Taylor Fenner's Blog

This week I’m joining First Line Friday. First Line Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Carrie @ Reading is My Superpower! So grab the book nearest you, your current read, or the book on top of your TBR stack and share the first line.

My pick this week is…

A haunting mystery about lost girls and the woman driven to find them, from the author of the contemporary classic Lives of the Monster Dogs.
Anna Fort wants to be a supportive wife, even if that means accompanying her husband for the winter of 1918 to a remote, frozen island estate so he can finish his book as the guest of an eccentric millionaire. When she learns three girls are missing from a school run by their host, Anna realizes finding them is up to her—even if that means risking her husband’s career, and possibly her life.

Her husband’s masterpiece-in-progress features strange meteorological anomalies along with wild speculations about “facts” he believes scientists hide from the public. Most people think Charles Fort is a crackpot. That’s about to change now that wealthy Claude Arkel is his patron.

Yet Anna is sure something’s not right on Prosper Island, though the alarming return of her “troubles” makes her question her own sanity. Is the figure in the woods really the ghost of her long-lost friend Mary, or a product of her disturbed imagination? Accompanied reluctantly by a fellow guest, the elegant and troubled Stella Bixby, Anna embarks on a dangerous quest to find the missing girls before Arkel finds her—or her own mind unravels.

And the first line is…

Last night I dreamed my husband came back.

Well that hooked me with its Rebecca-esque vibes.

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released.

Cozy Mystery

Monster Hunter Mystery #4

eBook, Hardcover, audiobook, 335 Pages

January 27, 2026 by Berkley

Do werewolves exist? That’s the question skeptical cryptozoologist Morgan Carter has to answer in the latest entry in this USA Today bestselling mystery series.

The discovery of a dead body along Bray Road in Wisconsin sparks rumors of The Beast of Bray Road, a werewolf-like creature that is said to inhabit the area.

The dead woman has been mutilated by some kind of large animal. The community is convinced that the legendary beast is not only real but responsible for this brutal killing. In an effort to prove them wrong, the police bring in cryptozoologist Morgan Carter, who soon finds that the mystery runs considerably deeper than whether or not one mythical predator is on the prowl.

Book 4 is taking on the Beast of Bray Road!!! So excited for this one! If you’re looking for a cozy mystery series that takes you around the state of Wisconsin you should check this series out. The first book is set in Door County which is my happy place.

Will you be checking this book out? What upcoming releases are you looking forward to?

Adult, Thriller

eBook, Paperback, Audiobook, 384 pages

August 26, 2025 by Poisoned Pen Press

The Blair Witch Project meets Fyre Fest in this bloody new thriller from the queen of scares, Darcy Coates!

It was supposed to be the party of the century: miles of idyllic white sand beaches, lush jungle foliage…and a dark legend nobody dreamed might be all too true.

When an online influencer and several hundred of his most loyal fans land on Prosperity Island, the plan is simple: five days of elaborate games, drinking, and suntanned fun.

A week in paradise should have been a welcome respite. The only survivor of an infamous cult, Ruth wants nothing more than to keep her head down and not draw attention. She’s spent decades outrunning her blood-soaked childhood, and her identity is a closely held secret.

But then the true history of the island is revealed…along with its sinister connection to Ruth’s past. As guests go missing and games turn deadly, Ruth and the rest of the attendees are forced to question whether they’ve really been invited to paradise…or whether something much darker―and far bloodier―is waiting for them just beyond the bonfire’s light.

Wondering what would happen if you combined the island settings and competition format of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 by Lisa Unger and One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware with a cult like in Midsommar? Check out How Bad Things Can Get!

Ruth was the only survivor when at 8-years-old the cult she grew up in drank the proverbial koolaid. Now on the 20th anniversary she along with her boyfriend Zach and his friends are on an island where another cult came to its devastating end in the 1970s.

Now belonging to an enigmatic influencer who hosts challenges and games, the island is welcoming in influencers and lucky contents winners for a week of revelry and competition.

Right away, Ruth senses that there is something off about her and her group winning tickets to the festival. Someone knows who she is and as guest start disappearing and mysterious things start happening, Ruth will have to get to the bottom of what is happening on Prosperity Island.. before her deadly vision comes true.

I was hooked on this one from the beginning! I loved the setting and the creepy history of the island mixed with the competition style of the festival. Ruth is a strong lead, and her reaction to what is going on around her is well written based on the character’s backstory.

We bounce between Ruth’s perspective and that of Logan, an influencer known for ripping reputations to shreds as well as the event organizers and some of the unfortunate victims giving us a full picture and building up the dread with each chapter.

I think this might be my favorite Darcy Coates book to date! It was such an eerie, fun read I didn’t want to put it down!

