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Kirk

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ARC /ALC Reader, Book Advocate, Dementia Caregiver, Grieving, Halloween/Horror, Hot Probs, Outcast @kirkrule

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Spirit thinks you should read Lethal Kiss by Taylor Grothe, out October 20 from Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio. “A blood-soaked love story of rage, revenge, and belonging, Taylor Grothe’s adult debut is a sapphic horror/romance that’s as grotesque as it is beautiful.” #lethalkiss #taylorgrothe #tornightfire #macmillanaudio #darkestacademia by @reclusereads

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2 days ago

Lethal Kiss by Taylor Grothe, out October 20, 2026 from Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio. I read this for the Jennifer’s Body vibes, Dark Academia, Female Rage, and Eldritch Monsters. #lethalkiss #taylorgrothe #tornightfire #macmillanaudio #darkacademiabooks by @reclusereads

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10 days ago

Surprise book mail! He Always Comes Back by Elle Engel, out 2/23/27 from akaSTORY and Tantor Media. Book synopsis: “A year after surviving the massacre that claimed six of her friends, Billie Danvers is still drowning in guilt, dodging the morbid curiosity of strangers, and searching for answers about that fatal night. But when the killer who upended her life, Carson Cutler, resurfaces and attacks her adoptive family, Billie learns a terrifying truth: she’s a Kirkbride, the youngest daughter in a bloodline of women hunted by Cutler for generations.
Every few years, he returns to the Kirkbride family to finish what he started. He kills everyone around them and leaves the Kirkbride women alive to suffer—at least until the next attack.
Determined to break the cycle, Billie and her adoptive sister Lulu head to Kirktown, Billie’s ancestral home turned true-crime tourist trap, in search of answers. But the deeper they dig into the Kirkbride history, the clearer it becomes that Cutler’s legacy runs deeper—and darker—than anyone imagined.
Chilling and razor sharp, He Always Comes Back is a smart, propulsive slasher about family, infamy, and the monsters we make of both killers and survivors.” #elleengel #akastory #tantormedia #horrorfiction #horrorbookstagram by @reclusereads

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10 days ago

September 2026 Reads: 24 Total. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Adam, Mine by K. Ancrum, A Veritable Household Pet by Viggy Parr Hampton, The Girl in Green by Laura Creedle, Trad Wife by Sarah Langan, Rooted by Leopoldo Gout, The Restorative Artist by Cecil Fenn, Traps and Specters by Philip Fracassi, Worry Box by Chris Panatier, It Looks Like You In The Dark by Mathilda Zeller, Lethal Kiss by Taylor Grothe, Something Followed Us Home edited by Cynthia Pelayo, The Wellness Retreat by Dawn Kurtagich, We Turn Gruesome At Night by Eric LaRocca, Cemetery Boys: Espiritu by Aiden Thomas, The Velvet Knife by Maureen Johnson, Wildwood by Ashley Woo, In These Gilded Ghostly Hearts by Gwendolyn Kiste, Out of Body by Chris Vanjonack, We Chase Shadows by Richard Osman, The Mystic and the Missing Girl by Vikki VanSickle, The Living Realm by Jordan Tannahill ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm was Haunting in a different way, The Spider Silk Scarf by Ana Reyes ⭐️⭐️ Kiss Slay Replay by Rachel Harrison was NOT for me. Thanks to all the authors, publishers and NetGalley for ALCs and ARCs. #readingwrapup #septemberreads #bookstagram #arcreader #alcreader by @reclusereads

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12 days ago

Lethal Kiss by Taylor Grothe, out 10/20/26 from Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio. Book synopsis: “Something ravenous lurks below the marble floors of Preston University…
Marcella might be a monster, but she’s careful. After getting hired at Preston University, she intends to lay low and keep her meals discreet.
Trapped in the rat race of academia, all Lacie wants is to make tenure. This will be her year, and nothing is going to stand in her way.
That is, until bodies start dropping.
Marcella swears it isn’t her doing—as if she’d be that sloppy. Whatever’s killing their coworkers is older, and far less restrained. Lacie doesn’t know who to trust, but better the monster you know…
The deeper they dig, the more they’re drawn to each other… and the more something else is drawn to them.
After all, desire has teeth of its own.” #lethalkiss #taylorgrothe #tornightfire #MacAudio2026 #sapphichorror by @reclusereads

