Jeneva Rose has made a career out of keeping readers guessing. The bestselling author behind The Perfect Marriage and The Perfect Divorce has earned herself the nickname “Queen of Twists” thanks to thrillers designed to make you question everything right up until the final page. But for her latest release, she’s trading “I didn’t see that coming” for “maybe I’ll sleep with the lights on tonight.”
Sometimes I Scare Myself marks Jeneva’s first foray into pure horror, a genre she loves deeply. And rather than telling one full-length story, she’s pulled three ideas into a collection that explores what scares us—and why fear can look completely different for everyone.
As the new book hits the bookshelves, we sat down with Jeneva to talk about her horror era, why the genre gives her permission to get a little more outlandish, and the pressure that comes with being known for twists.
Without giving too much away, how would you describe Sometimes I Scare Myself to someone picking it up for the first time?
It's a collection of stories that explores fear from every angle, and that's kind of why the title is Sometimes I Scare Myself. Just to be a little playful. The stories are not connected through a shared universe or a reoccurring character, it's questioning what really scares us, and it's different for every person. And each character, each story, is experiencing some sort of grief, whether it's the breakdown of a relationship, the loss of identity after having a child, or the loss of an actual family member, and it's them navigating this grief through these horrifying situations.
What's the first horror story that truly terrified you?
I remember I was watching Nightmare on Elm Street when I was like three years old, and I thought Freddy Krueger lived underneath my porch forever.
Where did the inspiration for
