One of the things I enjoy most about my job – aside from the writing itself – is sometimes getting a chance to read another author’s book early, and even offer a quote/blurb to be used by the author or publisher to help promote it.
As I was looking back over my reading this year, there were so many of these brilliant books that I read and loved – so much so that I gladly offered a blurb to 16 (15 listed here, and one which hasn’t been announced yet). I thought it would be a nice little wrap-up of 2024 to share these with you all in one place, so here they are (in no particular order)!
Lie or Die – A J Clack
Ten strangers trapped in a television studio
Forty-two remote cameras
Five dead bodies
One rule: Trust no one
When a casting call is announced for new reality TV show Lie or Die, Kass is tricked into auditioning by her best friend. Big Brother meets Mafia, Lie or Die pits contestants against each other as they try to discover who is a murderous agent and who is an innocent player. But when contestants start to turn up dead (the real kind, not the fake kind), Kass realises that not being eliminated and winning the game is the least of her worries. No longer a game of truth and lies, Kass and her friends are in a fight for survival. ‘Reality’ just got very real.
My blurb: ‘The Traitors meets Knives Out in Lie or Die — a twisty, pulse-pounding, locked-room thriller. It kept me guessing all the way to the blistering finale!’
The Deadsoul Project – Dan Smith
In 1977, the Alpine Heights tower block where Kyle Dempsey and his sister Lauren live with their mum and stepdad becomes the site of a horrific infestation. Believing their stepdad, Connor, to have been killed in action in Northern Ireland, Kyle and Lauren are shocked to find him at home in their flat. But Connor is changed. Following a secret military experiment, he has been infected with some kind of alien life form, which is using him as a host to infect the other residents of the tower block with gruesome results.
My blurb: ‘Fantastically creepy! Fans of Wranglestone and the Dread Wood series will love this. A pulse-pounding start to a brilliant new series.’
You’ve Awoken Her – Ann Davila Cardinal
All Gabi wants is to spend the summer in his room, surrounded by his Funkos and books, but with his mom traveling, his bags are packed for the last place he wants to visit—the Hamptons. Staying with his best friend should have him willing to peek out of his cave, but ever since Ruth’s nouveau riche family moved, their friendship has been off.
Surrounded by mansions, country clubs, and Ruth’s new boyfriend, Frost Thurston—the axis that Hampton society orbits around—it doesn’t take long for Gabi to feel completely out of place. But when he witnesses a woman being pulled under the ocean water, and no one—not the police or anyone else in the Hamptons—seems to care, Gabi starts to wonder if maybe the beachside town’s bad vibes are more real than he thought.
As the “accidental” deaths and drownings begin to climb, Gabi knows he’ll need proof to convince Ruth they’re all in danger. And while the Thurston family name keeps rising to the top, along with every fresh body, what’s worst is that all the signs point to something lurking beneath the water—something with tentacles and a thirst for blood. Can Gabi figure out how the two are intertwined and put an end to the string of deaths…before becoming the water’s next victim?
My blurb: ‘Fans of Those We Drown will adore You’ve Awoken Her with its Lovecraftian sea monster, ancient folklore and wise-cracking protagonist who finds himself swimming in very dangerous waters. Cthulhu is having her brat summer in the Hamptons this year, and I am here for it!’
I Will Never Leave You – Kara A Kennedy
Maya has always known that spirits exist – even dabbled in light rituals – but she never imagined she’d need to banish her ex-girlfriend.
When Alana’s ghost turns up at her door, Maya is terrified. Their breakup was hardly amicable, and now Alana, desperate to come back to life, is threatening her: if Maya doesn’t help her possess a girl in town, Alana will frame Maya for her murder.
Maya must now face the ultimate decision. Will she forgive Alana and help bring her back to life, or can she face her fears and banish her ex forever?
My blurb: ‘A must-read for fans of The Taking of Jake Livingston, I Will Never Leave You delivers the perfect balance of supernatural suspense and emotional gut-punch. Real, raw and all-consuming.’
How to Survive a Horror Movie – Scarlett Dunmore
Horror movie enthusiast Charley is determined to keep a low profile when she’s enrolled at a girls’ boarding school on a remote island. That is, until someone starts killing off her senior class! From elaborate scare tactics to severed heads in fridges, Charley has found herself at the centre of a teen horror movie. And that’s not the only alarming thing that’s happening – she’s now seeing the ghosts of her former classmates!
Haunted by her peers, and with everyone beginning to suspect her, Charley decides to do something about it. She and her only best friend Olive are going to solve the murders and find out who’s killing off the class before graduation. Charley just needs those pesky ghosts to shut up and give her a hand…
My blurb: ‘Toss some Skittles in your popcorn and settle in for the horror-comedy read of the season! Twisty and delightfully gory, How to Survive a Horror Movie is the perfect addition to any Halloween reading list.’
