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These Familiar Walls Review: C.J. Dotson’s Suburban Horror Burns Super Bright

These Familiar Walls Review: C.J. Dotson’s Suburban Horror Burns Super Bright

C.J. Dotson’s These Familiar Walls is a dual-timeline suburban horror novel that burns through the haunted house tradition and builds something sharper from the ashes. Following Amber Walker across 1998 and 2020, it is a psychological horror novel about the stories families tell to survive, the secrets buried in familiar walls, and the terrifying possibility that you deserve to be haunted. For fans of T. Kingfisher, Catriona Ward, and Cassandra Khaw.

Jim Mcleodby Jim Mcleod•
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The Temptation of Charlotte North Review: Camilla Bruce’s Dark Gothic Triumph

The Temptation of Charlotte North Review: Camilla Bruce’s Dark Gothic Triumph

Camilla Bruce’s The Temptation of Charlotte North is a dark gothic fantasy that understands atmosphere is not decoration but a character with its own pulse. Set on a remote island in 1910, the novel follows Charlotte North, a rebellious young woman who discovers that a violent spirit released from an ancient tower might be the leverage she needs to escape a predetermined life. With three carefully woven points of view and prose that balances elegance with restraint, Bruce has written her most confident, unnerving novel yet.

Jim Mcleodby Jim Mcleod•