Books I have read this year (2026)
1. The Haunting of Payne's Hollow (Kelley Armstrong).
Finally finished reading the first one of the year! It's a horror, filled with lots of scary stuff and twists and turns. Definitely upsetting at times as most horrors can be, but the characters are interesting and the story did not go the way I expect!
2. Dead Silence (S.A. Barnes)
Very happy with this book. Very creepy - the dread you get while reading is so fresh and there, in your face even when the main character isn't fighting for her life. Pretty much all of this authors horror works are amazing reads but as a warning these ones are not for the faint of heart. They're messy, gorey and spooky as hell. I hope one day they make them into a movie or TV series. Definitely some of my favorite sci-fi horror works to date : )
3. The Overnight Guest (Heather Gudenkauf)
This one is grim. There's a lot of murder here, SA and abuse - I wasn't actually sure what was going to happen just by reading the back panel, and it definitely wasn't what I thought was going to happen. The SA is hard to read, as is the abuse/murder, but it's written in a way to make it as horrifying as it is in real life, not just for shock. The last quarter of the book left me angry and crying for all the characters but it was a good kind of crying. The ending was definitely worth the pain.
Just be careful reading this one. It's super dark. And the murders are extremely violent - mostly told through the eyes of the young girls who witnesses it all.
4. A Magic Deep and Drowning (Hester Fox)
This one is a version of the little mermaid if the genders were reversed - but really it's so much more than that. I think this is my favorite book that I started and stopped in 2025. I finally finished it now that I got a copy again from the library and I can say it's definitely overly romantic at times but it's also deeply painful and sorrowful. There's a lot to unpack here and I don't think there are any real warnings to be had (aside from if you're terrified of drowning. But that's also in the title so it's kind of already there.)
Loved the ending as well. Nothing I would change in here aside from maybe getting to see more of the future after the book finished.
5. We Do Not Part (Han Kang)
This one is a hard read - not because it's difficult but because the content is so dark and upsetting at times that it's hard to see how there could be any light afterwards. The is death in these pages and it is some of the worst I've read because it's real. This one isn't entirely fiction. The characters are but the information isn't.
There's a lot for history here that hurts to read about and I can definitely see why this novel won a Nobel prize in literature in 2024.
I didn't know there was so much death that happened in Korea, but before, during and after the many wars. This was eye opening.
6. The Haunting of Moscow House (Olesya Salnikova Gilmore)
This one is set in Russia during the 1917 wars that took place there (WW1/Revolutionary war etc) and it is pretty brutal. The two main protagonists are sisters of a long lived Russian family that has been part of the ruling class for generations, and deals with them having to live through the Cheka and Bolsheviks going after those they didn't like. And after all the real life horror around them, their house starts to become haunted.
To me it was a really fascinating take on Russian history and the government changes from royalty to communism - and the old Russian folk stories/history meshes really well with the supernatural. This one is definitely unique. Terrifying and unique.
There's some sex in here and a brief mention of SA (so be careful).
7. The House at Phantom Park (Graham Masterton)
This one is rough. The story repeats a lot of content over and over again and while it is indeed a haunted house story, it also includes a demon and a whoooooole bunch of PTSD and gore that won't stop letting you know why it's happening. The story is interesting enough but because the author is in his eighties, the dialogue and phrasing can be really weird and outdated. I'm sure someone who's from the UK will probably have an easier time reading this one but for someone in Canada who isn't in their eighties, it's a tough slog. I've never heard some of the phrases in this book before and I've read and watched a lot of BBC shows and movies.
The editing is bad here. Very bad. The stiff dialogue gets the story along but details and comments get repeated every few pages and by the time you get to the end of it, you realize you've read the same lines so often you can almost guess what'll happen right after. And holy shit if I read the word/name Frank one more damn time I'm going to pull out my hair and scream. There are over 300 pages here and at least 50 of them could be cut just for saying the same plot point in a different way. Every time the main character finds out about a horrible death happening she gets to hear it from at least one other character twice - and everyone explodes. I swear to god it becomes boring. I was watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice right before this and it just became almost comical just how often people exploded and their guts flew everywhere. (Kinda like a very specific scene with where Winona Rider's character meets her least favorite person again after so many years and he 'spills his guts' to her).
