06/19/2025 Recent Reads & Reviews: Dark Cloud on Naked Creek by Cindy O'Quinn
- Candace Nola
- Jun 19
- 2 min read
“Dripping with beautifully written prose, and enthralling characters, Dark Cloud on Naked Creek is a profoundly emotional tale of family and the ties that bind us. A shining testament to Cindy O’Quinn’s mastery of story craft.” — Candace Nola, author of Shadow Manor.
Full transparency, I edited this book and blurbed it as you can see above.
That being said, I rarely personally review books that I have edited, even rarer still that I’m asked to blurb them, but in this case, had I not been asked for a blurb, I would have offered one, just as I’m also reviewing it now. My reason for doing so, some stories simply shine from the first sentence, and are living, breathing entities by the end of the first page. Dark Cloud on Naked Creek is one of those stories.
Cindy O’Quinn has gifted her fans a living story. A “lived” story. Rich with found family, love of all kinds, blood that binds, betrayal, and a hearty splash of Appalachian mountain mystery and magic. This is the kind of story that the author must first live. The kind of place they must immerse themselves in, grow in, love in, grieve in, breathe in. O’Quinn has done exactly that with this incredibly poignant story. She’s given us her home. Taken us by the hand, gave a gentle smile, led us to the rocker on the front porch, and bid us to sit a spell. Once you are settled, with a glass of the coldest, sweetest Iced Tea in your hand, she settles beside you, then tells you the story of some distant kin.
There you sit, mesmerized by her melodic voice, her gentle demeanor, her kind eyes, with your tea growing warmer by the hour as you are so captivated that you’ve forgotten to drink, have almost forgotten to blink. In fact, you no longer rock in the comfy chair that was intended for rocking, too scared to make a sound that might break the spell that is being woven around you.
Twilight comes and goes, full dark approaches, and still you sit, tears falling, heart pounding, a hand clutching imaginary pearls that do not hang around your delicate throat, all while the most gentle person you’ve ever met, guides you through the mountains, through her home, into unimaginable horror, loss, and pain, then somehow, she brings you out the other side. Still trembling, heart still aching, yet grateful to have taken her hand.
This is Cindy O’Quinn’s Dark Cloud on Naked Creek and it is a living masterpiece of literary horror.
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