Kurryreads | Brother

Brother

Ania Ahlborn

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From the bestselling horror author of Within These Walls and The Bird Eater comes a terrifying novel that follows a teenager determined to break from his family’s unconventional—and deeply disturbing—traditions.

Deep in the heart of Appalachia stands a crooked farmhouse miles from any road. The Morrows keep to themselves, and it’s served them well so far. When girls go missing off the side of the highway, the cops don’t knock on their door. Which is a good thing, seeing as to what’s buried in the Morrows’ backyard.

But nineteen-year-old Michael Morrow isn’t like the rest of his family. He doesn’t take pleasure in the screams that echo through the trees. Michael pines for normalcy, and he’s sure that someday he’ll see the world beyond West Virginia. When he meets Alice, a pretty girl working at a record shop in the small nearby town of Dahlia, he’s immediately smitten. For a moment, he nearly forgets about the monster he’s become.

But his brother, Rebel, is all too eager to remind Michael of his place…

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Posts about this title from Kurryreads

Kurryreads\ \ Kerry\ \ • Aug 14 2025

Ultimate Guide to Spooky Season Reading v2

Replying to @Kerry | Booktok 📖 Ultimate Guide to Spooky Season Reading - Version 2 📚👻🔪 Timestamps: 00:28 Stranger Than Fiction 00:39 Witchy 00:47 Creature Feature 1:03 Dark Past-Potentially Paranormal 1:14 Possession 1:19 Slashers 1:32 Haunted House 1:42 Eco Horror/Plant Horror 1:48 Supernatural 1:57 Demonic/Occult 2:06 Cosmic 2:13 Folklore 2:26 Speculative 2:35 Young Adult 2:46 Paranormal 2:55 Psychological 3:03 Crime 3:13 Historical Fiction 3:29 Cult 3:43 Vampires 3:51 Weird Girl/Feminine Rage 4:00 Sci-Fi 4:08 Cannibalism #guidetospookyseasonreading #spookyreads #horrorbooks #cultbooks #paranormalbooks #hauntedhousebooks #possessionbooks #creaturefeature #booktok #booktoker #bookrecommendations #whattoread #vampirebooks #speculativehorror #youngadulthorror #folklorebooks #ecohorrorbooks #scifihorrorbooks #slasherbooks #scarybooks

55 books

Posts about this book from across Bindery

ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Dec 19 2025

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\ \ Welcome back to another Author Interview!\ \ Today I'm talking with author Ellis Hart. Hart released his debut novel this year, The House That Held Her. It's a blend of Mystery/Thriller with a dab of horror in there. I absolutely loved this one. The puzzles the main character, Margot, had to solve were so much fun. Hart also released an anthology featuring new voices in horror. Both have been linked below.\ \ \ \ 1. This question is always my freebie—use this first question as an introduction. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your books.\ \

