Toxic PTA Circles, Cannibals, and Hot Creatures in Wells
A(n almost) Mid-Year Book Review
We are almost at the halfway mark of the year. While the publishing industry transitions into summer fundays, my reading list has been picking up speed like a Final Girl in a chase.
Devastatingly Hot Creatures Read
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about visibility within the horror space as an author, genre conventions and expectations, and what actually makes a horror book linger with its readers. I don’t want my horror sanded down, apologetic, or neatly wrapped up in a beautifully bloody package. I want it raw, aggressive, and deeply uncomfortable.
As a mid-year inventory, here are the four books that have entirely defined my reading landscape so far.
NOTHING BUT BLACKENED TEETH (TOR, 2021)
Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw
The Vibe: A haunted house story built around a friend group with old wounds splitting open, an upcoming wedding, and a ghost bride excited to welcome them all. It’s dusty and dark and a bit like a fever dream in the back half.
The Verdict: This novella understands exactly how to use its length as an advantage. It doesn’t waste time pretending the house is normal first; the dread is already there, sitting under every interaction within the group dynamic (and in the peripherals of our main character) before any of the weirdness starts to happen. I really enjoyed the ghost story aspect butting up to the messy dynamics of the friend group. The house, atmosphere, and ghost story act like a second skin on top of the characters’ issues (and there are plenty of those!). There are almost two stories running together: human horror and supernatural horror, which is always what I look for in a book! Khaw understands something a lot of haunted house stories miss entirely: locations don’t destroy people nearly as efficiently as unresolved relationships do.
Read if you love: old mansions with history, ghost stories, willing sacrifices, messy human relationships, horror that doesn’t resolve cleanly
DOLLFACE (MINOTAUR BOOKS, 2026)
Dollface by Lindy Ryan
The Vibe: Tactile, chaotic, and just self-aware enough to earn the elbow-deep in slasher gore.
The Verdict: Dollface is messy. Viscerally so. And yes, that is a compliment. It’s gross, sharp-toothed, mean in the exact way a slasher should be, and fully committed to its genre bones without ever hedging them. The killer POV chapters are especially fun because they understand that slashers are allowed to be entertaining. Horror does not always need to lessen itself into prestige grief metaphors to work. Sometimes you just want flesh under the fingernails and a sense that everyone on page is making catastrophically bad emotional decisions (or ignoring them completely).
The comparison to Scream makes perfect sense, but not for the reasons you might think. Without too many spoilers, the “danger” is already inside the friend group long before the violence escalates. This PTA circle is toxic in that deeply recognizable way where every conversation feels one passive-aggressive comment away from turning murderous. The deaths feel like an extension of the emotional violence already happening.
And you absolutely won’t guess the ending 100% correctly.
Read if you love: Scream (specifically Stu Macher), reality television (for the ridiculous gossip), and cake.
TRAD WIFE (CROOKED LANE BOOKS, 2026)
Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer
The Vibe: Biblical horror meets visceral cannibalism and a hot creature in a well plus some influencer drama that kept me glued to the pages.
The Verdict: This book fully got its claws into me. I think I talked nonstop about it for weeks. It operates in that terrifying space where the domestic chores of an Instagram trad wife, the sacredness of motherhood, and monstrous ambition all collapse into each other until there’s no clean line separating them anymore. There’s also a romantic thread that sneaks up on you and hits with an emotional weight you absolutely won’t be prepared for—or at least, I wasn’t!
What I loved most is that the book refuses to make itself more polished for the reader’s comfort. The main character is a mess in the most lovely way. She tries so hard, and I resonate with a lot of it. The book allows the rot to fester while the reader can’t tear their eyes away. It lets devotion become consumption in the most literal possible sense.
I’m obsessed. There’s something deeply old and feral underneath the entire novel, like it crawled out of folklore half-starved and smiling. Five stars. Easily.
(Side note: Look up content warnings here. There’s nothing too crazy, but there are some pregnancy things that you may want to be aware of if you’ve had some trauma like I have.)
Read if you love: influencer culture (ironically or otherwise), women’s coming of rage, and the idea of running off to become a woodland creature.
BREATHE IN, BLEED OUT (SOURCEBOOKS, 2025)
Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley
The Vibe: Fast-paced, campy, twisty, and bloody with societal commentary. You’ll keep looking around for Jason in a mask, but it’s not that simple.
The Verdict: The newest book I can’t stop thinking about. I adored every moment in these pages. This book kept me yelling at the characters for being stupid while completely understanding exactly why they were doing it. There’s some drama between the characters, especially the best friends, which I savor! If you love messy, real human dynamics mixed with absolute chaos, this is it. Oh—and the hallucinations? Those were an absolute blast.
The ending? I didn’t see it coming. I’m still sitting with it.
Read if you love: The Gold Rush, the idea of camping but not the execution, weirdly fun hallucinations?
SUMMERWEEN HOPEFULS? (a few more on the way!)
These four books represent exactly what I’m craving in the modern horror landscape: authors who trust the reader enough to let the rot fester. No neat bows, no commercial sanding, just pure genre mess. As I head into the second half of the year working on my own projects, these are the standards I’m holding myself to.
If we want better horror, we have to read it, talk about it, and demand it.
What about you? Have you read any of these? What’s the book that completely wrecked your reading goals (in the best way possible) so far? Let’s fight about it in the comments.
Up next for me:
The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer
Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake
Headlights by CJ Leade
When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen
