Category Archives: Novella

Novella, sibling best friend

#WOTR25 #Novella #SiblingsBestFriend – One Weekend on Mackinac Island by Amanda Zook

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On a weekend of love, laughter, and sabotage, will old flames finally light the way to forever?

When Kate’s brother marries her best friend on the enchanting Mackinac Island, she’s thrilled—until she learns she’ll be paired with the best man, Owen, her brother’s best friend and lifelong crush. Charming, maddening, and endlessly unattainable, Owen has always kept Kate at a playful distance, leaving her caught between frustration and a yearning she’s tried to bury. Now, as the maid of honor, Kate is forced to work side by side with him, navigating through a cascade of mishaps that threaten to unravel the perfect wedding.

As missing flowers, wardrobe malfunctions, and mysterious accidents escalate, Kate and Owen find themselves thrown together in an unexpected dance of teamwork and late-night problem-solving. But as they uncover clues that someone may be deliberately sabotaging the weekend, they also discover long-buried feelings neither thought would ever see the light of day.

With wedding bells just hours away and secrets unfolding, Kate and Owen must will they let old fears keep them apart, or take a chance on the spark that’s been flickering between them for years? On this island of timeless romance and lingering memories, they may just find that love is the one thing that refuses to be tied in knots.

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Review by Twinsie Angie

I purchased this book.

I was looking for a few quick reads over Spring Break and the author suggested this book for me.  I read the blurb and thought it sounded adorable…I mean crushing on your brother’s best friend and while he marries your best friend.  I mean that has gotta be good.  Then you see there will be drama and someone trying to ruin the wedding…yep I needed to read this book.

Kat has always had a crush on Owen since she was 10.  Little did she know that he also had a crush on her.    The story starts with Kat and Owen being transported by boat to the big manor of the wedding.  They soon are thrown together with the bridal couple and a few other characters to enjoy the weekend before the wedding.

Slowly Kat and Owen are pushing together when Kat notices that there is some shifty stuff happening.  The story of who was ruining the wedding was pretty wild and seeing Kat confront the people/person was great.  The story of Owen and Kat was a sweet read.  When Owen was slowly telling Kat about her 10th birthday party I was laughing.

The epilogue was another perfect ending to the story.

Amanda Zook has been an avid romance reader since middle school and has finally decided to liberate the stories that live in her head. After growing up in the Sweetest Place on Earth (Hershey, Pennsylvania) she attended college at a small liberal arts school where she met the love of her life. They spent the first 20 years of their marriage on the Jersey Shore (no, not the MTV reality show), before moving halfway across the country.

Amanda now lives in the Southwest corner of the mitten state on the shores of Lake Michigan (no sharks, no salt, no problem).

She is a wife, a mother of teenage twin girls (even though she is aghast that her children dislike reading and pizza) and can now add published author to her list of achievements.

Extreme Horror, Horror, Kindle Unlimited, Novella

#Review – XXX by Rayne Havok

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Xavier: “I escaped from prison, hauling ass in a stolen car, putting space between me and that barbed wire fence- when the damn thing runs out of gas.Luckily, I come across an old farmhouse that looks empty, even luckier, it is not.The threats about daddy coming home don’t scare me… maybe they should have.”

First off, this book deals with sexual assault and is quite detailed, so if you have triggers, please do not read this. This is extreme and short but packs a punch.

This book starts off with Xavier or X is released from jail and is on a mission. He ends up finding a house in the middle of nowhere that he thought was abandoned but learns that it is not. He meets a family and does unspeakable things to the mom and her two daughters living there. I’ve read a lot of extreme horror but these scenes definitely made me wince. 

Then we meet the dad. I don’t want to give too much else away but let’s just say, X gets what’s coming to him and I enjoyed every second of it.

Can be read in KU – https://amzn.to/4jVqPTd

Apocalyptic, Novella, Paranormal, Part of a Series, Review, Sci Fi, Suspense, Vampire, Writers on the River Attending Author

#WOTR25 #Review – Resonant (The Vampires of Vegas Prequel) by Alexis Purdy

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Surviving is worse than death…

As the first days of the end of humanity tumble across the city of Las Vegas in the form of an overwhelming viral infection, turning almost everyone into vampire-like creatures, April Tate will find out what it really means to survive. What does it take to make it out alive in a place where everything is but a withered echo of its former self, and death does not come willingly?

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Review by Twinsie Kelly

I love Prequels! Especially after you get invested with the main character and just NEED to see what the heck they went through at the beginning. However, in this instance, I started with the prequel. Sometimes, this is a big no no because you are just not committed to the story yet. Well, Alexia Purdy is a new to me author and I am now invested in this story. I need to know what craziness April and her family are about to get into. APOCALYPTIC VAMPIRES! I read this in less than an hour and was so bummed that the story was over. But the best part is, I get to dive right into Reign of Blood like, RIGHT NOW! See ya on the flip side!

