Horror books written by women that I love: •The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher •Near The Bone by Christina Henry •The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke •The Last House On Needless Street by Catriona Ward
I read White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi for one of my classes, that book was absolutely haunting and genuinely scary, I really liked it! Severe trigger warning for disordered eating though
I would definitely recommend checking out Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant since you love water horror. It was a good one and it's written by a woman and it features a f/f relationship.
Living for the book content! 💜 Please do more than just quarterly videos -- been looking forward to more since the first one! Would love to see what's on your TBR or maybe predicted 5⭐ reads, maybe some more book and movie comparisons as well!
Loving the book content ✨ Also, please read Dark Places! I loved the Gone Girl movie so much that I haven’t read it but I did read her other ones and they really blew me away.
The Gone Girl book is even better! You should definitely give it a try. It’s not as good as my favorite by Flynn (which is Sharp Objects), but it gets so close.
I'm a booktuber and I DNF'D Kill Creek because I could not deal with the way he wrote the main female character. I was done. So I'm so glad you spoke on this. Thank you! And Project Hail Mary was my favorite book that I read last year.
When you called out the fat-phobia in Kill Creek, I literally screamed "YES" at my computer. The real horror of that novel is the anti-fatness and his depiction of women - so spot on.
I'm so happy you loved Project Hail Mary! I loved it too. Trust me, you'll love the Martian as well. I also want more books like this- realistic/light hearted/scifi!
How did I KNOW the one you didn’t finish would be Verity 🤣. I knew immediately lol as for Gillian Flynn, I prefer Dark Places to Gone Girl. Just my opinion 🤷🏻♀️
Ugh, Tender is the Flesh bothered me so much in a negative way. I loved the world building, but it seemed that every time it introduced a new interesting concept is pivoted back to this douchebag middle management guy at the slaughterhouse and his banal dealings. It bored me in that sense! If it had been marketed as a book that dealt with the horrors of men who take advantage of women, and everything in their surroundings really, I may have enjoyed it! Like she said though, more power to you. Not my thing!
@@playingpossum9656 certain parts in the first half were a little hard to read (on my stomach) lol but over all I really liked it. A short stay in hell is definitely easier to read and has really cool world building. You should check it out!
Verity...is so stupid. I cant stand Colleen Hoover. Her writing is so simple and she just thinks she's so clever. She writes a ton of abuse as love and her male characters generally never get any consequences. It makes me so angry. I don't know how she has fans. ALSO...my favorite Chuck Palahniuk is Invisible Monsters. Such an awesome book! 🙌 AND if you love space, I'm reading Dead Silence right now. By S.A. Barnes. Its space horror, I'm really loving it so far...might be something you would wanna check out.
I have 8 unused audible credits, and I am right now in an ER being treated for an injury that's probably going to keep me out of work for a while, so this is beyond timely. Thanks!
@@marlee_oh_noo -Agreed. Gone Girl is amazing, & i enjoyed Dark Places, but Sharp Objects is definitely my favourite of Gillian Flynn's books. I don't normally get creeped out by murder mystery thrillers, but the book, & miniseries adaptation of Sharp Objects, were both so disturbing that it left me feeling really uneasy when I got to that ending.
Ania Ahlborn, Tananarieve Due, Samantha Kolesnik, Gemma Amor, V. Castro, Sara Tatlinger, Catriona Ward, Christina Henry, Jess Lourey and LaTanya McQueen are just a few great women who write some kick-ass horror.
I gobble up horror like candy. I’m always coming back for more. Nothing really seems to scare me, BUT, A Head Full of Ghosts is so good that I couldn’t finish it. It scared me too much. That’s high praise from this Horror Junkie.
I really, really love Gone Girl and can't recommend it enough. For me there are enough differences from the movie that it doesn't detract from the book when you've seen the movie first. Also I read Kill Creek several years ago, when I wasn't quite as sensitive about problematic portrayals as I am now. As a person of size, I really appreciate your sensitivity to the fatphobia in addition to the rampant sexism. Thank you!
I know why you pinpoint and its important for you the writing in books, I can tell you have a very rich vocabulary, in fact, this can be off topic but I'm mexican and you help me out a lot to incorporate words and phrases to my personal vocabulary 🥰 so thank you haha
I do have one book recommendation, though it is by a male author. "Thirteen Storeys" by Jonathan SIms. His first major claim to fame as a writer is "The Magnus Archives" a Horror/Supernatural podcast that for the most part was an amazing listen. The book is similar to Goblin in that it follows the stories of 13 characters who all experience personal supernatural forces at an apartment complex called Banyan Court. As you read each chapter, you start to uncover the mysteries of the apartment building and understand why everything is happening. And to help focus the story, each chapter focuses on one member of the large cast. I believe it is also available in audiobook form!
Both Gone Girl and Dark Places are great (Sharp Objects is also phenomenal, and the short story The Grownup)! You’ve probably seen the movie so you already know the twist in Gone Girl, so maybe go for Dark Places? Either or, though. She’s one of my favorite authors and nothing quite beats her books in the thriller genre imo :)
Project Hail Mary is my favourite sci fi book yet, it was just such a lovely read, I still think about it and feel happy when I see others talk about it ❤
there’s this book called “devil’s hill” by E. Reyes that i’ve been seeing a lot lately and i think you might like it! i’m not sure of your taste in books yet but I just wanted to recommend it :)
Some female author recs: Come Closer by Sara Gran - horror (is it possession?) The Push by Ashley Audrain - thriller (am i crazy or is my kid evil?) Brother by Ania Ahlborn - horror (TCM family dynamics) If You See Her by Ania Ahlborn - horror (what happened in the abandoned building?) The Hollow Places by T Kingfisher - horror (what's in the hole?) The Twisted Ones by T Kingfisher - horror (what's in the woods?)
Absolutely have to recommend to you, House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It's a big one but, oh, so good! Took me some time, especially to get into it at the beginning but it was definitely worth it. I've never read something like this before or after and it's terrifying. Its genuinely scary and I think you'd really appreciate the kinda found footage style descriptions of film snippets throughout.
