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A Dark Spring: Stories That Twist & Tangle
Eight original tales of suspense that will tangle your senses and keep you gripped. From murder to the unknown, the everyday world is explored in these tension-fuelled and twisted novellas. Be prepared to get tangled.
A Tangled Oracle by Laura N. Andrews
In Oracle Vardalos’s dreams, people are murdered. News stories follow and the evidence piles up against her. She must save those she loves; even if it’s from herself.
The Burning Rock by M. Billiter
They agreed it would be easier this way. Still, when it was over, all that remained was an empty saddle and a closed casket.
Tangled Love by Kim Deister
He's the Gomez to her Morticia, the center of her world. But everything changes when Tessa sees something she was never supposed to see. Love and sanity become tangled, leaving her teetering on the edge of the cliff, wondering if her life will ever be the same again.
Gnarled by R.M. Gilmore
Carter Kennedy returns to her father’s hometown after nearly twenty years to claim her inheritance. She quickly discovers why her father had kept her and her brother away from Scully’s Hollow and the people who inhabit it.
Early Retirement by Kenneth Jobe
Loyal husband and hard-working employee Richard Griffith has his world turned upside down. When he is dealt yet another bad hand and uncovers the identity of his wife's lover, he reaches his breaking point.
Tangled Obsession by Barb Shuler
Injured and stranded on a mountain with the sun setting and no help in sight, Elsa Malloy has only two options—fight or die. Believing her loved ones are dead, and fighting against the elements of the mountain, Elsa is left to fend off a sadistic killer alone.
We Only Want to Play by M.C. St. John
Teacher aide Julie Trudeau has noticed something odd among the remaining summer school students: they are playing a game of Telephone without moving their lips. When recess turns violent, it's up to Julie and a ragtag group of staff and students to survive after the last school bell.
The House on Oak Street by Ricky Wells
Spring break approaches and three middle schoolers look forward to their mini-vacation. But when one of them goes missing, Ann and Roger find that no one will listen to them. It’s up to them to rescue their friend or are they the next victims of the House on Oak Street?
A Tangled Oracle by Laura N. Andrews
In Oracle Vardalos’s dreams, people are murdered. News stories follow and the evidence piles up against her. She must save those she loves; even if it’s from herself.
The Burning Rock by M. Billiter
They agreed it would be easier this way. Still, when it was over, all that remained was an empty saddle and a closed casket.
Tangled Love by Kim Deister
He's the Gomez to her Morticia, the center of her world. But everything changes when Tessa sees something she was never supposed to see. Love and sanity become tangled, leaving her teetering on the edge of the cliff, wondering if her life will ever be the same again.
Gnarled by R.M. Gilmore
Carter Kennedy returns to her father’s hometown after nearly twenty years to claim her inheritance. She quickly discovers why her father had kept her and her brother away from Scully’s Hollow and the people who inhabit it.
Early Retirement by Kenneth Jobe
Loyal husband and hard-working employee Richard Griffith has his world turned upside down. When he is dealt yet another bad hand and uncovers the identity of his wife's lover, he reaches his breaking point.
Tangled Obsession by Barb Shuler
Injured and stranded on a mountain with the sun setting and no help in sight, Elsa Malloy has only two options—fight or die. Believing her loved ones are dead, and fighting against the elements of the mountain, Elsa is left to fend off a sadistic killer alone.
We Only Want to Play by M.C. St. John
Teacher aide Julie Trudeau has noticed something odd among the remaining summer school students: they are playing a game of Telephone without moving their lips. When recess turns violent, it's up to Julie and a ragtag group of staff and students to survive after the last school bell.
The House on Oak Street by Ricky Wells
Spring break approaches and three middle schoolers look forward to their mini-vacation. But when one of them goes missing, Ann and Roger find that no one will listen to them. It’s up to them to rescue their friend or are they the next victims of the House on Oak Street?
Published April 11, 2020
About the author
Laura N. Andrews
10 books199 followersCanadian born Laura N. Andrews moved to Australia when she was three years old. When she finished high school, she successfully completed her studies in law enforcement. Since then, she's been working for over eight years as a pharmacy assistant. When she's not working or spending time with family and friends, you can find her either curled up with a book or writing one of her own.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 4, 2020
Barb Shuler
Tangled Obsession - Barb Shuler
This story jumped right into the action and had me anxious from the start as I waited to see how things would play out for Elsa.
