FRIDAY READS: Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

So when I saw Horrorstor featured on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, I knew I had to have it. It's a horror story set in an IKEA knockoff. Now, I loves me some IKEA. But you know it'd be freaking creepy to be in one at night. All those fake rooms, all those twists and turns, the endless maze. Not to mention all those Allen wrenches and wordless instruction booklets. *shudders*

This author took that concept to the nth degree using an IKEA knockoff concept named Orsk. But it's really clever how they packaged the story. The book looks like an IKEA catalog and there are ads throughout the book that read like IKEA-speak. (Have a question? Just ORSK!) But the furniture ads at the beginning of chapters get more and more sinister as the story goes along.

So at first I was worried that this would be all schtick. Clever but not much substance. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. The story is darkly funny (especially if you've ever worked in retail) yet still delivers on the creepiness. It's got that Scream vibe. Where you're laughing one minute but then getting creeped out the next. Also, fair warning, this is not a romance. I know that's what I usually feature, but this is not that. If scary books aren't your thing, then this probably won't be for you. It's not terrifying IMO. It's creepy. But I know some of you avoid horror-type stuff at all costs. 

Also, because of the illustrations and format, you'll want to either get the print copy or read it on a larger device. I think you'd miss a lot if you were reading it on an e-ink device.

BUY THE BOOK: B&N | Amazon | iBooks

What do y'all think? Anyone freaked out by the idea of getting trapped in an IKEA at night? My nightmare would be being forced to assemble the furniture all night. My thumbs hurt just thinking about it.

Disclaimer: Though Amazon and iBook links are affiliate links, I only recommend books I truly enjoyed from my own TBR pile. I purchased this book and was not asked by anyone to promote it.

Chilling Reads: A Few Books That Will Make You Leave the Lights On

Some of my teen collectionI love a scary story. I know lot of people avoid horror books and movies because they don't like being scared, but I love having a book or movie truly creep me out. After all, it's a safe thrill, right? There really is no monster in the closet. We hope. : )

And part of my love of reading is due to horror stories. Some of the earliest books I read were ghost stories, and then their was the teen horror of the 80s and 90s. Anyone else remember those R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike, and Lois Duncan books? The picture above has some of my middle school collection. After I moved on from teen horror, I jumped to Stephen King. Talk about keeping me up at night. I used to have to move books out of my room at night because I couldn't sleep with them in my room. I guess I secretly worried the monsters would crawl out the book while I was sleeping. *shudder*

So I'm really excited to see horror creeping back onto the shelves. It never went away totally, but it definitely disappeared in the YA market, morphing into paranormal romance and urban fantasy where the monsters became the good guys and love interests. And though I enjoy those stories, they're just not the same thrill as horror for me. The books that are more closely aligned to that horror style are often labeled thriller or suspense now because horror seemed to become a bad word and became more associated with gore (I'm not a fan of gore.) So the seeing some of these classic horror type stories popping up makes me happy.

And I thought in honor of Halloween tomorrow (and inspired by the posts on USA Today's Happily Ever After where authors list the scariest book they've ever read), I would give some of my more recent picks and some classic picks for scary stories.

Creepy Books I've Read This Year:

The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff | 2.99 on Kindle

Blurb from Amazon:

Baird College's Mendenhall echoes with the footsteps of the last home-bound students heading off for Thanksgiving break, and Robin Stone swears she can feel the creepy, hundred-year-old residence hall breathe a sigh of relief for its long-awaited solitude. Or perhaps it's only gathering itself for the coming weekend.

As a massive storm dumps rain on the isolated campus, four other lonely students reveal themselves: Patrick, a handsome jock; Lisa, a manipulative tease; Cain, a brooding musician; and finally Martin, a scholarly eccentric. Each has forsaken a long weekend at home for their own secret reasons.

The five unlikely companions establish a tentative rapport, but they soon become aware of a sixth presence disturbing the ominous silence that pervades the building. Are they the victims of a simple college prank taken way too far, or is the unusual energy evidence of something genuine---and intent on using the five students for its own terrifying ends? It's only Thursday afternoon, and they have three long days and dark nights before the rest of the world returns to find out what's become of them. But for now it's just the darkness keeping company with five students nobody wants and no one will miss.

Kirkus described this as "Poltergeist meets The Breakfast Club" and I think that's an apt description. This is a classic creepy ghost tale and reads like a movie. I made the mistake of reading this one while my hubs was out of town. I checked the doors a few times that night (as if that would keep out a ghost anyway.)