Girl talk about book content whenever you want to, you don’t have to be consistent with it! :) also I’d recommend The Girl With All the Gifts by MR Carey!
I personally think the way Scott Thomas wrote the main female character was spot-on: if I don't look down at my boobs every five seconds, I sometimes forget that I'm a woman!🙄 It's been awhile since I read that one, but I remember it being sort of ableist as well -- it read to me like the one disabled character existed simply to scare the others. It's such a shame that the whole thing was a dumpster fire, because Scott Thomas is a very talented writer! I also tried to read Dark Matter a few years ago and DNFed it because I found it boring and slow. But since it took you awhile to get into it as well, maybe I'll pick it up again.
Definitely try out Josh Malerman's longer works--- bird box is excellent, unbury carol is fantastic, inspection is a great concept. Love these book vids! I'm an avid horror reader and love when you read, too! Especially since you're a writer, as well!
Based on your movie taste, I highly recommend Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender! It's definitely young adult, but surprisingly gets the spooky vibes on point, more than any adult "horror" I've read. (I do have a review of it and some other horror novels on my channel, if anyone has any interest xx)
When I was looking up "actually scary horror recs" on Reddit a couple of years back, Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk is one that came up quite a few times, just an idea for your next/future Palahniuk read!
That Goblin cover has been intriguing the heck out of me for MONTHS now, and your mention of it...even though you didn't love-love it...has finally pushed me to read it! And yes, yes, YES, that is exactly what bothered me about Kill Creek too -- that could have been a phenomenal story, right? Ugh with these men writing women and their breasts breasting breastily in every scene. We GET IT, dude! The mammaries have entered the story! Sheesh. RE: being brainwashed by booktok, I've been there for sure. I'm on TikTok, not doing book reviews, but rather perfume reviews and talking about fragrance. And you get so many people talking about a certain scent and you want to know what all the hype is about, so you buy into it, and you're like "really? But this is so BORING!" Normies, man. I tell you. Oh! And women authors! I am new to your channel, so I don't know if you've already mentioned these books at any points, and feel free to ignore this if you have, but I just read two in a row that I really enjoyed: Sundial by Catriona Ward and Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes. There was a *little* bit of romance in Dead Silence (I, too, am not a fan of romance in my horror, or in anything else, really) but it wasn't enough to ruin the story for me. I tore through both of those books and loved them!
I'm just reading The Last House on Needless Street and its so so good, I would love to hear a review from you on it, I think you'd love it if you havn't read it already.
Going to keep it vague here to avoid spoilers: I guessed the "twist" in Olivia's first chapter but still got to 1/3 of the way through the book before I checked spoilers to see if I was right. I was, but a lot of reviews mentioned how enlightening the author's note was. The audiobook from my library didn't even have the author's note, so I borrowed the ebook to read the author's note. And found it inadequate a justification for using that as a twist. I looked for own voices reviews or reviews from loved ones of an own voices and they seemed to agree. The note doesn't mention own voices sensitivity readers and cites one conversation one day with one own voices as her own voices research. SPOILERS: She still exploited DID for a cheap twist and tried to justify it by saying she was using it to bring awareness to DID and acted like no one ever shows those with DID as the victim with a traumatic backstory. Yet, that's so false and most of the harmful portrayals of things like DID specifically mention they developed the disorder because of the trauma they experienced. You still spend the grand majority of the book perpetuating the harmful stigma and showing the MC as a prime suspect of the crimes. The author says she started the book with the MC as the bad guy and "discovered" DID and decided to use that as the twist halfway through the writing process. So you spend something like 80% of the book portraying the MC as "crazy," dangerous, gross and possibly also the murderer, which is still the exact stigma it's claiming to dismantle. And then the twist ending is" surprise, he has mental illness! Bet you didn't see that coming? BUT he was the victim and not the one doing the crimes. I sure tricked you didn't I??" It is still a cheap trivialization. IF the author truly wanted to write a horror with a sympathetic character with DID that isn't a disgusting cheap plot device, she should have established with the reader openly from the start that he has DID and then continued the story of finding out who did it and proving it wasn't the MC. Then, you are showing DID in the light and actually bringing awareness to it. When you use any marginalization as a twist in the ending, it will always be exploitative and cheap. Even if you try to write it with empathy and have the intention of dismantling the stigma, what you really end up doing is furthering the stigma that mental illness is scary. Especially when you don't bother to portray them as someone who you can see having friends or falling in love. The MC wasn't shown to be still just like us ("We're More Alike Than Different" is the phrase used for Down's but I think it applies to most disorders and disabilities. We are all still humans with hopes and dreams and friends and loves). The MC was shown to be gross and shady and creepy.
@@Amanda.aka.Megan.Shines well, thats me spoiled for it. I was resisting checking whether I had guessed it or not, DID rather pops out whether you’ve warned of spoilers or not. Why not film your own reviews if you really want to share spoilery opinions.
hey, make sure you check your interactions to make sure youtube isn’t burying your vid’s from subs! i was waiting on you to drop a video because you’re one of my fav creators who hasn’t been on my page recently. i looked at your channel and found this. peace and love, great content
Always here for some quality book content. I’ve read quite a few of the recommendations from your last video and have found some new favourite authors from it!
As a 38 year-old chonky woman, I am removing Kill Creek immediately from my Want To Read list. So thank you for that. Paul Tremblay is amazing at anything he writes and he's so nice to interact with!
Gillian Flynn is absolutely amazing. You can't really go wrong, but I would suggest Dark Places because it's more horror than Gone Girl. I also suggest the book Come Closer by Sara Gran. It's a novella about a woman becoming posessed and it's really good and a fast read.
I haven't read Dark Places, but I'm reading Gone Girl right now and I love it! It's taking me a while to get through because I'm finishing my undergrad and working part-time, but it's so good that I want to read Flynn's other books.
I would recommend reading Haunted by Chuck Palahnuik it is horrific all the way through. There is a chapter called Guts and it has a history of readers passing out or getting physically ill from it.
