grendel apologist

some horror and horror adjacent novels i've recently read about women Wanting and Desiring and Repressing and the damage caused by Denial:

Hungerstone by Kat Dunn is a big one. reimagining of the novella Carmilla, very explicitly about the way repression poisons us! maybe a little heavy handed in its execution but fun!

Spread Me by Sarah Gailey is a WEIRD one but i enjoyed it. erotic horror inspired by john carpenter's the thing. woman takes a position at a remote research facility to try to escape Temptations but then something they find buried in the sand awakens her Desires.

The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim explores Resisting Desires horror within an examination of fetishization of east asian women. this one is a bit gory, though nothing over the top.

Diavola by Jennifer Marie Thorne, REALLY loved this one. young woman trying to endure a family vacation, and trying to ignore/not act on negative feelings but also the vacation home they're staying at is haunted. not only is their family drama but they have to deal with a ghost too.

The September House by Carissa Orlando is another haunted house novel, really really really loved this one. another one about not admitting how you really feel to yourself, and the damage that does. family drama featuring ghosts is a favourite of mine!

I'm also currently reading Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill, a delightful historical novel about a paleontologist in the 1850s who discovers the research of her great-uncle Victor Frankenstein and wants to use it to create a dinosaur, and also is deeply in denial regarding her feelings about her husband. it sounds silly but the situation is given a lot of gravity. im about halfway through this one so i cannot fully vouch for it but im really enjoying it!