#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: THE STARVING SAINTS by Caitlin Starling and a Bonus Title You May Have Missed

Today I have an ARC of a book to which I gave a STAR in the April 2025 issue of LJ and a hardcover finished copy of a debut supernatural thriller you probably missed when it first came out. Two books for one winner. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here for the previous giveaway. Our winner was John from Washington. Now on to this week's giveaway.  

As you probably already know, Caitlin Starling is one of our 2025 Summer Scares authors. I have read and reviewed many of her novels and always enjoy them, but this upcoming one-- The Starving Saints--blew me away. From my LJ Draft review:

Three Words That Describe This Book: richly detailed, highly unnerving, 3 points of view.

Draft Review: Aymar Castle is filled with refugees, huddled inside the walls, protected by their King over the course of a six month siege. With mere days to go until the food stores are depleted, four saints appear out of nowhere to save them from starvation. Readers enter this world, closely modelled after Medieval times, through the perspectives of three women: Phosyne, an excommunicated nun who can perform miracles, Ser Voyne, a trusted knight, and Treila, a serving girl with a thirst for revenge. While many immediately bow to the strangers, the protagonists are not willing to trust what is clearly too good to be true. But what can they do to stop the saints? Richly detailed with an engrossing pace and pervasively menacing tone, Straling quickly transports readers inside the castle walls as they watch the horrors unfold. From cannibalism, increasingly dangerous magic, and betrayals to monsters, hidden tunnels, and swarms of bees, this fantastical story is transfixing on its own, but it also serves to underscore a very unsettling truth– no matter the time or place, humanity’s obsession with power may be the biggest horror of all, a horror that may be too much for these three deeply flawed women to overcome, a horror that may doom their people, unless the can find the strength to embrace their true selves.

Verdict: A brilliantly constructed and thoroughly unnerving fever dream, Starling’s fans will ravenously gulp this novel down,* but it will also appeal to readers nestled in the space where Slewfoot by Brom, The Unworthy by Bazterrica, and The Queen by Cutter overlap.

There is more, from me, about this book here.

Get this book pre-ordered. You will thank me later. Speaking of, thanks to Harper Voyage for the ARC.

And as a bonus this week, I have a Hardcover finished copy of a debut title that came out in August which you can add to your collection today, Dead Socials by Jeff Hill. 

Disgraced reporter Jed Hollingsworth returns to his hometown of Sarah Falls to document the story of the worst school shooting in the history of the country. Except it’s the people who didn’t survive he’s interviewing, in preference to those who did. For he’s got no qualms asking the dead to tell their stories. And when a friend reaches out from beyond the grave via social media, Jed knows there’s more to the story than he could have ever imagined. What dark secrets could possibly link this small town in the Midwest to a haunted mansion in upstate New York where every inhabitant has taken their own lives? This is a scoop to die for. Dead Socials is a supernatural thriller that explores the world of mass media hysteria. Sometimes the most dangerous weapon is a cell phone. And the only thing more terrifying than ghosts are the people who killed them.

This book is a timely supernatural thriller that will appeal to a lot of our library readers. Plus, it has a great title for display. Even if you don't win this week, I highly encourage you to check this one out and consider adding ti to your collections. 

Enter once and you are entered going forward. This week's winner gets both titles. 

Good Luck!