Some horror I read this month! I’ll have a couple of thriller reviews coming your way tomorrow (hopefully). This bathroom refresh took over all of our attention and I’m just perpetually catching up on reviews it seems like.
MONSTERS DON’T CRY – Shane McKenzie (Originally Released December 8th, 2015)
AN AFFRONT TO MAN – Judith Sonnet (Released March 8th, 2025)
MONSTERS DON’T CRY – Shane McKenzie (Originally Released December 8th, 2015)
Natasha just wants to be loved. But it’s hard to find someone when you’re a hideous, disfigured monstrosity of a human.
She knows she’ll never be beautiful like the women in the magazines, but the porcelain doll mask she wears helps her feel pretty.
She has spent her life locked in her bedroom by her bitter, abusive mother. But one day, fate provides an opportunity and Natasha finds herself free to explore the outside world.
She wants to find love – no matter how many crushed skulls or disembowelments it takes. She will find her Prince Charming, even if she has to rip the world apart.
My Thoughts: 4/5 stars
Natasha is just a woman looking for her Prince Charming – sounds like it could be a heartwarming story, right? Well. Not when she’s been kept locked in her room her entire life by her abusive and awful mother, and it doesn’t help that’s horribly disfigured and seen as a monster by those around her. A twist of fate, a VERY bloody one, allows her to finally escape her home and begin her quest for Prince Charming.
A young woman knowing only one way to cope with hardship finds a man she’s determined to make her Prince and won’t let anything or anyone get in her way. So much blood, so much violence, and a surprising amount of vomit. The villains in this are truly evil, and the supposed monster is surprisingly human. I saw some other reviewers compare Natasha to Frankenstein’s monster, and I can totally see the parallels.
I absolutely loved the foreword from Judith Sonnet!
I feel like it goes without saying, BUT this is gory and bloody and full of vivid violence. If you aren’t a fan, then proceed with caution.
AN AFFRONT TO MAN – Judith Sonnet (Released March 8th, 2025)
Eels . . . Jump Scare . . . and Cabin Possessions. Three startlingly scary, dark, and wild horror stories!
A group of spring breakers find an abandoned lab at sea . . . and are attacked by slimy, slithery EELS!
A gang of kids explore a haunted house behind their suburb. Years later, the ghosts begin to appear in their own homes and workplaces!
And last, on Halloween, a small batch of Missourian teenagers go to a cabin for a small party, only to find themselves pursued by a body-possessing, costume-wearing demon!
Connected by unbreakable friendships intruded upon by supernatural forces, AN AFFRONT TO MAN is a scary collection designed for fans of traditional subgenres! B-movie monsters, quiet horror, and old school slasher thrills!
My Thoughts: 5/5 stars
I’m loving the horror novellas lately, and Judith Sonnet can do no wrong. Three very memorable and very different stories in this little collection. Eels, haunted houses, possessions? Yes, to all three. Even though this was a sea lab, and nowhere near a lake, those eels gave me all of the creeps and now I don’t want to go in the water anytime soon this summer (or ever). Cabins in the woods – I think we all know to avoid that, BUT I literally live in the woods. I think she’s trying to get me all paranoid.
I think what I love the most about this collection is the variety in types of horror. Judith gives us monsters, slashers, and quiet horror. I love seeing the range within the genre because there are so many subgenres to horror that you can always expect something scary in ways you didn’t think possible. I mean, I always thought eels were fine, but nope. A nice cabin setting on Halloween? Nope. Haunted house behind the suburbs? Nope. I loved every second of it, though.
Jessicamap Reviews 