, has very loud music, and kills the blind man, then Suspiria is the movie for you.
 
This 1977 movie has the plot, as described on IMDb - An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders. The series of grisly murders are all weird and they have no story behind them, maybe the people are murdered because they don’t follow certain rules, and maybe they are being murdered because they are needed as a sacrifice. Either way, this movie was odd in the way it was scored, and at times the music was a little overbearing.
 
Suspria was an interesting film, not in the acting, or the overdrawn music, but in the visuals. The movie begins with a young woman’s murder, and an interesting one at that. While the murder is taking place the audience loses all sense of time, space, and placement, and wonders how the woman got from where she was last seen to where she is eventually killed. There are several scenes like this, where time and place are odd and I think the audience isn’t left with a sense of placement to confuse and cause suspense.
 
While we root for several of the students of the school to survive, there seems to be something out to get them, or maybe something there to cause them to create their own deaths. The matriarch of the school seems very interested in not only helping the police, but also in keeping the students safe, but she doesn’t do a good job, and while she seems very interested her motives are suspect.
 
One disturbing scene involves a roof of maggots which falls on all of the girls as they are going to bed. Turns out the attic above is full of maggots, and the reasoning is suspect. In another scene a girl gets her throat slit and the closeup of her slit throat is disturbing, even if there isn’t any blood when it is cut.
 
The ending of Suspiria was just as confusing as the beginning. There were witches, I think. And I’m not sure if the witches were defeated, or if things just happened by accident. I feel like this is the kind of movie you need to be high to watch, for real.
 
I don’t know if I can or cannot recommend it, but I feel like I should because it is one of those classics that constantly gets recommended. Prepare yourselves for the odd and mysterious, and to be scratching your head at the end asking, “What the hell did I just watch?”

The Menu was released on November 18, 2022. The movie stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Fiennes. There are of course other actors but these two make up the brunt of the movie. The film focuses on a couple who are visiting an exclusive restaurant on an island. A restaurant where the price of one dinner costs over $1200. There they meat a world renowned chef who has some odd and unexpected ingredients on his planned menu. The entire movie follows five parties who have chosen to pay for dinner at this restaurant. Each party has been chosen for one reason, but I am not going to give that away as that is part of the mystery of the story.

Ralph Fiennes is great as a chef who is so unhinged he isn't sure why he is cooking anymore - is it for people to eat, is it for the love of it, is it because he doesn't know what else to do - well, the audience is about to find out. I know some people will also enjoy the acting of Anya Taylor-Joy, but for me she seemed to be one note with one or two facial expressions. I wanted more from her in this movie - especially since she was so fabulous in movies like The Witch and Split.

Ms. Taylor-Joy plays Margot Mills, a young woman who was invited last minute to the dinner by a young man who considers himself a foodie, Tyler. Tyler is a real jerk and you see this early in the film in the way he talks to Margot. There is a lot I can't or don't want to say about this movie because it is so easy to give away the tiniest detail, but going into it you know from early on that something is not quite right with the people who are living and working on the island.

I enjoyed this movie, but I did want to know a little more about some of the characters. There was at least one couple who could have been better developed as I learned only a little bit about them and the wife seemed to be something of a lackluster character. She seemed to be int he movie only to drink and ask her husband if someone reminded him of their daughter. Yes, this does lead to a disturbing development later in the story, but not through the couple. I wanted there to be more emotion and development to the wife, played by the amazing Judith Light. Throughout the movie this was something I had an issue with, the character development, and I consistently wanted more.

The theme of the movie seems to revolve a lot around secrets and consumerism. We do things when think we should enjoy but we don't really know anything about because it is expected of us. For example - one of the characters is enamored of food, but does not know how to cook. One person goes because they "think" they are important and they can - they don't even really know if they will or do enjoy it. One person is there because they want another chance to review the chef, after helping make him who he is. It is all very interesting and makes me wonder about the ability to spend money on things we desire. How do we know we are the one desiring something, and how do we know if it is society telling us what we desire because of how it will make us feel or appear?

Anyway, I know this is not like most of my reviews, but I don't want to say too much and give it all away. Go see it, then we can discuss it.

