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Light
Not yet published
Expected 15 Jul 26Is that wine or blood? It doesn't matter to Connie. Her new chair is ruined either way.
Connie is a 53-year-old woman who has just moved to the countryside of West Virginia with her cat, Serendipity, when a mysterious light appears in her backyard.
Alone and confused, Connie must now figure out what the light wants as it gets closer . . . and closer.
The problem is, Connie is a curmudgeon who doesn't like being bothered by anything or anyone, including this strange light.
If she doesn't stop drinking her wine and cursing at shadows long enough to focus on why the light is targeting her, she might not survive until morning because one thing is clear:
The light is no longer safe.
Content warnings: emotional abuse, addiction, mild graphic imagery, child death, profanity, general curmudgeon-ness
Connie is a 53-year-old woman who has just moved to the countryside of West Virginia with her cat, Serendipity, when a mysterious light appears in her backyard.
Alone and confused, Connie must now figure out what the light wants as it gets closer . . . and closer.
The problem is, Connie is a curmudgeon who doesn't like being bothered by anything or anyone, including this strange light.
If she doesn't stop drinking her wine and cursing at shadows long enough to focus on why the light is targeting her, she might not survive until morning because one thing is clear:
The light is no longer safe.
Content warnings: emotional abuse, addiction, mild graphic imagery, child death, profanity, general curmudgeon-ness
257 pages, Paperback
Expected publication July 15, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 23, 2026
This book was such a wild ride. It was creepy, cringey in the best possible way, and packed with suspense from beginning to end. Some moments genuinely made me uncomfortable, but that only added to how immersive and effective the story was. Overall, a gripping and entertaining read that I thoroughly enjoyed and would definitely recommend to anyone who loves dark, suspenseful stories.
May 21, 2026
What a story! Light by Michelle Koubek was completely different from what I expected. I was a little skeptical at first, but I ended up absolutely loving it! The psychological elements were done so well, and the creepy atmosphere had me looking around my own house while reading. Definitely one that got under my skin and kept me hooked!
May 10, 2026
I received an ebook copy of Light from the author for an honest review. I want to thank Michelle for the opportunity to read her first step into the horror genre.
In my opinion, this was a decent psychological thriller. It perfectly captures that home alone feeling where your mind starts playing tricks on you… or is it? It is a short read at 257 pages, and the mystery of what the "Light" is definitely keeps you glued to the book.
The story is very heavy on flashbacks. At times it felt a bit excessive and took a while to get to the main action. However, those memories are thought-provoking, and once you reach the end, you realize they were necessary to understand the Connie’s mindset and her transformation. If you don't mind a story that focuses heavily on the character's past to explain the present, it’s worth the read to see how it all unfolds.
In my opinion, this was a decent psychological thriller. It perfectly captures that home alone feeling where your mind starts playing tricks on you… or is it? It is a short read at 257 pages, and the mystery of what the "Light" is definitely keeps you glued to the book.
The story is very heavy on flashbacks. At times it felt a bit excessive and took a while to get to the main action. However, those memories are thought-provoking, and once you reach the end, you realize they were necessary to understand the Connie’s mindset and her transformation. If you don't mind a story that focuses heavily on the character's past to explain the present, it’s worth the read to see how it all unfolds.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Atmospheric and claustrophobic. It’s very well written but does read at a slow pace.
At 53, Connie’s demeanour is off. She’s old, fragile, wrinkled and life isn’t what she meant for it to be. I think that’s the alcohol talking.
There are many themes throughout the story: Loneliness, grief, anger and denial. Connie is not doing well with it. Minimal friends, if any, and even her son tends to avoid her. And now she’s haunted, significantly, by the light that is following her. The paranoia is real!
As the story is told from Connie’s perspective in the present time and through flashbacks, you question how reliable she is as a narrator. She’s not a likeable character and though you feel sorry for her and pity her, it’s hard to feel any empathy towards her.
The light can symbolize a variety of things. For Connie, it symbolizes a choice. You can choose the light or not. You’d have to read the story to see what Connie chooses.
Thank you to BookSirens and the author for the advanced copy.
At 53, Connie’s demeanour is off. She’s old, fragile, wrinkled and life isn’t what she meant for it to be. I think that’s the alcohol talking.
There are many themes throughout the story: Loneliness, grief, anger and denial. Connie is not doing well with it. Minimal friends, if any, and even her son tends to avoid her. And now she’s haunted, significantly, by the light that is following her. The paranoia is real!
