Stephanie's bookshelf: read en-US Tue, 06 May 2025 02:02:03 -0700 60 Stephanie's bookshelf: read 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[I Found a Circus Tent in the Woods Behind My House (I Found Horror)]]> 68688298
Dave and his four-year-old, Jacob, find a circus tent in the woods behind their house. A strange voice invites them through the dark doorway.

When they refuse, the tent swallows them.

What follows is a nightmare fleeing through a maze of circus tents. Strange performers lurk inside. They want Dave and his little boy to put on a show. The a shifting figure on a platform high above the trapeze wires.

With Jacob perched in the crook of his arm, Dave determines to outsmart the boss of this dark circus, and escape this horrifying tent.]]> 108 Ben Farthing Stephanie 3 3.76 2023 I Found a Circus Tent in the Woods Behind My House (I Found Horror)
author: Ben Farthing
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/05/06
date added: 2025/05/06
shelves: 2025, borrowed-from-library, ebook, it-was-ok, short-story-or-novella, part-of-a-series
review:

]]> Don't Let the Forest In 200982373 Once upon a time, Andrew had cut out his heart and given it to this boy, and he was very sure Thomas had no idea that Andrew would do anything for him. Protect him. Lie for him.

Kill for him.

High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality―Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more.

But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve. Thomas won't say a word about it, and shuts down whenever Andrew tries to ask him questions. Stranger still, Thomas is haunted by something, and he seems to have lost interest in his artwork―whimsically macabre sketches of the monsters from Andrew's wicked stories.

Desperate to figure out what's wrong with his friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the off-limits forest one night and catches him fighting a nightmarish monster―Thomas's drawings have come to life and are killing anyone close to him. To make sure no one else dies, the boys battle the monsters every night. But as their obsession with each other grows stronger, so do the monsters, and Andrew begins to fear that the only way to stop the creatures might be to destroy their creator...]]> 336 C.G. Drews 1250895669 Stephanie 4 I adore the Ace character representation here.

Michael Crouch is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and he was BRILLIANT. His Aussie accents were stellar, and he continues to be one of my very favorite narrators in the business these days. I’ve loved so many of his other works before, but in this novel, Crouch brings such phenomenal acting skills that I was nearly brought to tears, a few times. Kudos to everyone at Recorded Books, Inc. for the making of this work. And Mr. Crouch? ]]> 4.11 2024 Don't Let the Forest In
author: C.G. Drews
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/05
date added: 2025/05/05
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, ive-got-to-purchase-this-book, slightly-less-than-most-fave, young-adult
review:
My first novel by this author, and it’s SO good�! I highly recommend it, but please check out those content warnings beforehand. It can be graphic and gory. The love story part of it, though..? Jesus�!
I adore the Ace character representation here.

Michael Crouch is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and he was BRILLIANT. His Aussie accents were stellar, and he continues to be one of my very favorite narrators in the business these days. I’ve loved so many of his other works before, but in this novel, Crouch brings such phenomenal acting skills that I was nearly brought to tears, a few times. Kudos to everyone at Recorded Books, Inc. for the making of this work. And Mr. Crouch?
]]> Hidden Rooms 215358974 320 Kate Michaelson 0744310164 Stephanie 3
3 stars]]> 3.78 2024 Hidden Rooms
author: Kate Michaelson
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/05/04
date added: 2025/05/03
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, it-was-ok, wish-it-had-been-better
review:
Lisa Larsen is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel.

3 stars
]]> <![CDATA[The Hot Kid (Carl Webster, #1)]]> 8893204
Carlos Webster was 15 the day he witnessed his first murder—but it wouldn’t be his last. It was also his first introduction to the notorious gunman, Emmet Long. By the time Carlos is 20, he’s being sworn in as a deputy United States marshal and now goes by the name Carl. As for Emmet, he’s robbing banks with his new partner, the no-good son of an oil millionaire.

Carl Webster and Emmet Long may be on opposite sides of the law but their long-time game of cat and mouse will turn them both into two of the most famous names in crime and punishment.]]> 400 Elmore Leonard 006182786X Stephanie 0 to-read 4.13 2005 The Hot Kid (Carl Webster, #1)
author: Elmore Leonard
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Nobody’s Fool (Detective Sami Kierce #2)]]> 217394492 In this stunningly twisty thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben, a secret from former Detective Sami Kierce’s college days comes back to haunt him. His memory is clear, but all these years later, the facts don’t add up…which is something he cannot ignore.

Sami Kierce, a young college grad backpacking in Spain with friends, wakes up one morning, covered in blood. There’s a knife in his hand. Beside him, the body of his girlfriend. Anna. Dead. He doesn’t know what happened. His screams drown out his thoughts—and then he runs.

Twenty-two years later, Kierce, now a private investigator, is a new father who’s working off his debts by doing low level surveillance jobs and teaching wannabe sleuths at a night school in New York City. One evening, he recognizes a familiar face at the back of the classroom. Anna. It’s unmistakably her. As soon as Kierce makes eye contact with her, she bolts. For Kierce there is no choice. He knows he must find this woman and solve the impossible mystery that has haunted his every waking moment since that terrible day.

His investigation will bring him face-to-face with his past—and prove, after all this time, he’s nobody’s fool.]]> 352 Harlan Coben 1538756358 Stephanie 3 4.10 2025 Nobody’s Fool (Detective Sami Kierce #2)
author: Harlan Coben
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/05/01
date added: 2025/05/01
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, part-of-a-series
review:
Vikas Adam is the narrator of the audiobook version of this novel.
]]> <![CDATA[The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp (Miss Sharp Investigates, #1)]]> 123284932 A quirky group of seniors attempts to solve one murder while covering up another—with the help of an enterprising tortoise—in this twisty, darkly funny mystery from the author of Three Bags Full.

It has been an eventful morning for Agnes Sharp and the other inhabitants of Sunset Hall, a house share for the old and unruly in the sleepy English countryside. Although they have had some issues (misplaced reading glasses, conflicting culinary tastes, decreasing mobility, and unruly grandsons), nothing prepares them for an unexpected visit from a police officer with some shocking news. A body has been discovered next door. Everyone puts on a long face for show, but they are secretly relieved the body in question is not the one they’re currently hiding in the shed (sorry, Lillith).

It seems the answer to their little problem with Lillith may have fallen right into their lap. All they have to do is find out who murdered their neighbor, so they can pin Lillith’s death on them, thus killing two (old) birds with one stone (cold killer).

With their plan sorted, Agnes and her geriatric gang spring into action. After all, everybody likes a good mystery. Besides, the more suspicion they can cast about, surely the less will land on them. To investigate, they will step out of their comfort zone, into the not-so-idyllic village of Duck End and tangle with sinister bakers, broken stairlifts, inept criminals, the local authorities, and their own dark secrets.]]> 360 Leonie Swann 1641294337 Stephanie 2 The characters are a little stereotypical, and I had problems connecting to them. I was sometimes bored, and at other times, confused about the character’s mental states. There are plot holes in the first novel that are never addressed or tied up. And you could see one of the big twists coming from a mile away, as well as who the killer was.
I also had a lot of problems believing that one of the elderly residents of the Sunset House was in the secret service because she was forgetful, dotty and odd.
The residents of this home seem to be too frail in mind AND body, and decrepit to be running around solving murders. And the whole thing about lugging around a huge bloody tortoise while solving murders is too much, and bordered on abusive. Poor Agnes just needs a hip replacement, and to get back on her meds.
That fat shaming of two different characters in the novel was just gross. And I had some doubts about the killer’s medical miracle.
So all in all, I was never fully invested in this novel. I don’t think I will continue with this series.

Amy Bojang is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. This audiobook seems to be her only work to date, so I hope she gets more narration work in the future.

2 stars. It would have gotten 3 if not for the fat shaming. Do better, Swann! Your readers don’t want to see this, ever.]]> 3.43 2020 The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp (Miss Sharp Investigates, #1)
author: Leonie Swann
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/29
date added: 2025/04/30
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, it-was-ok, part-of-a-series, wish-it-had-been-better
review:
I was wishing to read another series much like the Thursday Murder Club, but this series by Leonie Swann isn’t it.
The characters are a little stereotypical, and I had problems connecting to them. I was sometimes bored, and at other times, confused about the character’s mental states. There are plot holes in the first novel that are never addressed or tied up. And you could see one of the big twists coming from a mile away, as well as who the killer was.
I also had a lot of problems believing that one of the elderly residents of the Sunset House was in the secret service because she was forgetful, dotty and odd.
The residents of this home seem to be too frail in mind AND body, and decrepit to be running around solving murders. And the whole thing about lugging around a huge bloody tortoise while solving murders is too much, and bordered on abusive. Poor Agnes just needs a hip replacement, and to get back on her meds.
That fat shaming of two different characters in the novel was just gross. And I had some doubts about the killer’s medical miracle.
So all in all, I was never fully invested in this novel. I don’t think I will continue with this series.

Amy Bojang is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. This audiobook seems to be her only work to date, so I hope she gets more narration work in the future.

2 stars. It would have gotten 3 if not for the fat shaming. Do better, Swann! Your readers don’t want to see this, ever.
]]> <![CDATA[Adulthood Is a Gift! (Sarah's Scribbles, #5)]]> 207294874 With new and classic Sarah's Scribbles comics, essays, stickers, and more, this book is a celebration of one of the best loved comic voices of a generation.

With 100 comics, 15 essays, and dozens of photos and sketches, the fifth Sarah's Scribbles book offers a rare look behind the creative process of one of the most original and beloved comic artists of a generation. A comedic companion to her first book, the bestselling Adulthood is a Myth, the artwork and writing in Adulthood is a Gift! is a celebration of the many experiences and life lessons the author has picked up in her decade of making viral, relatable, and award-winning comics and books. This book also includes a sticker sheet.]]> 140 Sarah Andersen 1524890405 Stephanie 0 4.33 2024 Adulthood Is a Gift! (Sarah's Scribbles, #5)
author: Sarah Andersen
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/28
date added: 2025/04/28
shelves: 2025, all-time-favorites, graphic-novels, hoopla, part-of-a-series, slightly-less-than-most-fave
review:
5 stars, and highly recommended.
]]> Lamb to the Slaughter 171948 Parson's Pleasure is a country tale, A Piece of Cake, a wartime reminiscence, Lamb to the Slaughter a story of vengeful murder, and the remaining two, The Bookseller and The Butler, are on favorite themes of greed and snobbery.]]> 87 Roald Dahl 0146000552 Stephanie 0 to-read 4.23 1953 Lamb to the Slaughter
author: Roald Dahl
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1953
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Immortal 211642122 A stunning, standalone romantic fantasy filled with dangerous secrets, forbidden magic, and passion, of a young ruler who fights to protect her kingdom, from bestselling author Sue Lynn Tan and set in the breathtaking world of Daughter of the Moon Goddess.

“What the gods did not give us, I would take.�

As the heir to Tianxia, Liyen knows she must ascend the throne and renew her kingdom’s pledge to serve the immortals who once protected them from a vicious enemy. But when she is poisoned, Liyen’s grandfather steals an enchanted lotus to save her life. Enraged at his betrayal, the immortal queen commands the powerful God of War to attack Tianxia.

Upon her grandfather’s death, Liyen ascends a precarious throne, vowing to end her kingdom’s obligation to the immortals. When she is summoned to the Immortal Realm, she seizes the opportunity to learn their secrets and to form a tenuous alliance to safeguard her people, all with the one she should fear and mistrust the most: the ruthless God of War. As they are drawn together, a treacherous attraction ignites between them—one she has to resist, to not endanger all she is fighting for.

But with darker forces closing in around them, and her kingdom plunged into peril, Liyen must risk everything to save her people from an unspeakable fate, even if it means forging a dangerous bond with the immortal� even if it means losing her heart.]]> 464 Sue Lynn Tan 0063267616 Stephanie 4
Natalie Naudus is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, which I loved. I am a huge fan of hers, and I have enjoyed her work in many, many other audiobooks to date. I hope she has a long career in narration work, for many years to come. Naudus� work here is fabulous, as usual.

Kudos to everyone involved in the making of this project.

4 stars, and recommended.]]> 3.87 2025 Immortal
author: Sue Lynn Tan
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/27
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, part-of-a-series
review:
This novel is part of a series, but yet a standalone novel. It is a bit of a slog for the first 10% of it, while the setting etc., get set up. But it picks up there, and gets going good. It’s romance and politics heavy, also. Romance isn’t my thing, so I was getting annoyed at those parts - but maybe you will like that stuff more. But anyway once it picked up and stuff started happening, this novel was way more enjoyable for me.

Natalie Naudus is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, which I loved. I am a huge fan of hers, and I have enjoyed her work in many, many other audiobooks to date. I hope she has a long career in narration work, for many years to come. Naudus� work here is fabulous, as usual.

Kudos to everyone involved in the making of this project.

4 stars, and recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[I Found Christmas Lights Slithering Up My Street (I Found Horror)]]> 203109975 Something festive is growing in the sewer...

After last year’s tragedy, Douglas� parents are ignoring Christmas.

But when Douglas finds an eerie strand of lights slithering through the sewer, he unwittingly unleashes merry terror upon his neighborhood’s tacky lights contest. String lights spread like invasive kudzu, turning festive decorations into surreal, predatory nightmares.

Determined not to lose both Christmas and his family forever, Douglas gathers his courage to confront the source of the holiday deep in the concrete pipes beneath the street.

I Found Christmas Lights Slithering Up My Street is a horror tale from the “darkly inventive� purveyor of uncanny places and wondrous evils, Ben Farthing.

The I Found Horror books are STANDALONES and can be read in any order.

Praise for Ben

“Reminds me of early Stephen King.� ★★★★�

“Excuse me while I go cry from fear� ★★★★�

“When Mr. Farthing comes out with a book, I drop everything else I'm doing to read it� ★★★★�

“No one is writing the kind of horror this man is writing� ★★★★�

“This has become a yearly Halloween must-read� ★★★★�

“Now one of my favorite horror books� ★★★★�

“One of the creepiest books I’ve ever read� ★★★★�

“Ben Farthing is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors� ★★★★�

“Stunningly good� ★★★★�

“A master of building suspense� ★★★★�

“I can't wait to read everything by Ben Farthing!!� ★★★★�

“Reminiscent of '80s-era Stephen King� ★★★★�

“One of my favorites� ★★★★�

“I haven't been let down by Ben yet. He's a really great storyteller" ★★★★�

“Good luck putting it down" ★★★★�

“The perfect book to kick off spooky season� ★★★★�

“The scariest book I’ve read all year" ★★★★�

“Farthing's ability to creep the heck out of you in so few pages is incredible� ★★★★�

“One of the best books I read in 2023� ★★★★�

“Restores my faith in horror novels� ★★★★�

“The master of terror and dread� ★★★★�

“I LOVEEEE Ben Farthing. His books are *chefs kiss*� ★★★★�

“I couldn't stop reading until I got to the end. This was a mix of The Twilight Zone meets Tales From The Crypt� ★★★★�

“I can't wait for the next book" ★★★★�

“I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to read this book, and I implore you to read it as well� &]]> 148 Ben Farthing Stephanie 3
3 stars.]]> 3.91 I Found Christmas Lights Slithering Up My Street (I Found Horror)
author: Ben Farthing
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.91
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/24
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, ebook, owned, owned-2, part-of-a-series
review:
A quick and easy read. Rather fun, too. Aaron Camacho is the narrator of the audiobook version of this novel.