Alexia Purdy profile image

Alexia is a USA Today Bestselling author who currently lives in Las Vegas and loves spending every free moment writing or hanging out with her four rambunctious kids. Writing is the ultimate getaway for her since she’s always lost in her head. She is best known for her award-winning Reign of Blood series, and A Dark Faerie Tale Series.

Sign up for email updates and exclusive giveaways: http://smarturl.it/AlexiaPurdyNews

Follow links: https://linktr.ee/alexiapurdy

Coming of Age, Fantasy, LGBTQ, Mythology, Novella, Review

#Review #GoddessofDeath – Morana by Piper Laksari-Minenco

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My name is Morana. The humans call me Death.

Forget all you thought you knew about myth and folklore. This is an unheard story; the story of death.

A new spin on mythology, told through the perspective of one of the most hated goddesses of them all.

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Review by Twinsie Kelly

I am a lover of all things mythology so when I seen Morana, I knew that I had to read it. Morana is definitely an interesting and unique spin on the gods and goddesses that we have all come to know. Some we love and some we love to hate. This is a coming-of-age story about Morana, who ultimately becomes the Goddess of Death. Morana is struggling with the gift that the sprits are going to bestow upon her as she fears that she will be hated by everyone.

There is a LOT going on with Morana and the additional characters. The family dynamic is very tense but she makes every effort not to clash with them. She has a schoolmate, Athena, who is the “cool kid” that everyone loves but she constantly locks horns with on the daily. And then there is her girlfriend, Devana. She is so sweet and understanding.

The overall story is really good but there is so much potential for this to be really great! This is a short story and as you got closer to the end, it felt like there were longer breaks in between events. With the jump in between events, I felt like I lost a bit of a connection with the other characters and even Morana while she may have processed what she went through. Overall, the story is very intriguing and is definitely a page turner. I do wish it was a bit longer so that we could discover a bit more about Morana…there is so much more, I just know it!

This is a new author for me, and I didn’t realize she was a young author, but I am extremely impressed! I look forward to reading other works by this author.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Piper Laksari-Minenco profile image

I’m a young writer who is super passionate about my craft, and who loves to weave a little exploration of mental health themes into my work. When I’m not penning my newest work, you can find me cuddling up under my fabulous periodic table blanket with a book in my hands, surrounded by my anatomy posters and whatnot. Passionate about the power of storytelling, I truly cherish the feeling of bringing hope or light to someone through a good book. I hope you’ll tag along and give my work a try!

Kindle Unlimited, Novella, Psychological Thriller, short story, Thriller

#Review – App by Rayne Havok

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Salem logs on to her favorite app. Her and Kyle are a match. The night starts out fun, with both of them eager to take things further.

The next morning, however, Salem wakes with no recollection of the evening.

Salem joins a dating app that is used for a one night thing only. Those are the rules. No commitments or anything. Just some fun. She comes across Kyle’s profile and decides to choose him for her fun. They meet up and go on a date. But the night doesn’t exactly go as planned. Or does it? She wakes up with no memory of the night before but ends up getting proof of what happened. There’s a nice little twist at the end that I wasn’t expecting. This story is a short, fun read that proves that they do in fact have an app for anything. 

Can be read in KU – https://amzn.to/3W91PgQ

Horror, Kindle Unlimited, Novella, short story

#Review – Test Town by Leigh Kenny

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Welcome to Test Town.
Population: Zero

When Savannah and her friends decide on a sightseeing pit stop at a long-abandoned nuclear testing facility, something feels off from the outset.
Dilapidated houses. Quiet, dusty streets. And mannequins.
So many mannequins.

With a growing sense of unease, the group soon learns that even in an abandoned town in the middle of nowhere, you’re never truly alone.

Oh this was a fun and super creepy little read. There’s just something about dolls and mannequins that give me the heebie jeebies. 

Savannahs, her brother and his friends, are driving through the dessert and decide to stop at Test Town. There’s no human life and only mannequins. So not unsettling in the least right? Unfortunately for the group, things take a turn for the worse.

Although this was a super short story, I really enjoyed it! Now I need to find more books about creepy dolls and mannequins.

Can be read in KU – https://amzn.to/3PJdmQJ

Horror, Kindle Unlimited, Novella, Psychological Thriller

#Review – Writer’s Block: How a desperate search for inspiration went terribly wrong by Geoff A. Wilson

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A psychological short story by the author of ‘Depravity’, ‘The dream’, ‘Meltdown’, ‘The machine’ and ‘(Un)happy Christmas’.

Ross Stubbard is a failed, angry, and depressed writer who struggles to find inspiration for his next book. One night a strange apparition stands by his bedside – an apparition that embodies Ross’s ghostly alter ego. The apparition urges Ross to write a short story. At first, working with the apparition helps Ross to rediscover his lost writing skills, get him out of his writer’s block, and to develop a gripping story. But then what his alter ego suggests takes on a much darker hue and urges Ross to write a tale of darkness and despair based on himself and his own failed life.

