All posts by Jo-Anna W

#Review #Horror – Be My Friend by Mique Watson

July 18, 2024 Jo-Anna W Leave a comment

On March 14, 2010, 16-year-old Jacob Stewart vanished.

In the weeks following his disappearance, strange interactions he’d had with a mysterious online figure also known by the name Cronos came about.

This document is a collection of interviews, computer files, public news reports, and online speculation, as well as copies of Jacob’s online interactions with Cronos that were obtained via the Freedom of Information Act.

What we hope to accomplish by bringing this case to light is to reignite the desire to find Jacob and Thomas … because they could still be out there.

I don’t even know where to begin when it comes to this book. This is quite different for Mique and I can now officially say that I’ve read everything he’s published. I’m super proud of this by the way.

This book was written in an interview sort of way and I really liked that style. Maybe I just have a vivid imagination but I could picture myself sitting in the interview with the characters. Either at a police station or in their home. It was a unique way of writing the book, so kudo to Mique for doing it this way.

Now first I’ll say that this is not an extreme horror. But man…I’m not sure what’s worse. Extreme horror with all the gory bloody details or this type that’s depressing and just sad. Oh so sad.

Jacob is lonely. Man is he lonely. I wanted to reach into the pages and give him a hug. His dad passed away and his mom ignores him. His older brother is off doing his own thing and living his own life, so Jacob feels like he has no one. Which technically, he doesn’t. Not in the way he needs.

He finally ends up on this online chat and meets Cronos. I got icky vibes from him right away. Jacob did not and that made me sad. He just wanted a friend. He wanted someone he could confide in. Someone who loved him. He was awkward and shy and anti-social. He had a hard time talking to anyone really. I can’t say I blame him for that. Especially when he tries voicing his thoughts and all his mom does is yell at him.

Jacob ends up finding what he needs in Cronos. After chatting for a few weeks, things get weird. Really weird. And outright disturbing. Cronos has Jacob doing things to make him feel better and to help him heal. But these aren’t your ordinary type stuff. No. It’s dark web crap. It’s called The Blue Whale Challenge. – I looked it up and from what I found quickly on Google, it was a TikTok thing back in 2016.

Jacob ends up going missing and the whole book is about trying to find out where he is. You find out. Sort of. Not in the way people wanted though.

I have to say that this is my favourite non-extreme horror book of 2024 so far and I can’t wait to see what else Mique comes up with.

Available in Kindle Unlimited – https://amzn.to/45NOjTN

Extreme Horror, Horror, Kindle Unlimited, Standalone

#Review #ExtremeHorror – Them by Mique Watson

July 17, 2024 Jo-Anna W Leave a comment

Jeanette thought she’d get to enjoy the cozy, rainy evening after the hellacious week she’d just endured.

Snuggled up on her couch with her Labrador, Nico, everything seemed perfect. Rest couldn’t come sooner.

Then it happened.

The program on the television cut to black.

EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM.

Jeanette’s heart stops. The signal is choppy, yet the message is clear: “They look like people.”

And then the power goes out.

Someone knocks on the door. It is soon made clear to Jeanette that the world she once knew has ended. The place she once called home is now anything but. The world beyond the threshold of her door is a passageway to the deepest bowels of hell itself. Will she survive?

This book started out as a slow burn type horror novel and then when the horror stuff finally happened, it was like a slap in the face. I knew going in that this book was extreme but I wasn’t expecting what I read. Did I love it? Yes. Of course. Not sure what that says about me though.

Jeanette intends to have a quiet night at home with her dog and then suddenly, her world changes for the worst.

Like Mique’s other books, the scenes in this one are detailed, gruesome, and not for the faint of heart. If you like creepy, maybe alien type people who do things that are…awful doesn’t even begin to describe what they did, then this one could be for you.

This book was also beyond gory, which I feel like Mique likes challenging himself and making his gory scenes that much more…well…extreme.

This one is a fun little read and it definitely has some disturbing parts to it.

Now onto the next one!

Available in Kindle Unlimited: https://amzn.to/4evBdhX

Extreme Horror, Horror, Kindle Unlimited

#Review #ExtremeHorror – Broken Dolls: Deliverance by Mique Watson

May 29, 2024 Jo-Anna W Leave a comment

You’ve gone through hell… now prepare for deliverance.

Fleeing a childhood of darkness and abuse, Dane thought he’d finally taken ownership of his life. He sold his soul for the price of an escape; mutilating his childlike body and performing abominable sex acts for sick perverts on the dark web.

Years later, a specter from the past re-enters his life, making him want to abandon that which has put a roof over his head.

This quest for freedom on his own terms comes with dire consequences for both him and someone he treasures. They land themselves in the crosshairs of a sadistic man known only as The Puppetmaster.

Abducted and held within this abomination’s basement, Dane’s physical, mental, and emotional resolve is put to the test. Will he—and the person who matters most in the world to him—escape? Or, will their lives end in this basement of snuff and terror?

WARNING: This is an incredibly disturbing and extreme book. It deals with themes that will and should upset most readers. This book is STRONGLY NOT RECOMMENDED for readers under the age of 18.

