R's bookshelf: all en-US Sun, 13 Apr 2025 06:17:45 -0700 60 R's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Girl in the Green Dress 61341741 508 Jeni Haynes 0733644864 R 0 4.55 The Girl in the Green Dress
author: Jeni Haynes
name: R
average rating: 4.55
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/13
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What Happened to Nina? 171793386
From the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Murder Rule comes an emotional novel of suspense about two families at war.

Nina and Simon are the perfect couple. Young, fun and deeply in love. Until they leave for a weekend at his family’s cabin in Vermont, and only Simon comes home.

WHAT HAPPENED TO NINA?

Nobody knows. Simon’s explanation about what happened in their last hours together doesn’t add up. Nina’s parents push the police for answers, and Simon’s parents rush to protect him. They hire expensive lawyers and a PR firm that quickly ramps up a vicious, nothing-is-off-limits media campaign.

HOW FAR WILL HIS FAMILY GO TO KEEP HIM SAFE?

Soon, facts are lost in a swirl of accusation and counter-accusation. Everyone chooses a side, and the story goes viral, fueled by armchair investigators and wild conspiracy theories and illustrated with pretty pictures taken from Nina’s social media accounts. Journalists descend on their small Vermont town, followed by a few obsessive "fans."

HOW FAR WILL HER FAMILY GO TO GET TO THE TRUTH?

Nina’s family is under siege, but they never lose sight of the only thing that really matters—finding their daughter. Out-gunned by Simon’s wealthy, powerful family, Nina’s parents recognize that if playing by the rules won’t get them anywhere, it’s time to break them.]]>
328 Dervla McTiernan R 0 to-read 4.05 2024 What Happened to Nina?
author: Dervla McTiernan
name: R
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/13
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<![CDATA[Broken Dolls (Jefferson Winter, #1)]]> 18216648
The son of one of America's most renowned serial killers, Winter has spent his life trying to distance himself from his father's legacy. Once a rising star at the FBI, he is now a freelance consultant, jetting around the globe helping local law enforcement agencies with difficult cases. He's not got Da Vinci's IQ, but he's pretty close.

When he accepts a particularly disturbing case in London, Winter arrives to find a city in the grip of a cold snap, with a psychopath on the loose who likes abducting and lobotomising young women. Winter must use all his preternatural brain power in order to work out who is behind the attacks, before another young woman becomes a victim.

As Winter knows all too well, however, not everyone who's broken can be fixed.]]>
382 James Carol 0571302734 R 3 4.07 2014 Broken Dolls (Jefferson Winter, #1)
author: James Carol
name: R
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2014
rating: 3
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date added: 2025/04/04
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<![CDATA[Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)]]> 52397
Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighborhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others.

When fire destroys their compound, Lauren’s family is killed and she is forced out into a world that is fraught with danger. With a handful of other refugees, Lauren must make her way north to safety, along the way conceiving a revolutionary idea that may mean salvation for all mankind.]]>
345 Octavia E. Butler 0446675504 R 0 to-read 4.21 1993 Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)
author: Octavia E. Butler
name: R
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1993
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/31
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<![CDATA[On Angels' Wings: My flight from trauma to grace]]> 57819235 167 Gloria Masters 0473548097 R 0 to-read 4.41 On Angels' Wings: My flight from trauma to grace
author: Gloria Masters
name: R
average rating: 4.41
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/06
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<![CDATA[Cien Anos De Soledad/ One hundred Years of Solitude: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Compendios Vosgos]]> 2316150 128 Gabriel García Márquez 8495761386 R 0 to-read 4.44 1967 Cien Anos De Soledad/ One hundred Years of Solitude: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Compendios Vosgos
author: Gabriel García Márquez
name: R
average rating: 4.44
book published: 1967
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/24
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Comfort Me with Apples 56179382
It's just that he's away so much. So often. He works so hard. She misses him. And he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband and everything is perfect.

But sometimes Sophia wonders about things. Strange things. Dark things. The look on her husband's face when he comes back from a long business trip. The questions he will not answer. The locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can't quite meet her gaze...

But everything is perfect. Isn't it?]]>
103 Catherynne M. Valente 1250816211 R 2
I appreciate the unique take on adam & eve but the whole thing ruined what was a pretty captivating mystery up to that point!]]>
3.58 2021 Comfort Me with Apples
author: Catherynne M. Valente
name: R
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2025/02/22
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This was really great...until the reveal.

I appreciate the unique take on adam & eve but the whole thing ruined what was a pretty captivating mystery up to that point!
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The Television 63905551
But in the back room of that ordinary mobile home, there’s an ancient television that’s anything but ordinary. It doesn’t broadcast sitcoms, sports games, news shows, or movies.

No.

It broadcasts only the very worst atrocities in human history.

Follow Farthing down, deeper and deeper as he struggles to reveal the appalling secrets of...

THE TELEVISION

*Trigger All of them. This is a book of extreme horror, not for the faint of heart or stomach*

“Lee has managed to string together the most gruesome atrocities of our history into a cohesive story. And he describes them in cold graphic detail. I had to go intellectual to stay sane. It's the most ... I don't know ... horrifying thing. It's true evil. Factual evil.� -- Lisa Tone, Editor in Chief, Madness Heart Press

"Okay, so, I just read a paragraph, consisting of but three sentences. I had to put down the Kindle and go into the bathroom, rinse my damn face off. Then I looked at myself in the mirror, and questioned everything about myself, I laughed maniacally for a couple of seconds. I think it's a coping mechanism. But that didn't work so now I'm gonna go for a ride with Birdie and get some fresh air. For real. Three sentences. FML. I Love The Edward Lee." -- Brad Tierny, Extreme Horror book reviewer

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0 Edward Lee R 0 to-read 3.79 The Television
author: Edward Lee
name: R
average rating: 3.79
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/02
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Then She Was Gone 35297426 She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

NOW
It’s been ten years since Ellie disappeared, but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter.

And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.

Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.

Poppy is precocious and pretty - and meeting her completely takes Laurel's breath away.

Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age. And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What happened to Ellie? Where did she go?

Who still has secrets to hide?]]>
359 Lisa Jewell 1501154648 R 0 to-read 4.02 2017 Then She Was Gone
author: Lisa Jewell
name: R
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/31
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<![CDATA[Good Girl, Bad Girl (Cyrus Haven, #1)]]> 42202019 A girl is discovered hiding in a secret room in the aftermath of a terrible crime. Half-starved and filthy, she won’t tell anyone her name, or her age, or where she came from. Maybe she is twelve, maybe fifteen. She doesn’t appear in any missing persons file, and her DNA can’t be matched to an identity.

Six years later, still unidentified, she is living in a secure children’s home with a new name, Evie Cormac. When she initiates a court case demanding the right to be released as an adult, forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven must determine if Evie is ready to go free. But she is unlike anyone he’s ever met—fascinating and dangerous in equal measure. Evie knows when someone is lying, and no one around her is telling the truth.

Meanwhile, Cyrus is called in to investigate the shocking murder of a high school figure-skating champion, Jodie Sheehan, who dies on a lonely footpath close to her home. Pretty and popular, Jodie is portrayed by everyone as the ultimate girl-next-door, but as Cyrus peels back the layers, a secret life emerges—one that Evie Cormac, the girl with no past, knows something about. A man haunted by his own tragic history, Cyrus is caught between the two cases—one girl who needs saving and another who needs justice. What price will he pay for the truth?

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353 Michael Robotham 1982103604 R 2 4.10 2019 Good Girl, Bad Girl (Cyrus Haven, #1)
author: Michael Robotham
name: R
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2019
rating: 2
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date added: 2025/01/15
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The Push 52476830 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family–and a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for–and everything she feared.

Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had.

But in the thick of motherhood’s exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter–she doesn’t behave like most children do.

Or is it all in Blythe’s head? Her husband, Fox, says she’s imagining things. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well.

Then their son Sam is born–and with him, Blythe has the blissful connection she’d always imagined with her child. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fall-out forces Blythe to face the truth.

The Push is a tour de force you will read in a sitting, an utterly immersive novel that will challenge everything you think you know about motherhood, about what we owe our children, and what it feels like when women are not believed.]]>
307 Ashley Audrain 1984881663 R 0 to-read 4.03 2021 The Push
author: Ashley Audrain
name: R
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/12
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Lullaby 35437614
The couple and nanny become more dependent on each other. But as jealousy, resentment and suspicions increase, Myriam and Paul's idyllic tableau is shattered...]]>
256 LeĂŻla Slimani 0571337554 R 0 to-read 3.38 2016 Lullaby
author: LeĂŻla Slimani
name: R
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/12
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Good Me, Bad Me 25365530
How far does the apple really fall from the tree?

Milly's mother is a serial killer. Though Milly loves her mother, the only way to make her stop is to turn her in to the police. Milly is given a fresh start: a new identity, a home with an affluent foster family, and a spot at an exclusive private school.

But Milly has secrets, and life at her new home becomes complicated. As her mother's trial looms, with Milly as the star witness, Milly starts to wonder how much of her is nature, how much of her is nurture, and whether she is doomed to turn out like her mother after all.

When tensions rise and Milly feels trapped by her shiny new life, she has to decide: Will she be good? Or is she bad? She is, after all, her mother's daughter.]]>
338 Ali Land 0718182928 R 0 to-read 3.84 2017 Good Me, Bad Me
author: Ali Land
name: R
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/12
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Black Mouth 59120294
Nor can they deny the memories of that summer, so long ago—the strange magic taught to them by an even stranger man, and the terrible act that has followed them all into adulthood. In the light of new danger, they must confront their past by facing their futures, and hunting down a man who may very well be a monster.]]>
436 Ronald Malfi 1789098653 R 1 on-kindle 3.91 2022 Black Mouth
author: Ronald Malfi
name: R
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2022
rating: 1
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date added: 2025/01/10
shelves: on-kindle
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Small Game 60277011 A gripping debut novel about a survival reality show gone wrong that leaves a group of strangers stranded in the northern wilds

ĚýFour strangers and six weeks: this is all that separates Mara from one life-changing payday. She was surprised when reality TV producers came knocking at Primal Instinct—the survival school where she teaches rich clients not to die during a night outdoors—and even more shocked to be cast in their new show, Civilization. Now she just has to live off the land with her fellow survivors for long enough to get the prize money.