The apparition unlocks a Pandora’s box of Ross’s suppressed emotions and memories where accounts of his deep depression intermix with his fear of alcoholism, where the abuse he has metered out on his wife and kids bleeds into narratives about his darkest suicidal thoughts, and where memories of wanting to hurt people and his readers, who have so selfishly abandoned him, intertwine with his darkest visions of extreme violence and murder.

Too late, Ross realises that his alter ego has become his puppet master, guiding him down a path of self-destruction. The apparition has made him slip further into the abyss, forcing him to lose his grip on reality, urging him to re-enact the horrors he has written, to make the story a reality. The failed, angry, and depressed author, has himself become the embodiment of the darkness he has conjured up in his own, final, story. He, who has sought solace in the cold embrace of his alter ego’s story writing, has unwittingly become the protagonist of his own macabre masterpiece, a story of a man consumed by his own demons, and a cautionary tale of the perilous path that lies at the intersection of creativity and madness.

Oh this one is creepy and disturbing. Especially since I’m an author as well. 

We meet Ross who is a failed author and tries so desperately to find his words again. He looks to an unknown source for inspiration and while it helps him get the words down, he slowly slips into insanity as a result. 

Can be read in KU – https://amzn.to/40jGXX2

Horror, Kindle Unlimited, Novella, Zombie

#Review – The Zed Conspiracy by Meera Masen

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Previously published under S.M. Phoenix
Based on a writing prompt.

These short stories will have you second guessing how much control the government has over its citizens and whether zombies can be created in a science lab.

PART ONE
On trial for murder, Jonathan Bigwell must prove his innocence after killing what he thought was a zombie. But how innocent is the judge?

PART TWO
Successfully creating a genetic mutation isn’t easy, but scientist Tonya Farris did it. What will her new gene do and why does the government want it?

PART THREE
The government elite must now tie up loose ends and figure out their next move. Will they successfully launch Project Zed?

This was a fun short little zombie read. The government has a gene created that can turn people into zombies. Nothing could go wrong with thay right? Clearly these people have never watched a zombie movie in their life. The story shows the gene being created, the zombies being formed and an attack from some zombies. Cause again, creating zombies is alwahs a good idea. Insert eye roll here. The story also shows a court hearing and how one guy gets convicted of murdering a zombie. While this is just a story, it makes me wonder if it could actually happen. Good thing I’ve watched a lot of zombie movies. You know…for research purposes and all. 

Can be read in KU – https://amzn.to/40hErjG

Extreme Horror, Horror, Kindle Unlimited, Novella

#Review – Sewer Rat by Meera Masen

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Ben Jansen has been bullied relentlessly since the third grade by his ex-best friend, Jimmy Norton, after he spills an important secret that destroys not only each of their families but also their friendship.

In an odd twist of fate, Ben finds friendship and comfort in a new and unlikely ally under the city streets. His new friend, Henry encourages Ben to stand up for himself.

Armed with newfound confidence, Ben seeks revenge on Jimmy and his Goon Squad, one by one.

This is an extreme psychological horror story. If you are not familiar with the genre, please note that this is extremely dark and twisted.

I really liked this one. I knew something was off, especially when the author said that she hopes the ending makes the reader mad. But I wasn’t sure how it was going to play out.

Ben had been bullied by the Goons for years for reasons that he truly honestly believed happened. But did they?

He ends up meeting a rat, Henry, and this rat and his family help Ben. Not sure it ends exactly how Ben expected though.

I read this one in a single sitting and while it was short, it didn’t feel like it. I think it packed the perfect punch for the length it was. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Can be read in KU – https://amzn.to/4a21odW

Extreme Horror, Horror, Kindle Unlimited, Novella

#Review – Gaping Wound by Meera Masen

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Caden always knew that he was different and now he would stop at nothing to match who he is on the outside with who he is on the inside. With a mother who doesn’t share his ideologies, Caden begins research on the deep dark web, looking up do-it-yourself gender reassignment surgeries.

This is a splatterpunk/extreme horror story. If you are not familiar with the genre, please note that this is extremely dark and twisted.

This story instantly hurt my heart. To not have the support from your parent where you have to take things upon yourself in the most drastic way. I know this is just a book but I also know that so many people in the world, feel exactly like this character does. I also wonder just how many people do these kinds of things on their own. This was my first book from this author and I can’t wait to read more. This story is extreme and has several triggers. It made me wince and take deep breaths at times. Which is saying something, given the books I’ve read in the past year. Most of all, I loved that Delilah is finally happy. But oy, what a way to find that happiness. Makes me sad that she had to go through all of that.

Can be read in KU – https://amzn.to/3ZQziOk