I had this moment of, yes! a new Jeneva Rose book…and it’s horror…with Sometimes I Scare Myself, but then I had a sense of disappointment that it as actually three novellas. Then, I had a sense of joy that it was three different stories. It was a rollercoaster of thoughts, but ultimately Rose crafts three uniquely horrifying stories that didn’t disappoint.
Not all nightmares come from sleep. Some come from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jeneva Rose. Three horror stories. A dinner party. A quiet house. A roadside stop. You’ll recognize the setup. You won’t recognize what comes next.
Like most collections of stories, there are some homers and some that fall just short. All-in-all a fun journey into horror for Rose.
Never Kill the Medium
My thirtieth birthday was not my favorite, but definitely went much better than what Jeneva Rose crafted in Never Kill the Medium. What starts as a nice gesture devolves into a maddening night of death that is brutal and unsettling.
Thirtieth birthday dinner turns deadly after someone hires a medium for a playful séance. When the ritual spirals out of control and the medium dies, the guests cover it up-unaware that leaving the séance unfinished has allowed something dark to cross over.
Never Kill the Medium was the right choice to kick-off this collection of novellas, it hit hard and didn’t hold anything back. It’s just the right amount of creepy supernatural horror that made you want to continue reading and get to the next stories in the collection. Taking the consequences of a play séance to the next level, a deadly level and letting it play out was utterly terrifying.
The length was also perfect for this story, quick and fast-paced concise storytelling allowed us to never come down from the fear presented to us and just continue to amplify the horror.
The Nightmare House
Horror fans should always be game for a new haunted house story, or at least a mysterious house story. Especially those where the author manages to wrap in some grief and family drama to the mix. The Nightmare House is just that, a nightmare.
The Dalton family moves into what they believe is their forever home, in the quiet town of Tillington-until the house whispers, the neighbors watch, and no one believes the one person who knows something is wrong. Newly postpartum, Kristin Dalton soon uncovers a horrifying truth: Every family who has lived in this house has died or disappeared.
While doesn’t pack the punch of the first story in this collection, The Nightmare House does bring the haunted house vibes that you’d expect from this type of tale. A city family moving to the suburbs, getting a stellar deal on a house, to only find out there is much more to what’s going on at the house they knew a head of time. Who would’ve known!
The fear is present, even unsettling. as the mother is postpartum and has to carry that on her shoulders at the same time as things go array in their new house. The level of thrills is high in this one and was a surprising take on the haunted house trope.
All Curses Are Final
Closing things out in the collection of stories that fall into the category of “what could possibly go wrong,” is All Curses Are Final. A remote winter getaway with a group of friends that doesn’t turn out the way they had hoped with bodies piling up.
On the way to a remote winter cabin, a group of friends stops at a roadside store with a hand-painted warning: “All items cursed. Curse lifted at time of sale.” They laugh it off-until one of them discovers an item in her bag she never paid for. As a storm traps them inside the cabin and bodies start to pile up, paranoia takes hold and suspicion turns inward.
Of course this story would’ve been boring if it was just about friends on a winter getaway and the sign warning them of curses being lifted once purchase actually meant that. But who knew that wouldn’t be the case. I say this in jest, only because I love a good story like All Curses Are Final.
Unlike the first two stories, I could’ve used a more expanded story in this final entry. It felt just a bit more rushed, while also another fun story for Rose’s venture into horror.
Sometimes I Scare Myself hits bookstores everywhere on September 22, 2026 from Blackstone Publishing. The audiobook is available via Libro.fm!