Whisked by helicopter to an undisclosed location, Mara meets her teammates: The grizzled outdoorsman. The Eagle Scout. The white-collar professional. And Ashley, the beautiful but inexperienced one who just wants to be famous. Mara’s unusual, rugged childhood has prepared her for the discomforts and hard work ahead. But trusting her fellow survivors? Not part of Mara’s skill set.

When the cast wakes one morning to find something has gone horribly wrong, fear ripples through the group. Are the producers giving them an extra challenge? Or are they wrapped up in something more dangerous? Soon Mara and the others face terrifying decisions as “survival� becomes more than a game.

A provocative exploration of the comforts, rituals, and connections we depend upon, Small Game is a gripping page-turner and a poignant story about finding the courage to build a new life from the ground up.]]>
288 Blair Braverman 0063066173 R 0 to-read 3.45 2022 Small Game
author: Blair Braverman
name: R
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/29
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Madhouse 36479686
Faced with his parents’s divorce, eleven-year-old Lucas runs away from his house with the hope that his family will get back together to find him. On his way walking through the empty streets, he is picked up by a mysterious woman who offers to take care of him and provide him with a loving family.

The boy then wakes up in shackles, confined to a bed in a decrepit house in the middle of nowhere and will have to face his deepest fears in order to survive in his new home.

Join Lucas in a desperate attempt to get back to his family in Madhouse, the first published book from horror-thriller author Miguel Estrada.
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116 Miguel Estrada R 2 3.67 Madhouse
author: Miguel Estrada
name: R
average rating: 3.67
book published:
rating: 2
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date added: 2024/12/23
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Jailbait 814453
In other words, she has no friends. Her only goal is get through high school with the least amount of humiliation possible, which should be easy� nothing ever happens in the suburbs, right? Wrong.

One day, as Andi walks home from school, a little brown VW drives up and she meets Frank. Frank makes her feel beautiful and special. With Frank, Andi forgets how alone she is.

From boundary breaking author Lesléa Newman comes a haunting story about a girl who is all alone, and a man old enough to know better.


From the Hardcover edition.]]>
256 Lesléa Newman 0385734050 R 1 3.29 2005 Jailbait
author: Lesléa Newman
name: R
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2005
rating: 1
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date added: 2024/12/20
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Let's Go Play at the Adams' 477801 were nice children � didn't hold an adult captive.

But what Barbara didn't count on was the heady effect their new-found freedom would have on the children. Their wealthy parents were away in Europe, and in this rural area of Maryland, the next house was easily a quarter of a mile away. The power of adults was in their hands, and they were tempted by it. They tasted it and toyed with it -- their only aim was to test its limits. Each child was consumed by his own individual lust and caught up with the others in sadistic manipulation and passion, until finally, step by step, their grim game strips away the layers of childishness to reveal the vicious psyche, conceived in evil and educated in society's sophisticated violence, that lies always within civilized men.

More than a terrifying horror story, Let's Go Play at the Adams' is a compelling psychological exercise of brooding insights and deadly implications.]]>
282 Mendal W. Johnson 0553141392 R 2 3.43 1974 Let's Go Play at the Adams'
author: Mendal W. Johnson
name: R
average rating: 3.43
book published: 1974
rating: 2
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date added: 2024/12/19
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The Girl Next Door 179735 370 Jack Ketchum 0843955430 R 3 3.90 1989 The Girl Next Door
author: Jack Ketchum
name: R
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1989
rating: 3
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date added: 2024/12/12
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Safe 53095709
She was only six years old when she disappeared. Posters went up, the police investigated.

But no one could find her.

Now, twelve years later, she’s home.

And knocking at your door.

You’re so happy to see her. But soon you start to wonder why she can’t answer your questions.

Where has she been? How did she find her way home?

Who is she?]]>
400 S.K. Barnett 1529124662 R 2 3.84 2020 Safe
author: S.K. Barnett
name: R
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2020
rating: 2
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date added: 2024/11/25
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The Stillwater Girls 40258215 The Thinnest Air.

Ignorant of civilization and cautioned against its evils, nineteen-year-old Wren and her two sisters, Sage and Evie, were raised in off-the-grid isolation in a primitive cabin in upstate New York. When the youngest grows gravely ill, their mother leaves with the child to get help from a nearby town. And they never return.

As months pass, hope vanishes. Supplies are low. Livestock are dying. A brutal winter is bearing down. Then comes the stranger. He claims to be looking for the girls� mother, and he’s not leaving without them.

To escape, Wren and her sister must break the rule they’ve grown up with: never go beyond the forest.

Past the thicket of dread, they come upon a house on the other side of the pines. This is where Wren and Sage must confront something more chilling than the unknowable. They’ll discover what’s been hidden from them, what they’re running from, and the secrets that have left them in the dark their entire lives.]]>
273 Minka Kent 1542090105 R 3 4.14 2019 The Stillwater Girls
author: Minka Kent
name: R
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2019
rating: 3
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date added: 2024/11/22
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There Are 3 Women & 4 Men 204967663
That is precisely the reason why he is the most famous art curator of the 20th century and why the Fontaine Museum of Art has more success than any other museum has ever seen. That is, of course, until he shuts it down.

When Laurent’s wife, Marie, is found dead during an exhibition opening at the museum in 1967, the police are quick to determine suicide. Laurent is quick to determine otherwise.

He promptly closes his historic building and halts his highly coveted life in the arts to dedicate the next ten years to one thing: finding the person who killed Marie.

In 1977, exactly ten years after the tragedy, Laurent invites who he found to be the six most likely suspects back into his museum, breaking his silence for the first time in a decade. With the event disguised as a “Grand Reopening,� the guests arrive, and Laurent reveals the truth: none of these misfortunate people will be leaving his palace until justice is served.

But, Laurent Fontaine has an obsession. Is this truly justice, or is there spectacle hidden in revenge? Is this truly an investigation, or is this emperor of art putting on one last performance? How far can Laurent morally push his grand finale?]]>
418 Jaden Payne R 0 to-read 3.64 There Are 3 Women & 4 Men
author: Jaden Payne
name: R
average rating: 3.64
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/21
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Unspeakable Things 44323551
Cassie McDowell’s life in 1980s Minnesota seems perfectly wholesome. She lives on a farm, loves school, and has a crush on the nicest boy in class. Yes, there are her parents� strange parties and their parade of deviant guests, but she’s grown accustomed to them.

All that changes when someone comes hunting in Lilydale.

One by one, local boys go missing. One by one, they return changed—violent, moody, and withdrawn. What happened to them becomes the stuff of shocking rumors. The accusations of who’s responsible grow just as wild, and dangerous town secrets start to surface. Then Cassie’s own sister undergoes the dark change. If she is to survive, Cassie must find her way in an adult world where every sin is justified, and only the truth is unforgivable.]]>
296 Jess Lourey 154200876X R 3 3.84 2020 Unspeakable Things
author: Jess Lourey
name: R
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2020
rating: 3
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date added: 2024/11/20
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<![CDATA[Switching Time: A Doctor's Harrowing Story of Treating a Woman with 17 Personalities]]> 1551737
Baer recognizes that Karen is on the verge of suicide and, while trying various medications to keep her alive, attempts to discover the root cause of her strange complaints. It’s the work of months, and then years, to gain Karen’s trust and learn the true extent of the trauma buried in her past. What she eventually reveals is nearly beyond belief, a narrative of a childhood spent grappling with unimaginable horror. How has Karen survived with even a tenuous grasp on sanity?

Then Baer receives an envelope in the mail. It’s marked with Karen’s return address but contains a letter from a little girl who writes that she’s seven years old and lives inside of Karen. Soon Baer receives letters from others claiming to be parts of Karen. Under hypnosis, these alternate Karen personalities reveal themselves in shocking variety and with undeniable traits—both physical and psychological. One “alter� is a young boy filled with frightening aggression; another an adult male who considers himself Karen’s protector; and a third a sassy flirt who seeks dominance over the others. It’s only by compartmentalizing her pain, guilt, and fear in this fashion—by “switching time� with alternate selves as the situation warrants—that Karen has been able to function since childhood.

Realizing that his patient represents an extreme case of multiple personality disorder, Baer faces the daunting task of creating a therapy that will make Karen whole again. Somehow, in fact, he must gain the trust of each of Karen’s seventeen “alters� and convince them of the necessity of their own annihilation.

As powerful as Sybil or The Three Faces of Eve, Switching Time is the first complete account of such therapy to be told from the perspective of the treating physician, a stunningly devoted healer who worked selflessly for decades so that Karen could one day live as a single human being.


From the Hardcover edition.]]>
368 Richard K. Baer 0307382664 R 0 4.02 2007 Switching Time: A Doctor's Harrowing Story of Treating a Woman with 17 Personalities
author: Richard K. Baer
name: R
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/14
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<![CDATA[Good Morning, Monster: A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery]]> 49127514
Each patient presents a mystery, one that will only be unpacked over years. They seek Gildiner's help to overcome an immediate challenge in their lives, but discover that the source of their suffering has been long buried.