Ten by Gretchen McNeil

Blurb from Amazon:

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—three days on Henry Island at an exclusive house party. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their own reasons for wanting to be there, which involve their school's most eligible bachelor, T. J. Fletcher, and look forward to three glorious days of boys, bonding, and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.

Suddenly, people are dying, and with a storm raging outside, the teens are cut off from the rest of the world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn't scheduled to return for three days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

This is like a modern version of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None (which I loved). It was taut witih creepy tension and I couldn't stop turning the pages. I also didn't figure out the killer until the reveal, so that's always a win.

And now some older books that never fail to give me goosebumps:

It by Stephen King

This book and movie freaked me the eff out. It's still one of my favorites of all time. But give yourself some time, it's a looooong one.

The Shining by Stephen King

This is another Stephen King one that I always go back to. He really is the master.

Nazareth Hill by Ramsey Campbell

This one is a classic haunted house type tale that definitely gave me he heeby jeebies. I didn't love the ending but the journey was worth the read.

So those are a few of my pics, what are some of yours? Do your read horror? Anyone else ever move a book out of the room because you were freaked out?

Made of Win Monday and Last Chance to Enter My Contest

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Today I have a bit of a Made of Win Monday round up.

First, today is the LAST DAY you can enter my STILL INTO YOU contest where you can win a box of awesome, a gift card, or a 20 page critique from me. Contest ends at midnight central time.

A few guest posts...

I'm over at Tory Michael's blog with an interview where I answer questions such as how I balance writing and blogging with the rest of my life and why I like writing BDSM.

I'm also on Peanut Butter on the Keyboard talking On Milk Allergies and Trusting Your Mommy Gut.

Now a few things Made of Win...

• I finished writing NOT UNTIL YOU over the weekend, which is Ian's story (yes, the Ian in STILL INTO YOU.) So I managed to write and revise a 40k novella in 6 weeks. Yay! Now I know that's probably nothing to you speed writers, but that's a much improved pace for me. Now it's on to Kelsey's story, CAUGHT UP IN YOU.

• Saw Snow White and The Huntsman this weekend and was pleasantly surprised. I'm not usually a fairy tale person, but I really enjoyed the movie. Now, I would've loved to see a little more romance-y stuff wrapped up, but I have a feeling they left things a little open with hopes for a sequel. I'm all for more Chris Hemsworth regardless. :) Two thumbs up.

• I've been in the mood for a good horror story lately and wanted to try an indie one. After a few failed attempts at finding one whose sample pages didn't make me cringe, I ended up with Alexandra Sokoloff's The Harrowing . (I realized afterwards that though this one is indie now, it's her backlist and was orginally published by St. Martins. So oh well on my attempt to find a truly self-pubbed one, lol. But hey, the effort was there.) And I really enjoyed the story. It was creepy and had me leaving lights on when I was alone in the house at night. You can definitely tell that the author is a screenwriter because I could easily picture this story like it was playing on a screen. Someone on Goodreads described it as Scream meets The Exorcist. I think that's a pretty good description, though there was no humor like in Scream. Anyway, I enjoyed it and if you have Amazon Prime, it's free in the lending library.

Here's the blurb:

Baird College's Mendenhall echoes with the footsteps of the last home-bound students heading off for Thanksgiving break, and Robin Stone swears she can feel the creepy, hundred-year-old residence hall breathe a sigh of relief for its long-awaited solitude. Or perhaps it's only gathering itself for the coming weekend.

As a massive storm dumps rain on the isolated campus, four other lonely students reveal themselves: Patrick, a handsome jock; Lisa, a manipulative tease; Cain, a brooding musician; and finally Martin, a scholarly eccentric. Each has forsaken a long weekend at home for their own secret reasons.

The five unlikely companions establish a tentative rapport, but they soon become aware of a sixth presence disturbing the ominous silence that pervades the building. Are they the victims of a simple college prank taken way too far, or is the unusual energy evidence of something genuine---and intent on using the five students for its own terrifying ends? It's only Thursday afternoon, and they have three long days and dark nights before the rest of the world returns to find out what's become of them. But for now it's just the darkness keeping company with five students nobody wants and no one will miss.

All right, that was my Made of Win weekend, how was yours? Anyone else see Snow White? Anybody have any good horror recommendations for me (prefer creepy/scary to all out gore)?