Average rating: 4.15
Ratings: 219
Text Reviews: 78
Want to read: 882
Added to shelves: 1,205
Average Rating: 4.10
Reviews: 83
Her fate is sealed. Her death is inevitable.
Carrie Rickard, leaving an abusive relationship back in London, tries to escape her past by throwing herself into her restoration project: Fairwood House, known to locals of Pagham-on-Sea in Sussex as the Crows. Unable to resist as it whispers to her, Carrie’s obsession only grows when she discovers it was the site of a gruesome unsolved murder.
As she digs deeper into the mystery, she awakens dark and dangerous forces. Enter her foul-mouthed neighbor, Ricky Porter, who is as obsessed with the Crows as Carrie is, and who has several secrets of his own…not least of which are what’s really under the hood he wears and what he’s got in the cellar.
Title: The Crows
Genres: New Weird or Gothic Weird, in this case consisting of Gothic Horror, Paranormal, and Urban Fantasy.
Age: Adult
Tropes: Creepy Old House (is Alive), Matriarch (is Evil), Vengeful Spirit (of a Child), Only One Bed (and it’s Disturbing), Boy Next Door (is a Killer), Nancy Drew (and she’s Bad At It), Love Interests (Can’t Be Trusted), Touch-Starved Cannibal (is an Ally), Lovecraftian Abominations (are English Middle Class).
How I feel about it: I’m so proud of this book. It was the best I could do when I wrote it, and that’s that; I think I could re-write it now and it would be very different. However, as a snapshot of 2018-2019 me, and just on its own merits, I love it very much.
What surprised me most: I think I was most surprised by readers’ reactions to Ricky Porter, as I thought he would get mostly negative comments. I’m validated by the fact that readers who say they loved him are also surprised at their own reaction. Overall, I’ve had some amazing responses to this book, where I’m just glad I wrote it for those individuals, even if it was read by nobody else.
This is the book that:
- Got a full MS request from a Rebellion Publishing editor thanks to a Twitter pitch – ultimately not what they were looking for, but the personal email and encouraging feedback gave me a massive boost!
- Got shelved on Goodreads over 860x while still self published, with an average of 4.26 out of 5.00 from 2020-2024 (out of 120 reviews) for the original kindle edition
- Got cold-pitched by a commissioning editor to go from self-published to large indie press published (Canelo)
- Earned enough in its first 2 years (self-published) to qualify me as an Associate Writer of the Horror Writers Association, then did so again in its re-release by Canelo in 2024
- Is now a Penguin Random House title because they bought out said indie press, which means I now have my own Penguin Random House author page.
I had no idea it would be this popular, or that it would resonate with readers the way that it has.
What Readers Say:
“It’s weird and gruesome, mysterious yet strangely wholesome. I couldn’t put it down. … The dynamic between the main cast is one that I loved very deeply. I’m a queer, what can I say? I love untraditional love and whatever is going on in Fairwood House is certainly untraditional.”
“A delicate balance between gruesome horror and urban/paranormal fantasy. A fun read!”
“I’m not sure how much of my feelings about this book are actually my own and which have slithered into my brain with slimy tentacles. I am equally horrified as enthralled and I cannot commend the author enough on creating such a riveting tale with the least likeable loveable characters ever imagined. Ricky managed to steal my heart… I’m fairly certain he ate it.”
“…a delightfully disturbing horror, with genuinely funny moments, and brilliant character dynamics.”
“There were heart wrenching moments but I can take it, if characters can make my heart hurt then it means they’ve been written well.”
“C M Rosens has taken some classic elements of a paranormal small town story and created something fresh, interesting and utterly addictive.”
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