Hi sarah i just had to hop back over here and thank you for recommending paul tremblays A head full of ghosts! I started reading it yesterday after watching your video and i just finished it and it was spectacular! The ending was so unexpected and absolutely terrifying! So thank you ❤️
cabin at the end of the world was horrible for me. I think you desribed the structure of it perfectly. It so damn long builds up the tension that it lost me completely and I was BORED to tears while reading. Couldn’t get past 120 pages. It was constant „the world is ending and you need to LISTEN to us” while also saying nothing, just repeating over and ober again „you need to LISTEN OR ELSE”. I tried to finish it three times and still couldn’t. I’ve also just today dnf’ed the ruins which I was so excited for since your last book video… I felt like the characters were horribly flat and certain scenes just draaaagged forever. I dnf’ed it after 100 pages.
OMG finally someone else who DNF the same book. I feel so alone in the book community since eveeeerrryyyyyoooonnneee loves it - no thanks!!! This opinion was felt on every single level!!!
I’ve recently read: The Grand Hotel by Scott Kenemore No Exit by Taylor Adams Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix All of which I enjoyed as great horror or horror adjacent books and all of which are on audible so you can read on a walk or a commute
I think you should read both Gillian Flynn books but maybe start with Dark Places, I have a feeling you might really like it. Also, I highly recommend the audiobook for Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix
If you're into short horror Ellen Datlow has some awesome horror anthologies. A more obscure horror is The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun. It gave me very similar vibes to Jackson and Trembley bc it leans heavily into psychological horror blending into the supernatural. Also strongly recommend more Stephen Graham Jones. If you like slasher films, The Last final girl is a very meta thrill ride.
Definitely love the book content. I watch a lot of booktube, so it's nice to merge my book and horror content streams. Haha. That being said, if you wanted to do more book content, I personally really enjoy reading vlogs and videos that recommend specific types of books, basically like your movie recs.
Oooo, also, big recommendation for Hailey Piper's books, especially Benny Rose the Cannibal King and The Worm andHis Kings. I think you would really love those.
Tender Is The Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica was good! Could have went deeper in my opinion, but that could have been a translation thing - but the ending. Ooft. Her Body and Other Parties is a short story collection by Carmen Maria Machado - there are some, like any short story collection that are weaker than others, but still good. Things We Say In The Dark by Kirsty Logan was really good too! Some horror elements, more horror lite though!
I’ve read two Gillian Flynn books so far. Dark Places and Sharp Objects. Sharp Objects was just okay to me, but I LOVED Dark Places. It switched time and perspective every chapter and it was so well paced. I read it pretty quickly cause I just didn’t want to put it down. And when I finished it I almost felt guilty for starting a new book 😅 I loved the characters so much. I just picked up Gone Girl and I’m excited to read it. I’d seen the movie several years ago and remember really liking it, so I’m sure the book is amazing.
I love Gone Girl and Dark Places! I say maybe try Dark Places, but Gone Girl is a classic. Also, a thriller I think you may enjoy is The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson. As for content I'd love movie comparisons, reviews or rants with a spoiler section, tier rankings, even maybe a video where you read recommended books for you and see if you enjoyed them.
For books by women, I highly recommend The Shining Girls or Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes (as a bonus, Apple is putting out a series based on The Shining Girls). Broken Monsters in particular scared the hell out of me, and I am rarely scared by books. It had me checking my closets to make sure no one was in them before I went to bed. For more gothic horror, I've enjoyed several books by Laura Purcell, particularly The Silent Companions and The Shape of Darkness. Obviously they are less overtly scary and more atmospheric, but she is a master at creating that spooky atmosphere.
Dark Places & Gone Girl are both SO GOOD and I gave both 5 stars. If you have seen the movie adaptation for Gone Girl, I would definitely recommend reading Dark Places. Gone Girl is fantastic and one of my favorites of all time, but if you know what’s going to happen I think that would take away from the first time reading experience. Dark Places is my personal favorite novel from Gillian Flynn but it’s really, really dark (so, well-titled, if you will)
Love love love the book content! I’m ALL about horror/thriller books nowadays. I cannot stop reading them. I love all of your videos, obvi. But definitely keep the book content coming! The Winter People is a book I think you’d really like! Also, thank you SO much for bringing up Verity. I’ve been so back and forth about reading it and now that I’ve listened to what you had to say, I know for a fact that this will not be the book for me. 😂 So, thank you for that.
I watch Jade the Libra and she does "Spooky Book Club" every month to have a goal to read one book a month and share with everyone. Maybe you can do that with horror/ sci fi/ thriller/ holiday horror maybe? And kind of just have everyone vote if they want to read it with you to have a discussion, or maybe a nice review with a little spoiler section for NSFL part. Just a suggestion.
@@rachelreynolds0430 I think if Sarah wants to do more book stuff, it would make it easier to do a monthly once instead of videos along with reading and quarterly book stuff. Also spoilers really don't bother me because I'm not experiencing it myself, and most times it just drives me to experience it because everyone seems like they're having a good time. Saying "I can't believe X did Y" doesn't make sense to me since most times "spoilers" are really just like topics throughout reading and it makes me feel excluded!
Recs!! Sawkill Girls Horrid by Katrina Leno My best Friend's Exorcism (did you already read this? This and Southern Bookclub's Guide by Grady Hendrix are great) Home Before Dark by Riley Sager Clown in a Cornfield Lock Every Door by Riley Sager The One by John Marrs Devolution by Max Brooks If We Were Villains (true thriller) Sadie by Courtney Summers - audio is GREAT, also more thriller The Last Days of Jack Sparks Apologies for any you've already read!
My favorite book, that I have read so far this year is Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka (2022). It's perhaps not quite the genre of the books mentioned in this video (rather tragic then 'just' straight up thrilling, though an absolute page turner to me). It is about a serial killer who is set to be executed and how he has affected the lives of women he has come in contact with (chapters switching perspectives between him and the women). It just kind of did everything I want a book to do for me, a compelling story (some mystery) but also interesting, tragic and nuanced characters, i loved it!