I loved the flow and action of this story. Shuler writes vivid and entertaining characters. Elsa, Ollie, and Travis found a place in my heart quickly and their struggles in this story had me on the edge of my seat. I would enjoy reading about this trio again.
Tangled Obsession - Barb Shuler
This story jumped right into the action and had me anxious from the start as I waited to see how things would play out for Elsa.
I loved the flow and action of this story. Shuler writes vivid and entertaining characters. Elsa, Ollie, and Travis found a place in my heart quickly and their struggles in this story had me on the edge of my seat. I would enjoy reading about this trio again.
April 13, 2020
When I saw that Tangled Tree Publishing was giving ARC's of their latest anthology A Dark Spring I jumped at the chance to check it out.
I was pleasantly surprised by the mix of stories; stands outs for me were The Burning Rock by M. Billiter, The House On Oak Street by Ricky Wells and Gnarled by RM Gilmore - but in truth they were all wonderful.
Fans of thrillers will love this book, with its mix of supernatural, psychological and classic thrillers there is a story for everyone and I highly recommend it.
I was pleasantly surprised by the mix of stories; stands outs for me were The Burning Rock by M. Billiter, The House On Oak Street by Ricky Wells and Gnarled by RM Gilmore - but in truth they were all wonderful.
Fans of thrillers will love this book, with its mix of supernatural, psychological and classic thrillers there is a story for everyone and I highly recommend it.
April 5, 2020
Make sure you give the MC St. John story, We Only Want to Play, a read. Creepy to the max and a really great story.
April 13, 2020
Review for The Burning Rock by M. Billiter
Like the first story I read by this author this is a story about the devastating effects mental illness has on an individual and their loved ones. Once again I really enjoyed and appreciated this authors raw and honest writing. They didn’t shy away from a difficult topic.
Review for Gnarled by R.M. Gilmore
This was a chilling and atmospheric read. I adored the descriptive writing. It was almost like poetry. I felt Carter’s fear at the beginning and then came to fear her at the end. To evoke so many feelings and such a swift change of opinion of characters in a short story is a gift and R.M. Gilmore clearly has it.
Like the first story I read by this author this is a story about the devastating effects mental illness has on an individual and their loved ones. Once again I really enjoyed and appreciated this authors raw and honest writing. They didn’t shy away from a difficult topic.
Review for Gnarled by R.M. Gilmore
This was a chilling and atmospheric read. I adored the descriptive writing. It was almost like poetry. I felt Carter’s fear at the beginning and then came to fear her at the end. To evoke so many feelings and such a swift change of opinion of characters in a short story is a gift and R.M. Gilmore clearly has it.
April 12, 2020
I'm familiar with a couple of these authors, but the majority of them are new to me, and HOLY HELL! Where have I been all this time?! This collection of stories may or may not have you sleeping with a nightlight after reading them, because they certainly had my hair raised from the creepy factor, and I'm a dark & twisty person so most stories don't really creep me out. I honestly thought that I would read a story or two per day, but once I dove in, it was game over, because I couldn't put this down until every last story was finished, so nothing got done the day that I began this crazy, creepy journey of fun. Here's the biggest positive for me, all the twists & turns! Those twists were all kinds of turned out, while the turns were twisted up to a big ball of chaos, leaving me dropping loud f-bomb after loud f-bomb! And I know, I'm not giving any details about the stories, but see, I just don't want to because y"all just need to experience every last one for yourselves, so get to one clicking! HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
April 27, 2020
A lot of these are new to me authors, and I was pleasantly surprised by how well I enjoyed them.
This has a bit of everything for everyone I will say that The Burning Rock by M. Billiter was my fav story.
This one was a difficult topic of mental health, but it was written in such a powerful way, I will not be forgetting this.
I will be on the hunt for more from this author.
It's hard to give you guys some details without being yelled at for spoiling it, so seriously, go grab it! you won't be disappointed at all.