3 stars.
]]> <![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?

]]> 353 Michael Robotham 1982103604 Stephanie 4 *Please make sure you check out those content warnings before diving into this novel, readers. It deals with some seriously triggering and weighty issues, and you don’t want to be caught blindsided.

Joe Jameson is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. I liked him so much more in this audiobook than I did ‘Once was Willam�, by MR Carey..! Brilliant work, sir! And kudos to everyone involved in the making of this audiobook.

4 stars, and recommended.]]> 4.10 2019 Good Girl, Bad Girl (Cyrus Haven, #1)
author: Michael Robotham
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/24
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: 2025, borrowed-from-library, audiobooks, part-of-a-series
review:
This is my first novel by the author Robotham, and I have to say that it will not be my last. I thought this would be just like all the other murder mystery novels, but it’s so much better. Tense and thrilling, it grabs ahold of the reader from the beginning and doesn’t let go until the very end. And with these well written characters being so fleshed out and realistic, and in these scenes they are in, I just couldn’t put this novel down for any reason, and kept reading throughout the night. I have immediately put the next novel in this series on hold at my library, too.
*Please make sure you check out those content warnings before diving into this novel, readers. It deals with some seriously triggering and weighty issues, and you don’t want to be caught blindsided.

Joe Jameson is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. I liked him so much more in this audiobook than I did ‘Once was Willam�, by MR Carey..! Brilliant work, sir! And kudos to everyone involved in the making of this audiobook.

4 stars, and recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers who Inspired Chicago]]> 7783324

The true story of the murderesses who became media sensations and inspired the musical Chicago

Chicago, 1924.

There was nothing surprising about men turning up dead in the Second City. Life was cheaper than a quart of illicit gin in the gangland capital of the world. But two murders that spring were special - worthy of celebration. So believed Maurine Watkins, a wanna-be playwright and a "girl reporter" for the Chicago Tribune, the city's "hanging paper." Newspaperwomen were supposed to write about clubs, cooking and clothes, but the intrepid Miss Watkins, a minister's daughter from a small town, zeroed in on murderers instead. Looking for subjects to turn into a play, she would make "Stylish Belva" Gaertner and "Beautiful Beulah" Annan - both of whom had brazenly shot down their lovers - the talk of the town. Love-struck men sent flowers to the jail and newly emancipated women sent impassioned letters to the newspapers. Soon more than a dozen women preened and strutted on "Murderesses' Row" as they awaited trial, desperate for the same attention that was being lavished on Maurine Watkins's favorites.

In the tradition of Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City and Karen Abbott's Sin in the Second City, Douglas Perry vividly captures Jazz Age Chicago and the sensationalized circus atmosphere that gave rise to the concept of the celebrity criminal. Fueled by rich period detail and enlivened by a cast of characters who seemed destined for the stage, The Girls of Murder City is crackling social history that simultaneously presents the freewheeling spirit of the age and its sober repercussions.

]]> 304 Douglas Perry 0670021970 Stephanie 3
Narrator Peter Berkrot, whom I have listened to before in other audiobooks, narrates this audiobook as well. I enjoyed him a lot. Kudos to all those who worked on this project.

3 stars.]]> 3.64 2010 The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers who Inspired Chicago
author: Douglas Perry
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, disappointed, it-was-ok, wish-it-had-been-better
review:
Sometimes quite fascinating and at other times quite boring, this novel really couldn’t make up its mind on what it was about. It barely kept me listening throughout it to the end, though it was a near thing. I am glad i stuck it out, just so I could find out that the intrepid journalist Maurine Watkins of this novel, turned out to have written the play Chicago, which was eventually turned into a movie. And then later on, a musical. THE musical. And the people in the play/movie/musical were actual, real people. So I’m glad I stuck around, because that was cool.

Narrator Peter Berkrot, whom I have listened to before in other audiobooks, narrates this audiobook as well. I enjoyed him a lot. Kudos to all those who worked on this project.

3 stars.
]]> The Mean Ones 219543698
But the murders were seventeen years ago, back when her name was Sabrina. Now, she’s Sadie: a perfectly normal 29-year-old. She works as a physical therapist assistant and lifts weights with her boyfriend, Lucas, who’s the sweetest, most considerate man—as long as he’s not angry. But when Lucas spontaneously agrees to join a couples trip to a cabin in the woods, the visions get worse, a strange figure stalks her during the night, and that male voice in Sadie’s head keeps calling, asking her to do things she’s never fathomed.

Sadie’s not sure if it’s her paranoia or something else entirely . . . But she is sure of one thing—this time, she’s not going to sit idly by as everything starts to unravel.]]> Tatiana Schlote-Bonne Stephanie 0 to-read 4.50 2025 The Mean Ones
author: Tatiana Schlote-Bonne
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[I Could Pee on This Too: And More Poems by More Cats]]> 28645638 I Could Pee on This will be making its own sensational mark in the cat-poetry world.

I Could Pee on This, Too explores fresh feline emotions and philosophical musings through cats' own poetry, such as Welcome New Cat, Sleeping My Life Away, and You Also Live Here. Any cat lover who's longed for a deeper look into the enigmatic world of their cats will fall whiskers over paws for this well-versed follow-up.]]> 112 Francesco Marciuliano 1452132941 Stephanie 0 to-read 4.05 I Could Pee on This Too: And More Poems by More Cats
author: Francesco Marciuliano
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.05
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The House of Last Resort 126918644 The next high concept horror novel from NYT bestselling author Christopher Golden.

Across Italy, there are many half-empty towns, nearly abandoned by those who migrate to the coast or to cities. The beautiful, crumbling hilltop town of Becchina is among them, but its mayor has taken drastic measures to rebuild—selling abandoned homes to anyone in the world for a single Euro, as long as the buyer promises to live there for at least five years. It’s a no-brainer for American couple Tommy and Kate Puglisi. Both work remotely, and Becchina is the home of Tommy’s grandparents, his closest living relatives.

It feels like a romantic adventure, an opportunity the young couple would be crazy not to seize. But from the moment they move in, they both feel a shadow has fallen on them. Tommy’s grandmother is furious, even a little frightened, when she realizes which house they’ve bought.

There are rooms in an annex at the back of the house that they didn’t know were there. The place makes strange noises at night, locked doors are suddenly open, and when they go to a family gathering, they’re certain people are whispering about them, and about their house, which one neighbor refers to as The House of Last Resort. Soon, they learn that the home was owned for generations by the Church, but the real secret, and the true dread, is unlocked when they finally learn what the priests were doing in this house for all those long years…and how many people died in the strange chapel inside.

While down in the catacombs beneath Becchina…something stirs.]]> 292 Christopher Golden Stephanie 3
Marnye Young and Noah Michael Levine are the narrators for the audiobook version of the novel, and they were both great.

3 stars, and not really recommended.]]> 3.17 2024 The House of Last Resort
author: Christopher Golden
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.17
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/20
date added: 2025/04/20
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, disappointed, it-was-ok, wish-it-had-been-better
review:
Like many other people on this site have said in their reviews, this novel left me wanting. It really started off great, with good characters, a little used setting, and a pretty great premise, but then after the creepiness and such got to a certain extent, the whole novel went downhill real fast. By the ending I was bored, and just wanted the book to end. I was glad this novel was shortish, tbh. And I’m beginning to think that maybe me and Golden are just not the right fit.

Marnye Young and Noah Michael Levine are the narrators for the audiobook version of the novel, and they were both great.

3 stars, and not really recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[Pop. 1280 (Mulholland Classic)]]> 19161888
Still, Nick has some very complex problems to deal with. Two local pimps have been sassing him, ruining his already tattered reputation. His girlfriend Rose is being terrorized by her husband. And then, there's his wife and her brother Lenny who won't stop troubling Nick's already stressed mind. Are they a little too close for a brother and a sister?

With an election coming up, Nick needs to fix his problems and fast. Because the one thing Nick does know is that he will do anything to stay sheriff. Because, as it turns out, Sheriff Nick Corey is not nearly as dumb as he seems.

In Pop. 1280 , widely regarded as a classic of mid-20th century crime, Thompson offers up one of his best, in a tale of lust, murder, and betrayal in the Deep South that was the basis for the critically acclaimed French film Coup de Torchon .]]> 231 Jim Thompson 0316403784 Stephanie 0 to-read 4.08 1964 Pop. 1280 (Mulholland Classic)
author: Jim Thompson
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1964
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Malas 198563738 A story full of passion and revenge, following one family living on the Texas Mexico border and a curse that reverberates across generations--"Fuentes has achieved something rare and indelible with this story of complex women.� (Erika L. Sánchez)

In 1951, a mysterious old woman confronts Pilar Aguierre in the small border town of La Cienega, Texas. The old woman is sure Pilar stole her husband and, in a heated outburst, lays a curse on Pilar and her family.

More than forty years later, Lulu Muñoz is dodging chaos at every turn: her troubled father’s moods, his rules, her secret life as singer in a punk band, but most of all her upcoming quinceañera. When her beloved grandmother passes away, Lulu finds herself drawn to the glamorous stranger who crashed the funeral and who lives on the alone and shunned on the edge of town.

Their unexpected kinship picks at the secrets of Lulu’s family’s past. As the quinceañera looms—and we move between these two strong, irascible female voices—one woman must make peace with the past, and one girl pushes to embrace her future.

Rich with cinematic details—from dusty rodeos to the excitement of a Selena concert and the comfort of conjunto ballads played at family gatherings—this memorable debut is a love letter to the Tejano culture and community that sustain both of these women as they discover what family means.]]> 375 Marcela Fuentes 0593655788 Stephanie 4 Kudos to Books On Tape and everyone else involved in the making of this audiobook.

Christine Avila And Victoria Villarreal are the talented and wonderful narrators of the audiobook version of this novel. I am unsure which narrator played which part, as it was not mentioned in the audiobook anywhere. But I loved them both, and their work on this novel. ¡Muchas gracias a las dos!

This novel is highly recommended by me. 4 stars. ¡¡¡VIVA LAS MALAS!!!]]> 3.91 2024 Malas
author: Marcela Fuentes
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, ive-got-to-purchase-this-book
review:
This is a beautiful, haunting novel about family. It kept me spellbound to it until I read to the end, and I wish there was more. I was reminded so much of my home town that I kept having homesickness, and it reminded me so much of my maternal family that were all Hispanic. Ms. Fuentes is now an author I am going to keep an eye on, as I cannot wait until she comes out with another novel. I hope it’s soon!
Kudos to Books On Tape and everyone else involved in the making of this audiobook.

Christine Avila And Victoria Villarreal are the talented and wonderful narrators of the audiobook version of this novel. I am unsure which narrator played which part, as it was not mentioned in the audiobook anywhere. But I loved them both, and their work on this novel. ¡Muchas gracias a las dos!

This novel is highly recommended by me. 4 stars. ¡¡¡VIVA LAS MALAS!!!
]]> <![CDATA[Never Ever After (Never Ever After, #1)]]> 223296202 Not all fairy tales end happily ever after in this Cinderella-inspired fantasy by the bestselling author of Daughter of the Moon Goddess—for fans of Renée Ahdieh, Tahereh Mafi, and Stephanie Garber.

Life in the Iron Mountains is harsh and unforgiving. After the death of her beloved uncle, Yining has survived by becoming a skilled thief and an even better liar. When she acquires an enchanted ring that holds the key to a brighter future, it is stolen by her step-aunt, and Yining must venture into the imperial heart of the kingdom to seize it back.

Amid the grandeur of the palace, Yining catches the eye of the ruthless and ambitious prince, who tempts her with a world she’s never imagined. But nothing is as it seems, for she’s soon trapped in a tangle of power, treachery, and greed—her only ally the cunning advisor from a rival court who keeps dangerous secrets of his own. To break free, she must unravel the mystery of her past and fight for a future that both frightens and calls to her.

This sweeping fantasy romance inspired by Cinderella and a Chinese fairy tale is the first in a breathtaking new series by the acclaimed author of Daughter of the Moon Goddess.]]> 368 Sue Lynn Tan 0316576204 Stephanie 0 to-read 4.71 2025 Never Ever After (Never Ever After, #1)
author: Sue Lynn Tan
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.71
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[I Found Puppets Living In My Apartment Walls (I Found Horror)]]> 177119189 Can you tell me how to get... out alive?

★★★★� - "I can't remember the last time a book scared me and made me this nervous." Andrew Van Wey, author of Head Like a Hole

Johnny awakes. A puppet looms over his bed.

He recognizes the furry Grandpa was its puppeteer on the children’s television show R-City Street. But Grandpa went missing a year ago. He disappeared from this very apartment building, which was converted from the old R-City Street studio.

Desperate to see Grandpa again, Johnny follows the puppet inside the building’s walls, ever deeper into a puppet-infested labyrinth...

I Found Puppets Living In My Apartment Walls is a horror tale from the “darkly inventive� purveyor of uncanny places and wondrous evils, Ben Farthing.

Each book in the I Found Horror series is a STANDALONE. They can be read in any order.

Praise for Ben

“Reminds me of early Stephen King.� ★★★★�

“Excuse me while I go cry from fear� ★★★★�

“When Mr. Farthing comes out with a book, I drop everything else I'm doing to read it� ★★★★�

“No one is writing the kind of horror this man is writing� ★★★★�

“This has become a yearly Halloween must-read� ★★★★�

“Now one of my favorite horror books� ★★★★�

“One of the creepiest books I’ve ever read� ★★★★�

“Ben Farthing is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors� ★★★★�

“Stunningly good� ★★★★�

“A master of building suspense� ★★★★�

“I can't wait to read everything by Ben Farthing!!� ★★★★�

“Reminiscent of '80s-era Stephen King� ★★★★�

“One of my favorites� ★★★★�

“I haven't been let down by Ben yet. He's a really great storyteller" ★★★★�

“Good luck putting it down" ★★★★�

“The perfect book to kick off spooky season� ★★★★�

“The scariest book I’ve read all year" ★★★★�

“Farthing's ability to creep the heck out of you in so few pages is incredible� ★★★★�

“One of the best books I read in 2023� ★★★★�

“Restores my faith in horror novels� ★★★★�

“The master of terror and dread� ★★★★�

“I LOVEEEE Ben Farthing. His books are *chefs kiss*� ★★★★�

“I couldn't stop reading until I got to the end. This was a mix of The Twilight Zone meets Tales From The Crypt� ★★★★�

“I can't wait for the next boo]]> 160 Ben Farthing Stephanie 3 I know this might be rude, but at the end of this short novel, Farthing wrote a section called Why I Wrote This Book, and I found the parts that talked about his nightmares about muppets rather funny�. Sorry, dude. I bet if any one of us actually found those things walking around by themselves, we might actually be afraid of them, too. I know I would.

3.5 stars, and recommended to those without a phobia of muppets.]]> 3.81 I Found Puppets Living In My Apartment Walls (I Found Horror)
author: Ben Farthing
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.81
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/17
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: 2025, ebook, owned, owned-2, part-of-a-series
review:
This was a fun and entertaining read. I have not read any of this author’s novels before, but based on this one, I’m going to have to find the rest and read them, too.
I know this might be rude, but at the end of this short novel, Farthing wrote a section called Why I Wrote This Book, and I found the parts that talked about his nightmares about muppets rather funny�. Sorry, dude. I bet if any one of us actually found those things walking around by themselves, we might actually be afraid of them, too. I know I would.

