The Running Bibliophile

The Photographer by Barbara Steiner is a Young Adult horror novel that was originally published in 1989 and follows a new student named Derrick who joins the school photography club and the student newspaper. Megan, who is already a member of both groups, begins having unsettling and vivid dreams shortly after Derrick arrives. As Derrick starts taking photographs of the prettiest girls in school for the newspaper, Megan realizes that her disturbing dreams are beginning to come true. As events escalate, she becomes convinced that Derrick is somehow connected and feels compelled to prove that he is responsible before more damage is done. On Friday, September 13, 2024, I was in the mood for a short, spooky book and came across The Photographer while researching other books written by Barbara Steiner. It immediately caught my attention, and I decided to give it a try. It definitely delivered the eerie atmosphere I was hoping for and made for a quick and creepy read that fit the season p...

The Dare by Natasha Preston is a young adult horror novel centered on Marley and her friends Atlas, Lucia, and Jesse, all seniors in high school. What begins as harmless, lighthearted senior pranks quickly takes a dark turn when Rhett starts assigning dares that are far more serious and dangerous. As the stakes rise, the question becomes whether Marley and her friends will survive the consequences of playing along. A huge thank you to NetGalley for providing an advanced readers copy of The Dare by Natasha Preston. The last book I read by this author was well written and engaging, so I was excited to dive into her latest young adult horror story. From the start, the novel feels reminiscent of R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series, which instantly brought back a wave of childhood nostalgia. Unfortunately, that initial excitement didn’t last. Before long, the plot shifts into territory that felt eerily similar to the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer . At that point, my interest started ...

The Family Game by Catherine Steadman is a novel about a rich, eccentric family and traditions that may be deadly.  Harriet "Harry" Reed, a novelist, and her fiance Edward Holbeck are in love.  Edward's estranged family wants Harry's help in bringing back into the folds of their family, but when their strange family traditions make Harry uneasy, she starts to rethink her decision. A big shout out and thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, and Ballatine Books for the Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of The Family Game by Catherine Steadman.  I requested to review this book because of the cover art and the synopsis.  To say I was excited to be approved to receive this book for free in exchange for my honest review would be an understatement. This was the perfect book to put me in the mood for Halloween even though the majority of the book takes place in November and December.  An intense, dark book, the first quarter of the novel was a bit slow but qu...

It  by Stephen King takes place in the town of Derry where there is something terrible lurking in the storm drains and sewers that takes the shape of children's worst nightmares and hunts them down. The adults in Derry are oblivious of what is lurking in their town. Join the Losers Club as they fight  It  as children and promise to come back to kill it if needed as adults. With the remake of the movie It coming out in the fall, I decided to read the book by Stephen King because I wanted to see the movie but not without first reading the book. In the month of May, I began reading It , and it took me four months to read it ... 4 months! Now, I did take a one week break where I read three other books, but the length of It was a bit too long for my liking. In the version I read, it was close to 1,500 pages! With that being said, I'm not sure that anything could have been cut from the book because it would have lost that wow factor for me. It's hard to be...