Holly by Stephen King - Review

I always say, "If you have anything you're supposed to be doing, DO NOT pick up a Stephen King novel." Truth! I read this in three days, which is pretty good for me...it is 450 pages after all. I've said this before and I'll say it again. Holly Gibney is one of my most favorite characters, certainly in my top three of King's characters. This case in particular had no supernatural element, as in other Gibney tales, but it is no less riveting. Holly says it best on page 442 (paraphrasing slightly):

"...Roddy and Emily Harris were worse. Why? Because there was nothing supernatural about them. Because you couldn't say their evil came from outside, and comfort yourself with the idea that if there were malign outside forces, there were probably good ones as well. The Harris' evil was both prosaic and outlandish...Holly isn't sure she wants to revisit a world capable of holding people like Rodney. Or like Emily, who was...more calculating and at the same time much, much crazier."

I can't wait to read what Holly does next.

2024 I Read Horror Year-Round Challenge - Wrap-up

That's year four in the bag! On my part, I managed to complete my chosen level, the Chilling level...read 12 books. Here's what I read...

• Witch, dark, blood, bone, or body in title
  Children of the Dark, Jonathan Janz April 16
• Nature gone wild (when plants or animals attack)
  Animal Kingdom, Iain Rob Wright August 26
• Creepy character/object (House, doll, child, etc.)
  Cunning Folk, Adam Nevill December 13
• Holiday horror (Christmas, yule, etc.)
  Christmas and Other Horrors: An Anthology of Solstice Horror December 23
• Short story anthology or collection
  Out There Screaming, Jordan Peele, editor February 25
• Takes place during Halloween season
  Mischief Night Massacre: Ten Tales of Halloween, Jason Parent October 24
• Winter theme, or winter on cover
  A Winter Haunting, Dan Simmons January 14
• A book that is also a movie
  I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Iain Reid March 2024
• By BIPOC author
  Lone Women, Victor LaValle August 24
• Classic horror novel
  The Necromancers, Robert Hugh Benson October 30
• Dark Academia novel 
  Ninth House, Leigh Bardugo February 14
• Gothic novel
  The Dismembered, Jonathan Janz April 28

How about you? Share your wrap-up in the comments, or link to a wrap-up post on your blog (or social media, shelf on Goodreads, etc.).

In case you missed it, sign-up for I Read Horror YR 2025 is open. This year I've added a fun (optional) BINGO challenge with a specific theme. Here's the link to the post.
I hope you will join me again!

2025 I Read Horror Year-Round Challenge

Here we are at year five! Time for another year of reading great horror!

This year I'm including an optional BINGO challenge...the Cryptid BINGO Challenge! 

Details and BINGO card are below.

Once again, there are 12 categories and 4 levels of participation.

Here are the categories, or themes:

• Vampires
• Witches
• Folk Horror (Ideas: https://tinyurl.com/yy8jj56a or https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/folk-horror?page=1)
• Written by a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) author
• A Ghost Story
• Written by a female author
• Cosmic Horror
• Frightening Cover
• Adapted as movie/series
• Katsu, Ketchum, King, or Koontz
• Black, gray, orange, or red cover
• Book featuring a Cryptid (mark off one BINGO square!)

Levels:

Spooky: Read 6 books from 6 categories
Chilling: Read 12 Books from all 12 categories
Frightful: Read 2 books from each category for a total of 24 books
Horrifying: Read 3 books from each category for a total of 36 books

Challenge runs from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025. Cross overs with other challenges count. Short stories are allowed if you're reading an entire collection or anthology. Books must be over 100 pages (one book under 100 pages is permitted). You do not have to pick your books ahead of time, but you can if you want.
Hashtag for social media: #IReadHorror

Details for the optional Cryptid BINGO Challenge:

Complete as one BINGO, or more, or go for the cover-all. 

Here are some lists for ideas on Cryptid horror books:

Cryptid Horror Books

Cryptofiction

Pre-2000 Cryptofiction

Crypto Fiction Books
Cryptids Books

Any questions? Leave a comment or contact me (via image in sidebar).

Grab the button and spread the word. Thanks!

Sign up here:

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Stephen King's Fairy Tale Read-along - Final Discussion

This is going to be a short post. I know I'm already late. I apologize. My head is not in a good space right now so developing thoughts is proving to be difficult at the moment.

I will say...I LOVED this book! I was already enamored of the ties to fairy tales and The Wizard of Oz. Adding in the Lovecraftian Cthulhu vibe added just the right amount of horror to make this a dark fantasy, and I'm impressed.

Wrong-o about Charlie's mom being from there (lol), but correct about what was under Flight Killer's robes. Yuck. Kind of bummed that Charlie and Leah could not be together, but it wasn't that kind of fairy tale. I thought the ending was quite appropriate actually. So happy that Radar lived, and Charlie went on to live a good life...and protected Empis from being discovered by our treacherous world and destroyed. 

What did you think? Let me know if I failed to touch on anything, and add your personal thoughts in the comments.

Thanks so much to those of you who joined our Something Wicked Fall read-along. If you're participating in the I Read Horror Year-Round challenge, I will be posting next year's challenge before the end of the year (and I might have something extra this year). Stay tuned!