As the story is told from Connie’s perspective in the present time and through flashbacks, you question how reliable she is as a narrator. She’s not a likeable character and though you feel sorry for her and pity her, it’s hard to feel any empathy towards her.
The light can symbolize a variety of things. For Connie, it symbolizes a choice. You can choose the light or not. You’d have to read the story to see what Connie chooses.
Thank you to BookSirens and the author for the advanced copy.
May 7, 2026
Advanced Reader Review
Very solid. It really catches in the beginning and keeps you hooked.
I could feel the passion the writer had.
So creepy and cringey in a good way
Very solid. It really catches in the beginning and keeps you hooked.
I could feel the passion the writer had.
So creepy and cringey in a good way
Review of advance copy
Light has one of the stronger central ideas I have come across in recent psychological horror: light as something false, watchful, and dangerous. The image is simple, but it works. What begins as a strange presence outside Connie’s house becomes something more personal — a confrontation with resentment, loneliness, memory, and the kind of bitterness that can slowly turn into identity.
Connie is the book’s greatest strength. She is bitter, funny, wounded, defensive, judgmental, and deeply unreliable in ways that are clearly intentional. She is not an easy narrator to like, but she is memorable. The novel understands how isolation can become both shelter and prison, and how a person can spend so long protecting herself from the world that protection starts to look a lot like poison.
The domestic details are also excellent. The cat, the wine-stained armchair, the cluttered house, the online posts, the little objects Connie attaches too much meaning to — all of these make the horror feel grounded. The threat outside the window matters because the life inside the house feels so specific. The book is often strongest when ordinary things begin to feel wrong because Connie’s mind has already started turning against them.
I also liked the modern element of H8it and Connie’s online persona. It gives the story a sharper contemporary edge. The internet is not treated as the cause of her damage, but as a place where that damage can be fed, repeated, and justified. That felt more interesting than a straightforward “social media is evil” approach.
Where the book worked less well for me was in its length and repetition. Connie’s voice is vivid, but it dominates the novel so completely that the same emotional patterns start to recur: anger, self-defense, resentment, memory, and justification. That can be powerful in smaller doses, but over the length of the book it sometimes becomes exhausting rather than deepening. It also limits the range of the surrounding characters, who often feel flattened by Connie’s suspicion and injury.
I also felt the central metaphor became too explicit by the end. The idea behind the horror is strong enough that it did not need to be explained as much as it was. I wanted the book to trust its own imagery more and leave a little more room for dread, uncertainty, and interpretation.
Still, Light is ambitious and often effective. It has a distinctive voice, a strong central metaphor, and several genuinely unsettling images. It is not a fast or especially subtle horror novel, and I think it would have been stronger if it were shorter and less explanatory. But at its best, it is a sharp portrait of loneliness curdling into something monstrous.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Connie is the book’s greatest strength. She is bitter, funny, wounded, defensive, judgmental, and deeply unreliable in ways that are clearly intentional. She is not an easy narrator to like, but she is memorable. The novel understands how isolation can become both shelter and prison, and how a person can spend so long protecting herself from the world that protection starts to look a lot like poison.
The domestic details are also excellent. The cat, the wine-stained armchair, the cluttered house, the online posts, the little objects Connie attaches too much meaning to — all of these make the horror feel grounded. The threat outside the window matters because the life inside the house feels so specific. The book is often strongest when ordinary things begin to feel wrong because Connie’s mind has already started turning against them.
I also liked the modern element of H8it and Connie’s online persona. It gives the story a sharper contemporary edge. The internet is not treated as the cause of her damage, but as a place where that damage can be fed, repeated, and justified. That felt more interesting than a straightforward “social media is evil” approach.
Where the book worked less well for me was in its length and repetition. Connie’s voice is vivid, but it dominates the novel so completely that the same emotional patterns start to recur: anger, self-defense, resentment, memory, and justification. That can be powerful in smaller doses, but over the length of the book it sometimes becomes exhausting rather than deepening. It also limits the range of the surrounding characters, who often feel flattened by Connie’s suspicion and injury.
I also felt the central metaphor became too explicit by the end. The idea behind the horror is strong enough that it did not need to be explained as much as it was. I wanted the book to trust its own imagery more and leave a little more room for dread, uncertainty, and interpretation.