As in such recent classics as The Glass Castle and Educated, each patient embodies self-reflection, stoicism, perseverance, and forgiveness as they work unflinchingly to face the truth. Gildiner's account of her journeys with them is moving, insightful, and sometimes very funny. Good Morning Monster offers an almost novelistic, behind-the-scenes look into the therapist's office, illustrating how the process can heal even the most unimaginable wounds.]]>
368 Catherine Gildiner 1250271487 R 0 4.44 2020 Good Morning, Monster: A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery
author: Catherine Gildiner
name: R
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/14
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The Moralist 1211657 382 Rod G. Downey 1887650407 R 0 3.29 2001 The Moralist
author: Rod G. Downey
name: R
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2001
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/10
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Earthlings 50269327
Now Natsuki is grown. She lives a quiet life with her asexual husband, surviving as best she can by pretending to be normal. But the demands of Natsuki's family are increasing, her friends wonder why she's still not pregnant, and dark shadows from Natsuki's childhood are pursuing her. Fleeing the suburbs for the mountains of her childhood, Natsuki prepares herself with a reunion with Yuu. Will he still remember their promise? And will he help her keep it?]]>
247 Sayaka Murata 1783785675 R 0 to-read 3.59 2018 Earthlings
author: Sayaka Murata
name: R
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/27
shelves: to-read
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When Darkness Loves Us 868727
Sally Ann is a bright and bubbling farm girl, still caught in the thrill of a brand-new husband and a shining future ahead. When a careless exploration leaves her trapped underground, she learns to live again in the absence of everything she once knew. Even driven by love and light, Sally Ann finds the deepest darkness within herself in When Darkness Loves Us.

Beauty Is... - Old Martha Mannes has been a part of Morgan, Illinois since her birth. The whole town knows her as the dim-witted woman who was born without a nose, but Martha's mind wasn't always a blank slate. Unlocking the monster buried deep in her memories may bring back the sparkling child she once was... or it may send those around her crashing down into the nightmares of a little girl gone wrong.]]>
249 Elizabeth Engstrom 0688041752 R 0 to-read 4.01 1985 When Darkness Loves Us
author: Elizabeth Engstrom
name: R
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1985
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/27
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When Rabbit Howls 760941 400 Truddi Chase 0515103292 R 0 4.05 1987 When Rabbit Howls
author: Truddi Chase
name: R
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1987
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/23
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<![CDATA[The Survival of Hope: The true story of Jeni Haynes]]> 60769844 I didn't know that you're only supposed to have one personality. I didn't realise that having lots of voices in your head was abnormal. But you are protecting yourself. You are protecting your soul, and that's what I did.'

An intelligent, poised woman, Jeni Haynes sat in court and listened as the man who had abused her from birth, a man who should have been her protector, a man who tortured and terrified her, was jailed for a non-parole period of 33 years. The man was her father.
ĚýĚý
The abuse that began when Jeni was only a baby is unimaginable to most. It was physically, psychologically and emotionally sadistic and never-ending. The fact she survived may be called a miracle by some - but the reality is, it is testament to the extraordinary strength of Jeni's mind.
Ěý Ěý
What saved her was the process of dissociation - Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) or Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) - a defence mechanism that saw Jeni create over 2500 separate personalities, or alters, who protected her as best they could from the trauma. This army of alters included four-year-old Symphony, teenage motorcycle-loving Muscles, elegant Linda, forthright Judas and eight-year-old Ricky.
ĚýĚý
With her army, the support of her psychiatrist Dr George Blair-West, and a police officer's belief in her, Jeni fought to create a life for herself and bring her father to justice. In a history-making ruling, Jeni's alters were empowered to give evidence in court. In speaking out, Jeni's courage would see many understand MPD for the first time.
ĚýĚý
With commentary from Dr Blair-West, THE GIRL IN THE GREEN DRESS is an unforgettable memoir from a woman who refused to be silenced. ĚýJeni Haynes is an inspiration and her bravery and determination to live is a powerful reminder of the resilience of the human spirit.
Ěý±Ő±Ő>
336 Jeni Haynes 0733644856 R 0 4.60 The Survival of Hope: The true story of Jeni Haynes
author: Jeni Haynes
name: R
average rating: 4.60
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rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/22
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What We Both Know 58778129 For readers of My Dark Vanessa, a mesmerizing, disturbing, and thoroughly compelling novel about one woman's role in preserving--or destroying--her famous father's legacy.


In front of me are hundreds of pages of work. Already I feel it leaving me. He will obliterate what is there, replace it, deny I ever wrote a word. But, he cannot take the words I write on my own.

Hillary Greene's father, once a celebrated author and public figure, is now losing his memory and, with it, his ability to write. As her father's primary caretaker, each day begins with two eggs, boiled and Charlie Rose or some other host on the iPad screen. Her father compulsively watches himself in old interviews, memorizing his own speech, trying to hang on to who he was.

An aspiring author herself, Hillary impulsively agrees to ghost-write his final work--a memoir spanning his career--and release it in his name. Diving deep into her father's past, and in turn her own, a horrifying truth begins to piece itself together.

With full control over her father's memoir, Hillary is faced with a stark choice: reveal her father as a monster or preserve his legacy as a respected literary figure. But she wonders what writing the truth will do to her and if it will damage her own prospects for a career. Whichever option she chooses, Hillary has to deal with the significant pain writing the memoir has re-surfaced--specifically, how the truth about her father adds to her grief over the death of her enigmatic sister, Pauline. For the first time in her life, Hillary holds the power.

Set in the wake of the #MeToo and Time's Up movements, What We Both Know is a visceral, intimate, and complex novel about confronting the personal and professional consequences--and potentially devastating fallout--of revealing the truth about a famous man.
]]>
248 Fawn Parker 0771096739 R 2 3.17 2022 What We Both Know
author: Fawn Parker
name: R
average rating: 3.17
book published: 2022
rating: 2
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date added: 2024/10/17
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Dark Places 5886881
Since then, she has been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back?

She begins to realise that everyone in her family had something to hide that day... especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find.

Who did massacre the Day family?]]>
424 Gillian Flynn 0307341569 R 2 3.95 2009 Dark Places
author: Gillian Flynn
name: R
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2009
rating: 2
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date added: 2024/10/13
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None of This Is True 62334530 Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?]]>
390 Lisa Jewell 1982179007 R 0 to-read 4.08 2023 None of This Is True
author: Lisa Jewell
name: R
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/06
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<![CDATA[Daddy's Wicked Parties: The Most Shocking True Story of Child Abuse Ever Told]]> 25494812 148 Kate Skylark R 0 4.19 2015 Daddy's Wicked Parties: The Most Shocking True Story of Child Abuse Ever Told
author: Kate Skylark
name: R
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/06
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Over the Influence: A Memoir 213943852 A breathtakingly candid memoir by Joanna "JoJo" Levesque, the chart-topping, multi-platinum recording artist behind hits like “Leave (Get Out),� “Too Little, Too Late�, and the Grammy Award-winning "Say So"

Signed to a major recording deal at just 12 years old, JoJo catapulted to the top of the pop-and-R&B-infused charts in the mid 2000's. The relatability of her youth and the appeal of her cool-girl mystique earned her millions of fans around the world. JoJo was an undeniable superstar and pop culture fixture, spanning roles in major studio films, omnipresence on Top 40 radio, frequenting magazine covers, and appearing on national TV. Then, out of the blue, everything came to a halt and JoJo seemingly stepped out of the spotlight, leaving many fans to ĚýWhat happened to JoJo?

In OVER THE INFLUENCE, JoJo holds nothing back as she brings her against-the-odds story of adversity and triumph to center stage. From being raised by parents who were both battling addiction and depression, to emerging victorious in a never-ending lawsuit with her record label, to putting the fragmented pieces of herself together after a maddening period of rebellion and self-betrayal, she takes the reader through the turbulent years that led her to where she is releasing new music under her own imprint, performing in shows and festivals around the world, headlining a Broadway show, and beyond.Ěý In this raw,Ěýbehind-the-scenes look at her life,Ěýboth personal and professional, JoJo’s unflinching vulnerability allows readers to connect with her on a whole new level through stories of success, heartbreak, redemption, and resilience.

More than a victory lap from an artist with over two decades in an ever-changing entertainment industry, OVER THE INFLUENCEĚýis an unapologetic rallying cry to anyone who’s everĚý been terrified to fail and still said, “Count me in.”]±Ő>
341 Joanna "JoJo" Levesque 0306833166 R 0 4.02 2024 Over the Influence: A Memoir
author: Joanna "JoJo" Levesque
name: R
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/27
date added: 2024/09/27
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Appetite for Innocence 34655417 Be careful what you post online. Your next check-in might lead him right to you...

A serial rapist is kidnapping teenage girls. But he’s not interested in just any teenage girls—only virgins. He hunts them by following their status updates and check-ins on social media. Once he’s captured them, they’re locked away in his sound-proof basement until they’re groomed and ready. He throws them away like pieces of trash after he’s stolen their innocence. Nobody escapes alive.

Until Ella.

Ella risks it all to escape, setting herself and the other girls free. But only Sarah—the girl whose been captive the longest—gets out with her. The girls are hospitalized and surrounded by FBI agents who will stop at nothing to find the man responsible. Ella and Sarah are the key to their investigation, but Sarah’s hiding something and it isn’t long before Ella discovers her nightmare is far from over.

Fans of The Butterfly Garden and The Girl Before will devour Appetite for Innocence.

Warning: Contains sexual violence which may be a trigger for some readers.]]>
358 Lucinda Berry R 3 4.04 2017 Appetite for Innocence
author: Lucinda Berry
name: R
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/21
date added: 2024/09/21
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<![CDATA[A Dark Web of Monsters (Monsters #4)]]> 204948423 An extreme horror novel. Do not read if easily shocked or offended.]]> 203 J. Boote R 2 4.24 A Dark Web of Monsters (Monsters #4)
author: J. Boote
name: R
average rating: 4.24
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2024/09/20
date added: 2024/09/20
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Phantom Limb 35648431
But there’s some horrors love can’t erase�

Elizabeth wakes in a hospital, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak. The last thing she remembers is finding Emily’s body in their bathroom. Days before, she was falling in love and starting college. Now, she’s surrounded by men who talk to themselves and women who pull out their eyebrows.

