The last Saturday of September, Boils & Ghouls 👻
…has fallen upon us again.
Just like our last month’s recap.
Oh, the deja vu to be here once more…
I’m not sure about you, but I always feel a tinge of bittersweetness during this time of the year. I’m sad to say goodbye to the long days and warm weather, but I’m so excited for that crisp Autumn air and to snuggle into all my fuzzy sweaters.
It’s almost a battle of the feels when this time of the year approaches, so no wonder I get completely overwhelmed and out of sorts. As you know, the blog is not running at its full capacity with our continuous weekend updates and captivatingly creepy content–but I want you Boils and Ghouls to be aware that content (and new undisclosed projects) are on their way… and well worth the wait!
I sincerely appreciate your patience, your presence and your subscription to this blog. Your support keeps the content coming, and I want to keep you here for an endless amount of time… 😈
*coughs* This might be the perfect point to introduce tonight’s Morbid Monthly Recap… *coughs*
August truly felt like it slipped away with the blink of an eye…
or “like a bottle of wine” if you ask Taylor.
I don’t know how I managed, but I really did tackle a lot of books in August while packing up the entire contents of my old apartment AND onboarding into a new job within my career.
I’ve had more authors connect with me over the last few months and I will said it again–It’s a joy and honor to work with authors directly via my contact page 👈🏻 so if you’re a Horror or indie author, and you have some spooky books you’d like me to read 👀 then I’m your ghoul!
August Theme | LEt’s Read OutsidE! ☀️
Since here on the East coast, our summer weather tends to quiet down towards the end of August, so for this month’s theme I wanted to find a way to get outside and read as much as possible!
Are you new to the blog?
Consider reviewing previous monthly recaps 👇🏻
- What I’ve Read In A Month – September 2025 Edition
- What I’ve Read In A Month – August 2025 Edition
- What I’ve Read In A Month – July 2025 Edition
August TO BE READ (TBR) List
I love using the Fable app to prepare monthly reading lists, and to share them with my fellow fantastic Fablers on the app to get hyped for the upcoming scares or fascinations I’m about to experience…
If you happen to be an avid reader and want more social in your book life, Fable is definitely the app to seek out 👀
Book Reviews
📖=physical/ebook 🎧=audiobook
Issues With Authority by Nadia Bulkin (2025)
[ 🗣️Thank you BookSirens for the ARC]
Format: ebook 📖
“Shirley Jackson Award-Nominated author Nadia Bulkin’s sophomore collection ISSUES WITH AUTHORITY drenches the reader in a sensory overload of power, belief, and horrifying transformation.“
This was my first BookSirens request, solely based on the above description! I was captivated by the cover art, but was also grabbed by the topics and subjects being discussed within the stories. Dealing with some heavy subjects and emotional triggers, this was definitely a great first BookSirens reading XP!
reposting from last month‘s recap
Rating:💀💀💀.5
A Fig For All The Devils by C. S. Fritz (2021)
Format: ebook 📖
“An abused, grief-stricken, and impoverished Sonny has all but given up on life. That is, until he meets death, by way of the Grim Reaper. The Reaper, a junk food loving, poetry reading, cigarette-addicted entity, has no time to waste as he searches for a suitable successor who would become “Death” for the next millennium. By training the boy in the ways of death and dying, Reaper grooms his young apprentice and through suspenseful and horror-laced events, he unknowingly gives Sonny something he never intended: A reason to live.“
Starting out the first week in our Get Outside and Read, Buds! book club was a book I’ve been dying to read for quite some time, and I was ecstatic that our Book Aura was screaming for us to read it last month.
I almost envisioned this read to give be similar vibes that Catcher in the Rye did… but I was not expecting to cackle as much as I did from a talking Grim Reaper… 10/10! Hilarity ensures from this witty dialogue but I also warn those of the very sensitive and triggering subject matter you’ll also encounter.
Rating:💀💀💀💀💀
Dark Cloud on Naked Creek by Cindy O’Quinn (2025)
[ 🗣️Thank you to Brigids Gate Press & Netgalley for the ARC]
Format: ebook 📖
“…Tales of Appalachian folklore are woven throughout this story, which leads the readers to wonder if the monsters that visit their darkest nightmares might actually be real.“
Folk Horror! Appalachian Folklore Horror! Sign me up.
Not realizing what I was signing up for, but doing so anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed this reprinting of Cindy O’Quinn’s Appalachian Folklore Horror and the horizons it broadened upon reading.
Rating:💀💀💀💀
Subscribe to the blog for more haunted monthly recaps…
How High We Go In The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu (2022)
Format: Paperback 📖
“From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead, How High We Go in the Dark follows a cast of intricately linked characters spanning hundreds of years as humanity endeavours to restore the delicate balance of the world.“
Our second pick for the Get Outside and Read, Buds! book club (courtesy of our lovely Book Aura feature on Fable) and I would have to say, the one book last month that shifted my entire perspective!
Touching on such heavy topics and touchy subject matter, I was engrossed in this audiobook from start to finish… so much so, I went out and purchased the physical paperback for a reread/annotation experience.