Also, there is a new up and coming website that is making an attempt to become a better goodreads. I wrote a short article for them titled "The Best Zombie Books that Stick with You and Give You Nightmares. Check it out at shepherd.com/best-books/zombies-that-stick-with-you-and-give-you-nightmare

The Fireman by Joe Hill is a very long book, 749 pages long. At first, I wasn't sure I wanted to take a chance with a book that was so long, but after reading I am glad I did.
 
The fireman follows a group of people who are infected by a spore that has been called "Dragonscale." It marks the infected with black lines that have beautiful golden specks in it. Often, the downside is that it also causes people to spontaneously combust. Harper, a young nurse, finds herself pregnant and infected and wonders what she can do to save her baby from being infected. Jakob, her prissy husband, find himself infected, but not with Dragonscale, instead he is infected with prejudice and hate. He blames Harper for everything that has gone wrong in his life, and continually attempts to kill her. While on the run, Harper comes across a man called the Fireman, who repeatedly saves her. But, he has a secret of his own and his secret could destroy everything, and everyone.
 
The book is broken up into several sections, which does, at least for me, make it easier to read. I only had to read a section at a time to get through it. There were moments that seemed unnecessary, and parts of those could have been cut. When all of the characters are at a camp there were several scenes that didn't tie to anything and could have been edited out without changing the outcome of the book.
 
Another issue that I did have was the use of cliffhangers at the end of each section. This became especially annoying when they didn't seem to lead anywhere. When one of the characters is his over the head and left in a coma, the end of the second states that they would not wake up for two months. However, when this character does wake up it seems to not really do anything to move the story along, as it could have been moved along through other means.
 
I know from reading other reviews, that several people didn't particularly care for the ending, but I didn't hate it. It did make the book seem as if it didn't have a conclusion, and I wondered if there would be a book two, but I don't know if that would be worth the read.
 
The characters could have grown a little more, or they could have been a little more perceptive to the world around them, but I thought the ending held up. There isn't ever a promise of a happy ending, nor in a sort of apocalypse, is there the promise of life after or life in safety. I feel that the ending was the only ending this book could have. If it had gone the way most would have assumed it was going to go, it would have been a disappointment.
 
Still not as good as NOS4A2, but I enjoyed it more than 20th Century Ghosts. If you have time, give it a read, but remember that is might take time, and that it is 749 pages long.

I can’t say enough about why I disliked The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney.
 
I don't know what this book was trying to be - an erotic book or a thriller - but it wasn't really successful as either. The two main characters, Emma and Jane, are from two different time periods. Emma lived in the house on One Folgate before Jane, and Emma died on One Folgate. The house is owned by an architect named Edward. He is a very compulsive man, who has over 40 rules one must follow if they are going to live in the house. He seems to have over 40 rules for dating him. He seems to have over 40 rules for everything in life. Emma's Ex, Simon, comes by the house while Jane is living there, trying to tell Jane how dangerous Edward is, but is Edward really the one she has to be worried about?
 
There were several issues with this novel. The first issue is that, for me, anyone would be willing to live in a house with as many rules as Folgate has. I have owned rentals, and a lot of the questions asked, or the demands made, wouldn't fly with a normal renter, even if it was a good deal. I mean, not being allowed to have anything of your own in the house, it wouldn't make sense, nor would it be comfortable. My second issue was Edward. Sure, he might have been cute or whatever, but he was a complete asshole to both Emma and Jane, and in the end he proves how much of an asshole he is. So, if this novel was trying for erotica, I was obviously not the target audience as I do not enjoy assholes.... or at least not asshole men. My last issue was that this wasn't really a thriller either. I didn't care if Emma was killed, committed suicide, or if she had an accident. I should have cared, because it was trying to build suspense, but I didn't, because I didn't care about Emma, which says a lot since she is almost half of the book. Nothing was suspenseful in the novel. There were so many moments when the novel tried to be suspenseful, with several "mysteries" but in the end they all fell short.
 
I can't recommend this novel. I can say the "daddy" issues were an issue for me, as it was weird and it all seemed out of the blue.
 
I'm sorry, but this book was a not for me, and I felt that the blurb on the back of the book was misleading.