As she delves deeper into the mystery surrounding Emily’s death, she discovers shocking secrets and holes in her memory that force her to remember what she’s worked so hard to forget—the beatings, the blood, the special friends. Her life spins out of control at a terrifying speed as she desperately tries to unravel the psychological puzzle of her past before it’s too late.]]>
260 Lucinda Berry 1662501404 R 2 3.92 2016 Phantom Limb
author: Lucinda Berry
name: R
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2016
rating: 2
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date added: 2024/09/14
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Freedom: My Book of Firsts 29405007 In the follow-up to her #1 bestselling memoir, A Stolen Life, Jaycee Dugard tells the story of her first experiences after years in the joys that accompanied her newfound freedom and the challenges of adjusting to life on her own.

When Jaycee Dugard was eleven years old, she was abducted from a school bus stop within sight of her home in South Lake Tahoe, California. She was missing for more than eighteen years, held captive by Philip and Nancy Garrido, and gave birth to two daughters during her imprisonment.

In A Stolen Life Jaycee told the story of her life from her abduction in 1991 through her reappearance in 2009. My Book of Firsts is about everything that happened next.

“How do you rebuild a life?� Jaycee asks. In these pages, she describes the life she never thought she would live to from her first sight of her mother to her first time meeting her grownup sister, her first trip to the dentist to her daughters� first day of school, her first taste of champagne to her first hangover, her first time behind the wheel to her first speeding ticket, and her first dance at a friend’s wedding to her first thoughts about the possibility of a future relationship.

This raw and inspiring book will remind you that there is, as Jaycee writes, “life after something tragic happens…Somehow, I still believe that we each hold the key to our own happiness and you have to grab it where you can in whatever form it might take.� Freedom is an awe-inspiring memoir about the power we all hold within ourselves.]]>
272 Jaycee Dugard 1501147641 R 0 to-read 3.50 2016 Freedom: My Book of Firsts
author: Jaycee Dugard
name: R
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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I Who Have Never Known Men 11996 "As far back as I can recall, I have been in the bunker."

A young woman is kept in a cage underground with thirty-nine other females, guarded by armed men who never speak; her crimes unremembered... if indeed there were crimes.

The youngest of forty—a child with no name and no past—she survives for some purpose long forgotten in a world ravaged and wasted. In this reality where intimacy is forbidden—in the unrelenting sameness of the artificial days and nights—she knows nothing of books and time, of needs and feelings.

Then everything changes... and nothing changes.

A young woman who has never known men—a child who knows of no history before the bars and restraints—must now reinvent herself, piece by piece, in a place she has never been... and in the face of the most challenging and terrifying of unknowns: freedom.]]>
208 Jacqueline Harpman 0380731819 R 0 to-read 4.22 1995 I Who Have Never Known Men
author: Jacqueline Harpman
name: R
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Happy: Why more or less everything is absolutely fine]]> 30142270 448 Derren Brown 0593076206 R 0 to-read 4.07 2016 Happy: Why more or less everything is absolutely fine
author: Derren Brown
name: R
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/27
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<![CDATA[Quest for Love: Memoir of a Child Sex Slave]]> 62698125
Extreme, organized child abuse is horrifying, and often impossible to contemplate. And yet, acknowledging the reality of darkness is the first step towards healing. This account offers both the raw, cold facts as well as the resilience and grace from the victim's perspective, revealing that the darkest of nightmares is rarely just that, but commensurate with gifts of light. This ten-year old's journey suggests that heinous suffering can unlock hidden spiritual treasures of transcendence and unconditional love.]]>
0 Anneke Lucas 1667867687 R 0 to-read 4.61 Quest for Love: Memoir of a Child Sex Slave
author: Anneke Lucas
name: R
average rating: 4.61
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/16
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<![CDATA[SeVIIn Sick Sins: The Compleat Attrocities]]> 75373421
Trigger warnings? ALL OF THEM.

Containing the entire saga in one novel-length book, including:
NECRO-SUTRA
THE LUSTY
THE GLUTTONS
THE SLOTH
THE GREEDY & THE ENVIOUS
THE ANGRY
THE PROUD

Available at Godless dot com]]>
Kevin Sweeney R 0 to-read 4.57 SeVIIn Sick Sins: The Compleat Attrocities
author: Kevin Sweeney
name: R
average rating: 4.57
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<![CDATA[The Proud: Extreme Horror (the SeVIIn Sick Sins Books, #7)]]> 75373486 Kevin Sweeney R 0 to-read 4.33 The Proud: Extreme Horror (the SeVIIn Sick Sins Books, #7)
author: Kevin Sweeney
name: R
average rating: 4.33
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XXX 55068805
Luckily, I come across an old farmhouse that looks empty, even luckier, it is not.
The threats about daddy coming home don't scare me... maybe they should have."]]>
67 Rayne Havok R 1 3.42 XXX
author: Rayne Havok
name: R
average rating: 3.42
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rating: 1
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date added: 2024/07/11
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Sociopath: A Memoir 176443093
Patric Gagne realized she made others uncomfortable before she started kindergarten. Something about her caused people to react in a way she didn’t understand. She suspected it was because she didn’t feel things the way other kids did. Emotions like fear, guilt, and empathy eluded her. For the most part, she felt nothing. And she didn’t like the way that “nothing� felt.

She did her best to pretend she was like everyone else, but the constant pressure to conform to a society she knew rejected anyone like her was unbearable. So Patric stole. She lied. She was occasionally violent. She became an expert lock-picker and home-invader. All with the goal of replacing the nothingness with...something.

In college, Patric finally confirmed what she’d long suspected. She was a sociopath. But even though it was the very first personality disorder identified—well over 200 years ago—sociopathy had been neglected by mental health professionals for decades. She was told there was no treatment, no hope for a normal life. She found herself haunted by sociopaths in pop culture, madmen and evil villains who are considered monsters. Her future looked grim.

But when Patric reconnects with an old flame, she gets a glimpse of a future beyond her diagnosis. If she’s capable of love, it must mean that she isn’t a monster. With the help of her sweetheart (and some curious characters she meets along the way) she embarks on a mission to prove that the millions of Americans who share her diagnosis aren’t all monsters either.

This is the inspiring story of her journey to change her fate and how she managed to build a life full of love and hope.]]>
368 Patric Gagne 166800318X R 2 3.74 2024 Sociopath: A Memoir
author: Patric Gagne
name: R
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 2
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date added: 2024/07/11
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Shackled 1437837 560 Ray Garton 0553298917 R 2 4.05 1997 Shackled
author: Ray Garton
name: R
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1997
rating: 2
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date added: 2024/07/11
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Lovesick 44076851 This novel contains graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.]]> 195 Jon Athan R 2 3.55 2019 Lovesick
author: Jon Athan
name: R
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2019
rating: 2
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date added: 2024/07/11
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Dear Teddy 13611630 Curled in a ball.
I know your secrets,
I know them all

I write in my journal as much as I can. I talk to Mr. Ted. He is my only friend. He understands when the bad man comes. He holds my hand when I have nightmares and my mummy doesn't hear me cry. Mr. Ted doesn’t tell. He won’t say when my daddy hurts me. He keeps my secrets and my stories. I love Mr. Ted. He is the only one who loves me back.

Mr. Ted.
I keep falling asleep. Bad things happen. I get sore all the time. But I don’t know why. My mum says it’s a demon. Because I got evil. Please make me be good.]]>
108 J.D. Stockholm R 0 3.72 2012 Dear Teddy
author: J.D. Stockholm
name: R
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/29
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Mine 182700674
His favorite person to watch is his next-door neighbor Samantha. Young and beautiful, she would be the woman of any man’s dreams. Chandler knows he will make Samantha happy, if she just gave him a chance.

Chandler’s ready to make a change and live the life he always wanted� even if it already belongs to someone else.]]>
222 L.M. Kaplin R 2 3.88 2023 Mine
author: L.M. Kaplin
name: R
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/06/13
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<![CDATA[Melvin: A novella by Caleb M. Golden]]> 52246720
By whatever dark and grisly means necessary...]]>
97 Caleb M. Golden R 2 3.28 Melvin: A novella by Caleb M. Golden
author: Caleb M. Golden
name: R
average rating: 3.28
book published:
rating: 2
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date added: 2024/06/13
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Devotee: Extreme Horror 123256490 Charles loves Lauren. Lauren is not like she used to be. Charles is a devotee.

Living his best life surrounded by drugs, alcohol, poverty, and debauchery, Charles lusts after a woman he has known half his life. All from a distance. A secret admirer. But he knows � he knows he can provide for her and be everything she needs.

The only thing she needs.

Devotee is a tale of a disturbed man, with a disturbing obsession. It is full of scenes of violence, and brutality. Consider this a trigger warning for everything.]]>
74 Ash Ericmore R 0 to-read 3.60 Devotee: Extreme Horror
author: Ash Ericmore
name: R
average rating: 3.60
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/12
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Rural Decay 212092954
From Jason Nickey, Author of â€Wreckageâ€�, comes a new story of extreme horror.]]>
61 Jason Nickey R 0 to-read 3.88 2024 Rural Decay
author: Jason Nickey
name: R
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/08
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Be My Friend 212169917
In the weeks following his disappearance, strange interactions he’d had with a mysterious online figure also known by the name Cronos came about.

This document is a collection of interviews, computer files, public news reports, and online speculation, as well as copies of Jacob’s online interactions with Cronos that were obtained via the Freedom of Information Act.

What we hope to accomplish by bringing this case to light is to reignite the desire to find Jacob and Thomas � because they could still be out there.]]>
111 Mique Watson R 0 to-read 3.35 Be My Friend
author: Mique Watson
name: R
average rating: 3.35
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/08
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Ill Will 30687788 Two sensational unsolved crimes—one in the past, another in the present—are linked by one man’s memory and self-deception in this chilling novel of literary suspense from National Book Award finalist Dan Chaon.

