Review: Overgrowth by Mira Grant

Title: Overgrowth

Author: Mira Grant

Genre: Adult, sci-fi, horror

Publication date: May 6th 2025

Published by: Tor Nightfire

Source: eARC for review from publishers via Netgalley

Add it on Goodreads

Buy it: Amazon | B&N | Bookshop.org

Synopsis: Day of the Triffids meets Little Shop of Horrors in this smart, charming, harrowing alien invasion story about being human, by a Hugo-award winning author.

Since she was three years old, Anastasia Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that she's an alien disguised as a human being, and that the armada that left her on Earth is coming for her. Since she was three years old, no one has believed her.

Now, with an alien signal from the stars being broadcast around the world, humanity is finally starting to realize that it's already been warned, and it may be too late. The invasion is coming, Stasia's biological family is on the way to bring her home, and very few family reunions are willing to cross the gulf of space for just one misplaced child.

What happens when you know what's coming, and just refuse to listen?

My rating: ★★★⯪☆

I have really enjoyed Mina Grant's books, and while I didn't love this one as much as those previous books I've read, I still did end up enjoying it for the most part.

Review: This World Is Not Yours by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

Title: This World Is Not Yours

Author: Kemi Ashing-Giwa

Genre: Adult, sci-fi, horror

Publication date: September 10th 2024

Published by: Tor Nightfire

Source: eARC from publisher via Netgalley

Add it on Goodreads

Buy it: Amazon | B&N

Synopsis: This World is Not Yours by USA Today bestseller Kemi Ashing-Giwa is the perfect blend of S.A. Barnes' space horror and Cassandra Khaw's beautiful but macabre worlds. An action-packed, inventive novella about a toxic polycule consumed by jealousy and their attempts to survive on a hostile planet.

After fleeing her controlling and murderous family with her fiancée Vinh, Amara embarks on a colonization project, New Belaforme, along with her childhood friend, Jesse.

The planet, beautiful and lethal, produces the Gray, a “self-cleaning” mechanism that New Belaforme’s scientists are certain only attacks invasive organisms, consuming them. Humans have been careful to do nothing to call attention to themselves until a rival colony wakes the Gray.

As Amara, Vinh, and Jesse work to carve out a new life together, each is haunted by past betrayals that surface, expounded by the need to survive the rival colony and the planet itself.

There’s more than one way to be eaten alive.

My rating: ★★★☆☆

This world is as brutal and unforgiving as it is beautiful.

In my neverending quest to find some good sci-fi horror, I came across this one. And I was so excited I stumbled upon it because right in the synopsis it compared it to the space horror novels by S.A. Barnes, novels that I have really enjoyed. However, I didn’t end up loving this novella as much as I thought I would.

Review: Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes

Title: Ghost Station

Author: S.A. Barnes

Genre: Adult, sci-fi, horror

Publication date: April 9th 2024

Published by: Tor Nightfire

Source: eARC from publishers via Netgalley

Add it on Goodreads

Buy it: Amazon | B&N

Synopsis: A crew must try to survive on an ancient, abandoned planet in the latest space horror novel from S.A. Barnes, acclaimed author of Dead Silence.

Space exploration can be lonely and isolating.

Psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of ERS—a space-based condition most famous for a case that resulted in the brutal murders of twenty-nine people. When she's assigned to a small exploration crew, she's eager to make a difference. But as they begin to establish residency on an abandoned planet, it becomes clear that crew is hiding something.

While Ophelia focuses on her new role, her crewmates are far more interested in investigating the eerie, ancient planet and unraveling the mystery behind the previous colonizer's hasty departure than opening up to her.

That is, until their pilot is discovered gruesomely murdered. Is this Ophelia’s worst nightmare starting—a wave of violence and mental deterioration from ERS? Or is it something more sinister?

Terrified that history will repeat itself, Ophelia and the crew must work together to figure out what’s happening. But trust is hard to come by… and the crew isn’t the only one keeping secrets.

My rating: ★★★★☆

I read and loved this author’s debut Dead Silence so I was really looking forward to reading another spooky sci-fi book from her! And overall, I liked it! Not as much as Dead Silence, but it was still good.

