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House of Haunts Review

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I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

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A unique band of authors have come together to tell the story of one home, with very different rooms haunted by very different spirits in the collection “House of Haunts”. 

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The Synopsis

In 1823, Josiah Hale built his family a grand home in the sultry heat and blinding glare of the Deep South.

It wasn’t long before the shadows crept in. Now, two hundred years later, this grand home stands forlorn, abandoned, blank windows reflecting only darkness.

Some houses carry lasting impressions of those who have lived and died there.

Some places still bear the scars of past tragedies.

Some buildings are heavy with the spirits of the dead.

Hale House outweighs them all.

But wait.

The front gate is creaking slowly open, welcoming, beckoning, luring you in…

You have been invited.

Come tour the most haunted location in the world.

Come visit our House of Haunts.

23 rooms. 23 ghosts. 23 stories.

Will you survive them all?

Featuring Stories From

Christy Aldridge * Brooklyn Ann * Simon Bleaken *Jay Bower

Clay McLeod Chapman * Heather Daughrity * Joe DeRouen

William J. Donahue * J-F. Dubeau * Joshua Loyd Fox * Jennifer Anne Gordon

Gage Greenwood * Justin Holley * Jo Kaplan * Ronald Kelly

Marie Lanza * Caitlin Marceau * D.E. McCluskey * Jeremy Megargee

Joe Scipione * Samantha Underhill * Mer Whinery * Mercedes M. Yardley

Foreword by Josh Malerman

Edited by Heather Daughrity

Take a Food Journey Around the World!

The Review

These were some compelling and thrilling horror reads. Immediately I was struck by how unique and original each story was, and yet how cohesive the narrative was overall as each story fed the overall theme of this haunted mansion. The haunting atmosphere of each story and the tension that mounted at such an even pace in each story made this a gripping read.

The heart of this narrative rested in the variety of different stories that each tale provided, as well as the detail that went into them. The way each story found itself in a different era of storytelling, from 19th-century gothic horror to modern tales of loss in the age of the pandemic, made the reader feel connected to the authors of these stories and yet wonderfully lost in the characters and their own plights at the same time.

The Verdict

Remarkable, entertaining, and heartfelt all at once, “House of Haunts” is a must-read modern-day horror anthology. The twists and turns each story provided, and the overall story of this powerfully haunted home and the spirits that have left their mark on its walls and the heart of this mansion made the anthology feel alive and buzzing. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!

Rating: 10/10

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The Japanese Box and Other Stories by Jennifer Anne Gordon Review

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I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Author Jennifer Anne Gordon takes readers on an emotional journey of reflection, exploring the horror that is grief through a collection of short stories from a mysterious narrator in the book “The Japanese Box and Other Stories”.

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The Synopsis

This is the story of our unnamed narrator…an origin story of a would-be, hopes to be, serial killer.

The Japanese Box is a story that blends memoir, creative nonfiction, and the horror of a coming-of-age story, and a coming of middle-aged story.

Imagine growing up with a reflection that is often absent, and a Japanese box that is filled with things that should never have been there.

Memories.

Violence.

The Japanese Box is a love letter to anxiety, trauma, grief, and longing. It is a story of a child becoming

an adult, and all the ghosts and misfortunes that happen in order to survive.

The Lithium Moon: Simone is an artist by day, and an emotionally abused wife at night. She is a

successful artist with a long history of schizoid effective disorder with bipolar tendencies.

When her marriage goes from good to bad, she suffers her first miscarriage. The tragedy coincides with a

wolf moon—Trauma and magic converge seem to converge in Simone’s head.

This story explores sadness, illness, hallucinations, full moons, and the creative process.

What Stage of Grief is not a poem, or a song, but a dirge.

Fantasy and facts, this poem walks a fine line between nightmares and memories. Grief stories and love

stories. Dogs, and drama. Nightmares, and nevermore.

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The Review

This was such a powerful and thought-provoking read. I’ve been such a huge fan of the author’s previous works, and so I was immediately drawn into the narrative. The visual imagery, the atmosphere, and the tension were all perfectly executed in this narrative, and yet it was the simple observations that really stood out. Amongst the horror and the tragedy of each story, moments, where one character would fixate on a K-Mart razor blade or a plastic bag from a convenience store, would create that unsettled feeling and become a great juxtaposition to the narratives themselves.

The combination of the mystery behind these narrators in each story with the emotional tragedy each story seemed to touch on made this such a compelling collection. The themes of toxic love, loss, trauma, and so much more became the focal point of each story’s dark twist, and the imagery and dialogue surrounding those themes in each story felt like something out of a Mike Flannigan show, speaking to the depth of what it means to be human against the backdrop of a great horror story.

The Verdict

Shocking, emotional, and heart-pounding, author Jennifer Anne Gordon’s “The Japanese Box and Other Stories” is a must-read horror anthology. The surprising, at times jarring twists each story takes onto itself and the heartfelt themes that speak to so many of us and touch upon everything from mental health to relationships and more, made this a gripping collection that you will return to time and time again. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!

Rating: 10/10

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About the Author

JENNIFER ANNE GORDON is a professional ballroom dancer and choreographer by day, and a curly haired neurotic writer by night. She is an actor, a traveler, a photographer, a lover of Gothic Horror, and a dog mom. She lives in the wilds of New Hampshire with her partner on and off the dance floor. Her novels include the Kindle Award for Horror 2020 Winning book, Beautiful, Frightening, and Silent, as well as the historical Gothic novel From Daylight to Madness (The Hotel #1) as well as When The Sleeping Dead Still Talk (The Hotel #2). She also has a published collection of her artwork, titled “Victoriana {mixed media art of jennifer anne gordon}.

for benevolent stalking purposes you can visit her website http://www.JenniferAnneGordon.com

Pretty/Ugly by Jennifer Anne Gordon Review

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I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Two people struggling with loss and loneliness must face a dystopian nightmare in author Jennifer Anne Gordon’s “Pretty/Ugly”. 

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The Synopsis

Pretty/UglyInteritus: noun. ruin; violent/untimely death, extinction; destruction, dissolution.

Omelia fills the empty place in her heart with Instagram clicks, likes, and subscribes, hiding the scars of grief under a mask of makeup, cloaked in an online personality. She yearns to be someone new: a girl in a magazine, a character in a book, a beauty queen. Anything not to feel, to be numb, but the sharp pain accompanying the red spot on her face cannot be ignored. Nor can the black, spindly tarantula-like vines that creep up the side of her face and the fever she spikes, forcing her to confront the fact that the person she has become may not be who she is at all.

Dubbed ‘the New JFK,’ Sam is the heir apparent to a powerful but emotionally distant political family, living the life he neither dreamed nor wanted. He sleepwalks through his days filled with self-loathing, rage, boredom, and an ache under his heart that reminds him that he is not complete. He is roused from slumber when a political scandal erupts that coincides with the end of the world. Too many Adderall and Old-Fashioneds leave Sam wondering, is he crazy or haunted? When lives are emotionally ended in childhood, it takes an apocalypse to see the ephemeral beauty of living again.

The Review

Another fantastically haunting and memorable read from author Jennifer Anne Gordon. The story fits perfectly into the pandemic era we’ve all gone through this past year and a half. The chilling setting of a dystopian world that has ended after a pandemic really brought the horror aspect of this novel, gripping the reader in a story that captured the suddenness and quick pace that an illness can take the world. 

The characters really brought the heart to this narrative. The protagonists, in particular, two very broken and lonely people who find themselves living lives not their own, really speaks to the idea of isolation and public perception versus reality. The losses they share and the terrifying way they meet one another turns their tale of survival into one of personal connection and hope. 

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The Verdict

A gripping, engaging, and emotional tale of horror, survival, and rediscovering life again, author Jennifer Anne Gordon’s “Pretty/Ugly” is a must-read horror novel of 2021. It perfectly captured the raw emotions and fear that so many have felt over the course of this pandemic and the isolation and loss that can come from it. The stories haunting end and visceral writing does a great job of leaving glimmers of hope and life mixed into this terrifying world, leaving readers wanting more. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!

Rating: 10/10

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About the Author

Jennifer Anne Gordon is a Gothic horror novelist. Her work includes Beautiful, Frightening and Silent (2020) which won the Kindle Award for Best Horror/Suspense for 2020, and From Daylight to Madness (The Hotel book 1), and When the Sleeping Dead Still Talk (The Hotel book 2).

She had a collection of her mixed media artwork published during spring of 2020, entitled Victoriana: mixed media art of Jennifer Gordon

Jennifer is one of the hosts as well as the creator of Vox Vomitus, a video podcast on the Global Authors on the Air Network, as well as the Co-Host of the You Tube Channel “Talk Horror to Me”. She had been a contributor to Ladies of Horror Fiction, as well as Horror Tree.

Jennifer is a pale curly haired ginger, obsessed with horror, ghosts, abandoned buildings, and her dog “Lord Tubby”.

She graduated from the New Hampshire Institute of Art, where she studied Acting. She also studied at the University of New Hampshire with a concentration in Art History and English.

She has made her living as an actress, a magician’s assistant, a “gallerina”, a comic book dealer, a painter, and burlesque performer and for the past 10 years as an award-winning professional ballroom dancer, performer, instructor, and choreographer.

When not scribbling away (ok, typing frantically) she enjoys traveling with her fiancé and dance partner, teaching her dog ridiculous tricks (like ‘give me a kiss’ and ‘what hand is the treat in?’ ok these are not great tricks.) as well as taking photos of abandoned buildings and haunted locations.

She is a Leo, so at the end of the day she just thinks about her hair.

https://www.jenniferannegordon.com/

https://www.bookbub.com/books/pretty-ugly-by-jennifer-anne-gordon