Old Wounds – Logan-Ashley Kisner
Erin and Max are two trans kids, just trying to get to California. Max is desperate to finally be able to transition, and Erin is longing to understand why she’s on this trip to begin with, after Max suddenly broke up with her two years earlier.
But when they find themselves stranded – and eventually separated – in the creepy woods of rural middle-America, they suddenly have much bigger problems.
First, there’s the creature that, according to legend, feeds on girls, hunting them through the shadows.
And then there are the locals, who are searching for a female sacrifice. If either of them hope to survive to see the sunrise, Erin and Max will have to come together and stop running: from their attackers, from each other, and, ultimately, from themselves.
My blurb: ‘Old Wounds is a riveting, spine-chilling horror story that will shred your nerves and shatter your heart in the best and worst ways. A phenomenal debut.’
The Madness – Dawn Kurtagich
With one unexpected email from her estranged best friend, Lucy, Mina Murray’s carefully curated life is turned upside down. Leaving behind her psychiatric practice in London, she returns home to the windswept shores of Wales. Faced with everything she’s left behind, she soon discovers that Lucy’s symptoms mirror those of her mysterious amnesiac patient hundreds of miles away.
With nothing but an untreatable sickness connecting the two women, and with Lucy’s life on the line, Mina finds herself asking questions and being drawn ever-deeper into a web of secrets, missing girls, and the powerful, nameless force at its center—one that has been haunting her for years.
As terrible, ancient truths begin to reveal themselves, Mina prepares to confront her own darkest secrets, and with them, an evil beyond comprehension. Together with a group of smart, savvy women, Mina seizes one last, desperate chance to stop the cycle that began so long ago. But there are dangers to inviting the attentions of what might not be a man, but a monster….
My blurb: ‘The Turn of the Key meets Underworld in this gloriously chilling, feminist take on Dracula. Set against a brooding Welsh backdrop with lush imagery hiding its darkly beating heart, The Madness will stay with you long past the final page. Truly stunning!’
The Virtue Season – L M Nathan
Manon Pawlak has just turned eighteen, a debutant at the start of the Virtue Season: a process that will result in a match with a suitable genetic mate. Her best friend, Agatha, has been decommissioned, forbidden to partake in the season and unite with the boy who has had her heart since they were children.
When Manon’s mother wades out into the waters of Penn Vale with stones sewn into the lining of her coat, Manon’s genetic purity is called into question and she’s forced to rely on the fisherman’s son, Wick, to keep her secret. But as they dance, the truth about their world starts to unravel, and Manon finds herself at the centre of it all. And the council is watching.
My blurb: ‘With shades of Only Ever Yours and The Handmaid’s Tale, The Virtue Season is a chilling, romantic, and utterly compelling dystopia that swept me away like a tidal wave. This book will hook you in and not let go until long after the final page. A simply stunning debut.’
The Last Thing You’ll Hear – Jan Dunning
Wren and Lark are rivals first and sisters second, so when mysterious music producer, Adam, and his DJ prodigy, Spinner, come to their small town, the game is on to impress.
Lark is soon taken under Adam’s wing, but as she’s pulled deeper into his web, distancing herself from friends and family, Wren starts to suspect that there’s a more sinister side to Adam. And when the sisters get a chance to perform at Enrapture the most talked-about festival of the summer, suddenly there is a lot to lose…
Can Wren put her own ambitions aside to save her sisters life?
One thing’s for sure: after this summer, nothing will ever be the same again.
My blurb: ‘This slick summer thriller is exactly my jam! Exploring themes of toxic masculinity, the allure of fame, and the sometimes-brittle bonds of sisterhood, The Last Thing You’ll Hear will draw you in like a lullaby and hold you spellbound. Totally gripping!’
They Watch From Below – Katya De Becerra
When Addie Velde receives an invitation to attend an early orientation program at the University of the Arches, she eagerly accepts. After all, the Arches—with its idyllic beachside campus—is her mom’s beloved alma mater, and there’s nothing Addie wants more than to leave her own mark. But from the moment she arrives on campus and moves into her gloomy dorm, nicknamed The Crypt, Addie realizes there are more sinister secrets to uncover than sandy days in her future.
Addie’s search for answers launches her straight into the heart of an old campus mystery which to this day keeps students and faculty wary of the shadowy “Buried Ones”, believed to be the omens of death.
A vanished professor, an occult society, and the chance her family was involved pushes her investigation into dangerous territory. Will she lose herself to the Buried Ones or end their sinister reign once and for all?
My blurb: ‘Stunningly sinister, They Watch from Below is The Girl from the Well meets Pan’s Labyrinth with added dark academia vibes. I couldn’t look away from this chillingly spellbinding read!’