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April 24, 2020
My favorite story of the set was Tangled Obsession by Barb Shuler. This story, while reminiscent of Treachery, is a story all it's own. The similarities between the two are that the characters are in the woods fighting for their lives. That's about it. In this one we get to meet Elsa, her boyfriend Travis, and her best friend Oliver. The three, who all are former military and now cops, decide to go camping, which turns into a trip from hell when a blast from their pasts comes back to bite them. Their journey, while short in this story, is still one filled with action and suspense. I really enjoyed getting to read this one and look forward to whatever the author brings us next.
The other stories were also really great as well. Well done to all the authors.
The other stories were also really great as well. Well done to all the authors.
June 26, 2020
This is a great anthology. I love dark and twisted storms. So naturally I wanted to read this anthology. I enjoyed all 8 books some more than others but all of them were good. My favorite was Tangled Obsession. Each book is different. There are 8 books in all. From school yard games to fight or flight on the side of a mountain. This anthology has it all. Great job guys.
August 15, 2020
1.5*
Whew, finished. This one almost ended up on my DNF shelf. However, I was given this as an ARC, and read it and review it I must, much as I hate to write negative reviews.
Where to start … these stories were tangled all right, but not in a good way. Twisted - not so much. I found the stories unoriginal, the writing shallow, dull, cliché-laden - just about every major character seems to have the "hazel" eyes so beloved of authors of (indifferent) fanfiction, so rare in real persons - and repetitive.
To go into the sad details:
“A tangled Oracle” (Laura N. Andrews): A murder mystery straight from the soaps. The protagonists are introduced in purple prose by their looks (“ … long dark curls, bright hazel eyes, and a tanned complexion “, “her petite, straight nose”, “stunning blue eyes, dark hair, and a charming laugh”, “the pearly white perfectly contrasting with his skin tone”) rather than their personality, the mystery unfolds slowly, in drawn-out writing, the author, anticipating her readers’ extremely short attention span, reminding them over and over who the victims are in relation to the MC, verbatim repeating conversations, and then pulling a _very_ hackneyed ex-machina at which point I was glad to skip the rest. – 1 star
“The Burning Rock” (M. Billiter): deals with a toxic relationship, ostensibly due to the one of the partners’ bipolar condition, however, the writer does not bring the latter across in any convincing way. All the reader is shown is a selfish asshole not so much suffering from mood swings than throwing tantrums whenever things don’t go his way. Whatever attracts the MC to the surly cowboy, aside from “his mustache … the colour of wheat, and the long bushy ends mov[ing] with the same consistency in the wind” and, of course, “his hazel eyes”, who calls her, very condescendingly “Girl”, “Lady” or “Red”, but never once by her name, remains a mystery – unless it’s his nuptial performances, which, thankfully, happen off stage. The rate at which he runs through his wife's money, though, might have kept her in callboys for the duration, who would at least have treated her with a modicum of respect. Bleh! – 1 star
“Gnarled” (R.M. Gilmore): The first story in this collection with a touch of the supernatural. The writing style was better and with a slightly ironic undertone I liked, however, a bit jumpy and disjointed at times. Includes “my hazel eyes”, “my blond hair”, the strangest police procedures and silly gratuitous Irish. – 2 stars
“Tangled Love” (Kim Deister): Distracted wife accidentally coming across her husband’s secret life as a serial killer, only he isn’t. For whatever reason fancies herself as the offending party and guilt-trips herself into making him punish her for whatever. “It was my just desserts.” (sic) Yuck. – 1 point
“Early Retirement” (Kenneth Jobe): A “loyal husband and hard-working employee” getting wronged and taking revenge. I kept expecting some twist in the plot, but there wasn’t one. – 1 star
“Tangled Obsession” (Barb Shuler): The old “trip into the wilderness gone awry through being stalked by madmen”. A good thing “Uncle Sam taught” the protagonists so many things (as we keep being reminded). OK-ish from point of writing - still, predictable and boring. No idea what was the eponymous obsession and why or how it was tangled. – 2 stars
“We Only Want to Play” (M.C. St. John): Elementary school kids going full-on “Lord of the Flies” on their teachers and one of their own. Maybe some kind of possession is at work, we never find out. Likes flowery language (“carnation of blood”). OK-ish. – 2 1/2 stars
“The House on Oak Street” (Ricky Wells): The old “spooky house” story with a storyline that is all over the place, further mangled by drawn-out, repetitive writing style, detailing a chess game in its every move (which was in aid of exactly nothing), plus some very weird expressions (among which “hoping his eyes betrayed him”, “never raising his eyes exceptive for furtive glances”, “couldn’t help but to imagine” stood out, making me wonder if English is, indeed, the author’s first language). – 2 stars
Whew, finished. This one almost ended up on my DNF shelf. However, I was given this as an ARC, and read it and review it I must, much as I hate to write negative reviews.