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15 days ago

There Are No Giant Crabs In This Novel by Jason Pargin, out 11/3/26 from St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio. Book synopsis: “A massive, sticky pile of severed human limbs suddenly appears in the parking lot of a vacant department store in a desolate small town. A set of footprints is found trailing away in the snow, as if a single pair of bare feet had wandered off the pile. If this wasn’t puzzling enough, the cops soon find that no one seems to be missing the limbs. Some of the fingerprints on the severed arms belong to living people with all their appendages intact, others match no one on file, and the rest of the limbs somehow have no prints at all.
This sounds like a case for local weirdos John, David, and Amy, partly because the cops don’t want the headache and partly because David’s own arm is in the pile, despite an identical copy of it still being attached to his body. When a mysterious man then shows up at David’s home claiming to be in pursuit of an entity he calls “the Penetrator,” it seems clear the trio is in for a long weekend.
In addition to stopping whatever this nonsense is, the gang will also have to quell the panicked headlines that threaten to ensue, which could prompt the feds to try to just wipe the whole town off the map (again). As such, the first thing you need to know is that, contrary to whatever ugly rumors you may have heard, there are no giant crabs in this novel.” Thanks to the author for sending me this arc. #therearenogiantcrabsinthisnovel #jasonpargin #stmartinspress #MacAudio2026 #arcreader by @reclusereads

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23 days ago

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Restorative Artist by Cecil Fenn, out 9/17/26 from Lucent Dreaming. The content warnings were clearly stated by both the author and the publisher. But regardless I started reading The Restorative Artist by Cecil Fenn after my best friend died. Then I got sick with bronchitis, not tuberculosis like the main character in the book. I was reading the book and feeling the same physical symptoms; coughing, fatigue and grieving. Constantly grieving. The main character Graham wants to give up his work as an embalmer and funeral home director after his lover dies. He can’t stomach it anymore. His home and office are in the same building. He is confronted by death every day and believes he’s being haunted. I think this book helped me confront and face grief. I cried a lot. Nothing is a cure and I know that only time passing changes the contours of grief. I will always think fondly of Graham, Jackie, Ava and Daniel. I understood Graham’s hesitation to not share his transition with everyone and keep this part of himself to only the people he trusted. There’s a lot of heart in the funeral industry. It’s not all horror. ARC was provided by Lucent Dreaming via NetGalley. I received an advance reading copy for free and I am leaving this feedback voluntarily. I found this song on my best friend’s Spotify playlist a few days ago. #therestorativeartist #cecilfenn #lucentdreaming #grief #arcreader by @reclusereads

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a month ago

I finally have my books and a proper bookshelf. Reunited and it feels so good. #catrionaward #bookshelfie #bookstagram #shesthebest by @reclusereads