Hi there! I’m Ellis and I released my first novel on May 11, 2025 called The House That Held Her. I always loved crafting stories as a kid and to finally have a full, comprehensive work out in the world has brought me so much pride and joy!\ \ 2. I absolutely loved The House That Held Her. You had me hooked from the first chapter. What was your inspiration behind the story?\ \ I am a 90’s kid, through and through, so I grew up on some iconic stories. One of my favorites was The Goonies because it had so many awesome elements- it was silly, it was scary, it was legitimately cool, it was mysterious. And so I wanted to write a story that merged the Goonies with some darker, spookier elements. And thus the treasure hunt within Hawthorne Manor was born!\ \ 3. I know the small town of Mount Dora plays a huge part in the book. And I know it was based on the actual town of Mount Dora in Florida. Care to tell us a little about the town and how it became such an inspiration to you?\ \ This is a funny story because I wrote the entire book without ever setting foot in Mount Dora. My family had just moved to FL and I literally googled places that met all my requirements: spooky vibes, on the water, historic, old buildings, etc. and found Mount Dora! I used Google street view to walk the streets and learn about the places there that I included in the book. Right before publishing my wife convinced me to go see the town before the book came out and boy am I glad that she did. I had interpreted so much incorrectly about the town. Once I visited, met the people, walked the streets, it all clicked into place and I rushed back home and did so many rewrites (including changing the ending!)\ \ 4. What was your favorite part to write for The House That Held Her? The hardest?\ \ Oh gosh. The hardest was definitely the puzzles. I love escape rooms and knew I wanted that vibe for Margot in the book. But making the puzzles clever but logical and helpful to the plot was challenging. Favorite was honestly the tunnel scene with Shannon at the end. No spoilers, but it originally didn’t exist, and I added it late after visiting Mt. Dora. The anxiety and fear I felt just writing it made me feel like I was really onto something special.\ \ 5. I know you also published an anthology (As Told Under The Moon) featuring some new voices in horror. Care to tell us a little bit about that anthology?\ \ I love, love, love short stories and I write a ton of them. There are a lot of ideas that make great stories but not all stories make great novels. And so I decided to put out a short stories collection for Halloween. I planned to just have it be me but then I started reading some other indie authors and it just clicked to have some of those authors join me and do something that was exclusive to indies since no one has given us much of a break yet. I’m really proud with how it turned out.\ \ 6. You’ve been on the hunt for some emerging voices in horror. Can you name a few authors you’ve discovered that have stuck with you?\ \ Oh totally! I legitimately loved all the submissions for the anthology but authors I’ve actually bought books of and immediately read are Amy Tackett, Julia Jackson, Shawn Brooks, and A.D. Jones, just to name a few!\ \ 7. 2025 has been a big year for horror. What have been some of your favorite reads this year?\ \ Gah, so hard. Okay, to be fair, these aren’t necessarily all 2025, but they were books I read this year that were unbelievably good! Brother by Ania Ahlborn, The Darkest Deep by Chris Butera, When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy, and The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North.\ \ 8. Any horror books you’re looking forward to in 2026?\ \ I probably need to do a better job of knowing what’s coming out but that’s what I rely on you for!\ \ Definitely interested to read Marcus Kliewer for the simple fact that it already has a movie deal which is just so wild to me considering I can’t even get an agent to respond to a query!\ \ **Haha! Thanks Ellis! Here's a preview of just some of the books I'm looking forward to. Trust me, there's so many more I've added.**2026 Books\ \ 9. Are you working on any new projects? If so, anything you can tell us about it?\ \ Yes!! The first draft of my second novel is done! It’s with my beta readers and developmental editor right now. I am so, so, so excited about it. It’s called Make Me Forget Again and it’s a pure psychological thriller. No ghost or spooky doors closing this time, just raw human emotion. The tag line right now is “Is There Ever Peace after Vengeance”?\ \ 10. Anything else big coming for you in 2026?\ \ Yes! I’m doing a few awesome events including The Spooky Retreat in Arizona in February. I’ll be doing more signing events and tons of giveaways and engagement opportunities as well! My biggest hope is to land an agent in 2026!\ \ Use the below space to add in anything else you would like to say!\ \ Just a huge thank you to you as well as the rest of the bookstagram community. I joined in April 2025 and have already made so many wonderful book lovers. It’s legitimately the only fun, productive, and functional part of the internet left in my opinion. So thank you!!!\ \ Thank you so much again, Ellis, for agreeing to this! It was a delight talking to you!\ \ Join for free or login](https://ashreadshorror.binderybooks.com/item/90tc3TeJgQdCtgkgiJtF/)

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Ellis Hart

6 books

Infinite Realms Book Club \ \ Nozomi \ \ • Nov 3 2025

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[Let's talk about the 9 books that I read in October!\ \ October fantasy book pick: Wild Revernece by Rebecca Ross\ \ I gave this one 4.25 stars. I absolutely love Rebecca Ross's writing. so atmospheric and beautiful. I loved the characters ad their love story so so much. This is a prequel to divine rivals duology but i dont think you need to read the original duology before or read this prior! This can totally be read as a standalone.\ \ October horror book pick: Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly\ \ I gave this book 3 stars. Part of my dissapointment with this book was my assumption that this was going to be absolutely horrifying. This book definitely did have its dark and gory moments, however, THIS IS NOT A HORROR. this is a thriller book through and through. I did wish we had read something more scary and creepy for October... if you go into this with different expectations than I did, then maybee you would enjoy this more\ \ Quick recap of all the other books that I read\ \