Still, Light is ambitious and often effective. It has a distinctive voice, a strong central metaphor, and several genuinely unsettling images. It is not a fast or especially subtle horror novel, and I think it would have been stronger if it were shorter and less explanatory. But at its best, it is a sharp portrait of loneliness curdling into something monstrous.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Review of advance copy received from Author
The best advice I've ever received is that "Happiness" is a choice; a conscious, daily decision to grant yourself and others grace in radical defiance of our more base emotional tendencies.
Unfortunately, some, like Connie, are never shown how to be happy; never taught how to glean satisfaction and self-fulfillment from a mundane and mediocre life - a *normal* life. That misery has the potential to make monsters; Infectious. Parasitic. Hungry.
Light is a tense journey through 53 year-old Connie's rage, hubris, and inability to accept that she acts to her own detriment. The story alternates between Connie's current dealings with the monster outside her window, and flashbacks to the many trials and tribulations that have helped cultivate her worldview over the last half-century.
I love an unlikable main character, but what I love more is when I'm able to catch glimpses of my own reflection in a book. Connie is written with so much honesty and insight interspersed amongst her narcissism and dread, it was quite an emotional rollercoaster. One minute I was rolling my eyes at her arrogance, and the next moment realizing with dawning horror that some of her thoughts were ones that I shared.
Overall, Light was a poignant look at the role we play in the lives of others, the detrimental effects of unresolved trauma and bitterness, and the potential for lessons in pride and resilience to lead to a life of arrogance and isolation.
Thank you BookSirens for the opportunity to read the book. And thank you as well to Mrs. Koubek for the story, and for giving me something new to discuss with my therapist.
Unfortunately, some, like Connie, are never shown how to be happy; never taught how to glean satisfaction and self-fulfillment from a mundane and mediocre life - a *normal* life. That misery has the potential to make monsters; Infectious. Parasitic. Hungry.
Light is a tense journey through 53 year-old Connie's rage, hubris, and inability to accept that she acts to her own detriment. The story alternates between Connie's current dealings with the monster outside her window, and flashbacks to the many trials and tribulations that have helped cultivate her worldview over the last half-century.
I love an unlikable main character, but what I love more is when I'm able to catch glimpses of my own reflection in a book. Connie is written with so much honesty and insight interspersed amongst her narcissism and dread, it was quite an emotional rollercoaster. One minute I was rolling my eyes at her arrogance, and the next moment realizing with dawning horror that some of her thoughts were ones that I shared.
Overall, Light was a poignant look at the role we play in the lives of others, the detrimental effects of unresolved trauma and bitterness, and the potential for lessons in pride and resilience to lead to a life of arrogance and isolation.
Thank you BookSirens for the opportunity to read the book. And thank you as well to Mrs. Koubek for the story, and for giving me something new to discuss with my therapist.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Thank you to the author for the opportunity to read an ARC of Light.
From the very first chapter, the atmosphere pulled me in completely. The writing had this heavy, unsettling feeling that made it hard to stop reading, especially at night. The tension kept building in a way that made me constantly question what was real and what wasn’t.
The main character honestly frustrated me so much at times. She was stubborn, emotional, and made several questionable choices, but somehow that also made her feel realistic. I found myself torn between feeling sympathy for her and wanting to shake some sense into her. 😂
What stood out most to me was the deeper message underneath the story. To me, this book was really about healing from past trauma, learning how to let go of bitterness, and realizing that pain doesn’t have to define the rest of your life.
The side characters added so much to the story too. Some of them were lovable, others were absolutely irritating, but all of them made the world feel believable and lived in.
Overall, this was a creepy, emotional, and thought-provoking read that kept me invested the whole way through. I’d definitely recommend it to readers who enjoy dark atmosphere, flawed characters, and stories that leave you thinking afterward.
From the very first chapter, the atmosphere pulled me in completely. The writing had this heavy, unsettling feeling that made it hard to stop reading, especially at night. The tension kept building in a way that made me constantly question what was real and what wasn’t.
The main character honestly frustrated me so much at times. She was stubborn, emotional, and made several questionable choices, but somehow that also made her feel realistic. I found myself torn between feeling sympathy for her and wanting to shake some sense into her. 😂
What stood out most to me was the deeper message underneath the story. To me, this book was really about healing from past trauma, learning how to let go of bitterness, and realizing that pain doesn’t have to define the rest of your life.
The side characters added so much to the story too. Some of them were lovable, others were absolutely irritating, but all of them made the world feel believable and lived in.
Overall, this was a creepy, emotional, and thought-provoking read that kept me invested the whole way through. I’d definitely recommend it to readers who enjoy dark atmosphere, flawed characters, and stories that leave you thinking afterward.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Thank you to the author for the opportunity to read an ARC of Light. All opinions are my own.