5 of 5 Knives

This week I’m linking up to It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? Hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date!

#IMWAYR is a weekly meme started on J Kaye’s blog and now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

I’m in somewhat of a bookish slump lately. A few of the books I’ve picked up in the past month turned out to be duds/took forever to get through.

I didn’t love the first book in this series but for some reason wanted to read this one. Which I didn’t love either. Rating: 3 of 5

I rated this one 4 stars because I love this author but this is one of her earlier series and I think her more recent series are better plot and writing wise. I also read…

And felt the same way. This one I liked less than Tattered Stars and probably wouldn’t continue this series whereas I’d probably finish the Tattered and Torn series. Rating: DNF

Well… I liked the cover. I DNF’d around page 30-40 because this book is pointless if you’ve read Haunting and Hunting Adeline. Sibby is delusional and these are just her delusions. *le sigh* Rating: DNF

I’m actually really enjoying this one and I can’t wait to see how it ends.

I remember reading about this one before it released but then sort of forgot about it. I found it in a tiny bookstore in Madison and I’m looking forward to reading it.

What are you reading and loving this week? Have you read any of these?

Dark Romance, Sigma Sin Series #4

eBook, Paperback, 324 Pages

November 14, 2025 by Eva Simmons

I didn’t know Jacob Gray was my professor when I fell into his lap on the plane. All it took was a devastatingly gorgeous man twice my age to break all my rules. To teach me how to let go.

How to surrender.
How to submit.

But then I learn Jacob isn’t who I think he is. And it turns out us meeting wasn’t an accident.

The sweeter the forbidden fruit, the more venomous the snake.

Jacob wants revenge, and he’s going to use me to get it.

Author’s Note: Revere is an extremely dark professor romance with a morally irredeemable MMC, heavy subject matter, mature content, and explicit scenes. Content/TWs (which contain spoilers) can be found on author’s website. 18+ only.

Professor x Student

Age Gap

Extremely Dark Revenge Romance

Adoration to Hate to Love

She’ll Never Escape Him

OTT Obsession

Overcoming Trauma

Somnophilia

Domination and Submission

I was excited but trepidatious going into Revere. I’ve loved each book of the Sigma Sin series but I’ll admit Patience has not been my favorite character in previous books. But I was really excited to meet the professor.

That being said, reading Patience’s backstory and why she is the way she is made me soften toward her and be able to appreciate her story. 

I enjoyed seeing the couples from the previous books as the plans for Sigma Sin wrapped up and Jacob stepped into the spotlight. I also enjoyed seeing more of Maddox and hope someday he’ll get his own book! 

Overall, I think the series wrapped up nicely with Revere!

4.5 of 5 Knives Rounded Up

Eva Simmons writes dark and dreamy romance with complex heroines and broken, dirty-talking bad boys who fall hard for them.

When Eva isn’t dreaming up new worlds or devouring every book she can get her hands on, she can be found spending time with her family, painting a fresh canvas, or playing an elf in World of Warcraft.

Eva is currently living out her own happily ever after in Nevada with her family.

https://www.evasimmons.com/links

This week I’m linking up to WWW Wednesday hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words!

WWW Wednesday was created by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and was taken over by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. To participate answer the 3 W’s:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m deep in the spooky season now…

I started listening to this audiobook over the weekend and I’m enjoying it so far.

I could not put this one down! I attempted this author’s early work and wasn’t a fan but this one grabbed me from the start, leaving me in breathless anticipation of what was to come!

October pick for Kendall’s Kooky and Spooky Book Club. I devoured it in two days! Must read for those that love eerie forest horror!

Another fantastic spooky season read set in a fictional Wisconsin town in the early 2000s. This author is so great at writing nostalgia that brings you back in time!

I think this might be my next audiobook pick. Rachel Harrison is one of my auto-buy authors. I’m so jealous that one of my sisters got to meet her at Parnassus books in Nashville recently!

What are you reading and loving this week? Have you read any of these?

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released.

Dark Romance

eBook, Paperback, audiobook, 272 Pages

November 11, 2025 by Simon Maverick

This is not just a book. It’s an invitation. A contract sealed the moment you turn the page. If you choose to read, you choose to be seen. If you choose to follow him, he will hunt you. This story does not end when you close the book…

Cade Halloway was raised by the Order of the Covenant—a cult built on blood, sacrifice, and power. For years, he was their weapon. Until he discovered the truth.. his sister is their next offering. Cade is a hunter.. he tracks and eliminates the powerful and corrupt. A predator disguised as a savior, but he’s not here to save the innocent. He’s here to rip apart the monsters who hide in plain sight.