Where to start … these stories were tangled all right, but not in a good way. Twisted - not so much. I found the stories unoriginal, the writing shallow, dull, cliché-laden - just about every major character seems to have the "hazel" eyes so beloved of authors of (indifferent) fanfiction, so rare in real persons - and repetitive.
To go into the sad details:
“A tangled Oracle” (Laura N. Andrews): A murder mystery straight from the soaps. The protagonists are introduced in purple prose by their looks (“ … long dark curls, bright hazel eyes, and a tanned complexion “, “her petite, straight nose”, “stunning blue eyes, dark hair, and a charming laugh”, “the pearly white perfectly contrasting with his skin tone”) rather than their personality, the mystery unfolds slowly, in drawn-out writing, the author, anticipating her readers’ extremely short attention span, reminding them over and over who the victims are in relation to the MC, verbatim repeating conversations, and then pulling a _very_ hackneyed ex-machina at which point I was glad to skip the rest. – 1 star
“The Burning Rock” (M. Billiter): deals with a toxic relationship, ostensibly due to the one of the partners’ bipolar condition, however, the writer does not bring the latter across in any convincing way. All the reader is shown is a selfish asshole not so much suffering from mood swings than throwing tantrums whenever things don’t go his way. Whatever attracts the MC to the surly cowboy, aside from “his mustache … the colour of wheat, and the long bushy ends mov[ing] with the same consistency in the wind” and, of course, “his hazel eyes”, who calls her, very condescendingly “Girl”, “Lady” or “Red”, but never once by her name, remains a mystery – unless it’s his nuptial performances, which, thankfully, happen off stage. The rate at which he runs through his wife's money, though, might have kept her in callboys for the duration, who would at least have treated her with a modicum of respect. Bleh! – 1 star
“Gnarled” (R.M. Gilmore): The first story in this collection with a touch of the supernatural. The writing style was better and with a slightly ironic undertone I liked, however, a bit jumpy and disjointed at times. Includes “my hazel eyes”, “my blond hair”, the strangest police procedures and silly gratuitous Irish. – 2 stars
“Tangled Love” (Kim Deister): Distracted wife accidentally coming across her husband’s secret life as a serial killer, only he isn’t. For whatever reason fancies herself as the offending party and guilt-trips herself into making him punish her for whatever. “It was my just desserts.” (sic) Yuck. – 1 point
“Early Retirement” (Kenneth Jobe): A “loyal husband and hard-working employee” getting wronged and taking revenge. I kept expecting some twist in the plot, but there wasn’t one. – 1 star
“Tangled Obsession” (Barb Shuler): The old “trip into the wilderness gone awry through being stalked by madmen”. A good thing “Uncle Sam taught” the protagonists so many things (as we keep being reminded). OK-ish from point of writing - still, predictable and boring. No idea what was the eponymous obsession and why or how it was tangled. – 2 stars
“We Only Want to Play” (M.C. St. John): Elementary school kids going full-on “Lord of the Flies” on their teachers and one of their own. Maybe some kind of possession is at work, we never find out. Likes flowery language (“carnation of blood”). OK-ish. – 2 1/2 stars
“The House on Oak Street” (Ricky Wells): The old “spooky house” story with a storyline that is all over the place, further mangled by drawn-out, repetitive writing style, detailing a chess game in its every move (which was in aid of exactly nothing), plus some very weird expressions (among which “hoping his eyes betrayed him”, “never raising his eyes exceptive for furtive glances”, “couldn’t help but to imagine” stood out, making me wonder if English is, indeed, the author’s first language). – 2 stars
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews