Magical Realism, Mystery, & More


  • Camp Damascus

    Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle is $2.99! This is Chuck’s first full-length novel. Carrie gave this a C+:

    Even though I didn’t enjoy this book completely, I think the author (who I admit to shamelessly adoring in general) has a lot of potential in terms of this kind of full-length work. It has a big heart and a lot of arresting scenes (I won’t forget that fly vomit any time soon). It will work best for horror fans who don’t mind body horror, flies, worms, and surrealism. I will be reading the next full-length Chuck Tingle book for sure.

    An Indie Next Pick • A Most Anticipated Book by GoodReads, LitHub, Paste, CrimeReads, Electric Lit, BookPage and more!

    “A joyful, furious romp through dark places, Tingle proves he’s as good at fear as he is at love.” ―T. Kingfisher, bestselling author of What Moves the Dead

    From beloved internet icon Chuck Tingle, 
    Camp Damascus is a searing and earnest horror debut about the demons the queer community faces in America, the price of keeping secrets, and finding the courage to burn it all down.

    Welcome to Neverton, Montana: home to a God-fearing community with a heart of gold.

    Nestled high up in the mountains is Camp Damascus, the self-proclaimed “most effective” gay conversion camp in the country. Here, a life free from sin awaits. But the secret behind that success is anything but holy.

    And they’ll scare you straight to hell.

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  • Lavender House

    Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen

    Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen is $2.99! This is a queer, historical mystery series and the first in a series. Check for triggers, just in case. I know homophobia and violence against queer people is among the content warnings.

    Lavender House, 1952: the family seat of recently deceased matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of the famous Lamontaine soap empire. Irene’s recipes for her signature scents are a well guarded secret – but it’s not the only one behind these gates. This estate offers a unique freedom, where none of the residents or staff hide who they are. But to keep their secret, they’ve needed to keep others out. And now they’re worried they’re keeping a murderer in.

    Irene’s widow hires Evander Mills to uncover the truth behind her mysterious death. Andy, recently fired from the San Francisco police after being caught in a raid on a gay bar, is happy to accept – his calendar is wide open. And his secret is the kind of secret the Lamontaines understand.

    Andy had never imagined a world like Lavender House. He’s seduced by the safety and freedom found behind its gates, where a queer family lives honestly and openly. But that honesty doesn’t extend to everything, and he quickly finds himself a pawn in a family game of old money, subterfuge, and jealousy—and Irene’s death is only the beginning.

    When your existence is a crime, everything you do is criminal, and the gates of Lavender House can’t lock out the real world forever. Running a soap empire can be a dirty business.

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  • Heartless Hunter

    Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

    Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli is $1.99! This is book on in the Crimson Moth fantasy romance series and reminded me of a fantasy Scarlet Pimpernel with witches.

    “A steamy game of cat and mouse between witch and witch-hunter, played out against a backdrop of opulence, secrets, and bloody history. I couldn’t look away.” – Kendare Blake, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Champion of Fate

    Enemies-to-lovers doesn’t get more high stakes than a witch and a witch hunter falling in love in bestselling author Kristen Ciccarelli’s latest romantic fantasy

    On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.

    Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can’t help but find herself falling for.

    Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

    Kristen Ciccarelli’s Heartless Hunter is the thrilling start to The Crimson Moth duology, a romantic fantasy series where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch…is falling in love.

    “Enchanting and deeply romantic, Heartless Hunter drew me in with the first sentence and left me breathless by the last. A story that unfolds like a spell, and one that is destined to capture your heart.” – Rebecca Ross, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divine Rivals

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  • In the Middle of Hickory Lane

    In the Middle of Hickory Lane by Heather Webber

    In the Middle of Hickory Lane by Heather Webber is $2.99! Webber’s books are a mix of magical realism and chick lit with a small town setting. I believe I’ve seen them recommended in the comments as comfort reads.

    From the USA Today bestselling author of Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe comes Heather Webber’s next charming novel, In the Middle of Hickory Lane!

    Emme Wynn has wanted nothing more her whole life than to feel like part of a family. Having grown up on the run with her con artist mother, she’s been shuffled from town to town, drawn into bad situations, and has learned some unsavory habits that she’s tried hard to overcome. When her estranged grandmother tracks her down out of the blue and extends a job offer—helping to run her booth at an open-air marketplace in small-town Sweetgrass, Alabama—Emme is hopeful that she’ll finally be able to plant the roots she’s always dreamed of. But some habits are hard to break, and she risks her newfound happiness by keeping one big truth to herself.

    Cora Bee Hazelton has her hands full with volunteering, gardening, her job as a color consultant and designer, and just about anything she can do to keep her mind off her painful past, a past that has resulted in her holding most everyone at arm’s length. The last thing she wants is to form close relationships only to have her heart broken yet again. But when she’s injured, she has no choice other than to let people into her life and soon realizes it’s going to be impossible to keep her heart safe—or her secrets hidden.

    In the magical neighborhood garden in the middle of Hickory Lane, Emme and Cora Bee learn some hard truths about the past and themselves, the value of friends, family, and community, and most importantly, that true growth starts from within.

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