“We are always telling a story to ourselves, about ourselves,� Dustin Tillman likes to say. It’s one of the little mantras he shares with his patients, and it’s meant to be reassuring. But what if that story is a lie?

A psychologist in suburban Cleveland, Dustin is drifting through his forties when he hears the news: His adopted brother, Rusty, is being released from prison. Thirty years ago, Rusty received a life sentence for the massacre of Dustin’s parents, aunt, and uncle. The trial came to symbolize the 1980s hysteria over Satanic cults; despite the lack of physical evidence, the jury believed the outlandish accusations Dustin and his cousin made against Rusty. Now, after DNA analysis has overturned the conviction, Dustin braces for a reckoning.

Meanwhile, one of Dustin’s patients gets him deeply engaged in a string of drowning deaths involving drunk college boys. At first Dustin dismisses talk of a serial killer as paranoid thinking, but as he gets wrapped up in their amateur investigation, Dustin starts to believe that there’s more to the deaths than coincidence. Soon he becomes obsessed, crossing all professional boundaries—and putting his own family in harm’s way.

From one of today’s most renowned practitioners of literary suspense, Ill Will is an intimate thriller about the failures of memory and the perils of self-deception. In Dan Chaon’s nimble, chilling prose, the past looms over the present, turning each into a haunted place.]]>
496 Dan Chaon 0345476042 R 0 to-read 3.35 2017 Ill Will
author: Dan Chaon
name: R
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/08
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Children of Chaos 6271322 308 Greg F. Gifune 1934546070 R 0 to-read 3.76 2009 Children of Chaos
author: Greg F. Gifune
name: R
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/08
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Nestlings 65212029 Nat Cassidy is at his razor-sharp best again with his horror novel Nestlings, which harnesses the creeping paranoia of Rosemary's Baby and the urban horror of 'Salem's Lot, set in an exclusive New York City residential building.

Ana and Reid need a break. The horrifically complicated birth of their first child has left Ana paralyzed, bitter, and struggling―with mobility, with her relationship with Reid, with resentment for her baby. Reid dismisses disturbing events and Ana’s deep unease and paranoia, but he can't explain the needle-like bite marks on their baby.]]>
293 Nat Cassidy 1250265258 R 0 to-read 3.81 2023 Nestlings
author: Nat Cassidy
name: R
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/08
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Camp Damascus 61884782 A searing and earnest horror debut about the demons the queer community faces in America, the price of keeping secrets, and finding the courage to burn it all down.

They’ll scare you straight to hell.

Welcome to Neverton, Montana: home to a God-fearing community with a heart of gold.

Nestled high up in the mountains is Camp Damascus, the self-proclaimed “most effective� gay conversion camp in the country. Here, a life free from sin awaits. But the secret behind that success is anything but holy.]]>
246 Chuck Tingle 1250874629 R 0 to-read 3.90 2023 Camp Damascus
author: Chuck Tingle
name: R
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/08
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Experimental Film 25867895 352 Gemma Files 1771483490 R 0 to-read 3.52 2015 Experimental Film
author: Gemma Files
name: R
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/08
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Harvest Home 816085
For Ned and his family, Cornwall Coombe was to become a place of ultimate horror.]]>
401 Thomas Tryon 0394485289 R 0 to-read 3.82 1973 Harvest Home
author: Thomas Tryon
name: R
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1973
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/08
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Last Days 4309446 Last Days is a down-the-rabbit-hole detective novel set in an underground religious cult. The story follows Kline, a brutally dismembered detective forcibly recruited to solve a murder inside the cult. As Kline becomes more deeply involved with the group, he begins to realize the stakes are higher than he previously thought. Attempting to find his way through a maze of lies, threats, and misinformation, Kline discovers that his survival depends on an act of sheer will.

Last Days was first published in 2003 as a limited edition novella titled The Brotherhood of Mutilation. Its success led Evenson to expand the story into a full-length novel. In doing so, he has created a work that’s disturbing, deeply satisfying, and completely original.]]>
201 Brian Evenson 0980226007 R 0 to-read 3.71 2009 Last Days
author: Brian Evenson
name: R
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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The Croning 13279700
Donald Miller, geologist and academic, has walked along the edge of a chasm for most of his nearly eighty years, leading a charmed life between endearing absent-mindedness and sanity-shattering realization. Now, all things must converge. Donald will discover the dark secrets along the edges, unearthing savage truths about his wife Michelle, their adult twins, and all he knows and trusts. For Donald is about to stumble on the secret...

...of The Croning.

From Laird Barron, Shirley Jackson Award-winning author of The Imago Sequence and Occultation, comes The Croning, a debut novel of cosmic horror.
]]>
245 Laird Barron 1597802301 R 0 to-read 3.72 2012 The Croning
author: Laird Barron
name: R
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/08
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The Psychology of Secrets 212399431 From the host of award-winning podcast On the Edge with Andrew Gold comes The Psychology of Secrets, a bizarre, surprising and thrilling deep dive into the psychology of secrecy.

We all keep secrets. 97 per cent of us are hiding a secret right now, and on average we each hold thirteen at any one time. There’s a one-in-two chance that those secrets involve a breach of trust, a lie or a financial impropriety. They are the stuff of gossip, of novels and of classic dramas; secrets form a major part of our hidden inner lives.

Podcaster Andrew Gold knows this better than anyone. A public persona, he found himself the (unwitting) recipient of hundreds of strangers' most private revelations. This set him on a journey to understand this critical part of our societies and lives. Why do we keep secrets? Why are we fascinated by those of others? What happens to our mind when we confess?

Drawing from psychology, history, social science, philosophy and personal interviews, The Psychology of Secrets is a rollicking journey through the history of secrecy, bringing us in touch with cult leaders, murderers, psychopaths � and even you.]]>
0 Andrew Gold 1761562967 R 0 to-read 3.83 2024 The Psychology of Secrets
author: Andrew Gold
name: R
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/28
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Mary 123014771 Mary just wants to live... 7 Kelvin V.A. Allison R 0 to-read 3.15 Mary
author: Kelvin V.A. Allison
name: R
average rating: 3.15
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rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/19
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The Found Bag of Doom 123851309 A sick kid, a mountain of debt, and lack of sleep is life's way of beating him down.
When he finds a bag full of money, he thinks all of his problems are solved.
He's wrong. Very wrong.


Note from the author : This is extreme horror. I do not want to add any triggers. I feel like the triggers would give away the ending. The first 3/4 of the story is mild violence. The last 1/4 of the story is so vile that the author is ALMOST disgusted with herself. This is not a gimmick. This story is intended for extreme horror lovers. I will add that there is zero animal abuse in this story]]>
123 Sea Caummisar R 0 to-read 3.30 The Found Bag of Doom
author: Sea Caummisar
name: R
average rating: 3.30
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/19
shelves: to-read
review:

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Modern Grotesque 209015462 100 Jason Nickey R 0 to-read 4.16 2024 Modern Grotesque
author: Jason Nickey
name: R
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/19
shelves: to-read
review:

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Fluids 75523735
The content within this book will shock you and it is not for the faint of heart or stomach.]]>
191 May Leitz R 0 to-read 3.41 2022 Fluids
author: May Leitz
name: R
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/08
shelves: to-read
review:

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I Choose to Live 702540
'The Dutroux Affair' shook the whole of Europe. In the middle of the immense machinery of investigation and justice there was Sabine Dardenne herself, Dutroux's last victim. She was held captive for eighty days - and survived. Far from sensationalising the horror, her story, dignified and restrained, is ultimately uplifting. Says Sabine Dardenne, 'I choose to live'.]]>
213 Sabine Dardenne 1844082687 R 0 to-read 3.79 2004 I Choose to Live
author: Sabine Dardenne
name: R
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/06
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[My Vice Is Your Unfathomable Agony]]> 199820832
Little did these two wannabe mobsters know they were about to land on the wrong side of the big boss, and the big boss decides only the biggest, baddest revenge will do. Not only for them, but for their entire families, as they find themselves rounded up and turned over to the not-so-tender mercies of the man known as Hardware Tony.

Any goon can use a gun, or a knife. Hardware Tony prefers more elaborate methods. He’s an artist of pain. A craftsman of torture. A master with his ... tools of the trade.

Who really, really loves his work, as his victims will soon discover. One might even say that his only VICE is their UNFATHOMABLE AGONY.]]>
135 Otis Bateman R 0 to-read 3.83 2023 My Vice Is Your Unfathomable Agony
author: Otis Bateman
name: R
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/05
shelves: to-read
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Push 71332 177 Sapphire 0679766758 R 3 3.89 1996 Push
author: Sapphire
name: R
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/04/29
shelves:
review:

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Only the Stains Remain 58495804
Only The Stains Remain is the haunting story of Jude and Kyle, two brothers whose lives are destroyed when, following the death of their mother, their three abusive uncles Dwight, Lucius, and Lenny move in to the family home. But whilst Jude suffers to a degree, Kyle is the one who takes the brunt of their attention, submitting himself to preserve his younger brother’s innocence.

As a grown man, Jude’s mind turns to vengeance for what they have endured. He has waited a long time, but now he is strong enough, and cold-hearted enough, to do the deed. Enacting one harrowing revenge after another, Jude’s dark quest to punish the wrongs of the past will show that after all is said and done, only the stains of the past will remain.]]>
138 Ross Jeffery R 3 3.89 2021 Only the Stains Remain
author: Ross Jeffery
name: R
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/04/17
shelves:
review:

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Deviant Desires 208168129 83 S.S. Hughes R 0 to-read 2.84 Deviant Desires
author: S.S. Hughes
name: R
average rating: 2.84
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/04/17
shelves: to-read
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The Discomfort of Evening 49374086 I thought about being too small for so much, but that no one told you when you were big enough ... and I asked God if he please couldn't take my brother Matthies instead of my rabbit. 'Amen.'