3.5 stars, and recommended to those without a phobia of muppets.
]]> Once Was Willem 212987930 From the bestselling author M. R. Carey comes an utterly unique and enchantingly dark epic fantasy fable like no other.

This is the tale of Once Was Willem, who - eleven hundred and some years after the death of Christ, in the kingdom that had but recently begun to call itself England - rose from the dead to defeat a great evil facing the humble village of Cosham.

Pennick for all its beauty was ever a place with a dark reputation. The forests of the Chase were said to be home to nixies and boggarts, and there was a common belief, passed down through many generations, that the castle housed an unquiet ghost of terrible and malign power. These rumours I can attest were all true; indeed they fell short of the truth by a long way . . .]]> 310 M.R. Carey 0316505129 Stephanie 3 4.08 2025 Once Was Willem
author: M.R. Carey
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/17
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, it-was-ok
review:
Joe Jameson is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel.
]]> <![CDATA[The Lions of Lucerne (Scot Harvath, #1)]]> 7841526 An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here.

On the snowy Utah slopes, thirty Secret Service agents are viciously executed and the vacationing president of the United States kidnapped, seemingly by the Fatah, a lethal terrorist organization in the Middle East. But Scot Harvath, surviving agent and ex-Navy SEAL, doesn't believe the Fatah is responsible.

A shadowy coalition comprises some of the highest-ranking officials in government and business � men who operate above the law, realize the threat Scot poses to their hidden agenda, and will do anything to stop him. Framed for murder and on the run, Scot takes to the towering mountains of Switzerland with beautiful Claudia Mueller of the Swiss Federal Attorney's Office. They brave subzero temperatures and sheer heights of treacherous Mount Pilatus, and the den of notorious professional killers.]]> 624 Brad Thor 1439195137 Stephanie 0 to-read 4.07 2002 The Lions of Lucerne (Scot Harvath, #1)
author: Brad Thor
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Something in the Walls 211004350
Then she meets journalist Sam Hunter at the grief group one day, and he has a proposition for her: Thirteen-year-old Alice Webber claims a witch is haunting her. Living with her family in the remote village of Banathel, Alice finds her symptoms are getting increasingly disturbing. Taking this job will give Mina some experience and much-needed money; Sam will get the scoop of a lifetime; and Alice will get better—Mina is sure of it.

But instead of improving, Alice’s behavior becomes inexplicable and intense. The town of Banathel has a deep history of superstition and witchcraft. They believe there is evil in the world. They believe there are ways of…dealing with it. And they don’t expect outsiders to understand.]]> 295 Daisy Pearce 1250334381 Stephanie 3
Will Byrnes� 4* review: /review/show...

Shanayaa’s 2* review: /review/show...

I really, really loved this novel, and then it �..just ended. I fricken hate that. But I sincerely hope that Daisy Pearce writes another novel very soon, and I can read it as soon as possible. I cannot wait to see what she dreams up next.

Ana Clements Is the wonderful narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. Kudos to everyone involved with the making of this project.

*Please check out those content warnings before reading this novel.*

3 stars.]]> 3.36 2025 Something in the Walls
author: Daisy Pearce
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/14
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library
review:
I’ve spent the last few hours after finishing this novel, trying to figure out how I’m going to review it. And I’m super torn. So to make this review as short as possible, I’m going to just say that I sit firmly in the exact middle, between these two other reviewers of this novel:

Will Byrnes� 4* review: /review/show...

Shanayaa’s 2* review: /review/show...

I really, really loved this novel, and then it �..just ended. I fricken hate that. But I sincerely hope that Daisy Pearce writes another novel very soon, and I can read it as soon as possible. I cannot wait to see what she dreams up next.

Ana Clements Is the wonderful narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. Kudos to everyone involved with the making of this project.

*Please check out those content warnings before reading this novel.*

3 stars.
]]> <![CDATA[Raised by a Serial Killer: Discovering the Truth About My Father]]> 207294155 The untold story behind the hit true crime podcast The Clearing, this unforgettable memoir traces one daughter’s moving quest to understand her larger-than-life childhood as she searches for the truth about her father, the serial killer Edward Wayne Edwards. One evening in 2009, April Balascio was searching online, as she had been every night, for unsolved murders in the towns her family had lived growing up, when she stumbled across the latest investigations into the “Sweetheart Murders� cold case. All at once, the buried memories of her father’s dark history were awakened, and she knew she had to take action. She picked up the phone to call a detective and the rest is infamous true crime history. In her unflinching memoir, Balascio bravely reveals an astonishing tale of a lifetime of manipulation, unexplained upheavals, and silent fear. Some part of her had always known what her father was capable of, but the full truth of how she came to these revelations is as riveting as it is quietly terrifying. Through searing storytelling, dedicated research, and intimate insight, Raised by a Serial Killer is a gripping, courageous memoir unlike any other.]]> 352 April Balascio 1982177039 Stephanie 3 I thought my childhood sucked rocks, but this lady has me beat. Hell, she probably has nearly everyone beat..! It was also super triggering for me, and other children of abusive or narcissistic parents might have a very hard time getting through it all. I had to take a lot of breaks, and watch harmless videos of animals and things like that. So please prepare yourself for some extreme scenes, most of which are right on page.
The author, April Balascio, also does the narration for her novel as well, which brings up a whole host of other problems as well. Ms. Balascio is not normally a narrator for her day job, nor has she had any training for this job, and it showed. She was stiff and paused in odd places at first, but after a few chapters, the author seemed to find her own pace and rhythm, and was able to narrate a bit better. But having been spoiled by professional narrators in the past few years, I still had some difficulty with Balascio’s slow cadence, mispronunciations, and total lack of emoting while narrating�.. the last of which I understand completely. I mean, how t.f. would someone emote those scenes�??? I’ve no idea, which is probably why I don’t narrate audiobooks professionally. Or even amateurishly. And with this subject, what is the proper emotion to convey, while narrating�? Fuck if I know. ]]> 3.82 2024 Raised by a Serial Killer: Discovering the Truth About My Father
author: April Balascio
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/12
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, it-was-ok
review:
This novel is going to be difficult to quantify, because it’s literally someone’s reality, as they saw it. So for us readers to pick it apart is too weird for me, but I’ll try.
I thought my childhood sucked rocks, but this lady has me beat. Hell, she probably has nearly everyone beat..! It was also super triggering for me, and other children of abusive or narcissistic parents might have a very hard time getting through it all. I had to take a lot of breaks, and watch harmless videos of animals and things like that. So please prepare yourself for some extreme scenes, most of which are right on page.
The author, April Balascio, also does the narration for her novel as well, which brings up a whole host of other problems as well. Ms. Balascio is not normally a narrator for her day job, nor has she had any training for this job, and it showed. She was stiff and paused in odd places at first, but after a few chapters, the author seemed to find her own pace and rhythm, and was able to narrate a bit better. But having been spoiled by professional narrators in the past few years, I still had some difficulty with Balascio’s slow cadence, mispronunciations, and total lack of emoting while narrating�.. the last of which I understand completely. I mean, how t.f. would someone emote those scenes�??? I’ve no idea, which is probably why I don’t narrate audiobooks professionally. Or even amateurishly. And with this subject, what is the proper emotion to convey, while narrating�? Fuck if I know.
]]> The Stand 228202 1141 Stephen King 0451169530 Stephanie 5
I don't remember the first time I'd read The Stand, but it had to have been soon after it came out in paperback. Sometime around high school, or soon after. I've reread it every 2 or 3 years, ever since.
The audiobook version is a treat in itself. The narrator is Grover Gardner, who sounds almost exactly like one of the main male characters in the novel. He was very good at all the different voices, and especially Randall Flagg's insane giggle, which seriously freaked me the hell out. If you haven't already heard the audiobook version of this novel, I highly recommend it. The only issue with it is it's length, which I didn't mind, but it might be difficult for others with less listening time to finish before the book becomes due back to your library.

Anyway, listening to the audiobook helped me concentrate on what was happening much better than just skimming through it while reading. I picked up on a lot more little things this time, and that was cool. I also cried again a few times, near the end. If you have read this novel, then you know where I'm talking about.

Another 5 stars, as it never seems to become dated or boring, in any way. And very highly recommended.]]> 4.32 1978 The Stand
author: Stephen King
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1978
rating: 5
read at: 2021/09/20
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: 1990-1992, 1994-2000, 2005-2010, 2017, all-time-favorites, audiobooks, ebook, owned, owned-2
review:
This book has been reread many, many times in my lifetime. This is my first review.

I don't remember the first time I'd read The Stand, but it had to have been soon after it came out in paperback. Sometime around high school, or soon after. I've reread it every 2 or 3 years, ever since.
The audiobook version is a treat in itself. The narrator is Grover Gardner, who sounds almost exactly like one of the main male characters in the novel. He was very good at all the different voices, and especially Randall Flagg's insane giggle, which seriously freaked me the hell out. If you haven't already heard the audiobook version of this novel, I highly recommend it. The only issue with it is it's length, which I didn't mind, but it might be difficult for others with less listening time to finish before the book becomes due back to your library.

Anyway, listening to the audiobook helped me concentrate on what was happening much better than just skimming through it while reading. I picked up on a lot more little things this time, and that was cool. I also cried again a few times, near the end. If you have read this novel, then you know where I'm talking about.

Another 5 stars, as it never seems to become dated or boring, in any way. And very highly recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil]]> 218569828 A hilarious and surprisingly moving cozy fantasy novel from the best-selling author of Once Upon a Tome.

This debut novel by beloved rare bookseller and memoirist Oliver Darkshire reimagines the Decameron heroine Isabella (with her creepy pot of basil) in a world of sentient animals, talking plants, and shape-shifting wizards.

In a tiny farm on the edge of the miserable village of East Grasby, Isabella Nagg is just trying to get on with her tiny, miserable existence. Dividing her time between tolerating a feckless husband, fending off snide neighbors, and cooking up “scrunge,� Isabella can’t help but think that there might be something more to life. When Mr. Nagg returns home with a spell book purloined from the local wizard, she What harm could a little magic do?

As Isabella embarks on a journey of self-discovery with a grouchy cat-like companion, Darkshire’s imagination runs wild, plunging readers into a delightfully deranged world full of enchantment and folklore—as well as goblins, capitalism, and sorcery.]]> 256 Oliver Darkshire 1324105917 Stephanie 0 to-read 3.87 2025 Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil
author: Oliver Darkshire
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Lamb 216867498
But Mama’s want is stronger than her hunger sometimes, and when a beautiful, white-toothed stray named Eden turns up in the heart of a snowstorm, Margot must confront the shifting dynamics of her family, untangle her own desires, and make her own bid for freedom.

With this gothic coming-of-age tale, novelist Lucy Rose explores how women swallow their anger, desire, and animal instincts—and wrings the relationship between mother and daughter until blood drips from it.]]> 336 Lucy Rose 1399619713 Stephanie 0 to-read 3.90 2025 The Lamb
author: Lucy Rose
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Katabasis 210191773 Two graduate students must set aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul, perhaps at the cost of their own.

Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality—her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world—that is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault.

Grimes is now in Hell, and she’s going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her very future in his now incorporeal hands, and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams. Nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the same conclusion.]]> 560 R.F. Kuang 0063021471 Stephanie 0 to-read 4.12 2025 Katabasis
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Not Quite Dead Yet 220223963 The #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder—now a hit Netflix series—returns with her first novel for adults: a twisty thriller about a young woman trying to solve her own murder.

In seven days Jet Mason will be dead.

Jet is the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Woodstock, Vermont. Twenty-seven years old, she’s still waiting for her life to begin. I’ll do it later, she always says. She has time.

Until Halloween night, when Jet is violently attacked by an unseen intruder.

She suffers a catastrophic head injury. The doctor is certain that within a week, the injury will trigger a deadly aneurysm.

Jet has never thought of herself as having enemies. But now she looks at everyone in a new light: her family, her former best friend turned sister-in-law, her ex-boyfriend.

She has at most seven days, and as her condition deteriorates she has only her childhood friend Billy for help. But nevertheless, she’s absolutely determined to finally finish something:

Jet is going to solve her own murder.]]> 400 Holly Jackson 059397705X Stephanie 0 to-read 4.31 2025 Not Quite Dead Yet
author: Holly Jackson
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> ܲ³ 59848960
We think a lot of things. It was perhaps inevitable that some of them would turn out to be wrong.

When the great incursion occurred, no one was prepared. How could they have been? Of all the things physicists had predicted, “the fabric of reality might rip open and giant monsters could come pouring through� had not made the list. But somehow, on a fine morning in May, that was precisely what happened.

For sisters Susan and Katharine Black, the day of the incursion was the day they lost everything. Their home, their parents, their sense of normalcy…and each other, because when the rift opened, Susan was on one side and Katharine was on the other, and each sister was stranded in a separate form of reality. For Susan, it was science and study and the struggle to solve the mystery of the altered physics inside the zones transformed by the incursion. For Katharine, it was monsters and mayhem and the fight to stay alive in a world unlike the world of her birth.

The world has changed. The laws of physics have changed. The girls have changed. And the one universal truth of all states of changed matter is that nothing can be completely restored to what it was originally, no matter how much you might wish it could be.

Nothing goes back.]]> 112 Mira Grant 1645240541 Stephanie 3
3.5 stars, and recommended.]]> 3.94 2021 ܲ³
author: Mira Grant
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves:
review:
Rachel F. Hirsch is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novella.

3.5 stars, and recommended.
]]> ܲ³ 58243480
We think a lot of things. It was perhaps inevitable that some of them would turn out to be wrong.

When the great incursion occurred, no one was prepared. How could they have been? Of all the things physicists had predicted, "the fabric of reality might rip open and giant monsters could come pouring through" had not made the list. But somehow, on a fine morning in May, that was precisely what happened.

For sisters Susan and Katharine Black, the day of the incursion was the day they lost everything. Their home, their parents, their sense of normalcy...and each other, because when the rift opened, Susan was on one side and Katharine was on the other, and each sister was stranded in a separate form of reality. For Susan, it was science and study and the struggle to solve the mystery of the altered physics inside the zones transformed by the incursion. For Katharine, it was monsters and mayhem and the fight to stay alive in a world unlike the world of her birth.

The world has changed. The laws of physics have changed. The girls have changed. And the one universal truth of all states of changed matter is that nothing can be completely restored to what it was originally, no matter how much you might wish it could be.

Nothing goes back.]]> 144 Mira Grant 1645240533 Stephanie 3
3.5 stars, and recommended.]]> 3.82 2021 ܲ³
author: Mira Grant
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/09
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, scribd, short-story-or-novella
review:
Rachel F. Hirsch is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novella.

3.5 stars, and recommended.
]]> Another 220652200 New York Times bestselling, acclaimed horror author Paul Tremblay delivers an unforgettable middle grade debut in this bone-chilling tale of an unsettling, unbreakable friendship.

When Casey Wilson’s parents tell him that his friend is coming for a sleepover, he has no idea who that might be. Ever since the Zoom Incident, everyone treats him like a pariah, and his tics are worse than ever.