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a month ago

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Wellness Retreat by Dawn Kurtagich, out now from Hanover Square Press. Think twice before committing to this miracle cure. Book synopsis: “Jaimie Vane used to measure her life in concert halls and standing ovations. Now she measures it in symptoms. The chronic illness that ended her career as a cellist doesn’t have a name or a cure—just a long list of things her body can’t do anymore.
When her wild child younger sister Sybil reinvents herself as a live-in staffer at an ultra-exclusive wellness retreat, Jaimie assumes it’s another phase.
Until her messages stop.
Until the voucher arrives.
Talamh Dhubh, a black-sand island in the middle of a wintery sea and home to Saoghal Spa, is a place for guests to be reborn. The founder, the enigmatic and glamorous Cyan Blache, promises restoration. Clarity. Transcendence. Whatever ails you, Saoghal will draw it from you. For guests willing to surrender completely, body and soul, the results are nothing short of miraculous.
Jaimie tells herself she’s only there to find Sybil. Not to drink organic detox smoothies or pour herself onto canvas in art therapy. Not to lie in the mineral baths and bask in the curiously soothing black mud. Not to believe the guests and staff who say Saoghal changed their lives.
But the longer she stays, the lighter her body feels. The quieter her pain becomes. The easier it is to forget what she was like before she got sick.
At Saoghal, healing is real.
And so is the cost.
Because the island doesn’t merely cure the visitors who revel in the embrace of its rich, black mud…it ensnares them. And the ones who arrive broken don’t always leave.” #thewellnessretreat #dawnkurtagich #hanoversquarepress #arcreader #booktwist by @reclusereads

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a month ago

Book mail from when I was on vacation! Murmuration by T.J. Klune, out 11/17/26 from Tor Books. Book synopsis: “A bookseller, a waiter, and the best little town there is!
On a temperate morning in 1954, Mike wakes up in the idyllic town of Amorea.
Amorea is perfect.
Mike works his dream job at the local bookstore, where he leads lively discussions of literature with the local women’s club. At the diner, the walls are plastered with beaming photos of the residents, and all the staff know his order—especially Sean, the waiter who has a special smile just for Mike and, after years of anticipation, is ready to take the next step in their burgeoning romance.
Everything is perfect.
But the edges of the town are beginning to fray. Odd things catch Mike’s attention, things no one else seems to notice or care about. There are no children or parents in Amorea and no one who’s left town for the far mountains has ever come back. There are subjects in the diner photos that only a few people can remember.
One night, Mike wakes up to a stormcloud of uncanny starlings blackening the sky. And soon enough, he begins to question whether his name is even Mike.
As violent memories of another life interfere with everything good about Amorea and Mike loses hold on his identity, he will do whatever he can to keep Sean from the darkness that is coming.
Nothing here is perfect, but there is someone worth saving.” #murmuration #tjklune #torbooks #queerfiction #twilightzone by @reclusereads

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a month ago

Book Mail! The House of Gardenias by Isabel Cañas, out 9/29/26 from Dutton Books/Penguin Teen. Book synopsis: “Growing up in a city wracked by political violence and a home where she’s more likely to receive a beating than a meal, Minerva Treviño’s cowardice has kept her alive for sixteen years. But even she has a limit. Hungry and desperate, she musters enough courage to run away and take a job as lady’s maid to a wealthy widow who supports the deposed viceroy.

Minerva is happy serving Encarnación del Valle. She has food in her belly and the safety of a warm house lit by magical chispa. Why should she care who runs the country or how her employer affords the magic?

When the viceroy sweeps back into power, Minerva retreats with her gleeful employer to the family’s mountainside stronghold to wait out the inevitable rebel slaughter. At la Casa de las Gardenias, Minerva faces new threats in the haughty servants and cruel, scheming del Valles.
But the living residents of the house are the least of her worries. As Minerva quickly discovers, the ancient estate is home to forces far older and more bloodthirsty than anything she could have imagined.” #HouseOfGardenias #IsabelCanas #PenguinTeen #GothicHorror #YAFiction by @reclusereads

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a month ago

August 2026 Reads: 16 Total including 13 ALCs, 2 ARCs, and 1 audiobook. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Look What The Cat Dragged In by Jason Rekulak, Marla by Jonathan Janz, The Secret Dinner by Raphael Montes, She’s A Doll by Barbara Truelove, Something of a Calling by Zoje Stage, Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay by Lex Croucher, Fruit Fly by Josh Silver, Heart of Glass by Jennifer Hillier, Tapeworm by A.P. Thayer. The rest were ok. Thanks to all the authors, publishers and NetGalley. #readingwrapup #augustreads #bookstagram #arcreader #alcreader by @reclusereads

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a month ago