Jas lives with her devout farming family in the rural Netherlands. One winter's day, her older brother joins an ice skating trip; resentful at being left alone, she makes a perverse plea to God; he never returns. As grief overwhelms the farm, Jas succumbs to a vortex of increasingly disturbing fantasies, watching her family disintegrate into a darkness that threatens to derail them all.

A bestselling sensation in the Netherlands by a prize-winning young poet, Marieke Lucas Rijneveld's debut novel lays everything bare. It is a world of language unlike any other, which Michele Hutchison's striking translation captures in all its wild, violent beauty. Studded with unforgettable images - visceral, raw, surreal - The Discomfort of the Evening is a radical reading experience that will leave you changed forever.]]>
282 Lucas Rijneveld 0571349366 R 0 to-read 3.37 2018 The Discomfort of Evening
author: Lucas Rijneveld
name: R
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/27
shelves: to-read
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Broken Dolls 194689888
Lauren thought she was being a Good Samaritan�

She never expected to have to fight for her daughter’s life. She’d always known that human beings were the most terrifying monsters.

What she didn’t know, until now, was how easy it would be for her to become one herself.

No good deed goes unpunished.]]>
142 Mique Watson R 1 2.65 Broken Dolls
author: Mique Watson
name: R
average rating: 2.65
book published:
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/03/12
shelves:
review:

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Sweet Dreams 59718761 'If you thrill to the chills of Scandinavian noir, chances are you've read something by Anders Roslund. He has two strong prose styles - dark and darker' New York Times

Two little girls go missing on the same day in Stockholm. Their disappearances are never explained. In time, the investigations are abandoned.

A chance discovery puts Detective Ewert Grens back on the trail five years later. His own personal trauma makes him determined to find out what happened to these children who were snatched from a supermarket and a car park and never seen again and whose coffins lie empty in the local graveyard.

His search leads him into the most repulsive recesses of the dark web and the discovery of a paedophile ring that can only be cracked from the inside. Grens is forced call upon his retired partner, Piet Hoffman, the best undercover operative he knows, to try to infiltrate the group. They will have only one chance - but are they up to the darkest challenge of their lives?

'Grens is an eccentric, alienated, socially inept hero worthy of comparison with Swedish mystery master Henning Mankell's Inspector Kurt Wallander' Wall Street Journal

PRAISE FOR KNOCK, KNOCK:
'A perfect example of Scandi noir' The Times
'A complex, white-knuckle read' Observer


Shortlisted for the 2021 MAX Zilveren Vleermuis award ]]>
364 Anders Roslund R 0 to-read 4.01 2020 Sweet Dreams
author: Anders Roslund
name: R
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/08
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Hellbound Heart 52635 164 Clive Barker 0061002828 R 3 on-kindle 4.08 1986 The Hellbound Heart
author: Clive Barker
name: R
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1986
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/03/08
shelves: on-kindle
review:

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Lost Girl 26038079 How far will he go to save his daughter? How far will he go to get revenge?

It's 2053 and climate change has left billions homeless and starving - easy prey for the pandemics that sweep across the globe, scything through the refugee populations. Easy prey, too, for the violent gangs and people-smugglers who thrive in the crumbling world where 'King Death' reigns supreme.

The father's world went to hell two years ago. His four-year-old daughter was snatched from his garden when he should have been watching. The moments before her disappearance play in a perpetual loop in his mind. But the police aren't interested; amidst floods, hurricanes and global chaos, who cares about one more missing child? Now it's all down to him to find her, him alone . . .]]>
448 Adam L.G. Nevill R 0 on-kindle, currently-reading 3.66 2015 Lost Girl
author: Adam L.G. Nevill
name: R
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/08
shelves: on-kindle, currently-reading
review:

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The Couples Trip 62676033 Two couples set out together on a hiking trip that goes terrifyingly wrong in this addictive psychological thriller for fans of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley.

Anna, Henrik and Milena's annual hiking trip is just around the corner. This year, however, Anna and Henrik have a hard time saying no when Milena asks ifĚýher boyfriend, Jacob, canĚýtag along. The hike soon spirals into mayhemĚýwhen the three friends come to realize thatĚýtaking Jacob was a decision that could change their lives forever.

From theĚýaustere mountaintops of northern Sweden, thisĚýhighly anticipated thriller traverses through the unexplored wilderness—here, there's nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.]]>
400 Ulf Kvensler 1335455000 R 0 to-read 3.33 2022 The Couples Trip
author: Ulf Kvensler
name: R
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/24
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #1)]]> 42899 The only purebred vampire left on the planet and the leader of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who killed his parents centuries ago.

But when his most trusted fighter is killed -- orphaning a half-breed daughter unaware of her heritage or her fate -- Wrath must put down his dagger and usher the beautiful female into another world.

Racked by a restlessness in her body that wasn’t there before, Beth Randall is helpless against the dangerously sexy man who comes to her at night with shadows in his eyes. His tales of the Brotherhood and blood frighten her. Yet his touch ignites a dawning new hunger one that threatens to consume them both…]]>
393 J.R. Ward 0451216954 R 0 to-read 4.17 2005 Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #1)
author: J.R. Ward
name: R
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead]]> 13588356 Researcher and thought leader Dr. Brené Brown offers a powerful new vision that encourages us to dare greatly: to embrace vulnerability and imperfection, to live wholeheartedly, and to courageously engage in our lives.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.� —Theodore Roosevelt

Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable, or to dare greatly. Whether the arena is a new relationship, an important meeting, our creative process, or a difficult family conversation, we must find the courage to walk into vulnerability and engage with our whole hearts.

In Daring Greatly, Dr. Brown challenges everything we think we know about vulnerability. Based on twelve years of research, she argues that vulnerability is not weakness, but rather our clearest path to courage, engagement, and meaningful connection. The book that Dr. Brown’s many fans have been waiting for, Daring Greatly will spark a new spirit of truth—and trust—in our organizations, families, schools, and communities.]]>
287 Brené Brown 1592407331 R 0 to-read 4.29 2012 Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
author: Brené Brown
name: R
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[What Good Men Do (Elizabeth, #2)]]> 149978799
Several months after Elizabeth first emerged from the squalid basement in which she was born, the horrific consequences of her escape are still being felt - and not just by Elizabeth and her traumatised ex-neighbour Serenity.

Closeby, blood-hungry men are plotting an unthinkable revenge.

When a savage new nightmare engulfs Serenity and Elizabeth, they soon face the
demands of a disturbed teen, the monstrous acts of a child-killer, and the depraved plans of those responsible for Elizabeth’s abuse and imprisonment. Trust is scarce, but with a threadbare sliver of hope the women must look beyond their grudges and mental scars in order to survive - or become the men’s newest and most brutalised victims.

Merciless and unpredictable, What Good Men Do charts a suffocating descent into a world where cruelty is idolised, deviance is a lifestyle, and violence is always the answer.]]>
284 Jonathan Butcher 1959778382 R 3 4.19 2023 What Good Men Do (Elizabeth, #2)
author: Jonathan Butcher
name: R
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/01/16
shelves:
review:

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These Evil Things We Do 53474401
From a plastic surgeon with a uniquely disturbing approach to his job to a deranged child genius obsessed with his teacher, These Evil Things We Do: The Mick Garris Collection explores mankind’s capacity for limitless evil - and how often that evil hides in plain sight. Previously only available in limited print-runs, this collection brings together four of Garris� works for the first time in a single volume, along with a brand new novella, Free, available exclusively here.

So indulge your own inner monster and come along for these five fearsome tales of human wickedness� just don’t be tempted to commit any evil deeds of your own.]]>
186 Mick Garris R 0 to-read, on-kindle 3.45 2020 These Evil Things We Do
author: Mick Garris
name: R
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/11
shelves: to-read, on-kindle
review:

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The Yellow Wallpaper 8217236
In a private journal, the woman records her growing obsession with the “horrid� wallpaper. Its strange pattern mutates in the moonlight, revealing what appears to be a human figure in the design. With nothing else to occupy her mind, the woman resolves to unlock the mystery of the wallpaper. Her quest, however, leads not to the truth, but into the darkest depths of madness.

A condemnation of the patriarchy, The Yellow Wallpaper explores with terrifying economy the oppression, grave misunderstanding, and willful dismissal of women in late nineteenth-century society.

First published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine.

Excerpt:
Out of another I get a lovely view of the bay and a little private wharf belonging to the estate. There is a beautiful shaded lane that runs down there from the house. I always fancy I see people walking in these numerous paths and arbors, but John has cautioned me not to give way to fancy in the least. He says that with my imaginative power and habit of story-making a nervous weakness like mine is sure to lead to all manner of excited fancies, and that I ought to use my will and good sense to check the tendency. So I try.]]>
63 Charlotte Perkins Gilman R 0 to-read, on-kindle 4.05 1892 The Yellow Wallpaper
author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
name: R
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1892
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/11
shelves: to-read, on-kindle
review:

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Just Like Home 57693472
Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back, and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting� but who else could it possibly be?

There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. Vera must face them, and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes.]]>
344 Sarah Gailey 1250174724 R 3 3.32 2022 Just Like Home
author: Sarah Gailey
name: R
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/01/11
shelves:
review:

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It's Me, Charlie 62803743 I know everything about her, I've been her "book bestie" for over a year now. I've read every book she has ever published. The books that tell me every fantasy she has, the books that tell me exactly what she wants. She doesn't know who I am behind the screen, but I don't' think she will care much once I show her that I am the perfect man for her. Women have rejected me in the past, but I've studied Jessie so much there is no way I could get it wrong this time.

What happens when the person you thought was just an online friend turns out to be an obsessive monster. You never know who is truly behind the screen when you are engaging with people online. Especially, things like "bookstagram" where the community is so welcoming. What happens when your "book bestie" falls in love with you and will stop at nothing to show you just how deep that love is.