Let’s Split Up – Bill Wood
When hot “it-couple” Brad and Shelley are brutally murdered in a manor on the edge of town, a group of teen friends investigate.
Set in Sanera, a small community in California where rumour spreads as fast as the fire on the day of the killings, the theory is the old ghoul who haunts the house after his own murder hundreds of years ago has finally taken revenge.
As Cam, Jonesy, Amber and new-girl Buffy investigate, the rumour feels closer to the truth than they ever dared think possible, and as they enter the mansion themselves, the idea of splitting up to find evidence will prove to be either the best … or worst decision of all…
My blurb: ‘Let’s Split Up is a creepy, mysterious and fun read, and brings big Point Horror energy to a new generation. A great addition to any Halloween reading list.’
The Witch in the Woods – Jennifer Killick
Welcome to Hazard. An ordinary town where strangeness is a way of life. A town where sink holes appear with no warning, where people go missing way too often and where things really DO go bump in the night …
To Travis and his classmates, Hazard is home. But when they’re set a school project to investigate the history of the town, they soon realise that something strange and alien lies beneath Hazard. What can they learn from their investigations into the mysterious witch in the woods? And – if the witch really does exist – will they make it home to tell the tale …?
My blurb: ‘The Witch in the Woods has everything you could hope to find in a Jennifer Killick masterpiece: white-knuckle twists, brilliant banter and the most terrifying chills. It’ll scare your pants off!’
The Wild Huntress – Emily Lloyd-Jones
Every five years, two kingdoms take part in a Wild Hunt. Joining is a bloody risk, and even the most qualified hunters can suffer the deadliest fates. Still, hundreds gamble their lives to participate—all vying for the Hunt’s life-changing prize: a magical wish granted by the Otherking.
BRANWEN possesses a gift no other human has: the ability to see and slay monsters. She’s desperate to cure her mother’s sickness, and the Wild Hunt is her only option.
GWYDION is the least impressive of his magically talented family, but with his ability to control plants and his sleight of hand, he’ll do whatever it takes to keep his cruel older brother from becoming a tyrant.
PRYDERI is prince-born and monster-raised. Deep down, the royal crown doesn’t interest him—all he wants is to know where he belongs.
A trickster, a prince, and a wild huntress—all in pursuit of the Champion’s prize. If they band together against the monstrous creatures within the woods, they have a chance to win. But nothing is guaranteed. After all, all are fair game in love and the Hunt.
My blurb: ‘The Wild Huntress is phenomenal, packed with adventure, magic and folklore – it has to be the best fantasy I’ve read this year. I would happily immerse myself in Emily Lloyd-Jones’s wonderful writing every day!’
The Thorns – Dawn Kurtagich
Touch a line, you break your spine.
Stacey is the dusty air, the cracked soil, the drought. To thirteen-year-old Bethany Sloane, she’s everything.
Abandoned by her mother at a remote African boarding school, Bethany will do anything to stay in Stacey’s good graces. And that means learning the rules of each twisted game.
Touch a crack, you break your back.
Years later, Bethany is a bestselling author. Disabled now, she can’t remember what happened back in the bush. But there’s no mistaking Stacey Preston’s name in her inbox.
Glassy, glassy, cut my arsey.
That email brings Bethany’s childhood rushing back. The Glass Man was just a story the Thorns invented, a game of wits. But every game has its rules―and consequences for breaking them. To stay alive this round, Bethany needs to play right into Stacey’s hands.
My blurb: ‘Another Dawn Kurtagich masterpiece, The Thorns left me wrecked, mind-blown, and in absolute awe! To anyone who has had a Stacey in their life: you will get this. To everyone else: be glad that you don’t, but be prepared for the Thorns to burrow deep into your soul anyway.’
The Love Interest – Helen Comerford
Seventeen-year-old Jenna Ray has just been saved by the world’s newest superhero, Blaze. And, in the eyes of the public, that means one thing: Jenna Ray has been cast as the Love Interest.
No. Not happening. Not if Jenna has anything to say about it (even if Blaze is actually quite sweet and cute).
But her plans to defy the HPA (the Heroics and Power Authority) and turn down this new role are thwarted when the Villains begin to take an interest in her and offer a life-changing proposition; become Blaze’s Love Interest, while avoiding catching feelings for him, to uncover the HPA’s secret plans and find her missing mum.
To make matters even more complicated, just as Jenna starts to embrace her new-found career, she discovers she might be more on the side of the superheroes than she ever imagined …
My blurb: ‘Marvel meets Disney’s Extraordinary in this superpowered romcom that flips every hero trope with hilarious consequences. Taking on killer pigeons and mutant squirrels while fighting the patriarchy, Jenna Ray is the hero we all need. A fantastically funny, full-throttle debut. I’m obsessed!’
Kat Ellis Writes 