Review: The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

Title: The Scourge Between Stars

Author: Ness Brown

Genre: Adult, sci-fi, horror

Publication date: April 4th 2023

Published by: Tor Nightfire

Source: Borrowed from library

Add it on Goodreads

Buy it: Amazon | B&N

Synopsis: As acting captain of the starship Calypso , Jacklyn Albright is responsible for keeping the last of humanity alive as they limp back to Earth from their forebears’ failed colony on a distant planet.

Faced with constant threats of starvation and destruction in the treacherous minefield of interstellar space, Jacklyn's crew has reached their breaking point. As unrest begins to spread throughout the ship’s Wards, a new threat emerges, picking off crew members in grim, bloody fashion.

Jacklyn and her team must hunt down the ship’s unknown intruder if they have any hope of making it back to their solar system alive.

My rating: ★★★☆☆

I saw this novella being grouped together with Dead Silence because they're both sci-fi horror and from the same publisher, and because I loved Dead Silence, I just had to give this one a shot! I love spooky sci-fi! And overall, I thought this novella was okay.

Review- Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films by Nina Nesseth

Title: Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films

Author: Nina Nesseth

Genre: Adult, nonfiction, horror, science

Publication date: July 26th 2022

Published by: Tor Nightfire

Source: eARC from publisher via Netgalley

Add it on Goodreads

Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

Synopsis: Do you like scary movies?
Have you ever wondered why?

Nina Nesseth knows what scares you. She also knows why.

In Nightmare Fuel, Nesseth explores the strange and often unexpected science of fear through the lenses of psychology and physiology. How do horror films get under our skin? What about them keeps us up at night, even days later? And why do we keep coming back for more?

Horror films promise an experience: fear. From monsters that hide in plain sight to tension-building scores, every aspect of a horror film is crafted to make your skin crawl. But how exactly do filmmakers pull this off? The truth is, there’s more to it than just loud noises and creepy images.

With the affection of a true horror fan and the critical analysis of a scientist, Nesseth explains how audiences engage horror with both their brains and bodies, and teases apart the elements that make horror films tick. Nightmare Fuel covers everything from jump scares to creature features, serial killers to the undead, and the fears that stick around to those that fade over time.

With in-depth discussions and spotlight features of some of horror’s most popular films—from classics like The Exorcist to modern hits like Hereditary—and interviews with directors, film editors, composers, and horror academics, Nightmare Fuel is a deep dive into the science of fear, a celebration of the genre, and a survival guide for going to bed after the credits roll.

My rating: ★★★★☆

I was SO excited when I came across this book because it combines two of my favorite things: horror movies and science!

Review: Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

Title: Nothing But Blackened Teeth

Author: Cassandra Khaw

Genre: Adult, horror

Publication date: October 2021

Published by: Tor Nightfire

Source: eARC from publishers via Netgalley

Add it on Goodreads

Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

Synopsis: A Heian-era mansion stands abandoned, its foundations resting on the bones of a bride and its walls packed with the remains of the girls sacrificed to keep her company.

It’s the perfect wedding venue for a group of thrill-seeking friends.

But a night of food, drinks, and games quickly spirals into a nightmare. For lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride with a black smile and a hungry heart.

And she gets lonely down there in the dirt.

My rating: ★★☆☆☆

I was really looking forward to this novella cause I’m such a huge horror fan! Books, movies... you name it! Give it ALL to me! Lol. Unfortunately, this was kind of a letdown. You look at the beautifully creepy cover and you think you’re gonna get all the scares, but nope! That was not the case.

Review: Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

Title: Dead Silence

Author: S.A. Barnes (pen name of Stacey Kade)

Genre: Adult, sci-fi, horror

Publication date: February 8th 2022

Published by: Tor Nightfire

Source: eARC from publishers via Netgalley

Add it on Goodreads

Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository | B&N

Synopsis:

A GHOST SHIP.
A SALVAGE CREW.
UNSPEAKABLE HORRORS.

Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed—made obsolete—when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate.

What they find at the other end of the signal is a shock: the Aurora, a famous luxury space-liner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick trip through the Aurora reveals something isn’t right.

Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Words scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold onto her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora, before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate.

My rating: ★★★★☆

I was insanely excited when I first heard about this book! I read Stacey Kade’s The Ghost and the Goth series a couple of years ago, and I really loved it! (Well, I read the first two books... but we’re not talking about my terrible habit of not finishing series 😅) I was particularly excited to learn that she would be writing something a little different than she usually does with this adult sci-fi horror, and I gotta say, I really enjoyed it!