Charlie has been posing as a woman in the book community to gain the trust and friendship of the woman he has been obsessing over, Jessie. Jessie is a self-published author of smutty or erotic, books who is just trying to get her books out there in a massive genre. What Jessie doesn't know is that her biggest fan has been waiting for the perfect time to meet her and make all of her fantasies come true.

Are you ready to meet Charlie?

Author Note: 18+ WARNING! This short story is considered EXTREME HORROR, there are GRAPHIC SITUATIONS! This book is disgusting, and you probably shouldn't read it. But if you are still interested in meeting Charlie, please be aware that you were warned. YOU WERE WARNED.]]>
69 C.M. Guidroz R 2 2.93 2022 It's Me, Charlie
author: C.M. Guidroz
name: R
average rating: 2.93
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2023/12/24
date added: 2023/12/24
shelves:
review:

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Full Brutal 36426220
In search of something to pull her out of suicidal thoughts, she decides to lose her virginity, having heard it’s a life-changing event. But Kim doesn’t want to do it the same way the other girls do. She seduces one of her teachers, hoping to ruin his life just for the fun of it. This starts Kim on a runaway train of sadism as she makes every effort to destroy the lives of those around her. But soon simple backstabbing is not enough to keep her excited, and she nosedives into sabotage, violence and even murder.

When Kim finds out she’s pregnant with her teacher’s child, a new madness overtakes her, and she realizes there’s only one thing that will satisfy her baby’s hunger . . .]]>
206 Kristopher Triana 1941918263 R 2 3.99 2018 Full Brutal
author: Kristopher Triana
name: R
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2023/12/24
date added: 2023/12/24
shelves:
review:

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Prodigal Blues 19144
After he finds himself stranded at a truck stop in Missouri, Mark Sieber gets one of the biggest shocks of his life when he recognizes the face of a little girl on a Missing poster as belonging to the same little girl he saw only a few minutes before. Looking around for some sign of her, he comes back to his table in the restaurant to find the little girl sitting there, waiting for him.

"I'm sorry, mister," is all she seems capable of saying.

As the police and media begin to converge on the truck stop, Mark retreats back to his hotel room to call his wife and let her know what's going on, only to be taken hostage by the same people who released the little girl. But his abductors are little more than children themselves.

Ranging in ages from 12 to 19, Mark's abductors are in the process of escaping from a sadistic pedophile known to them only as "Grendel" a man whose practices include torture and mutilation specifically, mutilation of the face.

Mark's abductors have all been mutilated by Grendel, who may be very close behind them, and need someone with a "normal face" to help them carry out their plan for justice and return home.

For the next few days, Mark will come to understand not only the inhuman horror that these children have suffered, but how they eventually learned to fight back and how they discovered that Grendel and his practices are at the center of a very complex network catering to those whose tastes run toward the molestation and mutilation of children.

Prodigal Blues is perhaps Braunbeck's most suspenseful and emotionally powerful work to date; a story of suffering, depravity, redemption, and in the end the individual's compassion for his or her fellow human beings that can lead some people to find reserves of courage and determination they never thought they possessed.

Terrifying, suspenseful, sometimes surprisingly funny, and ultimately moving, Prodigal Blues is quintessential Braunbeck.
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304 Gary A. Braunbeck 1587671093 R 2 on-kindle
But honestly, who the fuck would go along with a bunch of crazy looking kids who kidnapped you, forced you to watch child sex abuse materials/snuff films, beat you, drugged you...the list goes on. And then you kill a man for these random people you don't know???? Too unrealistic for me to enjoy the story.]]>
4.13 2006 Prodigal Blues
author: Gary A. Braunbeck
name: R
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 2023/12/13
date added: 2023/12/21
shelves: on-kindle
review:
This could have been SO GOOD.

But honestly, who the fuck would go along with a bunch of crazy looking kids who kidnapped you, forced you to watch child sex abuse materials/snuff films, beat you, drugged you...the list goes on. And then you kill a man for these random people you don't know???? Too unrealistic for me to enjoy the story.
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The Dare (Losers, #0.5) 200260200


But a lot changes after high school.



A freak like him never should have ended up at the same Halloween party as her. He never should have been able to beat her at a game of Drink or Dare. He never should have been able to humiliate her in front of everyone.



Losing the game means taking the a dare to serve Manson for the entire night as his slave. It's a dare that Jessica's pride - and curiosity - won't allow her to refuse. What ensues is a dark game of pleasure and pain, fear and desire.

Is it only a game?

Only revenge?

Only a dare?

Or is it something more?

The Dare is an 18+ erotic romance novella and a prequel to the Losers Duet. Reader discretion is strongly advised. This book contains graphic sexual scenes, intense scenes of BDSM, and strong language. A full content note can be found in the front matter of the book.]]>
109 Harley Laroux R 1 3.93 2019 The Dare (Losers, #0.5)
author: Harley Laroux
name: R
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2019
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2023/12/21
shelves:
review:
Some things should stay on wattpad...
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Hub 167713448
The patrons of the orphanage are the Fred Wests of society. Those looking for "pets" with which to indulge their darkest desires. One such pet being Tara Nicholson who, when "adopted" is subjected to all manners of nastiness until she manages to get away.]]>
276 Matt Shaw R 0 on-kindle
This had great potential on the idea alone but the book was not good. Meh.]]>
3.69 Hub
author: Matt Shaw
name: R
average rating: 3.69
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/21
shelves: on-kindle
review:
If you're gonna write about such extreme topics at least TRY and make the story good (otherwise you just look like a violent pedo who enjoys fantasising about kids getting tortured & raped).

This had great potential on the idea alone but the book was not good. Meh.
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<![CDATA[Consequences (Consequences, #1)]]> 12368985 Every action has consequences.

Waking in an unfamiliar bedroom in a luxurious mansion, Claire Nichols is terrified to discover that a chance encounter led her into the cruel hands of her abductor, Anthony Rawlings. Claire has no understanding of why she's there, but it's been made abundantly clear--she is now his acquisition and every action has consequences.

Learn the rules to survive.

Facing incomprehensible circumstances, Claire must learn to survive her new reality--every aspect of her livelihood depends upon the tall, dark-eyed tycoon who is a true master of deception. Driven by unknown demons, he has no tolerance for imperfection, in any aspect of his life, including his recent acquisition. Anthony may appear to the world as a handsome, benevolent businessman, but in reality Claire knows firsthand that he's a menacing, controlling captor with very strict rules: do as you're told, public failure is not an option, and appearances are of the utmost importance.

Captivate the captor.

To fit together the pieces of the puzzle, Claire must follow his rules. Will her plan work, or will Anthony become enthralled by Claire's beauty, resilience, and determination, changing the game forever? If that happens, will either of them survive the consequences?

Nobody ever did or ever will escape the consequences of his choices.--Alfred A. Montapert]]>
366 Aleatha Romig 1465341889 R 0 on-kindle Some ideas should stay inside your head.

This surely has to be the 50 shades of grey effect. It's absolutely terrible. It's like something a teen wrote on wattpad. Way too long, full of useless chapters that go on and on and on...for nothing. Completely unlikable female lead (why is she so fucking STUPID!!!!). I'd be more empathetic had the story included any kind of depths of the Stockholm syndrome progression but nope, she goes from 'I'm so strong, I am leaving, fuck this asshole' to 'OMGZ he's so hot and rich let's get MARRIED YAY!'
I'm incredibly disappointed that a woman wrote this.

Read other reviews to spoil the outcome & sequels and I just cannot fathom WHY!!!! Make them stop ]]>
3.92 2011 Consequences (Consequences, #1)
author: Aleatha Romig
name: R
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/16
shelves: on-kindle
review:
DNF.
Some ideas should stay inside your head.

This surely has to be the 50 shades of grey effect. It's absolutely terrible. It's like something a teen wrote on wattpad. Way too long, full of useless chapters that go on and on and on...for nothing. Completely unlikable female lead (why is she so fucking STUPID!!!!). I'd be more empathetic had the story included any kind of depths of the Stockholm syndrome progression but nope, she goes from 'I'm so strong, I am leaving, fuck this asshole' to 'OMGZ he's so hot and rich let's get MARRIED YAY!'
I'm incredibly disappointed that a woman wrote this.

Read other reviews to spoil the outcome & sequels and I just cannot fathom WHY!!!! Make them stop
]]>
<![CDATA[The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things: Stories]]> 31427967 National Bestseller

With a new foreword by Jeff Feuerzeig

A timely reissue of the extraordinary stories by JT LeRoy/Laura Albert that won international acclaim, to be timed with the theatrical release of the documentary Author: The JT LeRoy Story.

“A startling achievement.”�Publishers Weekly

This book of interconnected stories depicts the chaotic life of a youngĚýboy on the run with his teenage mother. WhenĚýSarah reclaims Jeremiah from his foster parents, he finds himself catapulted into her world of motels and truck stops, exposed to the abusive, exploitative men she encounters.ĚýAs he learns to survive in this harrowing environment, JeremiahĚýalso learns to love his mother, even as sheĚýdescends into drug-fueled madness.

Told inĚýspare, lyrical prose,Ěýrich with imagination and dark humor,ĚýThe Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things transforms the savagery of Jeremiah's world into an indelible experience of compassion. This special edition includes an additional seven stories, previously uncollected,Ěýby JT LeRoy, the literary persona of Laura Albert.

Ěý

Ěý

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291 J.T. LeRoy R 0 to-read 3.64 2001 The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things: Stories
author: J.T. LeRoy
name: R
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/11
shelves: to-read
review:

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Burner 55948924 It’s terrifying how quickly everything can be taken away from you. Iris learns this agonizing lesson in the blink of an eye. Her future dreams. Her past life. Everything gone in a storm of pain.But this pain is only the beginning.