For audiobooks I highly, HIGHLY recommend The Diviners by Libba Bray. It’s YA which I know isn’t everyones cup of tea but it definitely reads on the older side of that age category. Its a horror set in New York in the 1920’s following a cast of characters. It’s probably the best audiobook (with a single narrator) that I’ve ever listened to! I also recommend the audiobook for Sadie by Courtney Summers. It’s more thriller than horror but it follows a podcast host searching for a missing person. The audiobook is full cast and sounds just like a podcast. The story wasn’t my favorite personally but I know a lot of people loved it and I still thought the audiobook was pretty cool.
For those wanting to get into Chuck Palahniuk's more horror-focused books, I would suggest Rant and The Invention of Sound. The Invention of Sound is actually his newest, and is about horror movie actresses and sound designers perfecting their screams and sound effects for horror films, while Rant is a science fiction horror book based loosely around the concept of rabies. The main character accidentally starts a worldwide rabies epidemic by intentionally allowing himself to be bit by wild animals. They are both amazing reads and some of my favorites of his!
Nice list! I’ve not read Blake Crouch and am a little closer to picking up Dark Matter now. That’s also a Paul Tremblay book I’ve not read yet, so I was happy to hear you talk about it - despite all the reviews of it out there it still doesn’t feel spoiled for me yet :) yeah, my vote is against spoilery book chat.
I used to read a lot when I was younger. As a kid I read all the Edgar Allan Poe books I could get. Later I knew about H.P. Lovecraft but couldn't find a book. Then got several Stephen King books and had them until some years ago when I donated them to Goodwill. Nowadays I have eyesight issues and I can't focus my eyes for too long or else I'll get a headache. I bought 2 expensive Nintendo books and was bearly able to read something. And this is with glasses without them I can't see a single page. It sucks! Anyway it's great to see you Sarah covering horror books. Cool video!👍
I personally would love for you to read Dark Places. I really enjoy and respect your book content/recommendations. I'm currently reading Home Before Dark (100 pages in), and really enjoying it so far. I feel like there are other ways to effectively write horror, so I agree with you. I'm not a fan of Stephen King, I have found other writers of the genre that I think are much better at writing than he is... Quarterly book reviews would be great! Have a great weekend Sarah! 😃
I would highly recommended Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant & To Be Devoured by Sara Tantlinger! both faves of mine. also Ania Ahlborn & Gemma Amor are both great female horror authors.
youve probably read it already. But my all time favourite horror book has to be Rosemary's Baby. It's so good! Also loved the little stranger by sarah waters
I love your book content! Quarterly sounds good or whenever you read enough to warrant another video. A good sci-fi recommendation is All Systems Red by Martha Wells. This is the first in a series of 4 short novellas called The Murderbot Diaries. The audiobook is 3 hours, so you can get through it quick. It has some adventure/action and the science and space stuff is really easy to digest and grounded. It's also surprisingly funny, so hopefully this sounds like something you would like!
I just finished reading A Head Full of Ghosts. Thank you SO much for recommending it. I read it in 2 days and I wish I could read it all over again for the first time.
Her Body and Other Parties is a wonderful short story collection by Carmen Maria Machado (woman, queer, poc.) The writing is beautiful and there are horror elements.
i'm listening to the PHM audiobook right now and i like the narrator a lot, i think he conveys Weir's writing tone very well. it is a fun read and i'm glad to have picked it as my cycling background track. (also for some reason i picture Ryland as Jack Black)
If you can find a copy, The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons is a wonderful haunted house story in the vein of The Haunting of Hill House. And, as best I can recall, it's Ms. Siddons' only foray into horror.
For video ideas you could do anticipated releases or “if you like this movie read this book” (or vice versa) type of lists!
This is such a cool idea!
Horror books written by women that I love:
•The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
•Near The Bone by Christina Henry
•The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke
•The Last House On Needless Street by Catriona Ward
The Lighthouse Witches and Near The Bone are both incredible
Love The Hollow Places! Such a good weird horror.
I read White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi for one of my classes, that book was absolutely haunting and genuinely scary, I really liked it! Severe trigger warning for disordered eating though
The last house on needless Street might be the most unpredictable book I've ever read
I haven’t read the Hollow Places but I loved The Twisted One’s!!
I would definitely recommend checking out Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant since you love water horror. It was a good one and it's written by a woman and it features a f/f relationship.
YES this book is so so good!!
Thanks for this, will definitely check out!
Agreed!
I recommend this book to everybody, its my favourite
I DNFd that book. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone with a science background.
Living for the book content! 💜 Please do more than just quarterly videos -- been looking forward to more since the first one! Would love to see what's on your TBR or maybe predicted 5⭐ reads, maybe some more book and movie comparisons as well!
love those ideas!!
Yes, we want more!!!
Loving the book content ✨ Also, please read Dark Places! I loved the Gone Girl movie so much that I haven’t read it but I did read her other ones and they really blew me away.
Sharp Objects is also amazing!
@@jaimelilfox Sharp Objects is good but it made me so, so sad :(
The Gone Girl book is even better! You should definitely give it a try. It’s not as good as my favorite by Flynn (which is Sharp Objects), but it gets so close.
The imagery from Dark Places lives in my brain. I wish the movie for it had captured it better.
all of her books are phenomenal. i cannot wait for her to publish more :))
I'm a booktuber and I DNF'D Kill Creek because I could not deal with the way he wrote the main female character. I was done. So I'm so glad you spoke on this. Thank you! And Project Hail Mary was my favorite book that I read last year.
When you called out the fat-phobia in Kill Creek, I literally screamed "YES" at my computer. The real horror of that novel is the anti-fatness and his depiction of women - so spot on.
I'm so happy you loved Project Hail Mary! I loved it too. Trust me, you'll love the Martian as well. I also want more books like this- realistic/light hearted/scifi!
How did I KNOW the one you didn’t finish would be Verity 🤣. I knew immediately lol as for Gillian Flynn, I prefer Dark Places to Gone Girl. Just my opinion 🤷🏻♀️
Dark Places is her best one IMO. Sooo good.
My favorites this year that I read were “tender is the flesh” by augustine and “a short stay in hell” by Steven peck. definitely recommend both!
I second Tender is the Flesh. I’m still traumatized by some of the visuals. 😳
Tender is the Flesh has stuck with me ever since I read it!
A Short Stay in Hell is at the top of my April TBR. Im glad you liked it :)
Ugh, Tender is the Flesh bothered me so much in a negative way. I loved the world building, but it seemed that every time it introduced a new interesting concept is pivoted back to this douchebag middle management guy at the slaughterhouse and his banal dealings. It bored me in that sense! If it had been marketed as a book that dealt with the horrors of men who take advantage of women, and everything in their surroundings really, I may have enjoyed it! Like she said though, more power to you. Not my thing!
@@playingpossum9656 certain parts in the first half were a little hard to read (on my stomach) lol but over all I really liked it. A short stay in hell is definitely easier to read and has really cool world building. You should check it out!
YAAS I love book content
I was totally surprised with PROJECT HAIL MARY, I didn't think I would like it, but I still think about it.
I was just looking for horror book recommendations!! this is perfect!!
Verity...is so stupid. I cant stand Colleen Hoover. Her writing is so simple and she just thinks she's so clever. She writes a ton of abuse as love and her male characters generally never get any consequences. It makes me so angry. I don't know how she has fans. ALSO...my favorite Chuck Palahniuk is Invisible Monsters. Such an awesome book! 🙌 AND if you love space, I'm reading Dead Silence right now. By S.A. Barnes. Its space horror, I'm really loving it so far...might be something you would wanna check out.
I feel like Colleen Hoover is a better publicist than she is a writer. She just plays the marketing game really well.
I have 8 unused audible credits, and I am right now in an ER being treated for an injury that's probably going to keep me out of work for a while, so this is beyond timely. Thanks!
You really can’t go wrong with Gillian Flynn. Of her three novels Gone Girl was my favorite and the book that got me into thrillers back in 2014
Sharp Objects is her best novel imo, the tv series was really fantastic too
@@marlee_oh_noo -Agreed. Gone Girl is amazing, & i enjoyed Dark Places, but Sharp Objects is definitely my favourite of Gillian Flynn's books. I don't normally get creeped out by murder mystery thrillers, but the book, & miniseries adaptation of Sharp Objects, were both so disturbing that it left me feeling really uneasy when I got to that ending.
I'd personally like to see you cover Dark Places! I personally liked it more than Gone Girl even though I loved Gone Girl.
Gillian Flynn is an amazing writer!
The writing in Dark Places is on another level of awesome.
Ania Ahlborn, Tananarieve Due, Samantha Kolesnik, Gemma Amor, V. Castro, Sara Tatlinger, Catriona Ward, Christina Henry, Jess Lourey and LaTanya McQueen are just a few great women who write some kick-ass horror.
I gobble up horror like candy. I’m always coming back for more. Nothing really seems to scare me, BUT, A Head Full of Ghosts is so good that I couldn’t finish it. It scared me too much. That’s high praise from this Horror Junkie.
I really, really love Gone Girl and can't recommend it enough. For me there are enough differences from the movie that it doesn't detract from the book when you've seen the movie first.
Also I read Kill Creek several years ago, when I wasn't quite as sensitive about problematic portrayals as I am now. As a person of size, I really appreciate your sensitivity to the fatphobia in addition to the rampant sexism.
Thank you!
I really like these videos. I like when you include lines you liked or didn't like too, so I can get a little feel for their writing 👌🏼
I know why you pinpoint and its important for you the writing in books, I can tell you have a very rich vocabulary, in fact, this can be off topic but I'm mexican and you help me out a lot to incorporate words and phrases to my personal vocabulary 🥰 so thank you haha
I do have one book recommendation, though it is by a male author. "Thirteen Storeys" by Jonathan SIms. His first major claim to fame as a writer is "The Magnus Archives" a Horror/Supernatural podcast that for the most part was an amazing listen. The book is similar to Goblin in that it follows the stories of 13 characters who all experience personal supernatural forces at an apartment complex called Banyan Court. As you read each chapter, you start to uncover the mysteries of the apartment building and understand why everything is happening. And to help focus the story, each chapter focuses on one member of the large cast. I believe it is also available in audiobook form!
yessss i’m so excited for this video omg
Both Gone Girl and Dark Places are great (Sharp Objects is also phenomenal, and the short story The Grownup)! You’ve probably seen the movie so you already know the twist in Gone Girl, so maybe go for Dark Places? Either or, though. She’s one of my favorite authors and nothing quite beats her books in the thriller genre imo :)
Project Hail Mary is my favourite sci fi book yet, it was just such a lovely read, I still think about it and feel happy when I see others talk about it ❤
there’s this book called “devil’s hill” by E. Reyes that i’ve been seeing a lot lately and i think you might like it! i’m not sure of your taste in books yet but I just wanted to recommend it :)
Some female author recs:
Come Closer by Sara Gran - horror (is it possession?)
The Push by Ashley Audrain - thriller (am i crazy or is my kid evil?)
Brother by Ania Ahlborn - horror (TCM family dynamics)
If You See Her by Ania Ahlborn - horror (what happened in the abandoned building?)
The Hollow Places by T Kingfisher - horror (what's in the hole?)
The Twisted Ones by T Kingfisher - horror (what's in the woods?)
Awesome recommendations!!!!
Sara Gran and Ania Ahlborn are amazing!!!!
@@courtgarris1396 Yes! I haven't read Sara's newest, but it's definitely on my list.
The bookworm in me is very happy with your book content! Maybe you could do a video about books you are excited about to read?
I love booktube content and would love to see more of it from you!! thanks for the trigger warnings as well ♥️♥️
Absolutely have to recommend to you, House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It's a big one but, oh, so good! Took me some time, especially to get into it at the beginning but it was definitely worth it. I've never read something like this before or after and it's terrifying. Its genuinely scary and I think you'd really appreciate the kinda found footage style descriptions of film snippets throughout.
Girl talk about book content whenever you want to, you don’t have to be consistent with it! :) also I’d recommend The Girl With All the Gifts by MR Carey!
I loved that book too. The boy on the bridge is the sequel and it is so good if you haven't read it.
cant tell you how much i appreciate you listing all of them in discription....
omg! You have no idea how long I've waited for this video since the last one. I've reading the ones you read last year! I loved them. Thank uuuuuu
Love when you do book reviews! I'm always looking for more books to my TBR pile.