This is so much more than just a horror novel. Yes, the horror scenes are graphic, vile and disgusting but besides that, this book shows a person who is struggling. Dane and Joe became friends when they were kids. They were best friends in fact. One day Joe disappears and it sets Dane on a path of self-destruction. It didn’t help that his home life was awful. His mother was useless and evil and his dad was a monster.

Dane runs away during his high school years and the things he goes through. What he puts himself through. What he does to himself. I wanted to hug him and keep him safe. My soul hurt for this broken shell of a person. A person who just wanted to be loved. A person who was chasing his best friend for years.

Dane and Joe reunite eventually and it sets of a chain of events that don’t end well for either of them.

I like how the author showed us chapters written in the past and chapters written in the current day. It helped build up the backstory, so we could get to know the characters.

Oh and if you’re a horror movie lover, this book reminded me of A Serbian Film. 100% do not recommend watching that movie but if you’re curious like I was, good luck! Anyway, this book definitely had A Serbian Film vibes.

I’d like to also think that there’s not people like this who exist in the real world but I know they do.

This book is hands down one of the best I’ve ever read.

Read now in Kindle Unlimted: https://amzn.to/4bpCB3m

Extreme Horror, Horror, Kindle Unlimited

#Review #ExtremeHorror – Broken Dolls by Mioue Watson

May 28, 2024 Jo-Anna W Leave a comment

It was supposed to be a tranquil Friday night for Lauren and her daughter, Tully. Then, someone knocked at the door.

Lauren thought she was being a Good Samaritan…

She never expected to have to fight for her daughter’s life. She’d always known that human beings were the most terrifying monsters.

What she didn’t know, until now, was how easy it would be for her to become one herself.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Okay, first of all. Wow.

So I don’t like reading blurbs and only read the first sentence of this one before I grabbed this book. I’m so glad I went in blind. As a horror movie lover, it had I Spit On Your Grave without the revenge part. There was just something about this story that had me thinking of this movie quite a bit. It’s dark, twisted, absolutely disgusting and vile but it’s now my favourite horror novel I’ve ever read and it definitely made the top of my list of 2024 reads.

Lauren and her daughter, Tully, live in the middle of nowhere. They have one neighbor, James, who lives closer to them and often pays a visit. My romantic heart hoped for a little something there between Lauren and James, but I should have known not to expect that.

One night, a good deed backfires and I couldn’t stop reading at this point. Actually, I couldn’t stop reading from the very first page.

Bret…I will never not think of this character whenever I see this name.

The things Lauren and are daughter are put through to survive…I can’t even put into words.

If you like extreme horror, descriptive scenes, a solid plot and a sick and twisted villain, I highly recommend reading this one.

Now I’m going to grab book 2.

Happy reading and good luck!

Available in Kindle Unlimited – https://amzn.to/44EeU4V

Extreme Horror, Kindle Unlimited

#Review #ExtremeHorror – Dr. Parasite by Rowland Bercy Jr.

May 27, 2024 Jo-Anna W Leave a comment

IT’S WHAT’S ON THE INSIDE THAT COUNTS…

Jacob Westergren, an expert in his field of study, gets paid to research the most sickening parasites known to man. But, even when he looks at the most appalling of the species, he does not see the intrusive ugliness that humanity does, he sees himself. He sees a vessel by which to purge himself of an amalgam of detestable emotions. Emboldened by promising experimentation, Jacob is anxious to unburden himself by sharing his emotional parasite, in physical form, with the rest of the world.

DEFINITIVE PROOF THAT, WE HUMANS ARE THE GREATEST OF EARTHS PARASITES…

This book was…interesting to say the least.

It was written really well and very descriptive, so unfortunately, I could picture everything. Wasn’t so bad until later in the book. But I knew going in and especially by the cover, I’d be in for something icky.

We meet Jacob who studies and researches parasites and is one of the best in his field. He decides to run an experiment and it goes down hill from there. For the rest of the world anyway. For him, not so much. He clearly has an obsession with these things and decides to use his body as a vessel.

This my first read by Rowland Bercy Jr. and I think it’s my first body horror novel as well. He did a really good job with his medical terminology. Not that I know anything about that stuff but it seemed legit to me. The author clearly did his research.

So all in all, I give this book 5 stars because it was gross, descriptive and the plot was on point.

Read in Kindle Unlimited now: https://amzn.to/3WAfJK5

Extreme Horror, Horror, Novella

#Review #ExtremeHorror – Zola by D E McCluskey

May 10, 2024 Jo-Anna W Leave a comment

Gordon’s name was a joke.

It was given to him by Anthony Zola, a controlling, and abusive father, to taunt his wife over her love of cheese, and the fact that she had been steadily gaining weight since their marriage.

Andrea was a doting mother, and maybe a little overprotective of her boy, but she didn’t see that as a bad thing.

On discovering a secret, one the child had been told to keep to himself, everything changes. Now she must do whatever she needs to keep her, and her boy, alive.

Needs must.

Gordon is going to find that his love of cheese, handed down to him by his mother, and his love for the only woman in his life, is about to be taken to a whole new level.