When Morel appears, he’s not like any friend Casey has ever met. His skin is like clay, and he doesn’t speak. But Casey’s parents are charmed by the strange kid, and it’s nice to have someone to talk to besides his sister, Ally, who is away at college. As his normally loving parents grow distant from Casey, they gush and fawn over Morel. Casey knows something is wrong—but with no end in sight to the sleepover, he’s exhausted. And in the dark, out of the corner of his eye, Morel doesn’t look like a kid at all. . . .]]> 256 Paul Tremblay 0063396351 Stephanie 0 to-read 4.19 2025 Another
author: Paul Tremblay
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Fool Me Once 26193153 A widowed veteran gets the shock of her life in this impossible-to-put-down thriller

Former special ops pilot Maya, home from the war, sees an unthinkable image captured by her nanny cam while she is at work: her two-year-old daughter playing with Maya’s husband, Joe—who was brutally murdered two weeks earlier. The provocative question at the heart of the mystery: Can you believe everything you see with your own eyes, even when you desperately want to? To find the answer, Maya must finally come to terms with deep secrets and deceit in her own past before she can face the unbelievable truth about her husband—and herself.]]> 392 Harlan Coben Stephanie 3 Anyway, I signed on for the thrill ride, and left feeling slightly let down. I still enjoyed it though. It was what I needed at the time - easy, fast, and thrilling in places.
3.5 stars, and only recommended for huge fans of the author.]]> 4.16 2016 Fool Me Once
author: Harlan Coben
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2017/11/23
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves:
review:
This book had a great premise and storyline, but it left some kind of big threads hanging lose at the end. The big "twist" near the end almost didn't make sense, and I guess we were supposed to suspend our belief that this could possibly happen. But it just left me feeling so confused and disjointed, and a little disgruntled as well. It was just not Coben’s best work.
Anyway, I signed on for the thrill ride, and left feeling slightly let down. I still enjoyed it though. It was what I needed at the time - easy, fast, and thrilling in places.
3.5 stars, and only recommended for huge fans of the author.
]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear the Reaper (The Indian Lake Trilogy, #2)]]> 59364174 December 12th, 2019, Jade returns to the rural lake town of Proofrock the same day as convicted Indigenous serial killer Dark Mill South escapes into town to complete his revenge killings, in this riveting sequel to My Heart Is a Chainsaw from New York Times bestselling author, Stephen Graham Jones.

Four years after her tumultuous senior year, Jade Daniels is released from prison right before Christmas when her conviction is overturned. But life beyond bars takes a dangerous turn as soon as she returns to Proofrock. Convicted Serial Killer, Dark Mill South, seeking revenge for thirty-eight Dakota men hanged in 1862, escapes from his prison transfer due to a blizzard, just outside of Proofrock, Idaho.

Dark Mill South’s Reunion Tour began on December 12th, 2019, a Thursday.

Thirty-six hours and twenty bodies later, on Friday the 13th, it would be over.

Don’t Fear the Reaper is the page-turning sequel to My Heart Is a Chainsaw from New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones.]]> 464 Stephen Graham Jones 1982186615 Stephanie 4
The minute I finished this novel, I went back and reread the last couple chapters again, just to make sure I got what was going on. (Strep throat makes me slow on the uptake, I swear). That ending was just as awesome, and impactful the second time as it was the first. I got chills both times.
Don’t Fear The Reaper is a sequel, and is the middle book in a trilogy. So I believe that you really need to have read the first book before reading this one. And while this book does go back a little to remind us of the events of the first volume, if you haven’t read that book or don’t remember it well, this book will confuse you a bit, and some of the characters won’t be as poignant.
This novel is bloody and violent, and yet utterly riveting. The reader has no idea where the plotline and the characters are going to go next, and it’s definitely a wild ride. (The best kind!) I’m definitely going to need a little break from this series, before diving back in for the final novel. Mainly because so many people died, and this was heartbreaking for me, because of who was lost in this battle. I feel like I also lost some good friends.
The events in this novel, and its characters, are going to stay with me for a long time afterwards. I know I will think of them often, and wonder how they are doing�. As one does with good friends. Even literary ones. But this series will be one that I will come back to visit often in the future, I am sure.
In the meantime, I wish I could convince more of you that Stephen Graham Jones is an absolute force to be reckoned with, in the horror genre. He’s undoubtedly one of the most skilful authors working today, in my opinion. I cannot wait to see what he dreams up next�!
This novel is set amidst a blizzard, so both Dark Mill South and this weather system plunge Proofrock and its denizens into a nightmare scenario that works very, very well for me. I would think that reading this novel in the midst of an actual snowstorm, or a freezing winter might be a little too much for some readers, like me lol. But then again, curling up underneath warm covers for comfort while reading, doesn’t exactly work when it’s 70° outside, and the humidity is around 90%. ]]> 4.14 2023 Don't Fear the Reaper (The Indian Lake Trilogy, #2)
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, ebook, owned, owned-2, part-of-a-series, slightly-less-than-most-fave
review:
Please check out those content warnings before reading this novel. There are some serious issues this novel deals with, plus it’s very bloody, gory, and there is some body horror.

The minute I finished this novel, I went back and reread the last couple chapters again, just to make sure I got what was going on. (Strep throat makes me slow on the uptake, I swear). That ending was just as awesome, and impactful the second time as it was the first. I got chills both times.
Don’t Fear The Reaper is a sequel, and is the middle book in a trilogy. So I believe that you really need to have read the first book before reading this one. And while this book does go back a little to remind us of the events of the first volume, if you haven’t read that book or don’t remember it well, this book will confuse you a bit, and some of the characters won’t be as poignant.
This novel is bloody and violent, and yet utterly riveting. The reader has no idea where the plotline and the characters are going to go next, and it’s definitely a wild ride. (The best kind!) I’m definitely going to need a little break from this series, before diving back in for the final novel. Mainly because so many people died, and this was heartbreaking for me, because of who was lost in this battle. I feel like I also lost some good friends.
The events in this novel, and its characters, are going to stay with me for a long time afterwards. I know I will think of them often, and wonder how they are doing�. As one does with good friends. Even literary ones. But this series will be one that I will come back to visit often in the future, I am sure.
In the meantime, I wish I could convince more of you that Stephen Graham Jones is an absolute force to be reckoned with, in the horror genre. He’s undoubtedly one of the most skilful authors working today, in my opinion. I cannot wait to see what he dreams up next�!
This novel is set amidst a blizzard, so both Dark Mill South and this weather system plunge Proofrock and its denizens into a nightmare scenario that works very, very well for me. I would think that reading this novel in the midst of an actual snowstorm, or a freezing winter might be a little too much for some readers, like me lol. But then again, curling up underneath warm covers for comfort while reading, doesn’t exactly work when it’s 70° outside, and the humidity is around 90%.
]]> <![CDATA[My Heart Is a Chainsaw (The Indian Lake Trilogy, #1)]]> 55711617
That’s not the only thing that’s getting carved up, though � this, Jade knows, is the start of a slasher. But what kind? Who’s wearing the mask? Jade’s got an encyclopedic recall of every horror movie on the shelf, but� will that help her survive? Can she get a final girl trained enough to stop all this from happening? Does she even want to?

Isn’t a slasher exactly what her hometown deserves?

This new novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians, Stephen Graham Jones, called “one of our most talented living writers� by Tommy Orange, explores the changing landscape of the West through his distinct voice of sharp humor and prophetic violence.

Go up the mountain to Proofrock. See if you’ve got what it takes � see if your heart, too, might be a chainsaw.]]> 405 Stephen Graham Jones 1982137630 Stephanie 5
Somehow, the gods of libraries smiled down upon me, and I got to be the very first person to listen to (and rate) the audiobook version of this novel at my local library. That never happens. So imagine me absolutely thrilled! Because I really was. Jones is fast becoming one of my very favorite horror authors out there today.
But reader, be warned! This novel is gory. Bleak. And brilliantly written. I fucking adore it. Yes, even with all the content warning subjects.
Some reviewers here on goodreads have to be told to stick with this novel, as at about the 65% or so, it finally picks up. I found it fascinating from the very start. And I didn’t want to stop reading it, not even to sleep. I have a feeling that it’s going to stay with me for a long time, too�..
This novel has some complex characters that you can’t help but love, and this amazing plot that keeps you guessing throughout the entire novel. The red herrings were multitudinous, and the twists and turns were enough to give a less hearty reader motion sickness. I could never tell who the killer was - or if there even WAS a killer, and not just this teen’s out of control imagination. It was a wild ride, and I enjoyed myself the entire way, screaming my head off.

Cara Gee is the phenomenal narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and she nailed this baby out of the park. I’d never heard Gee’s narration skills before, but this young lady has a very bright future ahead of her. I hope Simon and Schuster Audio continue to give Gee tons more work, as I’d love to run across her voice again and again. She is seriously great.

I may not recommend this novel to many people, as it’s possibly for those who really, really love horror, and don’t mind the subject matter (and gore). But to those people who can handle this kind of thing, PLEASE GO READ THIS NOVEL NOW. I think you’ll love it as much as I did/do. Just have some patience, and please concentrate.

My Heart is a Chainsaw has the most unforgettable two concluding paragraphs of a novel I’ve probably ever encountered. (I was so moved that I read them 4 or 5 times in a row, and I’m still thinking about them). And in them, Stephen Graham Jones delivers a final gut punch that convinced me I couldn’t give his book anything less than five stars.

Bravo, sir. Well done. ]]> 3.52 2021 My Heart Is a Chainsaw (The Indian Lake Trilogy, #1)
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves: 2021, all-time-favorites, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, ive-got-to-purchase-this-book
review:
Content warning: s*x*al *ssa*lt, talk of child r*pe, trauma, gore, blood, su*c*de attempts, self harm, animal death, maggots and decay.

Somehow, the gods of libraries smiled down upon me, and I got to be the very first person to listen to (and rate) the audiobook version of this novel at my local library. That never happens. So imagine me absolutely thrilled! Because I really was. Jones is fast becoming one of my very favorite horror authors out there today.
But reader, be warned! This novel is gory. Bleak. And brilliantly written. I fucking adore it. Yes, even with all the content warning subjects.
Some reviewers here on goodreads have to be told to stick with this novel, as at about the 65% or so, it finally picks up. I found it fascinating from the very start. And I didn’t want to stop reading it, not even to sleep. I have a feeling that it’s going to stay with me for a long time, too�..
This novel has some complex characters that you can’t help but love, and this amazing plot that keeps you guessing throughout the entire novel. The red herrings were multitudinous, and the twists and turns were enough to give a less hearty reader motion sickness. I could never tell who the killer was - or if there even WAS a killer, and not just this teen’s out of control imagination. It was a wild ride, and I enjoyed myself the entire way, screaming my head off.

Cara Gee is the phenomenal narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and she nailed this baby out of the park. I’d never heard Gee’s narration skills before, but this young lady has a very bright future ahead of her. I hope Simon and Schuster Audio continue to give Gee tons more work, as I’d love to run across her voice again and again. She is seriously great.

I may not recommend this novel to many people, as it’s possibly for those who really, really love horror, and don’t mind the subject matter (and gore). But to those people who can handle this kind of thing, PLEASE GO READ THIS NOVEL NOW. I think you’ll love it as much as I did/do. Just have some patience, and please concentrate.

My Heart is a Chainsaw has the most unforgettable two concluding paragraphs of a novel I’ve probably ever encountered. (I was so moved that I read them 4 or 5 times in a row, and I’m still thinking about them). And in them, Stephen Graham Jones delivers a final gut punch that convinced me I couldn’t give his book anything less than five stars.

Bravo, sir. Well done.
]]> <![CDATA[We Love You, Bunny (Bunny, #2)]]> 223524394
When We Love You, Bunny opens, Sam has just published her first novel to critical acclaim. But at a New England stop on her book tour, her one-time frenemies, furious at the way they’ve been portrayed, kidnap her. Now a captive audience, it’s her (and our) turn to hear the Bunnies� side of the story. One by one, they take turns holding the axe, and recount the birth throes of their unholy alliance, their discovery of their unusual creative powers—and the phantasmagoric adventure of conjuring their first creation. With a bound and gagged Sam, we embark on a wickedly intoxicating journey into the heart of dark academia: a fairy tale slasher that explores the wonder and horror of creation itself. Not to mention the transformative powers of love and friendship, Bunny.

Frankenstein by way of Heathers, We Love You, Bunny is both a prequel and a sequel, and an unabashedly wild and totally complete stand-alone novel. Open your hearts, Bunny, to another dazzlingly original and darkly hilarious romp in the Bunny-verse from the queen of the fever-dream, Mona Awad.]]> 496 Mona Awad 1668098482 Stephanie 0 to-read 4.27 2025 We Love You, Bunny (Bunny, #2)
author: Mona Awad
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> King Sorrow 223420465
Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for comfort and help. Together they dream up a wild, fantastical scheme to free Arthur from the cruel trap in which he finds himself. Wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren suggests using the unnerving Crane journal (bound in the skin of its author) to summon a dragon to do their bidding. The others—brave, beautiful Alison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen—don’t hesitate to join Colin in an effort to smash reality and bring a creature of the impossible into our world.

But there’s nothing simple about dealing with dragons, and their pact to save Arthur becomes a terrifying bargain in which the six must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow every year—or become his next meal.]]> 896 Joe Hill 0062200607 Stephanie 0 to-read 4.45 2025 King Sorrow
author: Joe Hill
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Woman in Suite 11 (Lo Blacklock, #2)]]> 220161593 In this follow-up to #1 New York Times bestselling author Ruth Ware’s multi-million copy mega-hit The Women in Cabin 10, Lo Blacklock returns to attend the opening of a luxury hotel, only to find herself in a white-knuckled race across Europe.

When the invitation to attend the press opening of a luxury Swiss hotel—owned by reclusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann—arrives, it’s like the answer to a prayer. Three years after the birth of her youngest child, Lo Blacklock is ready to reestablish her journalism career, but post-pandemic travel journalism is a very different landscape from the one she left ten years ago.

The chateau on the shores of Lake Geneva is everything Lo’s ever dreamed of, and she hopes she can snag an interview with Marcus. Unfortunately, he proves to be even more difficult to pin down than his reputation suggests. When Lo gets a late-night call asking her to come to Marcus’s hotel room, she agrees despite her own misgivings. She’s greeted, however, by a woman claiming to be Marcus’s mistress, and in life-or-death jeopardy.

What follows is a thrilling cat-and-mouse pursuit across Europe, forcing Lo to ask herself just how much she’s willing to sacrifice to save this woman…and if she can even trust her?]]> 400 Ruth Ware 1668025620 Stephanie 0 to-read 3.73 2025 The Woman in Suite 11 (Lo Blacklock, #2)
author: Ruth Ware
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Beautiful Ugly 211004123 The million-copy bestselling Queen of Twists Alice Feeney returns with a gripping and deliciously dark thriller about marriage. . .
. . . and revenge.

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared.

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible � a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.]]> 306 Alice Feeney 125033778X Stephanie 3
Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton are the wonderful narrators for the audiobook version of this novel. They were perfect for their roles, and I thoroughly enjoyed their stellar talents. Kudos to Macmillan Audio and everyone else involved in the making of this audiobook.

3.5 stars.]]> 3.63 2025 Beautiful Ugly
author: Alice Feeney
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/07
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library
review:
Not Feeney’s best work to date, but still very enjoyable. I had a hard time connecting to the main characters of this novel, and I don’t understand why the people on the island did what they did, completely. It seemed a bit extreme, to me�. Which made the ending a bit too much. But all in all, I still got through the entirety of this novel with some breaks here and there, and I enjoyed it for the most part.

Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton are the wonderful narrators for the audiobook version of this novel. They were perfect for their roles, and I thoroughly enjoyed their stellar talents. Kudos to Macmillan Audio and everyone else involved in the making of this audiobook.

3.5 stars.
]]> The Graceview Patient 222376946 Misery meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers in this genre-bending, claustrophobic hospital gothic from the bestselling author of The Death of Jane Lawrence.

Margaret lives with a rare autoimmune condition that has destroyed her life, leaving her isolated. It has no cure, but she’s making do as best she can—until she’s offered a fully paid-for spot in an experimental medical trial at Graceview Memorial.

The conditions are simple, if grueling; she will live at the hospital as a full-time patient, subjecting herself to the near-total destruction of her immune system and its subsequent regeneration. The trial will essentially kill most of, but not all of her. But as the treatment progresses and her body begins to fail, she stumbles upon something sinister living and spreading within the hospital.

Unsure of what's real and what is just medication-induced delusion, Margaret struggles to find a way out as her body and mind succumb further to the darkness lurking throughout Graceview's halls.]]> 304 Caitlin Starling 1250340756 Stephanie 0 to-read 3.92 2025 The Graceview Patient
author: Caitlin Starling
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Floating World (The Floating World, #1)]]> 215149209 From Axie Oh, the New York Times-bestselling author of The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, Final Fantasy meets Shadow and Bone in this romantic fantasy reimagining the Korean legend of Celestial Maidens.

Sunho lives in the Under World, a land of perpetual darkness. An ex-soldier, he can remember little of his life from before two years ago, when he woke up alone with only his name and his sword. Now he does odd-jobs to scrape by, until he comes across the score of a lifetime—a chest of coins for any mercenary who can hunt down a girl who wields silver light.

Meanwhile, far to the east, Ren is a cheerful and spirited acrobat traveling with her adoptive family and performing at villages. But everything changes during one of their festival performances when the village is attacked by a horrific humanlike demon. In a moment of fear and rage, Ren releases a blast of silver light—a power she has kept hidden since childhood—and kills the monster. But her efforts are not in time to prevent her adoptive family from suffering a devastating loss, or to save her beloved uncle from being grievously wounded.

Determined to save him from succumbing to the poisoned wound, Ren sets off over the mountains, where the creature came from—and from where Ren herself fled ten years ago. Her path sets her on a collision course with Sunho, but he doesn't realize she's the girl that he—and a hundred other swords-for-hire—is looking for. As the two grow closer through their travels, they come to realize that their pasts—and destinies—are far more entwined than either of them could have imagined...]]> 368 Axie Oh 1250853087 Stephanie 0 to-read 4.12 2025 The Floating World (The Floating World, #1)
author: Axie Oh
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Man Made of Smoke 217387838 The latest gripping serial killer thriller from the New York Times bestselling author Alex North.

Dan Garvie’s life has been haunted by the crime he witnessed as a child—narrowly escaping an encounter with a notorious serial killer. He has dedicated his life since to becoming a criminal profiler, eager to seek justice for innocent victims. So when his father passes away under suspicious circumstances, Dan revisits his small island community, determined to uncover the truth about his death. Is it possible that the monster he remembers from his childhood nightmares has returned after all these years?

With his signature shock and suspense, Alex North brings us The Man Made of Smoke. In turn emotional, introspective, and utterly terrifying, this is a story of fathers and sons, shadows and secrets, and the fight we all face to escape the trauma of the past.]]> 320 Alex North 1250757894 Stephanie 0 to-read 4.17 2025 The Man Made of Smoke
author: Alex North
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Heads Will Roll 201102396 Willow’s worst nightmare was being cancelled. But the woods of Camp Castaway might destroy more than her reputation.After sitcom star Willow tweeted herself into infamy and had to be dragged blind-drunk out of a swimming pool, her agent shipped her off to the woodsy and wonderfully anonymous confines of Camp Castaway. Tucked away in the trees of upstate New York, Castaway is a summer camp for adults in desperate need of leaving behind their mistakes, their social media accounts, their lives. No real names, no phones…no way to call for help.Willow is relieved to find that her fellow campers seem okay. To her shock, her own favorite actress is here, sitting by the campfire and roasting a s’more. And did that jaded writer, Dani, just wink at her? But the peaceful vibe is shattered when a terrifying woman pops shrieking from the wardrobe in Willow’s room. Soon after, one of the campers vanishes.Is Willow about to get cancelled all over again, this time for good?Soon, terror grips the group, campers begin to lose their heads—literally!—and Willow and her new friends are on the run.As paranoia grows and disturbing past deeds come to light, this escape from their shallow lifestyles might just lead to a set of shallow graves.]]> 314 Josh Winning 0593544692 Stephanie 3
ѱ’sǴǰ: /review/show...

EJ Lavery is the Narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. She was fantastic, and I especially loved her ease with accents. Lavery doesn’t have many audiobooks available at my local library, so I’m hoping that in the future, more audiobook publishers will use her narration skills.

3 stars.]]> 3.51 2024 Heads Will Roll
author: Josh Winning
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, it-was-ok, wish-it-had-been-better
review:
I feel the same way my friend Megs from Meg’s bookrack feels about this novel. It was great for the first quarter, then it became a slog for a while. And while it picked up at about the 80% mark, that’s still a lot of book to get through, and feel rather ‘meh� about while reading it. I finished it, and I’m glad I did. But it’s not something I feel I need to pick up again, some time in the future, and reread.

ѱ’sǴǰ: /review/show...

EJ Lavery is the Narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. She was fantastic, and I especially loved her ease with accents. Lavery doesn’t have many audiobooks available at my local library, so I’m hoping that in the future, more audiobook publishers will use her narration skills.

3 stars.
]]> The Least of My Scars 18843964
William Colton Hughes is living his fantasy: his victims are delivered to his apartment every few days. But when he's suddenly alone, no visitors, nobody to talk to but himself, he begins to lose what little of his mind he has left. Has his benefactor, his employer, been his prison warden all along? His apartment complex a hospital? Is he going to have to go back to heaving dark plastic bags into dumpsters when nobody's looking?

Or will Dashboard Mary, a mysterious woman hell-bent on revenge, get to him first?

This is William Colton Hughes. Come and knock on his door.]]> 188 Stephen Graham Jones 1940885000 Stephanie 0 to-read 3.75 2013 The Least of My Scars
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Witchcraft for Wayward Girls 207611566 There’s power in a book�

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.

In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master� (NPR).]]> 482 Grady Hendrix 0593548981 Stephanie 5
/review/show...

It is very gutsy for Grady Hendrix to even try to write a novel like this.. and in my opinion, he succeeds wonderfully. I think he did a fantastic job at showing the injustices women and girls face, and without being the slightest bit preachy either. I feel Hendrix pulled it off with care and nuance, and this novel really resonated with me.
This novel is a lot less campy than his usual writing, and that is exactly what’s needed for this story. And it still reads like a Hendrix novel. And the author perfectly captures the girls� youth and loss of innocence, as well as the power of their friendships. One can tell through his writing that Hendrix is a true ally, and that he has nothing but respect for women, and appreciation for all that they accomplish in life, without burning it all down around them because of the hurdles we face in our lives.
The ritual scenes were fantastic, though there could have been a little more witchcraft in this novel, somehow� and yet I kept being surprised that this novel wasn’t written by a woman.

Imagine my surprise when Esta (link above) reveals in her own comments that Hendrix himself has previously shared that two of his relatives experienced this same situation (teen pregnancy) when they were teenagers, which must be where he got such a strong personal connection to this subject. These relatives� stories “were hidden from even their closest family members for much of their lives. His love and respect for these women along with his horror at what they endured is likely to have fuelled his decision to explore this narrative from a from a teenage perspective, although it’s important to acknowledge the hundreds of thousands of women -not just teens- who endured these heartbreaking atrocities.� (Quote by Esta from her own comment section). It’s like this author **GETS IT**.

I grew up in the 70’s. I was old enough to understand what my older sisters were going through, when they all got pregnant as teens, and had to make some tough decisions. I saw how they, and others were treated by society, etc. And, I’ve been pregnant a few times myself, and at a young age. So I can honestly say, with full candor, that everything Hendrix writes from a pregnant teens� perspective is totally spot on, imo. Every last little bit of it, INCLUDING THE SMOKING. (My own mother smoked like a chimney, while right next to me in a twin sized bed, and just didn’t believe me when I said that doctors on tv said it was bad for me�. Man, the 70’s were wild..!)
Anyway, I loved every last little bit of this novel, and even though I struggled through the body horror of those deliveries, etc., it’s still a very profoundly well written novel.

Leslie Howard, Hillary Huber, and Sara Morsey are the narrators for the audiobook version of this novel. They were BRILLIANT. I unfortunately have no idea who played what parts, but this really short section of might give us all a little clue�?

� Howard captures Fern's innocence and growing strength with nuanced emotions and depth. Huber offers a contrasting rhythm, adding layers to the audiobook's structure. Morsey contributes emotional resonance and a reflective tone. Their combined performances enhance the narrative's tension, making it an unforgettable experience with vivid storytelling and a stand-out narration.�


I have to agree with AudioFile, and I adored this audiobook, and the narrations these women gave. It’s all so superbly well done.

PLEASE CHECK THE CONTENT WARNINGS Before reading this novel..!! There are some serious doozies in here, as you can well imagine. This link lists some of them, but has left off S.A. The body horror being the worst, plus blood, gore, and everything to do with babies. Most of the worst is off page, but still�:


I’m definitely going to purchase this novel soon, and reread it. It’s definitely worth it. Please consider trying it yourself, soon.

4.5 stars, and highly recommended.]]> 3.99 2025 Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, ive-got-to-purchase-this-book, slightly-less-than-most-fave
review:
I have to agree completely with Esta’s review of this novel, here on goodreads:

/review/show...

It is very gutsy for Grady Hendrix to even try to write a novel like this.. and in my opinion, he succeeds wonderfully. I think he did a fantastic job at showing the injustices women and girls face, and without being the slightest bit preachy either. I feel Hendrix pulled it off with care and nuance, and this novel really resonated with me.
This novel is a lot less campy than his usual writing, and that is exactly what’s needed for this story. And it still reads like a Hendrix novel. And the author perfectly captures the girls� youth and loss of innocence, as well as the power of their friendships. One can tell through his writing that Hendrix is a true ally, and that he has nothing but respect for women, and appreciation for all that they accomplish in life, without burning it all down around them because of the hurdles we face in our lives.
The ritual scenes were fantastic, though there could have been a little more witchcraft in this novel, somehow� and yet I kept being surprised that this novel wasn’t written by a woman.

Imagine my surprise when Esta (link above) reveals in her own comments that Hendrix himself has previously shared that two of his relatives experienced this same situation (teen pregnancy) when they were teenagers, which must be where he got such a strong personal connection to this subject. These relatives� stories “were hidden from even their closest family members for much of their lives. His love and respect for these women along with his horror at what they endured is likely to have fuelled his decision to explore this narrative from a from a teenage perspective, although it’s important to acknowledge the hundreds of thousands of women -not just teens- who endured these heartbreaking atrocities.� (Quote by Esta from her own comment section). It’s like this author **GETS IT**.

I grew up in the 70’s. I was old enough to understand what my older sisters were going through, when they all got pregnant as teens, and had to make some tough decisions. I saw how they, and others were treated by society, etc. And, I’ve been pregnant a few times myself, and at a young age. So I can honestly say, with full candor, that everything Hendrix writes from a pregnant teens� perspective is totally spot on, imo. Every last little bit of it, INCLUDING THE SMOKING. (My own mother smoked like a chimney, while right next to me in a twin sized bed, and just didn’t believe me when I said that doctors on tv said it was bad for me�. Man, the 70’s were wild..!)
Anyway, I loved every last little bit of this novel, and even though I struggled through the body horror of those deliveries, etc., it’s still a very profoundly well written novel.

Leslie Howard, Hillary Huber, and Sara Morsey are the narrators for the audiobook version of this novel. They were BRILLIANT. I unfortunately have no idea who played what parts, but this really short section of might give us all a little clue�?

� Howard captures Fern's innocence and growing strength with nuanced emotions and depth. Huber offers a contrasting rhythm, adding layers to the audiobook's structure. Morsey contributes emotional resonance and a reflective tone. Their combined performances enhance the narrative's tension, making it an unforgettable experience with vivid storytelling and a stand-out narration.�


I have to agree with AudioFile, and I adored this audiobook, and the narrations these women gave. It’s all so superbly well done.

PLEASE CHECK THE CONTENT WARNINGS Before reading this novel..!! There are some serious doozies in here, as you can well imagine. This link lists some of them, but has left off S.A. The body horror being the worst, plus blood, gore, and everything to do with babies. Most of the worst is off page, but still�:


I’m definitely going to purchase this novel soon, and reread it. It’s definitely worth it. Please consider trying it yourself, soon.

4.5 stars, and highly recommended.
]]> Retreat 215217614 A beautiful con artist insinuates herself into a wealthy socialite’s life . . . with deadly consequences, in this serpentine thriller about identity and obsession, from actress, director and bestselling author Krysten Ritter.

Liz Dawson weaves through a crowd with the ease of a tropical breeze, moving seamlessly through elite circles, sparking instant connections and making every new acquaintance feel like an intimate friend. She’s clever, smooth, and confident—qualities that make her a brilliant serial con artist.

Isabelle Beresford is strikingly beautiful, obscenely wealthy, and the new owner of Casa Esmerelda, a fabulous villa on the Mexican coast—attributes that make her the perfect mark. When she offers Liz a job handling the installation of a piece of art in her otherwise vacant home, Liz can’t resist the allure of a beach retreat. She longs for a reset, a chance to finally shed the grip of her addiction to the conning game.

But when Liz, with her lush dark hair and intense green eyes, is mistaken for Isabelle herself, Liz can’t help effortlessly slipping into the socialite’s identity. The transition is so easeful, it almost feels like fate. But just who is Isabelle Beresford really, and why does she seem to have abandoned this stunning life of hers?

As Liz insinuates herself deeper into the dazzling—and deceptive—world of the Punta Mita resort community, she draws closer to the dangers surrounding the real Isabelle. Dangers that may have already ensnared Liz, too. This might not be the con of her life—but the con that ends it.]]> 272 Krysten Ritter 0063334607 Stephanie 0 to-read 3.74 2025 Retreat
author: Krysten Ritter
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sour Candy 27687495
What no one knows is that Phil is a prisoner, and that up until a few weeks ago and a chance encounter at a grocery store, he had never seen the child before in his life.]]> 84 Kealan Patrick Burke Stephanie 3
Andrew Gibson is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. His voice for the kid made this audiobook all the better!

3.5 stars.]]> 3.61 2015 Sour Candy
author: Kealan Patrick Burke
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, short-story-or-novella
review:
Super weird and creepy. I really enjoyed it.

Andrew Gibson is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. His voice for the kid made this audiobook all the better!

3.5 stars.
]]> The Starlets 201335478
Vivienne Rhodes thinks she’s finally landed her break playing Helen in Apex Pictures� big-budget Troy epic, A Thousand Ships, an anticipated blockbuster meant to resurrect the failing studio. Naturally, she’s devastated when she arrives on the remote Italian island of Tavalli and finds herself cast as Cassandra—while her nemesis, the fiancée-stealing Lottie Lawrence, America’s supposed “sweetheart,� is headlining instead.

The tension on set, though, turns deadly when the ladies discover that members of the crew are using the production as a front for something decidedly illegal—and that they are willing to kill to keep their dealings under wraps. When the two women find themselves on the run and holding key evidence, Vivienne and Lottie frantically agree to work together to deliver the proof to Interpol, hoping to protect both their lives and their careers.

Staying one step ahead of corrupt cops and looming mobsters, the arch rivals flee across the seas. Their journey leads them into Monaco’s casinos, Grace Kelly’s palace, on a road trip through the Alps—even onto another film set, before a final showdown on Tavalli, where the lives of the entire cast and crew hang in the balance. Vivienne and Lottie finally have the chance to be real heroines—to save the day, the film, maybe even each other—but only if they can first figure out how to share the spotlight.]]> 336 Lee Kelly 1400240662 Stephanie 3
Gail Shalan - Narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. She was pretty great.

3.5 stars]]> 3.62 2024 The Starlets
author: Lee Kelly
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library
review:
This is a pretty fun, light read.

Gail Shalan - Narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. She was pretty great.

3.5 stars
]]> Fire Exit 197789783
From the porch of his home, Charles Lamosway has watched the life he might have had unfold across the river on Maine’s Penobscot Reservation. On the far bank, he caught brief moments of his neighbor Elizabeth’s life—from the day she came home from the hospital to her early twenties. But there’s always been something deeper and more dangerous than the river that divides him from her and the rest of the tribal community. It’s the secret that Elizabeth is his daughter, a secret Charles is no longer willing to keep.

Now, it’s been weeks since he’s seen Elizabeth, and Charles is worried. As he attempts to hold on to and care for what he can—his home and property; his alcoholic, quick-tempered, and bighearted friend Bobby; and his mother, Louise, who is slipping ever deeper into dementia—he becomes increasingly haunted by his past. Forced to confront a lost childhood on the reservation, a love affair cut short, and the death of his beloved stepfather, Fredrick, in a hunting accident—a death he and Louise are at odds over as to where to lay blame—Charles contends with questions he’s long been afraid to ask. Is his secret about Elizabeth his to share? And would his daughter want to know the truth, even if it could cost her everything she’s ever known?

From the award-winning author of Night of the Living Rez, Morgan Talty’s debut novel, Fire Exit, is a masterful and unforgettable story of family, legacy, bloodlines, culture and inheritance, and what, if anything, we owe one another]]> 243 Morgan Talty 1959030558 Stephanie 4
/review/show...

Darrell Dennis is the talented narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. You couldn’t have picked a better one for this novel, too. Kudos and thanks to everyone at Recorded Books, Inc., for the making of this audiobook. I really enjoyed it.

4 stars, and recommended.]]> 3.70 2024 Fire Exit
author: Morgan Talty
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library
review:
I was not sure what to expect from this novel, but I should have figured that I would start caring about the characters therein� I mean, it IS written by Morgan Talty. I also have to agree with my friend Emma, and her review here on goodreads. Except I didn’t find the experience “weird�, but more like fascinating:

/review/show...

Darrell Dennis is the talented narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. You couldn’t have picked a better one for this novel, too. Kudos and thanks to everyone at Recorded Books, Inc., for the making of this audiobook. I really enjoyed it.

4 stars, and recommended.
]]> Good Girls Don’t Die 122658643
Allie is supposed to be on a fun weekend trip―but then her friend's boyfriend unexpectedly invites the group to a remote cabin in the woods. The cabin looks recently assembled and there are no animals or other life anywhere in the forest. Nothing about the place seems right. Then, in the middle of the night, someone bangs on the cabin door�

Maggie, along with twelve other women, wakes up in a shipping container with the number three stamped on the back of her T-shirt. If she wants to see her daughter Paige again, Maggie must complete The Maze―a deadly high-stakes obstacle course.

Three women. Three stories. Only one way out...]]> 320 Christina Henry Stephanie 4
4 stars, and recommended.]]> 3.43 2023 Good Girls Don’t Die
author: Christina Henry
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/22
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library
review:
Lisa Flanagan - Narrator Of the audiobook version of this novel.

4 stars, and recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[Low-Hanging Fruit: Sparkling Whines, Champagne Problems, and Pressing Issues from My Gay Agenda]]> 203579009 A new essay collection by adored comedian and NYT bestseller Randy Rainbow Randy Rainbow has a few things on his mind that he wants to talk about. As a savvy social commentator tuned into the public discourse, his unfailing intuition tells him that the perspective everyone in America is clamoring for is that of a privileged white male complaining about a bunch of shit. While writing his NYT bestseller Playing With Myself, Randy saw an America in crisis. He knew that what the country needed to get back on its high heels was a hard-hitting gay agenda and here it is - Low Hanging Fruit - a book filled with sparkling whines, a few flutes of champagne problems and a Birkin bag of the most pressing issues facing the US, from dancing TikTok grandmas, to Elon Musk, the GOP, and Donald Jessica Trump. On the down low, Randy dishes up some sex talk about life on the dating apps, Craigslist hookups and more. (“Gurl, wait till you hear the story about the fireman and the goggles...�) Randy’s longtime companion, the glamorous Chinchilla Silver Persian cat Tippi, makes an appearance as she dishes about her life Chez Randy. And, in the most highly anticipated sequel since Top Maverick, Randy continues the conversation with his mother, Gwen, because who knows better than the Jewish mother of a gay man about how to solve America’s problems? Randy Rainbow’s Low Hanging Fruit � a bold manifesto for a nation desperately in need of a makeover.]]> 224 Randy Rainbow 1250327148 Stephanie 4 Again, Randy should narrate their own audiobooks (except where Gwen and Tippi speak, of course). And Randy should always include his wonderful mother, and his totally adorable cat.

Thank you Macmillan Audio, and everyone involved in the making of this audiobook. I really enjoyed it a great deal.

4 stars, and recommended.]]> 3.71 Low-Hanging Fruit: Sparkling Whines, Champagne Problems, and Pressing Issues from My Gay Agenda
author: Randy Rainbow
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.71
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/20
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library
review:
Another great novel by Randy Rainbow. Luckily, this one didn’t reduce me to tears (r.i.p. mushie!). But, Randy’s mother, Gwen makes a comeback in this audiobook, and also Randy’s new cat Tippi, who is voiced by someone familiar sounding, but who didn’t get mentioned at all, anywhere I can find. It was very adorable.
Again, Randy should narrate their own audiobooks (except where Gwen and Tippi speak, of course). And Randy should always include his wonderful mother, and his totally adorable cat.

Thank you Macmillan Audio, and everyone involved in the making of this audiobook. I really enjoyed it a great deal.

4 stars, and recommended.
]]> The Lost House 211004069 In Melissa Larsen's The Lost House comes the mesmerizing story of a young woman with a haunting past who returns to her ancestral home in Iceland to investigate a gruesome murder in her family.

Forty years ago, a young woman and her infant daughter were found buried in the cold Icelandic snow, lying together as peacefully as though sleeping. Except the mother’s throat had been slashed and the infant drowned. The case was never solved. There were no arrests, no conviction. Just a suspicion turned into a the husband did it. When he took his son and fled halfway across the world to California, it was proof enough of his guilt.

Now, nearly half a century later and a year after his death, his granddaughter, Agnes, is ready to clear her grandfather’s name once and for all. Still recovering from his death and a devastating injury, Agnes wants nothing more than an excuse to escape the shambles of her once-stable life—which is why she so readily accepts true crime expert Nora Carver’s invitation to be interviewed for her popular podcast. Agnes packs a bag and hops on a last-minute flight to the remote town of Bifröst, Iceland, where Nora is staying, where Agnes’s father grew up, and where, supposedly, her grandfather slaughtered his wife and infant daughter.

Is it merely coincidence that a local girl goes missing the very same weekend Agnes arrives? Suddenly, Agnes and Nora’s investigation is turned upside down, and everyone in the small Icelandic town is once again a suspect. Seeking to unearth old and new truths alike, Agnes finds herself drawn into a web of secrets that threaten the redemption she is hell-bent on delivering, and even her life—discovering how far a person will go to protect their family, their safety, and their secrets.

Set against an unforgiving Icelandic winter landscape, The Lost House is a chilling and razor-sharp thriller packed with jaw-dropping twists that will leave you breathless.]]> 352 Melissa Larsen 1250332877 Stephanie 3
The truly talented Saskia Maarleveld is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. Her talent and skills kept me coming back to the audiobook when I just wanted to skip it. I truly hope your next job is a really fantastic novel, ma’am. You deserve it.

3 stars, barely.]]> 3.49 2025 The Lost House
author: Melissa Larsen
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/20
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, it-was-ok, wish-it-had-been-better
review:
The premise of this novel drew me in, but I was never able to connect with a single character in this novel, not even the MC. It took me four days to get through because it ended up being a bit of a slog to get through to the ending. And the ending was lackluster. I also kept getting some of the characters names mixed up, but that’s a me problem, not the author’s. I just wish this novel had been better.

The truly talented Saskia Maarleveld is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. Her talent and skills kept me coming back to the audiobook when I just wanted to skip it. I truly hope your next job is a really fantastic novel, ma’am. You deserve it.

3 stars, barely.
]]> What Does It Feel Like? 214312329
“What Does It Feel Like? is fiction, but it is my most autobiographical work to date. Eve’s story is my story.”—Sophie Kinsella

Eve is a successful novelist who wakes up one day in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there. Her husband, never far from her side, explains that she has had an operation to remove the large, malignant tumor growing in her brain.

As Eve learns to walk, talk, and write again—and as she wrestles with her diagnosis, and how and when to explain it to her beloved children—she begins to recall what’s most important to her: long walks with her husband’s hand clasped firmly around her own, family game nights, and always buying that dress when she sees it.

Recounted in brief anecdotes, each one is an attempt to answer the type of impossible questions recognizable to anyone navigating the labyrinth of grief. This short, extraordinary novel is a celebration of life, shot through with warmth and humor—it will both break your heart and put it back together again.

“Why did I write such a personal book? I have always processed my life through writing. Hiding behind my fictional characters, I have always turned my own life into a narrative. It is my version of therapy, maybe. Writing is my happy place, and writing this book, although tough going at times, was immensely satisfying and therapeutic for me.”—Sophie Kinsella]]> 144 Sophie Kinsella 0593977564 Stephanie 4
Sophie Kinsella’s news:

Sally Phillips is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and she was splendid.

4 stars, and recommended.]]> 4.25 2024 What Does It Feel Like?
author: Sophie Kinsella
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, short-story-or-novella
review:
“And right at that moment, this is her only aim in life, the only happy ending she wants. Just to keep going.�

Sophie Kinsella’s news:

Sally Phillips is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and she was splendid.

4 stars, and recommended.
]]> This Cursed House 205064715 In this Southern gothic horror debut, a young Black woman abandons her life in 1960s Chicago for a position with a mysterious family in New Orleans, only to discover the dark truth. They’re under a curse, and they think she can break it.

In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago—and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over.

But Jemma discovers that the Duchon family isn’t what it seems. Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma. Their tenuous hold on reality extends to all the members of their eccentric clan, from haughty grandmother Honorine to beautiful yet inscrutable cousin Fosette.And soon the shocking truth comes The Duchons are under a curse. And they think Jemma has the power to break it.

As Jemma wrestles with the gift she’s run from all her life, she unravels deeper and more disturbing secrets about the mysterious Duchons. Secrets that stretch back over a century. Secrets that bind her to their fate if she fails.]]> 384 Del Sandeen 0593639529 Stephanie 4
Maren’s Reads: /review/show...

Chante� McCormick is the phenomenal narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. I hadn’t listened to McCormick before, and that’s my loss. I hope she has a long and satisfying career in the narration business. Kudos to everyone who worked on this project at Books On Tape.

4 stars, and highly recommended.]]> 3.62 2024 This Cursed House
author: Del Sandeen
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library
review:
What a fantastic debut novel..! I enjoyed every bit of it.

Maren’s Reads: /review/show...

Chante� McCormick is the phenomenal narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. I hadn’t listened to McCormick before, and that’s my loss. I hope she has a long and satisfying career in the narration business. Kudos to everyone who worked on this project at Books On Tape.

4 stars, and highly recommended.
]]> The Frozen People 220239095 Cold cases are a lot easier to solve when you can travel back in time to find new evidence—unless, that is, you get stuck in the nineteenth century.

Ali Dawson and her cold case team investigate crimes so old they’re frozen—or so their inside joke goes. Ali’s work seems like a safe desk job, but what her friends—and even her beloved son—don’t know is that her team has a secret: They can travel back in time to look for evidence.

So far Ali has made trips only to the recent past, so she’s surprised when she’s asked to investigate a murder that took place in 1850. The killing has been pinned on an aristocratic patron of the arts and antiquities, a member of a sinister group called "The Collectors." She arrives in the Victorian era during a mini ice age to find another dead woman at her feet and far too many unanswered questions. But when her son is arrested, Ali attempts to return home only to find herself trapped in 1850.]]> 304 Elly Griffiths 0593834372 Stephanie 0 to-read 3.89 2025 The Frozen People
author: Elly Griffiths
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Invisible Helix (Detective Galileo, #5)]]> 203578772 Detective Galileo, Keigo Higashino’s best loved character from The Devotion of Suspect X, returns in a case where hidden history, an impossible crime, are linked by nearly invisible threads in surprising ways.

The body of a young man is found floating in Tokyo Bay. But his death was no accident—Ryota Uetsuji was shot. He'd been reported missing the week before by his live-in girlfriend Sonoka Shimauchi, but when detectives from the Homicide Squad go to interview her, she is nowhere to be found. She's taken time off from work, clothes and effects are missing from the apartment she shared. And when the detectives learn that she was the victim of domestic abuse, they presume that she was the killer. But her alibi is airtight—she was hours away in Kyoto when Ryota disappeared, forcing Detectives Kusanagi and Utsumi to restart their investigation.

But if Sonoko didn't kill her abusive lover, then who did? A thin thread of association leads them to their old consultant, brilliant physicist Manabu Yukawa, known in the department as "Detective Galileo." With Sonoko still missing, the detectives investigate other threads of association—an eccentric artist, who was Sonoko's mother figure after her own single mother passed; and an older woman who is the owner of a hostess club. And how is Sonoko continuing to stay one step ahead of the police searching for her? It's up to Galileo to find the nearly hidden threads of history and coincidence that connect the people around the bloody murder- which, surprisingly, connect to his own traumatic past—to unravel not merely the facts of the crime but the helix that ties them all together.]]> 288 Keigo Higashino 1250875560 Stephanie 4
4 stars, and recommended. You must read the series in order.]]> 3.68 2021 Invisible Helix (Detective Galileo, #5)
author: Keigo Higashino
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, part-of-a-series
review:
Davis Shih is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel.

4 stars, and recommended. You must read the series in order.
]]> Last to Leave the Room 65213922 Last to Leave the Room is a new novel of genre-busting speculative horror from Caitlin Starling, the acclaimed author of The Death of Jane Lawrence.

The city of San Siroco is sinking. The basement belonging to Dr. Tamsin Rivers, the arrogant, selfish head of the research team assigned to find the source of the subsidence, is sinking faster.

As Tamsin grows obsessed with the distorting dimensions of the room at the bottom of the stairs, she finds a door that didn’t exist before � and one night, it opens to reveal an exact physical copy of her. This doppelgänger is sweet and biddable where Tamsin is calculating and cruel. It appears fully, terribly human, passing every test Tamsin can devise. But the longer the double exists, the more Tamsin begins to forget pieces of her life, to lose track of time, to grow terrified of the outside world.

With her employer growing increasingly suspicious, Tamsin must try to hold herself together long enough to figure out what her double wants from her, and just where the mysterious door leads to.]]> 312 Caitlin Starling 1250282616 Stephanie 4
I adored this novel. It hit all the right buttons for me, and I was held rapturously in its thrall, while listening to the dulcet tones of Xe Sands� beautiful narrations. Everything worked, and perfectly. It’s a page-turning genre-buster, that I thought was carefully plotted and deeply frightening, with unexpected heart. I was unsettled quite a few times, I got the creeping chills a couple times, and I loved every moment of this novel. Starling is a genius at her craft, no matter what genre she writes. I cannot possibly wait to see what she can come up with, next!

As mentioned, Xe Sands is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and she is glorious. I couldn’t possibly have picked a better narrator if my life depended on it. Kudos to everyone for the making of this audiobook, as I am now a giant fan. I’m also going to purchase this novel to listen to again, soon.

4.5 stars, and if you’re don’t read this novel, you are a chicken! ]]> 3.53 2023 Last to Leave the Room
author: Caitlin Starling
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/12
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, slightly-less-than-most-fave
review:
CONTENT WAENINGS: Suicidal thoughts, eye gore/loss, body horror, violence, blood, assault, Ableism, intimidation, Big Brother-type monitoring, mental illness, Descriptions of agoraphobia, Ambiguous hallucinations/descriptions of uncertain reality or sanity, unreliable narrator, Toxic relationship, manipulation, on page surgery without anesthesia, intermittent memory loss, Mild references to threat/risk of institutionalization, Abusive workplace dynamics, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, drug use, mention of animal death off page, vom, and Injury/Injury detail.

I adored this novel. It hit all the right buttons for me, and I was held rapturously in its thrall, while listening to the dulcet tones of Xe Sands� beautiful narrations. Everything worked, and perfectly. It’s a page-turning genre-buster, that I thought was carefully plotted and deeply frightening, with unexpected heart. I was unsettled quite a few times, I got the creeping chills a couple times, and I loved every moment of this novel. Starling is a genius at her craft, no matter what genre she writes. I cannot possibly wait to see what she can come up with, next!

As mentioned, Xe Sands is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and she is glorious. I couldn’t possibly have picked a better narrator if my life depended on it. Kudos to everyone for the making of this audiobook, as I am now a giant fan. I’m also going to purchase this novel to listen to again, soon.

4.5 stars, and if you’re don’t read this novel, you are a chicken!
]]> The Night Guest 127306444
Iðunn is in yet another doctor's office. She knows her constant fatigue is a sign that something's not right, but practitioners dismiss her symptoms and blood tests haven't revealed any cause.

When she talks to friends and family about it, the refrain is the same � have you tried eating better? exercising more? establishing a nighttime routine? She tries to follow their advice, buying everything from vitamins to sleeping pills to a step-counting watch. Nothing helps.

Until one night Iðunn falls asleep with the watch on, and wakes up to find she’s walked over 40,000 steps in the night . . .

What is happening when she’s asleep? Why is she waking up with increasingly disturbing injuries? And why won’t anyone believe her?]]> 197 Hildur Knútsdóttir 1250322049 Stephanie 3
I was hooked from the beginning of this novel, and felt so deeply for the main character’s plight at the doctors offices, trying to find a diagnosis for what was happening to her. (If only I had a dollar for every time I was treated the exact same way, by some older male doctor�.!). Things come to a head much too quickly in this novella, and then there is the ending�. Which I didn’t understand at all. Did I miss something? I have no idea. And I’m much too exhausted from insomnia to try and figure this meaning out.
Ah well, this novella was fun while it lasted..! I wish it were longer, and we the readers had for background information, and things like that.

Mary Robinette Kowal is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novella, and she was fantastic. Her pronunciations of all those names was enchanting, and I loved it. Kudos to everyone involved in the making of this project at Macmillan Audio.

3 stars. Check out more of those content warnings before reading!]]> 3.30 2021 The Night Guest
author: Hildur Knútsdóttir
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, it-was-ok, scribd, short-story-or-novella
review:
CONTENT WARNING: animal deaths

I was hooked from the beginning of this novel, and felt so deeply for the main character’s plight at the doctors offices, trying to find a diagnosis for what was happening to her. (If only I had a dollar for every time I was treated the exact same way, by some older male doctor�.!). Things come to a head much too quickly in this novella, and then there is the ending�. Which I didn’t understand at all. Did I miss something? I have no idea. And I’m much too exhausted from insomnia to try and figure this meaning out.
Ah well, this novella was fun while it lasted..! I wish it were longer, and we the readers had for background information, and things like that.

Mary Robinette Kowal is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novella, and she was fantastic. Her pronunciations of all those names was enchanting, and I loved it. Kudos to everyone involved in the making of this project at Macmillan Audio.

3 stars. Check out more of those content warnings before reading!
]]> Hot Wax 224103430 The new novel from the bestselling author of If We Were Villains and Graveyard Shift—a vivid and immersive tale of one woman’s reckless mission to make sense of the events that shattered her childhood, and made her who she is

Summer, 1989: ten-year-old Suzanne is drawn like a magnet to her father’s forbidden world of electric guitars and tricked-out cars. When her mother remarries, she jumps at the chance to tag along on the concert tour that just might be Gil and the Kills� wild ride to glory. But fame has sharper fangs than anybody realized, and as the band blazes up the charts, internal power struggles set Gil and his group on a collision course destined for a bloody reckoning—one shrouded in mystery and lore for decades to come.

The only witness to a desperate act of violence, Suzanne spends the next twenty-nine years trying to disappear. She trades the music and mayhem of her youth for the quiet of the suburbs and the company of her mild-mannered husband Rob. But when her father’s sudden death resurrects the troubled past she tried so hard to bury, she leaves it all behind and hits the road in search of answers. Hitching her fate and Gil’s beloved car to two vagabonds who call an old Airstream trailer home, she finds everything she thought she’d lost desire, adventure, and the woman she once wanted to be. But Rob refuses to let her go. Determined to bring her back where she belongs, he chases her across the country—and drives her to a desperation all her own.

Drenched in knock-down drag-out rock and roll, Hot Wax is a raucous, breakneck ride to hell and back—where getting lost might be the only way to find yourself and save your soul.]]> 400 M.L. Rio 1668070022 Stephanie 0 to-read 3.85 2025 Hot Wax
author: M.L. Rio
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Cut and Run 53352118
Samantha, a professional con artist, uses her charms to steal kidneys from bad people and get them to good ones. Abe, Sam’s surgeon-in-crime on their illicit kidney theft operation, is using unfettered access to the human body to advance his research to cure diabetes. This gig is hell on their social lives.

This hilarious and twisted Audible Original tale features just about everything you could hope for: crime, punishment, law, order, love, romance, air travel, Ed Begley Jr., and a quinceañera.]]> 3 Ben Acker Stephanie 3
Narrators include: Meg Ryan, D’Arcy Carden, Sam Richardson, Rachel Bloom, Thomas Lennon, Ed Begley Jr., Eugene Cordero, Baron Vaughn, Carlos Alazraqui, Arturo del Puerto, Dustin Ybarra, Aaron Abrams, Ginger Gonzaga, Greg Santos, Oscar Montoya, Roberta Valderrama, Shulie Cowen. (Any misspellings of names is unintentional, and completely my fault).

3 stars.]]> 3.49 2020 Cut and Run
author: Ben Acker
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: 2025, audible-channels, audiobooks, it-was-ok
review:
It was quite cute, kind of fun, and the full cast narration was the best part. The song at the end of the audiobook (“Dynamite Lady�) was just ok. Sorry!

Narrators include: Meg Ryan, D’Arcy Carden, Sam Richardson, Rachel Bloom, Thomas Lennon, Ed Begley Jr., Eugene Cordero, Baron Vaughn, Carlos Alazraqui, Arturo del Puerto, Dustin Ybarra, Aaron Abrams, Ginger Gonzaga, Greg Santos, Oscar Montoya, Roberta Valderrama, Shulie Cowen. (Any misspellings of names is unintentional, and completely my fault).

3 stars.
]]> When You Disappeared 34884315
Catherine knows Simon must be in trouble. He wouldn't just leave her. He wouldn't leave the children.

But Simon knows the truth - about why he left and what he's done. He knows things about his marriage that it would kill Catherine to find out. The memories she holds onto are lies.

While Catherine faces a dark new reality at home, Simon's halfway around the world, alive and thriving. He's doing whatever it takes to stay one step ahead of the truth.

But he can't hide forever, and when he reappears twenty-five years later, Catherine will finally learn who he is.

And wish she'd stayed in the dark.

Revised edition: Previously published as The Wronged Sons, this edition of When You Disappeared includes editorial revisions.]]> 349 John Marrs 1477828834 Stephanie 3 It’s dark and twisted, and unlike most of Marrs� other works I’ve read and loved. Not twisted in a ‘yay, this novel has so many twisty-turns, you’ll never see what’s coming next..!� But seriously one of the characters is an egotistical maniac, so it gets pretty damn twisted. I finished it, but now I’m wondering why I did. It didn’t make me feel any better for finishing it� fantastic writing though.

Simon Mattacks and Elizabeth Knowelden are the wonderful narrators for the audiobook version of this novel. They should get an award for being able to get through it, and not be damaged somehow. Great job, guys. And I hope you’re ok.

3 stars, and not recommended because it’s too much for most people to handle, I think.]]> 3.94 2013 When You Disappeared
author: John Marrs
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, it-was-ok, owned, owned-2, wish-it-had-been-better
review:
This novel has so many content warnings it’s unreal. It literally skirted the edges of what I could possibly tolerate, and Ican handle a lot. PLEASE google those content warnings before reading/listening to this novel!
It’s dark and twisted, and unlike most of Marrs� other works I’ve read and loved. Not twisted in a ‘yay, this novel has so many twisty-turns, you’ll never see what’s coming next..!� But seriously one of the characters is an egotistical maniac, so it gets pretty damn twisted. I finished it, but now I’m wondering why I did. It didn’t make me feel any better for finishing it� fantastic writing though.

Simon Mattacks and Elizabeth Knowelden are the wonderful narrators for the audiobook version of this novel. They should get an award for being able to get through it, and not be damaged somehow. Great job, guys. And I hope you’re ok.

3 stars, and not recommended because it’s too much for most people to handle, I think.
]]> No Kindness Too Soon 114556255
What kind of message would you have sent into space?

I wouldn’t have.

Why not?

Because they might hear it, and then they might come.

A mysterious radio signal is picked up from a neighboring star system. A group of experts is brought to the floor of the Grand Canyon to investigate its origin and its meaning as the planet suffers one natural disaster after another. Cut off from the rest of the world, they must question everything, including each other, if they hope to solve the mystery.

What they discover could be the difference between life as we know it—and the end of the world.]]> Sylvain Neuvel Stephanie 4
“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.� - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I thought it was very well written, about an interesting premise and with a great cast of characters. I also thought that this plot really turns a lot of scifi first contact tropes on their head. But I absolutely loved how is called into question many of the actions that NASA and other officials took to initiate first contact. I mean, now that Neuvel explained it to me (through one of his characters), it makes total sense! And I never would have thought of that, either� so thank you for clueing me in!
I think this novella would make a great movie, and I hope it gets picked up soon for this. It has a wonderful message, and I hope more people read this novella, and GET it.

My favorite part is that the audiobook is fully immersive, with transmissions between characters, and some added music as well. I mean, besides the FULL CAST narration, of course� ]]> 3.72 No Kindness Too Soon
author: Sylvain Neuvel
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.72
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/07
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, audible-channels, owned, owned-2, short-story-or-novella
review:
I read somewhere that this novella was based on this quote:

“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.� - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I thought it was very well written, about an interesting premise and with a great cast of characters. I also thought that this plot really turns a lot of scifi first contact tropes on their head. But I absolutely loved how is called into question many of the actions that NASA and other officials took to initiate first contact. I mean, now that Neuvel explained it to me (through one of his characters), it makes total sense! And I never would have thought of that, either� so thank you for clueing me in!
I think this novella would make a great movie, and I hope it gets picked up soon for this. It has a wonderful message, and I hope more people read this novella, and GET it.

My favorite part is that the audiobook is fully immersive, with transmissions between characters, and some added music as well. I mean, besides the FULL CAST narration, of course�
]]> <![CDATA[Constituent Service: A Third District Story]]> 219359162 The aliens are here . . . and they want municipal services!

Ashley Perrin is fresh out of college and starting a job as a community liaison for the Third District—the city’s only sector with more alien residents than humans. Ashley’s barely found where the paper clips are kept when she’s beset with constituent complaints–from too much noise at the Annual Lupidian Celebration Parade to a trip-and-fall chicken to a very particular type of alien hornet that threatens the very city itself.

And if that’s not terrifying enough, Ashley is next up at the office karaoke night.

It's Parks and Recreation meets the Federation of Planets in this fast and funny audio exclusive by Hugo Award winner and Audible best seller John Scalzi.]]> 3 John Scalzi Stephanie 3
3.5 stars.]]> 3.85 2024 Constituent Service: A Third District Story
author: John Scalzi
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, owned, owned-2, part-of-a-series, short-story-or-novella
review:
Amber Benson is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel.

3.5 stars.
]]> The Lake House 21104828 June 1933, and sixteen-year-old Alice Edevane is preparing for her family's Midsummer Eve party at their country home, Loeanneth. But by the time midnight strikes and fireworks light up the night skies, the Edevane family will have suffered a loss so great that they leave Loeanneth forever.

A missing child...
Seventy years later, after a particularly troubling case, Detective Sadie Sparrow retreats to her beloved grandfather's cottage in Cornwall. Once there, she stumbles upon an abandoned house, and learns the story of a baby boy who disappeared without a trace.

An unsolved mystery...
Meanwhile, in her elegant Hampstead home, the formidable Alice Edevane, now an old lady, leads a life as neatly plotted as the bestselling detective novels she writes. Until a young police detective starts asking questions about her family's past, seeking to resurrect the complex tangle of secrets Alice has spent her life trying to escape...]]> 495 Kate Morton Stephanie 3 I have to say this novel really dragged on, at some points. It’s atmospheric, and the romance was very light thank goodness, as I’m not in the mood for that. It’s quite cleverly plotted, but it contains this huge cast, and so I had problems keeping people straight. As a comfort read, it contains little suspense, and plenty of red herrings, some of which you may see coming beforehand, like I did. But there are too many unnecessary recollections, it’s way too descriptive imo, and this formula has been recycled too much for my enjoyment. But there was just enough interest in me to keep listening to the very end, so I could finally find out what happened to little Theo�.where I found the ending a little too neatly tied up for my tastes, and I felt the story was a tad flat, and that I had been disconnected from the main (or any) characters all along.

Caroline Lee is the talented narrator of the audiobook version of this novel. And she was so very good! Kudos to everyone involved in the making of this project.