LOVED DARK PLACES. Highly recommend and looking forward to hearing your thoughts !
I personally think the way Scott Thomas wrote the main female character was spot-on: if I don't look down at my boobs every five seconds, I sometimes forget that I'm a woman!🙄 It's been awhile since I read that one, but I remember it being sort of ableist as well -- it read to me like the one disabled character existed simply to scare the others. It's such a shame that the whole thing was a dumpster fire, because Scott Thomas is a very talented writer!
I also tried to read Dark Matter a few years ago and DNFed it because I found it boring and slow. But since it took you awhile to get into it as well, maybe I'll pick it up again.
Definitely try out Josh Malerman's longer works--- bird box is excellent, unbury carol is fantastic, inspection is a great concept. Love these book vids! I'm an avid horror reader and love when you read, too! Especially since you're a writer, as well!
Based on your movie taste, I highly recommend Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender! It's definitely young adult, but surprisingly gets the spooky vibes on point, more than any adult "horror" I've read. (I do have a review of it and some other horror novels on my channel, if anyone has any interest xx)
When I was looking up "actually scary horror recs" on Reddit a couple of years back, Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk is one that came up quite a few times, just an idea for your next/future Palahniuk read!
YES YES YES MORE BOOK CONTENT
That Goblin cover has been intriguing the heck out of me for MONTHS now, and your mention of it...even though you didn't love-love it...has finally pushed me to read it! And yes, yes, YES, that is exactly what bothered me about Kill Creek too -- that could have been a phenomenal story, right? Ugh with these men writing women and their breasts breasting breastily in every scene. We GET IT, dude! The mammaries have entered the story! Sheesh.
RE: being brainwashed by booktok, I've been there for sure. I'm on TikTok, not doing book reviews, but rather perfume reviews and talking about fragrance. And you get so many people talking about a certain scent and you want to know what all the hype is about, so you buy into it, and you're like "really? But this is so BORING!" Normies, man. I tell you.
Oh! And women authors! I am new to your channel, so I don't know if you've already mentioned these books at any points, and feel free to ignore this if you have, but I just read two in a row that I really enjoyed: Sundial by Catriona Ward and Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes. There was a *little* bit of romance in Dead Silence (I, too, am not a fan of romance in my horror, or in anything else, really) but it wasn't enough to ruin the story for me. I tore through both of those books and loved them!
Absolutely loved the Martian, both book and movie, so now I'm excited to read Hail Mary based on your review!
I could talk about Chuck Palanuik all day. I love him. His book diary is phenomenal! Give him 1 more go!!
Love Diary!
I'm just reading The Last House on Needless Street and its so so good, I would love to hear a review from you on it, I think you'd love it if you havn't read it already.
i’m also really curious to hear sarah’s opinion on how mental health is handled in this book
This same author (Catriona Ward) just came out with a new book called Sundial which is also supposed to be really good!!
Going to keep it vague here to avoid spoilers:
I guessed the "twist" in Olivia's first chapter but still got to 1/3 of the way through the book before I checked spoilers to see if I was right. I was, but a lot of reviews mentioned how enlightening the author's note was. The audiobook from my library didn't even have the author's note, so I borrowed the ebook to read the author's note. And found it inadequate a justification for using that as a twist. I looked for own voices reviews or reviews from loved ones of an own voices and they seemed to agree. The note doesn't mention own voices sensitivity readers and cites one conversation one day with one own voices as her own voices research.
SPOILERS:
She still exploited DID for a cheap twist and tried to justify it by saying she was using it to bring awareness to DID and acted like no one ever shows those with DID as the victim with a traumatic backstory. Yet, that's so false and most of the harmful portrayals of things like DID specifically mention they developed the disorder because of the trauma they experienced. You still spend the grand majority of the book perpetuating the harmful stigma and showing the MC as a prime suspect of the crimes. The author says she started the book with the MC as the bad guy and "discovered" DID and decided to use that as the twist halfway through the writing process. So you spend something like 80% of the book portraying the MC as "crazy," dangerous, gross and possibly also the murderer, which is still the exact stigma it's claiming to dismantle. And then the twist ending is" surprise, he has mental illness! Bet you didn't see that coming? BUT he was the victim and not the one doing the crimes. I sure tricked you didn't I??" It is still a cheap trivialization. IF the author truly wanted to write a horror with a sympathetic character with DID that isn't a disgusting cheap plot device, she should have established with the reader openly from the start that he has DID and then continued the story of finding out who did it and proving it wasn't the MC. Then, you are showing DID in the light and actually bringing awareness to it. When you use any marginalization as a twist in the ending, it will always be exploitative and cheap. Even if you try to write it with empathy and have the intention of dismantling the stigma, what you really end up doing is furthering the stigma that mental illness is scary. Especially when you don't bother to portray them as someone who you can see having friends or falling in love. The MC wasn't shown to be still just like us ("We're More Alike Than Different" is the phrase used for Down's but I think it applies to most disorders and disabilities. We are all still humans with hopes and dreams and friends and loves). The MC was shown to be gross and shady and creepy.
@@Amanda.aka.Megan.Shines i completely agree
@@Amanda.aka.Megan.Shines well, thats me spoiled for it. I was resisting checking whether I had guessed it or not, DID rather pops out whether you’ve warned of spoilers or not. Why not film your own reviews if you really want to share spoilery opinions.
hey, make sure you check your interactions to make sure youtube isn’t burying your vid’s from subs! i was waiting on you to drop a video because you’re one of my fav creators who hasn’t been on my page recently. i looked at your channel and found this. peace and love, great content
Literally agree with everything you said about kill creek 🙌 but the horror elements really creeped me out haha
Always here for some quality book content. I’ve read quite a few of the recommendations from your last video and have found some new favourite authors from it!
As a 38 year-old chonky woman, I am removing Kill Creek immediately from my Want To Read list. So thank you for that. Paul Tremblay is amazing at anything he writes and he's so nice to interact with!