But something is watching him. An unseen force, a presence he can’t explain. A ghost in his world that he can’t see, can’t touch, can’t kill. A presence he can’t control… and the only thing he doesn’t want to lose.

You.

Are you sure you want to be haunted?

This sounds like a super interesting take. A dark romance where the anti-hero’s obsession is the reader? One of my book friends found this one and we’re both excited to read it!

Will you be checking this book out? What upcoming releases are you looking forward to?

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and The Bookish and currently hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

This was last week’s prompt but I fumbled posting last week and don’t vibe with this week’s TTT prompt.

Did you do this week’s prompt: Satisfying Book Series? What series did you pick? I think for me, it’s hard to find one series that each book hits it out of the park, especially long series. I feel like some books slump, especially in the middle of the series.

Adult, Urban Fantasy, Thriller, Folk Horror

eBook, Paperback, Audiobook, 380 pages

October 6, 2025 by Cabins Press LLC

“Doctor Sleep” meets “Sharp Objects” in this fast-paced Appalachian dark fantasy about a series of mysterious disappearances that lead to a small, isolated town in West Virginia.

Nellie, a 23-year-old college dropout, is scrambling to rebuild her life two years after her boyfriend went missing. Now at a standstill, she’s preparing to move back in with her mother, a prospect that fills her with dread. When two strangers approach her, claiming their sister vanished under similar circumstances, Nellie grasps a last connection to the love she once knew and a chance to find answers. She joins their search, following a fragile trail of clues into the heart of the Appalachian wilderness.

The further these desperate allies venture, the more the lines between reality and the unexplainable blur. The same shadows that stalked those before them now track their every step. The woods are hungry, and this time, Nellie could be next.

As they become entangled in generations of buried small-town secrets, Nellie questions whether they are closing in on the truth or being lured deeper into the dark.

Just in time for the spooky season, Into the Dark, We Go is the perfect read for those who love stories with atmospheric settings, strangers who take a trip to unravel a mystery, and supernatural elements.

Two years before the start of the story Nellie’s boyfriend vanished without a trace after a college football game. After being betrayed by her best friend, investigated by the police, and had her life turned upside down by the media, Nellie has dropped out of college, working two jobs to stay afloat while resisting her mother’s demands that she move home from Minneapolis to Cleveland, and just trying to stay under the radar when a brother and sister show up at the coffee shop where she works telling her their sister disappeared under mysterious circumstances similar to those that Nellie’s boyfriend did – in the same small West Virginia town where her boyfriend grew up. Together with the son of a psychic who also had ties to the town and who died there under mysterious circumstances Nellie agrees to accompany the siblings to her boyfriend’s small Appalachia town – a town founded by witches who massacred themselves not long after the town’s founding. 

When the quartet arrive in Black Water, West Virginia they can tell something is off. The locals are guarded and wary as they begin asking questions about their missing loved ones and the local sheriff wants nothing more than to drive them out of town. Sensing they’re onto something the group continues to dig – but they might have unearthed more than they bargained for as legends of witches, the occult, missing persons, and strange things in the woods lead them down a darker path – and if they’re not careful, one of them could end up being the next one staring back from a missing poster. 

I really enjoyed this book! It grabbed me right from the beginning as we alternate back and forth between events leading up to Lucas’s disappearance to Nellie’s journey to get answers. Black Water is eerie and atmospheric, its people eclectic and closed off. The characters are each beautifully flawed and you can feel the tension of strangers thrown together in close quarters for a common goal simmering right off the page. 

I found this to be a fast read – I finished it in a weekend. Some of the forest scenes reminded me of the Blair Witch Project which I loved and for some reason the road trip element gave me Supernatural vibes which made the experience even more enjoyable. 

I did feel the resolution wrapped itself up a little quickly but overall I really liked this book and would definitely read more by this author! 

4.5 of 5 Knives (Rounded Up)

Get your copy here.

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.

Hey Book Blogger Friends! How was your week?

Monday was my only day off work this week so I decided to cheer myself up with some book shopping and I definitely scored.

It’s also homecoming week at the high school which means teens have been out toilet papering… luckily we only got one call during my shift at the PD with someone annoyed about it.

My schedule is finally going back to normal with the end of the month this week and I’m so glad. I’m going to enjoy the next two days off just resting. I want to be more active and doing fun fall stuff but I’m just exhausted.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 22 September 2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Fall 2025 to-Read List

Can’t Wait Wednesday: Secret Haven

First Line Friday: 26 September 2025

Stacking the Shelves: 27 September 2025

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 29 September 2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Covers that Give off Fall Vibes

Can’t Wait Wednesday: Haunting the Hunter

Series Review: Aurora Teagarden Mysteries by Charlaine Harris

First Line Friday: 3 October 2025

Stacking the Shelves: 4 October 2025