From the dark mind of D E McCluskey, author of The Twelve, CRACK, and Cravings, Comes another addition to his ‘Extreme Horror Series’.

Zola is about to take you into a whole new level darkness, and depravity.

“The perfect combination of extreme horror and heartfelt emotion.” – R E Shambrook

“Truly, a book of absolute depravity… but with heart.” – Christina Pfeiffer

This book was vile and disgusting but at the same time, also sad. For that alone, I’m rating it 5 stars, because it left me feeling all sorts of emotions. Which is absolutely crazy because I was not expecting that going into this one.

We meet a naïve woman who ends up finding out something horrible happened to her son. When she finds this out, she takes revenge into her own hands. Once this happens, the rest of the book is a crazy, twisted, disgusting ride.

I really have no words for what I just read but I can guarantee that I’ll be thinking about this book for a while.

DE definitely left me wanting to take a metal brillo pad to my skin and grab some tissues at the same.

Oh and I don’t think I’ll be eating cheese for a while.

Available to read in Kindle Unlimited – https://amzn.to/3v5vehF

Horror, Standalone

#Review #Horror – It Waits In The Woods by Josh Malerman

April 17, 2024 Jo-Anna W Leave a comment

Some chilling campfire tales ring too true to ignore. For one young woman, an urban legend calls her into the woods in a spine-tingling short story by the bestselling author of Bird Box.

The dense Michigan forest. Haunting wails. The clip-clop of demon hooves on a bridge to nowhere. It’s more than a tall tale to Brenda Jennings, whose sister disappeared in those woods one fateful night. Three years later, on a solo stakeout in the dark, Brenda goes in after her. She’s desperate for answers, and terrified to find what lies waiting on the other side of that bridge.

Josh Malerman’s It Waits in the Woods is part of Creature Feature, a collection of devilishly creepy stories that tingle the spine and twist the mind. They can be read or listened to in one petrifying sitting.

This one was my favourite so far of the Creature Feature Collection.

Opso is the thing in the woods but like most legends, you get people who believe it’s real and those who don’t.

Brenda’s sister Amanda went missing years before and Brenda is determined to figure out what happened to her. She doesn’t tell anyone and goes off on her own to try and find her sister but what she finds, goes far beyond her worst nightmare.

While this story is short, it packs a spine tingling punch.

I always enjoy stories with a creature, monster, something that isn’t “normal” and this one is no different.

Available in Kindle Unlimited – https://amzn.to/4bMhJnR

Extreme Horror, Horror, Novella

#Review #ExtremeHorror #Novella – My Vagina Smells Like Sulfur by Sea Caummisar

March 24, 2024 Jo-Anna W Leave a comment

My Vagina Smells Like Sulfur:
Description… The dark web has convinced people that the secret to a happy afterlife isn’t how you lived and whether you lived by the holy word. The secret to the afterlife is how you die. The more creative the death, (preferably suicide) the better your life is in the afterlife. All you have to do is record your death…. One Divinity Counselor claims that they can prove how great life is after death, complete with video of the dead person living their best life after death.

I had no idea what to expect when I started this book. I try not to read blurbs, so I did my best to go into this one blind.

We meet Madam Midnight who begins the book by torturing a woman. The things she does to this poor victim definitely left me wincing.

We end up meeting several other characters along the way and we find out that Madam works for a production company of sorts for the dark web. They do gruesome things themselves or have viewers send in home videos themselves.

The point of what Madam and her counterparts do, is to let viewers know the secret to the afterlife. It’s all in how you die.

This little book is jam packed with gruesome scenes, descriptive torture and more.

If you’re a fan of extreme horror, check this one out!

Available in Kindle Unlimited – https://amzn.to/3vIXoiD

Horror, Kindle Unlimited, Novella

#Review #Horror #Novella – Ankle Snatcher by Grady Hendrix

March 20, 2024 Jo-Anna W Leave a comment

Obey the rules. It’s the only way to survive the night in a short story about what hides in the dark by the New York Times bestselling author of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.

Marcus grew up believing his father killed his mother—then blamed it on the boogeyman under the bed. Always leave the lights on, his father warned, or the boogeyman will get you. Marcus still heeds the superstition, especially when he invites his new girlfriend over. Is Marcus haunted by a creature or has he just inherited his father’s murderous delusions? The night will tell.

Grady Hendrix’s Ankle Snatcher is part of Creature Feature, a collection of devilishly creepy stories that tingle the spine and twist the mind. They can be read or listened to in one petrifying sitting.

We meet Marcus who is on a date with Tess. When he starts sharing a little bit about his past with her, I found this part creepy. His dad apparently killed his mom and blamed it on the “Ankle Snatcher”. So now when I get out of bed, I’m going to be thinking of this. Thanx, Grady.

This was a fun quick little read and as someone who’s scared of the monster under the bed, this one was definitely creepy for me.

Marcus struggles with the idea that the Ankle Snatcher is all made up in his head or or if it could be an actual thing. He finds out that he’s not alone in believing that the Ankle Snatcher or other forms of boogeymen exist but he still questions those beliefs.

This story is my favourite so far of the Creature Feature series.

Available in Kindle Unlimited – https://amzn.to/41KB9ol

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