Do You Remember by Freida McFadden: 3 stars this was fun but nothing special\ \
Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson: 3 stars I was hooked the entire time but ending was anticlimactic and boring\ \
Red City by Marie Lu: 5 STARS AMAZING THE BEST BOOK IVE READ ALL YEAR\ \
Long Time Gone by Charlie Donlea: 3.75 stars this is a great mystery/thriller. always solid reads from this author\ \
The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager: 3 stars this was just okay. Felt dragged out but I like the ending. also felt a bit YA\ \
Brother by Ania Ahlborn: 4.5 stars WOOWW this book is actually insane I'm obsessed. one of the darkest books Ive ever read\ \
The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden: 3 stars this was just okay. fun time but not memorable\ \ \ DNF\ \
Alchemised by Sen Lin Yu: I got to around 350pages with the audio book and the world building was too intricate and detailed to the point where the story wasn't progressing and every sentence was the most descriptive sentence about every little thing and I just could not do it anymore. I Never finished reading the HP series and did not read manacled.The writing wasn't "bad." in fact, it was quite beautiful. just the way the story was being told and the plot not progressing a the pace I wanted it to was disappointing.\ \ \ Join for free or login](https://the-infinite-realms-bookclub.binderybooks.com/item/2WVB1kjQJSSnUzbOIX6U/)

October reading wrap up

10 books

Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • Aug 16 2025

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[Hello My Friends,\ \ I've been working on so many thing but Return to Office has been kicking my butt, so I'm a bit behind on sharing!\ \ I'm so excited to be able to share our first WOMEN IN HORROR BOOK BINGO CARD!\ \ If you've been around for awhile, you are familiar with my Indigenous Book Bingo Cards (we currently have 3!) These are available in my Instagram Stories and in our Community Discord! (Join now if you haven't already!)\ \ I had so much difficulty limiting this to 25 books, so if you fear your favorite female author is missing, don't! There will definitely be more rounds of this game!\ \ I was STUNNED to see that with a total of 191 works being nominated for the Stoker Award best novel that only 26 WOMEN have been nominated since inception! (33 total as some were nominated more than once). That number is egregious. When Tananarive Due won in 2023 for The Reformatory, the last woman who won in the category was Caitlin R Kierman (who is problematic and not recommended) in .....2012!!! There have been times when every nominee in the category were men. There has NEVER been a time when every nominee was a woman.\ \ Women write incredible horror every year. Let's work together to help people read more women. I'll come up with some prize options and will post them in the Discord! There will be one more card coming this year, likely in December!\ \ Our Community Discord also hosts our Women in Horror book club. This month we are reading The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno Garcia and next month we are reading The Possession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Canes (and I've partnered with Berkeley to do a giveaway, so stay tuned!) I've also been working on some upcoming chats! If you're an author who would like to participate in chats, please reach out directly.\ \ If you appreciate the work that I'm doing there are three ways to support!\ \

Go Shopping From This Post. I receive a small percentage from any purchase you make on Bookshop or Amazon from this post, including books not listed.\ \
Upgrade your membership to the $5 or $12 tier. This community is striving to make change in the publishing industry. We are dedicated to publishing YA and Adult fiction by Indigenous authors and horror books written by women. Voices that need amplifying! We are currently guaranteed publishing one book per year. My goal is to be able to publish 4. My current goal is to reach 10,000 total subscribers. If you cannot afford a paid tier right now, please refer your friends join as free or paid members! And if you're reading this and not subscribed, please do so now!\ \
All paid subscribers get behind the scenes access to the publishing industry and as we only recently selected a book, this is amping up now! Paid subscribers also get early copies of the books. Additionally, $12 and $25 subscribers get their name on the collaborator page!\ \ \ Thank you so much for being a member of this community!\ \

She's Heeeere! Women in Horror Book Bingo

24 books

Kurryreads\ \ Kerry\ \ • Aug 14 2025

Ultimate Guide to Spooky Season Reading v2

55 books

Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • Jul 17 2025

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Poll:\ \ Which one are you surviving? \ \ Can our main characters make it to the end of these in one piece? \ \ Surviving The Elements\ \ This Wretched Valley - Jenny Kiefer\ \ Briardark - S.A. Harian\ \ Dark Matter - Michelle Paver\ \ Surviving People\ \ The Cabin At The End Of The World - Paul Tremblay \ \ The Laws of The Skies - Gregoire Courtois\ \ Brother - Ania Ahlborn\ \ Surviving Creatures\ \ The Watchers - A.M. Shine\ \ The Only Good Indians - Stephen Graham Jones\ \ Pearl - Josh Malerman\ \ Surviving The Journey\ \ A Short Stay In Hell - Steven Peck \ \ The Hike - Drew Magary\ \ The Devil Takes You Home - Gabino Iglesias\ \ Surviving the Demonic Possession\ \ Goddess Of Filth - V Castro\ \ Pinata - Leopoldo Gout\ \ The Dark Becomes Her - Judy Lin

Survival Horror Recommendations

15 books

Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • Jun 26 2025

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Intercepts - It's RARE for me to be terrified by a book. RARE. The scene when we get to Riley's room I almost had to put the book down. This was visceral, emotional, brutal and scary. To the freezer!\ \ The Devil All The Time - Have you ever read a book filled with the most horrific characters and written so beautifully well? I have a love hate relationship with this one. Easily 5 stars but the feelings it gave me, I'm still haunted by it\ \ Our Wives Under The Sea - If there is one thing I'm terrified of, it's the open ocean. However, this is here because it was such a sad read. I'm still heartbroken over this slow disturbing story.\ \ This Thing Between Us - A "WTF did I just read" that will have you weepy. Gus Moreno, I'm BEGGING you to give us a new novel\ \ The Devil Takes You Home - Gabino Iglesias writes grief unlike anyone out there. From beginning to end this story is violent and devastating. (One of my favorite books of all time)\ \ Blacktop Wasteland - I think Bug is Cosby's most underrated MC but he seems so very real to me. Such a flawed character that no matter what, you're rooting for him.\ \ Near The Bone - Okay I went into this book thinking it was a light cozy horror. ITS NOT. Incredibly sad and keeps your heart racing. \ \ Nestlings - Nat Cassidy can write a freakin horror novel! Babies, vampires, and creepy crawlies. \ \ Bird Box - This one had my heart in my throat. THE ENDING. I was 7 months pregnant while reading this and I have still not recovered. \ \ The Whisper Man - I get heat anytime I say how much this book scared me but listen, my worst nightmare is something happening to my kids. CAN YOU IMAGINE a grown man whispering at your kids window??? It's been years, and I still think of it often.\ \ Brother - Cannibalistic family abducting young women?? Obviously straight to the freezer.\ \ Penpal - This book is a puzzle, and one I'd say don't dnf. It all makes sense in the end. THE HEARTBREAK\ \ Bad Fruit - Okay this isn't scary but it had me crying like a baby. \ \ Saving Noah - I almost threw up from crying so hard.

PUT THESE BOOKS IN THE FREEZER

Books either so emotionally devastating or terrifying they belong in the freezer

14 books

Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • May 22 2025

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Dark and Disturbing Books to Read

Disturbing books, let’s go! #madisoncanread #disturbingbooks #booksthatwillruinyourday #horrorbooks #horrorbooktok #darkfiction

4 books

Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • May 19 2025

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Women in Horror. Do our tastes align?

Women in Horror edition! Drop your score below! Did you know that my publishing imprint on Bindery has expanded? We are publishing books by Indigenous authors AND horror books written by women?! And you can help us, by showing up to support (even as a free follower!) I have almost 6,000 followers here and it would be everything if all of you would go and follow me right now! #womneinhorror #horrorbooks #bookrecs

30 books

Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Mar 17 2025

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Women in Horror (60 recs!) | recording & thank you

24 books

Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • Mar 16 2025

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Hello Friends, \ \ I had a great chat earlier with fellow tastemakers about women in horror, our favorite reads and upcoming releases we are looking forward to (I tagged many of them in this post!)\ \ If you weren't able to make it, you can check it out on Youtube here\ \ Follow the other tastemakers on Bindery here:\ \ Aubrie\ \ Natalie\ \ Steph\ \ We had so much fun and hope to get together again soon! If you have any topics you'd love to hear us discuss, drop your suggestions below!\ \ BOOKCLUB ANNOUNCEMENTS\ \ As you know Women in Horror and Good Day To Read Indigenous (book clubs found on Discord here have their books picked out through May! \ \ Next week, I will be planing the reads for the remainder of the year. $12 and $25 subscribers get to nominate books, so look out for that post tomorrow!\ \ Quiet Time Book Club will meet tomorrow at 5pm PST/8pm EST on Zoom.

RECORDING: Women In Horror Panel

YouTube link to Women in Horror Celebration, all of the (most of the) books discussed, info about our Discord bookclubs

62 books

Boneyard Picnic\ \ Natalie Meagan\ \ • Dec 19 2023