Rating:💀💀💀💀💀
Secret Lives Of The Dead by Tim Lebbon (2025)
[ 🗣️Thank you to Titan Books & Netgalley for the Read]
Format: eBook 📖
“A dark folk horror tale of a deadly family curse, crime and murder that is sure to turn your blood cold, from the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Netflix’s The Silence.“
I’ve been wanting to explore more Folk Horror books and when I saw this one on NetGalley, I couldn’t help myself from requesting the chance to read… I mean, look at that skeleton!
While I found the pacing a little off for my speed of reading, I enjoyed the non-linear narrative to really build up that dark family curse from the ashes!
Rating:💀💀💀
We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson (1962)
Format: Paperback 📖
“Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate.”
Our third read in the Get Outside and Read, Buds! book club, we decided to adventure into the eerily castle and explore the unfortunate world within Shirley Jackson’s exquisite Gothic Horror.
As a fan of The Haunting of Hill House, I am shocked I haven’t read more of Shirley’s books! Captivated by the mysterious plot and the cutest cat, I was excited to finally get a chance to read this novella with the book club.
Rating:💀💀💀💀💀
Hell Pulp by Matias Ylikangas (2025)
[ 🗣️Thank you to Matias Ylikangas & Netgalley for the Read]
Format: eBook 📖
“Hell Pulp is a grounded exploration of the afterlife myth, unbound by religious traditions. For readers craving adventure, horror, and philosophical reflection, Hell Pulp offers a harrowing vision of a world just beyond ours.“
Okay, cover alone this one had my attention…
Matias, I applaud your visuals here! I love a gripping cover and this one just screams for your eyes to process just what you’re looking at!
Rating:💀💀💀💀💀
Trip by A.J. Humphreys (2025)
[ 🗣️Thank you to Dark Journeys Press & Netgalley for the Read]
Format: eBook 📖
“Where do the beings from legends, myths, and folklore originate? Are supernatural truths hidden in these orated tales? Were they the first works of fiction? Or possibly the hallucinations and ramblings of the mentally inebriated or unstable before humanity understood such conditions?“
You really have me hook, line and sinker at “psychological horror” so it was a no-brainer that I would request to read A.J’s novel on NetGalley.
What I didn’t expect was to be so immersed in the trip itself while reading (via very clever formatting choices and writing styles) which truly enhanced the experience for me. It’s definitely a book you’ll want to reread again, just to get any sort of grip on the trip…
Rating:💀💀💀💀
To haunt my previous reads, check out this archive.
I tend to overestimate how many books I can read on top of many other life factors (i.e., including but not limited to: packing up an entire apartment to move, working on learning a brand new workflow, etc.) So I’m not mad that I was able to read at least eight of the ones I set out to (and even finish some I had planned to finish back in July…)
And while I did not get to finish our August Morbid Curiosities, I still plan on reading both books throughout this month and into October, if necessary.
(In fact, I saw that Knock Knock Open Wide will have an audiobook release on Oct 7th 👀)
If you’d like to see what other books I’ve read, creep my books 👀
plus consider possessing your inbox with NEW blog updates…
High and Low vibes of August
There were a few stand outs this month that really stuck with me, so it was hard to truly pick just one… August was a great month for captivating and engaging reads!
✨ VIBED THE HIGHEST WITH…
Hell Pulp by Matias Ylikangas (2025)
Why did this book exceed my expectations?
Just from how that first chapter read, I knew this book was going to take over my life (and quite possibly haunt me in my afterlife 💀)
You really begin to feel for Oscar and his afterlife journey through what we can only assume to be the depths of absolute Hell and I think that’s what really kept me hooked, plus the development of his relationship with Nathanial and their overall intriguing mission to get to Dean Theodore for the answers they are seeking. It reminded me of my reading experience with A Short Stay In Hell which was emotionally scarring, but in the most beautifully horrific way possible!
Also not to mention the most viscerally unreal and disturbed descriptions of the pain endured in the afterlife that I’ve ever witnessed…
And shout-out to Matias for his captivating posts on IG to promote the release of his debut book. I appreciate when an author immerses you in their world with the use of visuals to really ground you in their work, and the ones Matias was able to create and display to capture the atmosphere and vibes of Hell Pulp were pure and utter nightmare fuel! *claps*
This hellish & terrifying Horror book was released in this past August (with this ghoul needing to get themselves a physical paperback copy)
And if I were you…
and I were morbidly curious…
I’d be reading it now 😈
☠️ HIT MY LOWEST Vibe WITH…
Secret Lives Of The Dead by Tim Lebbon (2025)
What happened during the reading experience?
It was literally just the pacing for me. It felt off in some spots while developing some of the characters’ backstories and that created some confusion later on while juggling the multiple character narratives and non-linear timelines in the story.
Daniel Zovatto, Jane Levy & Dylan Minnette in Don’t Breathe, 2016
When I first started reading this book, I was almost picturing the cast of the movie Don’t Breathe (which really worked for my aphantasic mind) but then, while also trying to unveil our villain and their connection to our three main characters, I became sort of lost and disconnected from the story (and even the characters themselves) which ultimately impacted my reading experience.
I do appreciate Titan Books & NetGalley for allowing this ghoul access to the advanced reading copy to read this summer 🙏🏻
If you’ve made it this far, I appreciate that you’ve read about my monthly reading habits 🙈
Drop a 👻 in the comments and share your reading highs and lows for August…
Do you have a morbid curiosity?
Join the club(s) 👀📚
Until we meet again,
What was your favorite book in August?
Drop a 🖤 Break a name