Gillian Flynn is absolutely amazing. You can't really go wrong, but I would suggest Dark Places because it's more horror than Gone Girl. I also suggest the book Come Closer by Sara Gran. It's a novella about a woman becoming posessed and it's really good and a fast read.
I haven't read Dark Places, but I'm reading Gone Girl right now and I love it! It's taking me a while to get through because I'm finishing my undergrad and working part-time, but it's so good that I want to read Flynn's other books.
I would recommend reading Haunted by Chuck Palahnuik it is horrific all the way through. There is a chapter called Guts and it has a history of readers passing out or getting physically ill from it.
I own that one!
Hi sarah i just had to hop back over here and thank you for recommending paul tremblays A head full of ghosts! I started reading it yesterday after watching your video and i just finished it and it was spectacular! The ending was so unexpected and absolutely terrifying! So thank you ❤️
cabin at the end of the world was horrible for me. I think you desribed the structure of it perfectly. It so damn long builds up the tension that it lost me completely and I was BORED to tears while reading. Couldn’t get past 120 pages. It was constant „the world is ending and you need to LISTEN to us” while also saying nothing, just repeating over and ober again „you need to LISTEN OR ELSE”. I tried to finish it three times and still couldn’t.
I’ve also just today dnf’ed the ruins which I was so excited for since your last book video… I felt like the characters were horribly flat and certain scenes just draaaagged forever. I dnf’ed it after 100 pages.
OMG finally someone else who DNF the same book. I feel so alone in the book community since eveeeerrryyyyyoooonnneee loves it - no thanks!!! This opinion was felt on every single level!!!
The taking of Annie Thorne!! It’s a bit like pet cemetery and every chapter keeps you guessing I would highly recommend ⭐️
OOOOOOOO I have never heard of this. Going to add it to my TBR :)
@@haley5803 it’s by CJ Tudor she’s a female writer and has a few decent books! 😊😊
I’ve recently read:
The Grand Hotel by Scott Kenemore
No Exit by Taylor Adams
Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims
FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
All of which I enjoyed as great horror or horror adjacent books and all of which are on audible so you can read on a walk or a commute
I think you should read both Gillian Flynn books but maybe start with Dark Places, I have a feeling you might really like it. Also, I highly recommend the audiobook for Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk on your to-read list! It's one of my favorite horror anthologies by FAR
honestly, i would pay you to read some of my most hated books cause i love your rants HAHAHA
Love your book reviews! I think I've read more this year than I have in the last 10 years because of your recommendations!
If you're into short horror Ellen Datlow has some awesome horror anthologies.
A more obscure horror is The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun. It gave me very similar vibes to Jackson and Trembley bc it leans heavily into psychological horror blending into the supernatural.
Also strongly recommend more Stephen Graham Jones. If you like slasher films, The Last final girl is a very meta thrill ride.
Definitely love the book content. I watch a lot of booktube, so it's nice to merge my book and horror content streams. Haha. That being said, if you wanted to do more book content, I personally really enjoy reading vlogs and videos that recommend specific types of books, basically like your movie recs.
Oooo, also, big recommendation for Hailey Piper's books, especially Benny Rose the Cannibal King and The Worm andHis Kings. I think you would really love those.
I'd like to see a horror book haul or a TBR list, it might be interesting if you do a 'like this film read this book' kinda recs too
Tender Is The Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica was good! Could have went deeper in my opinion, but that could have been a translation thing - but the ending. Ooft.
Her Body and Other Parties is a short story collection by Carmen Maria Machado - there are some, like any short story collection that are weaker than others, but still good.
Things We Say In The Dark by Kirsty Logan was really good too! Some horror elements, more horror lite though!
Dark Places is my favorite I constantly re-read it but Gone Girl is really good too! I also highly recommend Sharp Objects by her as well!
I’ve read two Gillian Flynn books so far. Dark Places and Sharp Objects. Sharp Objects was just okay to me, but I LOVED Dark Places. It switched time and perspective every chapter and it was so well paced. I read it pretty quickly cause I just didn’t want to put it down. And when I finished it I almost felt guilty for starting a new book 😅 I loved the characters so much.
I just picked up Gone Girl and I’m excited to read it. I’d seen the movie several years ago and remember really liking it, so I’m sure the book is amazing.
I love Gone Girl and Dark Places! I say maybe try Dark Places, but Gone Girl is a classic. Also, a thriller I think you may enjoy is The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson.
As for content I'd love movie comparisons, reviews or rants with a spoiler section, tier rankings, even maybe a video where you read recommended books for you and see if you enjoyed them.
For books by women, I highly recommend The Shining Girls or Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes (as a bonus, Apple is putting out a series based on The Shining Girls). Broken Monsters in particular scared the hell out of me, and I am rarely scared by books. It had me checking my closets to make sure no one was in them before I went to bed. For more gothic horror, I've enjoyed several books by Laura Purcell, particularly The Silent Companions and The Shape of Darkness. Obviously they are less overtly scary and more atmospheric, but she is a master at creating that spooky atmosphere.
Dark Places & Gone Girl are both SO GOOD and I gave both 5 stars. If you have seen the movie adaptation for Gone Girl, I would definitely recommend reading Dark Places. Gone Girl is fantastic and one of my favorites of all time, but if you know what’s going to happen I think that would take away from the first time reading experience. Dark Places is my personal favorite novel from Gillian Flynn but it’s really, really dark (so, well-titled, if you will)
The cops in Goblin creeped me out 🤣 A Man In Slices was my favorite as well! 🤗
Love love love the book content! I’m ALL about horror/thriller books nowadays. I cannot stop reading them. I love all of your videos, obvi. But definitely keep the book content coming!
The Winter People is a book I think you’d really like!
Also, thank you SO much for bringing up Verity. I’ve been so back and forth about reading it and now that I’ve listened to what you had to say, I know for a fact that this will not be the book for me. 😂 So, thank you for that.
I watch Jade the Libra and she does "Spooky Book Club" every month to have a goal to read one book a month and share with everyone. Maybe you can do that with horror/ sci fi/ thriller/ holiday horror maybe? And kind of just have everyone vote if they want to read it with you to have a discussion, or maybe a nice review with a little spoiler section for NSFL part. Just a suggestion.
Love Jade! I think Sarah watches her too, actually
@@rachelreynolds0430 I think if Sarah wants to do more book stuff, it would make it easier to do a monthly once instead of videos along with reading and quarterly book stuff.
Also spoilers really don't bother me because I'm not experiencing it myself, and most times it just drives me to experience it because everyone seems like they're having a good time. Saying "I can't believe X did Y" doesn't make sense to me since most times "spoilers" are really just like topics throughout reading and it makes me feel excluded!
A Head Full of Ghosts is so good !!
Recs!!
Sawkill Girls
Horrid by Katrina Leno
My best Friend's Exorcism (did you already read this? This and Southern Bookclub's Guide by Grady Hendrix are great)
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
Clown in a Cornfield
Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
The One by John Marrs
Devolution by Max Brooks
If We Were Villains (true thriller)
Sadie by Courtney Summers - audio is GREAT, also more thriller
The Last Days of Jack Sparks
Apologies for any you've already read!
My favorite book, that I have read so far this year is Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka (2022). It's perhaps not quite the genre of the books mentioned in this video (rather tragic then 'just' straight up thrilling, though an absolute page turner to me). It is about a serial killer who is set to be executed and how he has affected the lives of women he has come in contact with (chapters switching perspectives between him and the women). It just kind of did everything I want a book to do for me, a compelling story (some mystery) but also interesting, tragic and nuanced characters, i loved it!
For audiobooks I highly, HIGHLY recommend The Diviners by Libba Bray. It’s YA which I know isn’t everyones cup of tea but it definitely reads on the older side of that age category. Its a horror set in New York in the 1920’s following a cast of characters. It’s probably the best audiobook (with a single narrator) that I’ve ever listened to! I also recommend the audiobook for Sadie by Courtney Summers. It’s more thriller than horror but it follows a podcast host searching for a missing person. The audiobook is full cast and sounds just like a podcast. The story wasn’t my favorite personally but I know a lot of people loved it and I still thought the audiobook was pretty cool.
For those wanting to get into Chuck Palahniuk's more horror-focused books, I would suggest Rant and The Invention of Sound. The Invention of Sound is actually his newest, and is about horror movie actresses and sound designers perfecting their screams and sound effects for horror films, while Rant is a science fiction horror book based loosely around the concept of rabies. The main character accidentally starts a worldwide rabies epidemic by intentionally allowing himself to be bit by wild animals. They are both amazing reads and some of my favorites of his!
Nice list! I’ve not read Blake Crouch and am a little closer to picking up Dark Matter now. That’s also a Paul Tremblay book I’ve not read yet, so I was happy to hear you talk about it - despite all the reviews of it out there it still doesn’t feel spoiled for me yet :) yeah, my vote is against spoilery book chat.
I used to read a lot when I was younger. As a kid I read all the Edgar Allan Poe books I could get. Later I knew about H.P. Lovecraft but couldn't find a book. Then got several Stephen King books and had them until some years ago when I donated them to Goodwill. Nowadays I have eyesight issues and I can't focus my eyes for too long or else I'll get a headache. I bought 2 expensive Nintendo books and was bearly able to read something. And this is with glasses without them I can't see a single page. It sucks! Anyway it's great to see you Sarah covering horror books. Cool video!👍
I personally would love for you to read Dark Places. I really enjoy and respect your book content/recommendations. I'm currently reading Home Before Dark (100 pages in), and really enjoying it so far. I feel like there are other ways to effectively write horror, so I agree with you. I'm not a fan of Stephen King, I have found other writers of the genre that I think are much better at writing than he is...
Quarterly book reviews would be great! Have a great weekend Sarah! 😃
Yeah, I had issues with Kill Creek as well. I’d say to try Tananarive Due for sure.
My favorite so far this year is This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno. It was so dark though that I had to take a break from horror for a month 😆
One of the best horror books I read last year.
Yesss! I love your book content!
Yesssss book content! 📖💀♥️
I would highly recommended Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant & To Be Devoured by Sara Tantlinger! both faves of mine. also Ania Ahlborn & Gemma Amor are both great female horror authors.
Both Flynn novels are WONDERFUL, but I read Dark Places more recently and loved it!
youve probably read it already. But my all time favourite horror book has to be Rosemary's Baby. It's so good! Also loved the little stranger by sarah waters
The Troop and The Deep are both on my tbr still from your last video so now I feel like I’m slacking lol 😂
Great video! I feel the same way about books your not the only one and thanks for the heads up about kill creek! I loved head full of ghosts!
I love your book content! Quarterly sounds good or whenever you read enough to warrant another video.
A good sci-fi recommendation is All Systems Red by Martha Wells. This is the first in a series of 4 short novellas called The Murderbot Diaries. The audiobook is 3 hours, so you can get through it quick. It has some adventure/action and the science and space stuff is really easy to digest and grounded. It's also surprisingly funny, so hopefully this sounds like something you would like!
I love your book content! Both Gillian Flynn books are fantastic but I recommend Dark Places!
I just finished reading A Head Full of Ghosts. Thank you SO much for recommending it. I read it in 2 days and I wish I could read it all over again for the first time.
Her Body and Other Parties is a wonderful short story collection by Carmen Maria Machado (woman, queer, poc.) The writing is beautiful and there are horror elements.
I reread Dark Matter a couple weeks ago. Love it. Project Hail Mary is on my TBR.
Oh, and my vote goes to Gone Girl!
I read several books from your last book video and loved them (4 between Jan and Feb)! I'm about to start The Troop and I'm so excited to get more!
i'm listening to the PHM audiobook right now and i like the narrator a lot, i think he conveys Weir's writing tone very well. it is a fun read and i'm glad to have picked it as my cycling background track. (also for some reason i picture Ryland as Jack Black)
I’m not quite sure I want to see project: Hail Marys Rocky on the big screen!
Love this content! Added a couple of books to my list!
If you can find a copy, The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons is a wonderful haunted house story in the vein of The Haunting of Hill House. And, as best I can recall, it's Ms. Siddons' only foray into horror.