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Book Review: Some Kind of Haunted by Hazel Beck

Some Kind of Haunted by Hazel Beck

Mira, 2026

ISBN-13‏: ‎ 978-0369775672

Available: Papeback, audiobook, ebook edition

Buy: Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com

 

Identical twins Lexi and Logan Darling grew up in New York City. Now, thanks to an inheritance from a grandmother they never met, they need to settle her estate: a house and knitting store in rural Midas, Iowa.

 

Lexi, a high-maintenance textile designer, has hallucinations, night terrors, and anxiety. She sleepwalks, is easily overwhelmed, needs consistent routines, and depends on Logan to smooth her way through decision-making and coping with, what for other people, would be everyday stressors. While most people who see under her mask think Lexi is mentally ill, Logan always believes and supports her. Lexi is the point-of-view character, making the reader as uncertain about the reality of what’s going on as she is.

 

Midas immediately creeps her out, and not just because it doesn’t have cell service. There is an ominous feeling in the shadows, in the dark, and from the giant clock tower in town. As Lexi tries to talk herself into believing she’s dreaming while she sleepwalks, instead of losing her mind, she finally gets validation for her visions and dreams from the people around her. She is the “harbinger”, a member of one of the founding families of Midas, who heralds the beginning of the Feed, a night where demons attack the city that occurs once in a generation, as part of a deal the founders made for the town’s safety (it’s unclear why they made this deal, even to her fellow Scoobies). For the first time she has people in her life who see her problems not as an illness but as a gift.

 

Some Kind of Haunted is billed as a horror romance and Beck definitely knows how to create a spooky and ominous atmosphere. The romance is a little awkward, though. Lexi and Jack Bellamy, another descendant of a founding family, have an instant connection, but what Lexi interprets as attraction, Jack reacts to with immediate hostility. It takes awhile for them to untwist that and act on their feelings, and things go from zero to one hundred fast once they do.

 

If you don’t think too much about the plot, but are looking for small-town spooky atmosphere, with creepy antiques, romance in the air, and demons in the shadows, Some Kind of Haunted is a great choice. Recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on August 31, 2026 by , Reply

Graphic Novel Review: When I Arrived at the Castle by Emily Carroll

Cover art for When I Arrived at the Castle by Emily Carroll

When I Arrived at the Castle by Emily Carroll

Silver Sprocket, 2024 (previously published by Koyama Press in 2019)

ISBN-13: 9798886200409

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy:    Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

On a dark and stormy night, a cat woman arrives at the mysterious Countess’ castle on an unspoken mission. The Countess mentions that this attractive visitor is not the first to come on this mighty errand. She is offered a warm bath after being out in the rain for so long, for which she accepts, and this is interrupted by loud knocks on the door. The cat woman ventures out to search out her prey, peeking through a keyhole, where she sees the Countess shedding her skin. When the Countess catches her at the door, a violent and erotically driven confrontation happens between the noblewoman and the cat.

 

I appreciate Carroll’s attention to Gothic literature tropes in her sequential art. The structure of the story flows in such a way that the eyes do not have time to rest most of the time. The frenetic pace blends with the reader’s sense of unease as the cat woman explores the castle and is dragged along the halls by the Countess, and when the final battle ensues.

 

Something else I enjoy about Carroll’s work is her use of color, as she uses the most bold selection almost as another character itself. In the case of When I Arrived at the Castle, she uses black, white, and red. The red acts as solid backgrounds, text bubbles, the text itself, outlines of various figures, doors, flooring, skin, blood, and more. Spending a few minutes exploring the red in the pages was an interesting exercise in reading images without words.

 

If you are looking for a standalone Gothic horror graphic novel for your collection, you can’t go wrong with When I Arrived at the Castle. If you have not picked up Carroll’s Through the Woods, I encourage you to do that, as well. Recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on June 1, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: Camp Arcanum by Josef Matulich

Camp Arcanum by Josef Matulich
Post Mortem Press, 2019
ISBN-13: 978-0615965703
Available: Trade Paper and ebook
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Marc, Michael, and Eleazar are a trio of men who have come to Arcanum on a mission to build a Renaissance Faire. Little do they know everyone in town is a magic user. Marc, who has vied-after magical skills he doesn’t recognize he has, is quickly targeted by the alluring Brenwyn and her demon-flinging evil ex, Jeremiah, who are the two big magical alphas in Arcanum.

Camp Arcanum is an ambitious, amusing reverse of the “special magical heroine” trope of urban fantasy fame. Unfortunately, the romance derails the plot and zombie bunnies and demons are (of course) an inevitable endpoint. I would have enjoyed more of Michael (and less of him and his sexuality being the butt of a joke) fewer trope-y Marc moments, and much less of Eleazar, who was a complete sleaze: a stereotypical cheating womanizer, a narcissist, a horrible friend and coworker, and predatory to any and all women he encounters. I did not enjoy being in his head for those portions of the book. However, if you are willing to look past these negatives, and like offbeat, campy, horror romance (and Ren Faires) take a peek.

Contains: Violence, language, sexual content, “boys will be boys” style humor and behaviors

Posted on August 30, 2019 by , Reply