Dreadful December

Hey guys! Another month has come and gone, and I’m pleased to announce that I’ve stuck with my ongoing WEIRD, WAY-OUT WINTER reading challenge. Nebulous November was so much fun; I ended up enjoying all four books that I read, but going into December I’m going to lighten the number as we are moving this month and the holidays are just nuts in general. I’m aiming for three books but will be satisfied if I make it through two. This month the theme is…… DREADFUL DECEMBER!

dreadful • extremely bad or serious; fearful and unhappy

So this month I’m focusing on books that are “scary”, unnerving, and unhappy. Only one book is a review copy, so let’s see which books made the cut. The last one is the potential third, as I’m not committed enough to purchase it and our library copy seems to have been permanently confiscated.

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It’s late Thursday night, and Inspector Ross Carver is at a crime scene in one of the city’s last luxury homes. The dead man on the floor is covered by an unknown substance that’s eating through his skin. Before Carver can identify it, six FBI agents burst in and remove him from the premises. He’s pushed into a disinfectant trailer, forced to drink a liquid that sends him into seizures, and is shocked unconscious. On Sunday he wakes in his bed to find his neighbor, Mia—who he’s barely ever spoken to—reading aloud to him. He can’t remember the crime scene or how he got home; he has no idea two days have passed. Mia says she saw him being carried into their building by plainclothes police officers, who told her he’d been poisoned. Carver doesn’t really know this woman and has no way of disproving her, but his gut says to keep her close.

Cata Cordova suffers from such debilitating insomnia that she agreed to take part in an experimental new procedure. She thought things couldn’t get any worse…but she was terribly wrong.

Soon after the experiment begins, there’s a malfunction with the lab equipment, and Cata and six other teen patients are plunged into a shared dreamworld with no memory of how they got there. Even worse, they come to the chilling realization that they are trapped in a place where their worst nightmares have come to life. Hunted by creatures from their darkest imaginations and tormented by secrets they’d rather keep buried, Cata and the others will be forced to band together to face their biggest fears. And if they can’t find a way to defeat their dreams, they will never wake up. 

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town… until River West comes along. River rents the guest house behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. 

Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more?

Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery… who makes you want to kiss back. 

Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.

That’s it for me guys! What about you? What would be your dreadful picks for December? Anyone is welcome to join in who needs accountability clearing their shelves! ❤