AUDREY
Audrey had the perfect life. Great husband, beautiful daughter, lots of money. Except her husband isn’t the man she thought he was. Her dead husband’s burner phone was bad. The Polaroids were worse. But the secrets she uncovers next set her entire world on fire.

BURNER
Two women’s lives intersect because of one man’s actions. The transformation is pristine,and beautiful, and filled with pain. Sometimes the scars are on the inside.]]>
230 Robert Ford R 0 to-read 4.08 2020 Burner
author: Robert Ford
name: R
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/04
shelves: to-read
review:

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Game Night 195582113
This book contains graphic sexual content, extreme violence and a fair amount of teenage snark. Reader discretion is advised.]]>
188 J. Smith R 0 to-read 3.93 Game Night
author: J. Smith
name: R
average rating: 3.93
book published:
rating: 0
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And the Devil Cried 58418086 But when a drunk driver kills Pino’s young son, he gives Jackie a task that goes against every moral code. The drunk driver has a pre-teen daughter, and Pino doesn’t just want vengeance—he wants an eye for an eye.
Jackie accepts the job, but once he finds the girl he starts making plans of his own�
And the Devil Cried is a dark thriller from Kristopher Triana, the award-winning author of Gone to See the River Man and Full Brutal. It is a vicious, unflinching novel that’s bound to keep you burning.]]>
198 Kristopher Triana R 0 to-read 4.16 2021 And the Devil Cried
author: Kristopher Triana
name: R
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/04
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Merciless 52666849
Psycho newlyweds Grant and Lindsey Weatherby are true crime junkies with a thirst to know what it feels like to kill for real. Young, prosperous, and good-looking, they are seen by friends and family as the perfect couple. No one sees the dark side to their love. After their wedding, they embark on a trip across the country. As their honeymoon gift to each other, they plan to abduct, torture, and kill a stranger. But what was planned as a controlled one-time event soon explodes into a spiraling orgy of bloody, nightmarish violence and depravity.]]>
200 Bryan Smith R 0 to-read 3.46 Merciless
author: Bryan Smith
name: R
average rating: 3.46
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Anybody Home? 60052513 What came first, the home or the desire to invade?

A seasoned invader with multiple home invasions under their belt recounts their dark victories while offering tutelage to a new generation of ambitious home invaders eager to make their mark on the annals of criminal history. From initial canvasing to home entry, the reader is complicit in every strangling and shattered window. The fear is inescapable.

Examining the sanctuary of the home and one of the horror genre's most frightening tropes, Anybody Home? points the camera lens onto the quiet suburbs and its unsuspecting abodes, any of which are potential stages for an invader ambitious enough to make it the scene of the next big crime sensation. Who knows? Their performance just might make it to the silver screen.

PRAISE FOR ANYBODY HOME?

"Do not, under any circumstance, read when you’re alone. One of the most disturbing novels I've read in years."
—Danielle Trussoni, New York Times Book Review

"This book makes Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay look like a cakewalk. This is THE MOST intense psychological horror you have ever read. Seriously. It makes Out by Natsuo Kirino look tame."
—Library Journal (Starred Review)

"Guaranteed to give you goosebumps and double (or triple) check the locks on your doors."
—BłÜłúłú´Ú±đ±đ»ĺ

"Anybody Home? is an uncomfortable triumph. It’s a book that will satisfy fans of Seidlinger’s chameleonic voice, and will make new fans of those who haven’t read his work yet."
—Gabino Iglesias, Locus Magazine

"Harrowing and tremendously upsetting, Anybody Home? flips the home invasion genre on its head for a new generation of readers. I felt like I was reading something I shouldn’t have been reading. You’ll be checking your locks regularly after reading this nasty little morsel.�
—Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

"A bone-chilling, immersive horror novel that explores fear, obsession, voyeurism, and senseless violence. Seidlinger takes an ax to the illusion of suburban safety. Unsettling, unflinching, and unforgettable. Anybody Home? is one of the most terrifying books I've ever read."
—Rachel Harrison, author of Cackle and Such Sharp Teeth

"Michael J. Seidlinger is a true innovator. The narrative shards of Anybody Home? cascade over the reader in a collage of troubling, sometimes half-seen images, and the wicked, insinuating, deeply unsettling voice weaves through the back of your mind and crouches in your dreams. A chilling and unforgettable book."
—Dan Chaon, author of Sleepwalk

“An ice cold, deadpan zeitgeist nightmare, Michael J. Seidlinger knows, and shows, that even in a lockdown moment, home is the most dangerous place of all. Watch out. Too late. They’re watching you.�
—Kathy Koja, author of Dark Factory

"Anybody Home? is an immersive novel that deconstructs home invasions for sport, resulting in addictive commentary on the horror genre itself."
—Foreword Reviews

“Michael J. Seidlinger’s Anybody Home? is unflinching in its execution, offering a cold and quiet intensity matched only by its scathing indictment of entertainers and the entertained. It might be the scariest book I’ve read in a decade.�
—Todd Keisling, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Devil's Creek and Scanlines

"Anybody Home? is Natural Born Killers for a generation that grew up on Funny Games, The Purge, and Twitter. An incisive commentary on how, in our culture, everything eventually gets mediatized—and a how-to guide to some of the darkest corners of that process, one that implicates you even as you read it."
—Brian Evenson, author of Song for the Unraveling of the World

"In Michael J. Seidlinger’s Anybody Home? your security alarm and cameras are positioned to betray you. Our invaders and our victims have been chosen carefully to perform in this meticulous, intoxicating, and brutal tale of home invasion."
—Cynthia Pelayo, three-time Bram Stoker Award® nominated author of Children of Chicago

“With this sinister and alluring story of home invasions, Michael Seidlinger has invented a new type of horror novel, one that simultaneously chronicles the characters� transgressions and the audience’s reactions. It’s a searing commentary on voyeurism and mass media, as well as a riff on Michael Haneke’s Funny Games that outdoes the original. Read it with the doors locked.�
—Jeff Jackson, author of Destroy All Monsters

"Perhaps the most immersive home invasion story you will ever read. It's like having a madman confess his sins in your ear. Absolutely chilling."
—Ronald Malfi, author of Come with Me

"Seidlinger pulls no punches in delivering gut-wrenching horror as he drives the novel to its bloody conclusion. Fans of Jack Ketchum and Samantha Kolesnik will want to check this out."
�Publishers Weekly

"This addictive deconstruction of the home invasion is so thorough and chilling, Seidlinger may as well have slammed the door on the entire genre. But beyond the torture and violation, Anybody Home? is a nuanced study of the creative process, exploring what it takes to create art that truly resonates."
—B.R. Yeager, author of Negative Space

â€Ŕá˛Ô Anybody Home?, Michael J. Seidlinger so masterfully crafts an atmosphere of pure terror that it had me checking to make sure my front door was locked, for fear of home invaders—or maybe Seidlinger himself.â€�
—Rob Hart, author of The Paradox Hotel

"Anybody Home? is a literal and metaphorical dissection of the nuclear family, executed with panache and filled with cutting insights. Seidlinger knows precisely how to make the reader complicit. These pages will bloody your hands, and it’ll be a long time before the stains wash clean."
—Brian Asman, author of Man, Fuck This House

"Michael J. Seidlinger's Anybody Home? isn’t just a deliriously terrifying novel, it's also a ransom note from our fame-obsessed id. It’s an instruction manual from evil itself, and it's a mirror trick that puts you behind the eyes of a monster, only to realize the prey being stalked... is also you."
—Nat Cassidy, author of Mary: An Awakening of Terror]]>
258 Michael J. Seidlinger 195590409X R 0 to-read 3.15 2022 Anybody Home?
author: Michael J. Seidlinger
name: R
average rating: 3.15
book published: 2022
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date added: 2023/12/04
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The Great Peace: A Memoir 55871709 The Great Peace is a harrowing, heartbreaking coming-of-age story set in Hollywood, in which young teenage model-turned-actor Mena Suvari lost herself to sex, drugs and bad, often abusive relationships even as blockbuster movies made her famous. It's about growing up in the 90s, with a soundtrack ranging from The Doors to Deee-Lite, fashion from denim to day-glo, and a woman dealing with the lasting psychological scars of abuse, yet knowing deep inside she desires so much more from life. Within these vulnerable pages, Mena not only reveals her own mistakes, but also the lessons she learned and her efforts to understand and grow rather than casting blame. As such, she makes this a timeless story of girl empowerment and redemption, of somebody using their voice to rediscover their past, seek redemption, and to understand their mistakes, and ultimately come to terms with their power as an individual to find a way and a will to live—and thrive. Poignant, intimate, and powerful, this book will resonate with anyone who has found themselves lost in the darkness, thinking there's no way out. Ultimately, Mena's story proves that, no matter how hopeless it may seem, there's always a light at the end.]]> 288 Mena Suvari 0306874520 R 0 to-read 3.44 The Great Peace: A Memoir
author: Mena Suvari
name: R
average rating: 3.44
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<![CDATA[This Time You Return To Yourself]]> 181536449 This Time You Return To Yourself, the author explores themes of nurturing your inner child, healing and recovering from broken relationships, and learning how to live in the moment with self-compassion. This collection of prose and poems will help your healing and self-discovery journey, and it’ll serve as a reminder that in everything that you go through, you are more than able to return to yourself.]]> 143 Duduzile Noeleen Ngwenya R 0 to-read 4.20 This Time You Return To Yourself
author: Duduzile Noeleen Ngwenya
name: R
average rating: 4.20
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date added: 2023/11/25
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Along the Path of Torment 53290125 254 Chandler Morrison 1941918697 R 2 on-kindle 3.77 2020 Along the Path of Torment
author: Chandler Morrison
name: R
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2020
rating: 2
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date added: 2023/11/24
shelves: on-kindle
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Stranglehold 649545 247 Jack Ketchum 0425149463 R 0 to-read 3.99 1995 Stranglehold
author: Jack Ketchum
name: R
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/23
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