If you're like me and you read most stuff to the end even if it pisses you the hell off, feel free to take a shot at this one. If you don't, I wouldn't blame you - it's interesting but just such a struggle to finish.
The author has written so many books over his lifetime and I don't think reading this one has made me want to read anything else he's done.
8. Will the Drama Ever End? Untangling and healing from the harmful effects of Parental Narcissism (Karyl McBride, PH.D.)
Probably going to buy a copy of this one. I've read one of her other books and found them both extremely helpful. There's a lot in here to read through and while it's not a 'finish it and everything will be fine' kind of read, it explains so much. As an adult, I kind of understand more now why things happened as they did when I was a child and why they're still happening now as an adult. It's a difficult read at times and made me emotional as hell, but if you have had problems with emotionally immature parents, this one is for you. (Mainly for narcissistic parents, but it's all behavior on a scale - might not be as bad as it could be, but it can still cause damage.)
9. Fiend (Alma Katsu)
This one is super dark and heavy. There's a monster here but it's more than just the supernatural one lurking in the smoke.
I don't want to spoil anything but it's definitely not the story I expected and that was a nice change. Definitely worth the read but be warned. There's a lot of misogyny in here and cruelty. Bad parents. Bad people. Very dark.
10. The Silence of Bones (June Hur)
This one is a murder mystery set in 1800 Korea. There's a lot in here and it's all interesting - tons of murder and torture, but also so much emotion and history weaved into the story. Definitely worth a read but be warned, it will probably make you cry (just like I did).
I've read some of this authors other works and enjoyed most of them! Definitely going to keep watching for her next work.
11. An Arcane Inheritance (Kamilah Cole)
This one is more fantasy based than I originally thought. The characters are all very well developed and interesting and the story is weaved really well - at times it can drag a bit though. I was a bit disappointed there wasn't more magic in the entire story about magic but that doesn't mean it wasn't a good book. Definitely a solid read I'd recommend to anyone looking for a college based story about a magical world. There's a lot of LGBTQ stuff in here and the entire cast is very diverse with mainly POC characters. Definitely going to read more of this authors works!
12. The Gallagher Place (Julie Doar)
This one was a twisty murder mystery. It's the author's first novel and I definitely will be keeping an eye on her stuff to see what she does next. This was one is one of the first murder mystery novels I didn't guess the ending to immediately - definitely a good plot!
13. The Hangman (Louise Penny)
This one is a mini story about Gamache and three pines, which I'm pretty sure the plot was reused in another longer novel sized version. It was super familiar and a much less polished version of the larger story. Kind of like getting a glimpse of a first draft that hasn't really been touched yet.
This one was still interesting, even if it's not as good as her novels (it's only 87 pages and quite simply written).
14. Grace (A.M. Shine)
This one is spooky - an old town on an almost forgotten island, filled with secrets and monsters. But only some of those are human.
The story is slow and can be a bit plodding, but the dark thing haunting the island is really creepy and it makes you think about what could happen if an island really did get cut off from the rest of the world.
15. Body of Water (Adam Godfrey)
This one had an unexpected twist at the end - one I wasn't entirely happy with, but could kind of sense at while I was reading through it. It starts as survival horror and then morphs into something entirely not that.
It dragged at times and while the horror parts were creepy, it got tired fast and felt overwhelming. Which I suppose, was the point of it all. It's definitely a story about grief and trying to survive after a loved ones death, and it's got a satisfying conclusion if you stop two or three chapters from the end. I don't know. I'm not sure what I think about it other than that I kind of feel like the ending was a cheat and lessened the lesson of the whole thing.
