My Daylight Monsters (Mary Hades, #0.5) started out as a standalone short, but after reaching the top of the YA horror amazon list, Sarah Dalton expanded her plans for the Gothic novella, birthing the Mary Hades series!
While a lot of people will undoubtedly compare My Daylight Monsters to Girl, Interrupted, which is fair, the tone of the story reminded me of Donnie Darko. In fact, the day after reading it, I had to rewatch that movie (ahhh, I love it so!). I told Sarah Dalton on twitter, and she said that while she hadn’t thought of the movie while writing it, she’s a fan, too.
Anyhow, onto the blurb for My Daylight Monsters, the Amazon bestseller…
I always thought my demons came out in the day, rather than at night. I’ve never been scared of the dark. I’ve only ever been scared of real things: getting ill, having injections, physical pain… death. Those are my monsters, not ghosts or vampires or whatever else can hide under your bed at night.I was wrong.
The dark makes everything worse.
When Mary’s psychiatrist advises a short stay at a psychiatric unit, her worst nightmares are confirmed. How can she get better in a place that fills her with dread? When she meets the other patients, she begins to gather some hope, until she realises that the death toll in the hospital is rising without explanation. Something sinister stalks the corridors and maybe she is the only one who can stop it…
Mary has to confront the Things that she sees if they are to stand a chance.
But will she survive a confrontation with death itself?
And, of course, I pulled two quotes from the story to give you a taste…
“In scary stories, the monster hides in the dark. Well, not my monsters. My fears are in the daylight.”
― Sarah Dalton, My Daylight Monsters
“The darkness comes and I greet it.”
― Sarah Dalton, My Daylight Monsters
And then, we have Mary Hades, the first novel in the series. This novel can be read on its own, without checking My Daylight Monsters first, though I do recommend it, simply because it’s a fun read and I love novellas.
I so love this cover.
Not many seventeen year old girls have a best friend who’s a ghost, but then Mary Hades isn’t your average teenager.
Scarred physically and mentally from a fire, her parents decide a holiday to an idyllic village in North Yorkshire will help her recover. Nestled in the middle of five moors, Mary expects to have a boring week stuck in a caravan with her parents. Little does she know, evil lurks in the campsite…
Seth Lockwood—a local fairground worker with a dark secret—might be the key to uncovering the murky history that has blighted Nettleby. But Mary is drawn to him in a way that has her questioning her judgement.
Helped by her dead best friend and a quirky gay Goth couple, Mary must stop the unusual deaths occurring in Nettleby. But can she prevent her heart from being broken?
The first in a series of dark YA novels, Mary Hades follows on from the bestselling Kindle Single ‘My Daylight Monsters’. A spine-tingling tale with romance, readers will be shocked and entertained in equal measure.
August sees the release of Sister (Mary Hades, #1.5) a short story companion to the series, and I’m pretty in love with the effects in this cover (really, I’m a fan of the Mary Hades covers in general).
If you’re interested in keeping up with the series, I strongly recommend Sarah Dalton’s facebook, she’s great at keeping readers updated on what she’s up to.