The Girl Next Door: Ozark Omens Book 1

The book I had almost forgotten I needed.

Since I was young, I was always fascinated with horror. I still have my original 3 book set of Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark I proudly ordered through scholastic as a kid. Stephen Gammell’s artwork forever residing in my mind and Schwartz’s tales STILL cause me to shudder. The Buffy movie, Lost Boys, the craft - sooo many classics that continued my love for the genre as I got older.

In the past few years, I’ve read several thrillers but A Girl Next Door took me right back to classic horror and folklore!!! If not for wanting to write this review, I’d be at a loss for words. I don’t know where to begin! Rogue nails the mystery, she gives you goosebumps, her words are like a sharp fingernail grazing your bare back in the night. Like an uninvited whisper when you’re home alone.

Nicholas and Valerie have barely escaped a horrific cult and have found a small town in the Ozarks to begin again. But is their new beginning in their control?

Desire, goth, myths riddle Rogue’s novel but the biggest highlight for me?

Her characters! I’ve read enough of her books and poetry to know she can explore self and interpret others on a much higher level, giving her readers every tier of her character’s being-heart, soul, mind, dark sides. I don’t know what it is about this particular novel but I can NOT get over the characters. Every book I read leads me right into the bad boy, the jerk, the backstabbers, the liars and so on. Yes we have some blatant, terrible characters in this novel but she so subtly hands us these amazing teens that are so much more complex than any teen movie gives real teenagers credit for. They’re bitchy, irrational, flirty, scared, innocent, I’m floored by the directions she takes with her characters.

I’m in awe of the efforts put into this novel. It’s so different from her other work in regards to genre but damn, Rogue’s authenticity, darkness, passion-it’s all there in RAW form!

My book orders from JR Rogue are never just that - I’m always psyched for the amazing hard copies in my hand but also all the fun freebies included!