16. Catfish Rolling (Clara Kumagai)
This is the author's first book (I read her second one before this one and didn't realize I'd done it until waaaaaay later) and it's really really solid. It's sad, moving in a way that makes you really feel everything the protagonist is going through.
The world in this book has changed. Time is flowing faster and slower in places in Japan and the people that were in the middle of the earthquake zone when it happened have all disappeared.
I don't want to post spoilers but this one is LGBTQ friendly! It also made me cry a lot and talks a lot about memory and losing memories so be warned, it can be super heavy at times. But there's also folklore and SciFi too so it's got a lot to offer.
This is one is the books I'm going to end up buying a copy of!
17. My Heart is a Chainsaw (Stephen Grahame Jones)
This one is book one of a trilogy - one I started by accidentally reading the middle book and missing the first. I have the third out from the library and plan to read that one after taking a break with a different book.
The first book is like.... Being punched in the face but in a good way? The main character is absolutely insistant that she's not worthy of being a hero and how she's there to prepare another character for what she feels is the horror that will come (no spoilers - hopefully) and it's so infuriating to read her sometimes but I loved it. It's very dark. There's a lot of grim content here, gore and mentions of SA. It's got a ton of interesting content about Slasher movies and horror. It's a lot.
It's definitely worth reading.
But man it makes you hate bad parents and adults who don't listen to children.
18. The Deep (Nick Cutter)
This one is horror - deeply upsetting horror, at times. Don't go into this one unless you're prepared to be uncomfortable from multiple things that happen (sa, narcissism and animal abuse). I don't want to spoil anyone but this one is dark as hell and shouldn't be read unless you've seen something like Event Horizon and been ok with it. (Event Horizon is almost tame compared to this one honestly lol).
It was definitely interesting and a good read if you love horror but tread lightly and take breaks.
19. Endless Anger (Sav R. Miller)
This one is not what I expected. I like that it had a content warning page - there's lots of sex in here, some sa, a ton of violence and murder/death. But holy hell. I've never really picked up romance novels before - m/f ones - and this was just.... 150/400paged of hardcore porn lol. Some of the nicknames the main character had for the main love interest made my skin crawl. I'm sure some people would enjoy the book but there just wasn't enough plot and story to keep me wanting to finish the series. I went into this expecting a murder mystery and walked into a porno lol and it's reaaaaaaal hard to rate something like that lololol.
20. Behind Five Willows (June Hur)
This one was really touching. It's set in 1780s Korea and a historical romance/mystery. I've read all of this author's works and loved them and this one is no different. The story was very touching and the love the siblings have for one another/how the characters love writing and reading is just so touching, especially in this political landscape. It surprised me just how much of what happened in the book was actually real history woven in (the author does an amazing job at this as always) but the fact that a king did what they did with books was so shocking. I can understand now why so little remains of certain stories and documents considering so many countries and leaders did purges of writing and storytelling over the years.
This one is definitely worth the read. I cried a lot but it was a cathartic kind of cry, and made me enjoy the book even more.
Damn. I need to get writing again.
21. The Vegetarian (Han Kang)
This one is a hard read. There's a lot of abuse in here, SA and just horrible treatment of women at the hands of family. At the same time though, it's a story about people coming to understand themselves and mental health issues - the ending is very grim and upsetting but if you can handle stories about depression/mental illness and slow starvation, it's an interesting read. There's a lot here about society in Korea (this is from 2007 I believe, only translated into English in 2016?) and the discussion about how women are treated is very deeply woven into the story. It's very upsetting so be careful reading it but it's got moments of surprise in it too. The author knew what she was doing.
22. The Cove (LJ Ross)
This one is a murder mystery set in a small town with a cove that blocks people from leaving when the tide comes in. It's not a long book and not particularly exciting - everything happens pretty fast and the ending came on so fast it felt rushed. It's got some interesting twists and turns but it's a light read.
23. Witch Hat Atelier (Kamome Shirahama) volume 1
This is the first volume of the series in English and so far I'm really loving it. The story is so unique and the art is just really adorable. Lots of magic, lots of sadness and world building!