The starting atmosphere was so unnerving to read in the dark, and the way the creature is depicted was very creepy.
Connie was such an insufferable, unreliable narrator that at times it was almost difficult to push through the constant negativity.
I felt bad for her situations but like most curmudgeons (a word that I learnt thanks to this book 😋) she really did cause her own suffering with her negative energy.
This book seemed to me to be about breaking generational curses and how having bad things happening to you, or having a non-ideal upbringing isn’t an excuse to be a bad person.
‼️MINOR SPOILER‼️
I really wished that the birthday dream sequence had been real and that Connie had been in a coma or something, because she could have been so happy in life if she wasn’t such a miserable old cow. 😅😬
The starting atmosphere was so unnerving to read in the dark, and the way the creature is depicted was very creepy.
Connie was such an insufferable, unreliable narrator that at times it was almost difficult to push through the constant negativity.
I felt bad for her situations but like most curmudgeons (a word that I learnt thanks to this book 😋) she really did cause her own suffering with her negative energy.
This book seemed to me to be about breaking generational curses and how having bad things happening to you, or having a non-ideal upbringing isn’t an excuse to be a bad person.
‼️MINOR SPOILER‼️
I really wished that the birthday dream sequence had been real and that Connie had been in a coma or something, because she could have been so happy in life if she wasn’t such a miserable old cow. 😅😬
Review of advance copy received from Author
I would like to thank the author for my ARC and this is my honest review.
It was well written and a good psychological read. It does jump around a lot with the flashbacks into Connie's past between her and Chuck and sometimes it is off putting.
Connie is an extremely miserable old bag, and maybe she caused her own sufferings with her negativity.
All in all a good read.
Thank you author
It was well written and a good psychological read. It does jump around a lot with the flashbacks into Connie's past between her and Chuck and sometimes it is off putting.
Connie is an extremely miserable old bag, and maybe she caused her own sufferings with her negativity.
All in all a good read.
Thank you author
Review of advance copy received from Author
Thank you Michelle for sharing this book with me!! I thoroughly enjoy this book! The eerie, psychological, suspense and getting into the mindset and perspectives of Connie was a roller coaster from being to end! The descriptions, flashbacks and character dynamic really set the tone and understanding of the story and brought so much depth and emotion. This book kept me on my toes and made me check my surroundings more than once!
Review of advance copy received from Author
The book was very well written, a lot of detail on surroundings etc. I was hoping for more of a horror book, that's why I gave it 3 starts . Also the narrative of the main character jumped about a lot and was a times difficult to follow and stay engaged with.
This was an advanced copy I received through arc, thanks very much to the author.
This was an advanced copy I received through arc, thanks very much to the author.
Review of advance copy received from Author
I could not put this book down. Read in a day.
I loved this book although it wasn't as horror as I would have liked. The writing was good. The back and forth was confusing at first but got used to it
I loved it but it has to be said that Connie is a very miserable one. Choose happiness and forgiveness
I loved this book although it wasn't as horror as I would have liked. The writing was good. The back and forth was confusing at first but got used to it
I loved it but it has to be said that Connie is a very miserable one. Choose happiness and forgiveness
Review of advance copy received from Author
I really like this book. One of the parts made me cringe. Not in the omg that is so cringe type of way. I mean cringe in the way in horror movies when you see someone get there nails or teeth ripped out. This book will definitely have you looking over your shoulder if your reading it at night. Im hoping to read more horror books by this auther in the future
Review of advance copy received from Author
I was lucky enough to receive an ARC copy from the author, and I really enjoyed this book.
The concept was different, with a satisfying but bitter-sweet pay-off.
The pacing did test my patience at times, but it was worth it to complete the story.
The concept was different, with a satisfying but bitter-sweet pay-off.
The pacing did test my patience at times, but it was worth it to complete the story.
Review of advance copy
What a wild ride! Deff a psychological thriller that keeps you on your toes and creeps you out at the same time! This was a great time! Thank you for giving me this opportunity to read your book!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Review of advance copy received from Author
It gave me chills, a very empowering story. Take a step back and look at yourself from different point of view. It had me guessing all the way up to the very end and to imagine one choice could’ve changed the entire story.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I absolutely loved this book! It gave me chills reading it. I read it like it was horror movie which made it even spookier! I can’t wait to read more by this amazing author.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews