reading_under_covers's reviews
1512 reviews

Capri makes a living giving guided serial killer tours of San Francisco. Ever since she found out her grandfather was a convicted serial killer, she’s been fascinated in the topic and the chance to maybe one day prove his innocence. When a copycat killer suddenly pops up in town, Capri dives back into all of those unanswered questions to figure out who was murdering in the past and also the present.

THE SERIAL KILLER GUIDE TO SAN FRANCISCO by Michelle Chouinard pulled me in from the jump when we joined Capri on one of her infamous serial killer tours and found out her origin story - so so fascinating and I couldn’t wait to keep on reading!

The story did devolve a bit for me as the copycat killer emerged and we seemed to lose focus on both the tours and the Overkill Bill case - they became background players to a mystery that I found far less interesting.

This was overall and intriguing mystery, but based on the other elements within this story, I felt that it had the chance to be so much more!

A good debut from Chouinard, regardless.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Publication Date: September 24

Huge thanks to Libro.fm for an ALC in exchange for an honest review!

I loved the charm of this one and all of the characters we met along the way.

This story is more about Flick's relationship with her new roommates and her sister, than it is about her actual romance storyline - though that does dip in more than I expected it, too - and finding those new friendships in your early 20's is HUGE and Merrill does a great job showing the importance and impact of that.

Flick was a bit dramatic at times, but this was overall a very fun, low stakes contemporary fiction whose Britishness was amped up even more by the audio narrator!

In real life and fiction, AI is a scary beast.

A great smart house, spooky season read! At just over 200 pages, it's a quick read with short chapters and takes place over the course of a Halloween day! 

There's also a twist that got me real good.

Going from the Dial A series to this book, Sutanto has got range!! 

This book was bonkers in the best way and had me wide-eyed and gasping from chapter to chapter.

Sam has recently married Ben and is ready to begin a new life with him and her teen from a previous marriage, Emma. However, Ben’s mother soon falls ill and it sees the new family moving to her island of residence to take care of her. With the elder community members plying Sam with alcohol and pie, Emma begins to see things that warn her that her mother isn’t safe here.

DON’T EAT THE PIE by Monique Asher is an eerie horror novel that will make you think twice about sticking your fork in that pie!

Overall, I really enjoyed the story and the arc that it took - there were a lot of creepy, cult-like elements that stood out to me and I felt like Asher really incorporated some nice (read: terrifying & disgusting) imagery.

However, I was never able to fully click with the writing style and the story didn’t flow very well from one point to another. I also had a hard time understanding Sam and Emma’s relationship - there’s what we’re told and what we’re shown, and they never really seem to match up. Emma also read much younger than her 16 years for a good chunk of the story.

Thank you to Rising Action Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Publication Date: September 24

Ash is stranded at a rural horror film festival about a giant killer cicada and can't decide what's worse, the movie or her idiot boyfriend, until she realizes she's starring in the bloody sequel when people start dying and the locals won't let them leave.

What do you get when you combine road trips, creepy small towns, and all of the 90’s vibes?? CICADA by Tanya Pell!

The latest installment in the Killer VHS series brings us CICADA, a fantastic, non-stop, creature feature that I didn’t know I desperately needed in my life!

This was the perfect combo of nostalgic horror with its camp and unfounded creatures, while placing us firmly in the modern day with a cult-like small town.

This story is one I can easily see myself re-reading and picking up on new things each time!

Huge thanks to Shortwave for the ARC in exchange for an honest review - I can’t wait to add the physical copy to my collection when it comes out!

Publication Date: September 24

Overall, a really fun, DRAMA-filled series!

I could read about Patrick, Maisie, and Grant forever and ever.

It’s 1987 on a cold winter evening in Milwaukee, WI and six middle-school paperboys are out selling newspaper subscriptions with the promise of Burger King at the end of it all. That night, they end up in the unfamiliar neighborhood of Hampton Heights where things are far from normal.

HAMPTON HEIGHTS by Dan Kois really leaned into the spooky creatures and tropes (with Milwaukee references galore!!)

I really loved that this story took place over the course of one evening and that, for the most part, none of the characters really knew one another at the start, making the ending really beautiful with a strong coming of age feel.

This book is broken up into different chapters following each set of characters as they’re broken up into pairs and, while I wasn’t a fan of every vignette, there were some strong standout ones and the imagery was really well done!

I do feel that the target audience for this book is ~the teenage boy~ with the fart jokes and playboys and overall sense of humor, but I enjoyed it regardless!

Thanks to Harper Perennial for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Publication Date: September 17