3 stars]]> 4.04 2015 The Lake House
author: Kate Morton
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, it-was-ok, owned, owned-2
review:
This is my first Kate Morton novel, and I’m glad to know it’s not her best, because now that I am done, I am a little underwhelmed with it. The audiobook had been waiting in my audible tbr pile for some time, and I must have bought it on sale because usually this length of novel I usually only buy from authors I know I’m going to love, like as a sure thing. I obviously didn’t check out the audiobook’s length before diving in, as that 20 hour span is daunting, to say the least. But ai was in a weird reading slump, and it just sounded good at the time, I guess.
I have to say this novel really dragged on, at some points. It’s atmospheric, and the romance was very light thank goodness, as I’m not in the mood for that. It’s quite cleverly plotted, but it contains this huge cast, and so I had problems keeping people straight. As a comfort read, it contains little suspense, and plenty of red herrings, some of which you may see coming beforehand, like I did. But there are too many unnecessary recollections, it’s way too descriptive imo, and this formula has been recycled too much for my enjoyment. But there was just enough interest in me to keep listening to the very end, so I could finally find out what happened to little Theo�.where I found the ending a little too neatly tied up for my tastes, and I felt the story was a tad flat, and that I had been disconnected from the main (or any) characters all along.

Caroline Lee is the talented narrator of the audiobook version of this novel. And she was so very good! Kudos to everyone involved in the making of this project.

3 stars
]]> The Bewitching 220458657 Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multigenerational horror saga from the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic.

“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches�: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva—stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales.

In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay’s most famous novel, The Vanishing, was inspired by a true story: Decades earlier, during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

As Minerva descends ever deeper into Tremblay’s manuscript, she begins to sense that the malign force that stalked Tremblay and the missing girl might still walk the halls of the campus. These disturbing events also echo the stories Nana Alba told about her girlhood in 1900s Mexico, where she had a terrifying encounter with a witch.

Minerva suspects that the same shadow that darkened the lives of her great-grandmother and Beatrice Tremblay is now threatening her own in 1990s Massachusetts. An academic career can be a punishing pursuit, but it might turn outright deadly when witchcraft is involved.]]> 368 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0593874323 Stephanie 0 to-read 4.35 2025 The Bewitching
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> You Killed Me First 212376504 Three women. Three smouldering secrets. Who will make it out alive?

It’s 5 November, and a woman awakens to a nightmare. Bound and gagged, she lies trapped in the heart of a towering bonfire. As the smoke thickens, panic sets in � she’s moments away from being engulfed in flames. How did it come to this?

Rewind eleven months: Margot, a faded TV star, and her long-suffering friend Anna watch as glamorous Liv and her flawless family move into their street. The three women soon fabricate the perfect pretence of friendship, but each harbours her own deadly secret � and newcomer Liv senses something is terribly wrong beneath the polished exteriors.

As cracks widen in the veneer of perfection and lies escalate out of control, tension ignites. Bonfire Night is approaching and someone is set to burn…But who will it be?]]> 368 John Marrs 1662506503 Stephanie 0 to-read 4.12 2025 You Killed Me First
author: John Marrs
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Ushers 218362004 A young man who has improbably escaped death twice reveals his secret in a spine-tingling short story by New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill.

Martin Lorensen is a twenty-three-year-old counselor for disturbed teenagers. He’s bright, compassionate, attractive, and outgoing. He’s also—and this is the most interesting thing—not dead. Martin has improbably survived not one but two deadly disasters that claimed dozens of lives. The kid is riding one hell of a lucky streak. Two federal agents think there is something darker at play. Now that they’ve arranged to interview Martin, they want answers. Martin is ready to share everything he knows. One thing is for certain: when it comes to escaping death, luck doesn’t figure into it at all.]]> 29 Joe Hill 1662527942 Stephanie 4
Leon Nixon is the Narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and he was perfect for this job. Kudos to everyone involved in the making of this project.

4 stars, and recommended.]]> 4.23 2024 Ushers
author: Joe Hill
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, owned, owned-2, short-story-or-novella
review:
Too short and slightly predictable, but still really good. I *almost* got the chills, at one point. Great job, Hill!

Leon Nixon is the Narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and he was perfect for this job. Kudos to everyone involved in the making of this project.

4 stars, and recommended.
]]> The Phoenix Crown 64417401
San Francisco, 1906. In a city bustling with newly minted millionaires and scheming upstarts, two very different women hope to change their fortunes: Gemma, a golden-haired, silver-voiced soprano whose career desperately needs rekindling, and Suling, a petite and resolute Chinatown embroideress who is determined to escape an arranged marriage. Their paths cross when they are drawn into the orbit of Henry Thornton, a charming railroad magnate whose extraordinary collection of Chinese antiques includes the fabled Phoenix Crown, a legendary relic of Beijing’s fallen Summer Palace.

His patronage offers Gemma and Suling the chance of a lifetime, but their lives are thrown into turmoil when a devastating earthquake rips San Francisco apart and Thornton disappears, leaving behind a mystery reaching further than anyone could have imagined . . . until the Phoenix Crown reappears five years later at a sumptuous Paris costume ball, drawing Gemma and Suling together in one last desperate quest for justice.]]> 384 Kate Quinn 0063304732 Stephanie 4 While it may be somewhat formulaic, like many of you reviewers have mentioned, I still enjoyed this novel a great deal. I liked the characters, the setting, all the locations and the real history included in it. Needlework being close to my heart, I adored that part of it most of all.
Alice Eastwood is a fascinating character in this novel, and I would love to know much more about her life, and how she worked. I hope Quinn will write about her more, one day.

In the audiobook, it is mentioned that both authors have a Book Club section on their websites that include this novel. In that section of the website, you can find many cool and interesting things, such as the recipes Kate Quinn includes, a playlist on Spotify that includes the arias mentioned in this novel, and a list of further reading. On Janie Chang’s website/book club/section, you will find a truly fascinating photo gallery, with pictures of Phoenix crowns from museums, grand homes of California, pics of Chinatown and France, and maps of the areas mentioned in this novel, among other things. (Links below). I loved that, and it would be super cool if more authors included these kinds of things from their research into their novel’s backstories, subjects and locations.

Saskia Maarleveld and Katharine Chin are the narrators for the audiobook version of this novel. I’ve adored Maarleveld’s work for some time now, and will always extol her virtues and talents to the heavens. I also love Chin’s narration skills, as she narrated all three novels of Edward Ashton’s - “Mickey 7� series, which I recommend.
Great job both of you narrators, and kudos to everyone involved in the making of this audiobook.

Janie Chang:

Kate Quinn:

3.5 stars, and recommended. Rounded up because goodreads doesn’t do halfsies.]]> 3.76 2024 The Phoenix Crown
author: Kate Quinn
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/01
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library
review:
I absolutely adore Kate Quinn’s historical novels that are set around WW2, so I was thrilled when I found that she and author Janie Chang wrote this novel together. I haven’t read anything by Ms. Chang, but I am definitely going to check out her work at my local library, now.
While it may be somewhat formulaic, like many of you reviewers have mentioned, I still enjoyed this novel a great deal. I liked the characters, the setting, all the locations and the real history included in it. Needlework being close to my heart, I adored that part of it most of all.
Alice Eastwood is a fascinating character in this novel, and I would love to know much more about her life, and how she worked. I hope Quinn will write about her more, one day.

In the audiobook, it is mentioned that both authors have a Book Club section on their websites that include this novel. In that section of the website, you can find many cool and interesting things, such as the recipes Kate Quinn includes, a playlist on Spotify that includes the arias mentioned in this novel, and a list of further reading. On Janie Chang’s website/book club/section, you will find a truly fascinating photo gallery, with pictures of Phoenix crowns from museums, grand homes of California, pics of Chinatown and France, and maps of the areas mentioned in this novel, among other things. (Links below). I loved that, and it would be super cool if more authors included these kinds of things from their research into their novel’s backstories, subjects and locations.

Saskia Maarleveld and Katharine Chin are the narrators for the audiobook version of this novel. I’ve adored Maarleveld’s work for some time now, and will always extol her virtues and talents to the heavens. I also love Chin’s narration skills, as she narrated all three novels of Edward Ashton’s - “Mickey 7� series, which I recommend.
Great job both of you narrators, and kudos to everyone involved in the making of this audiobook.

Janie Chang:

Kate Quinn:

3.5 stars, and recommended. Rounded up because goodreads doesn’t do halfsies.
]]> The Starving Saints 217896248 From the nationally bestselling author of The Luminous Dead and The Death of Jane Lawrence, a transfixing, intensely atmospheric fever dream of medieval horror.

Aymar Castle has been under siege for six months. Food is running low and there has been no sign of rescue. But just as the survivors consider deliberately thinning their number, the castle stores are replenished. The sick are healed. And the divine figures of the Constant Lady and her Saints have arrived, despite the barricaded gates, offering succor in return for adoration.

Soon, the entire castle is under the sway of their saviors, partaking in intoxicating feasts of terrible origin. The war hero Ser Voyne gives her allegiance to the Constant Lady. Phosyne, a disorganized, paranoid nun-turned-sorceress, races to unravel the mystery of these new visitors and exonerate her experiments as their source. And in the bowels of the castle, a serving girl, Treila, is torn between her thirst for a secret vengeance against Voyne and the desperate need to escape from the horrors that are unfolding within Aymar’s walls.

As the castle descends into bacchanalian madness—forgetting the massed army beyond its walls in favor of hedonistic ecstasy—these three women are the only ones to still see their situation for what it is. But they are not immune from the temptations of the castle’s new masters� or each other; and their shifting alliances and entangled pasts bring violence to the surface. To save the castle, and themselves, will take a reimagining of who they are, and a reorganization of the very world itself.]]> 352 Caitlin Starling 0063418819 Stephanie 0 to-read 4.02 2025 The Starving Saints
author: Caitlin Starling
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> House of Bone and Rain 203163914 In the latest from Shirley Jackson and Bram Stoker Award-winning author of THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME, a group of five teenage boys, living in Puerto Rico, seek vengeance after one of their mothers is murdered; a doomed tale of devotion and the afterlife of violence.

For childhood friends Gabe, Xavier, Tavo, Paul, and Bimbo, death has always been close. Hurricanes. Car accidents. Gang violence. Suicide. Estamos rodeados de fantasmas was Gabe’s grandmother’s refrain. We are surrounded by ghosts. But this time is different. Bimbo's mom has been shot dead. We’re gonna kill the guys who killed her Bimbo swears. And they all agree.

Feral with grief, Bimbo has become unrecognizable, taking no prisoners in his search for names. Soon, they learn Maria was gunned down by guys working for the drug kingpin of Puerto Rico. No one has ever gone up against him and survived. As the boys strategize, a storm gathers far from the coast. Hurricanes are known to carry evil spirits in their currents and bring them ashore, spirits which impose their own order.

Blurring the boundaries between myth, mysticism, and the grim realities of our world, House of Bone and Rain is a harrowing coming of age story; a doomed tale of devotion, the afterlife of violence, and what rolls in on the tide.]]> 345 Gabino Iglesias 0316427012 Stephanie 4
Jean-Marc Berne is the talented narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. I hope he has a very long career in the narrating world. Kudos to everyone for the making of this audiobook.

4 stars, and recommended.]]> 3.84 2024 House of Bone and Rain
author: Gabino Iglesias
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/30
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library
review:
I now need to read everything else Gabino Iglesias has written. Holy shit, he is amazing. Be warned gentle reader, there is butt tons of violence, gore and blood in this novel.

Jean-Marc Berne is the talented narrator for the audiobook version of this novel. I hope he has a very long career in the narrating world. Kudos to everyone for the making of this audiobook.

4 stars, and recommended.
]]> Iced 60685324
Seven years ago, Miles Pussett was a steeplechase jockey, loving the rush of the race. But after an unfortunate event, he left horseracing behind and swore he would never return. Now he gets his adrenaline rush from riding headfirst down the Cresta Run, a three-quarter-mile Swiss ice chute, reaching speeds of up to eighty miles per hour.

Finding himself in St Moritz during the same weekend as White Turf, when high-class horseracing takes place on the frozen lake, he gets talked into helping out with the horses. Against his better judgement, he decides to assist, but things aren’t as innocent as they seemed.

When he discovers something suspicious is going on in the races, something that may have a profound impact on his future, Miles begins a search for answers. But someone is adamant about stopping him—and they’ll go to any length to do it.]]> 326 Felix Francis 1639102922 Stephanie 3 This novel was just�. Ok. Barely any mystery, way too much alcoholism, some insta-love with the MC and his nurse, and then the worst part: the chapters kept flipping back and forth between the past and the present - but, with NO WARNING WHATSOEVER. None of the chapters said if it was “then� and “now�, and you literally had to guess for yourself. Sometimes it was quite confusing. Maybe next time, Francis can label the chapters better so we readers know when/where we are�? That might help, my dude. Also the ending was just lame. I really didn’t think it worked. Try better next time, please�?
I don’t know, maybe I’ll try the next Felix Francis novel, and maybe not. Something is missing in his novels lately, and it’s really beginning to show�. I hope he finds it soon, and gets things together. This is so depressing�..! ]]> 3.46 2021 Iced
author: Felix Francis
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/14
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: 2023, audiobooks, disappointed, it-was-ok, scribd, wish-it-had-been-better
review:
Martin Jarvis was the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and he was all wrong for the role. He annoyed me the entire time I listened to this novel. You know how sometimes when people talk and their lips get stuck on their dry teeth, and you can hear it when they are speaking? That’s what he sounded like through half the audiobook. It was truly weird.
This novel was just�. Ok. Barely any mystery, way too much alcoholism, some insta-love with the MC and his nurse, and then the worst part: the chapters kept flipping back and forth between the past and the present - but, with NO WARNING WHATSOEVER. None of the chapters said if it was “then� and “now�, and you literally had to guess for yourself. Sometimes it was quite confusing. Maybe next time, Francis can label the chapters better so we readers know when/where we are�? That might help, my dude. Also the ending was just lame. I really didn’t think it worked. Try better next time, please�?
I don’t know, maybe I’ll try the next Felix Francis novel, and maybe not. Something is missing in his novels lately, and it’s really beginning to show�. I hope he finds it soon, and gets things together. This is so depressing�..!
]]> <![CDATA[Speculations in Sin (Below Stairs Mystery #7)]]> 174137095 To save an innocent man’s life, amateur sleuth and cook Kat Holloway must expose a financial scam that could ruin the most powerful aristocrats in Victorian-era London, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Secret of Bow Lane.

Kat Holloway is distressed to learn that Samuel Millburn, husband of the woman who looks after her daughter, has been accused of embezzling funds from the bank where he works as a clerk. The accusation is absurd, and Samuel’s wife fears that her husband will not only lose his post but be imprisoned. Kat vows to uncover the truth.

When she discovers the bank is involved in shockingly murky business dealings, Kat realizes she’s treading in dangerous waters. She turns to her confidante and handsome suitor, Daniel McAdam, for help. To exonerate Samuel, Kat and Daniel may have to expose the unseemly financial dealings of prominent aristocrats and government officials, and even those working to bring down the royal family. Kat will risk everything to protect the man who has sacrificed so much for her daughter, even if it means endangering herself and the friends she has come to love.]]> 320 Jennifer Ashley 0593549929 Stephanie 4
4 stars, and highly recommended. But please read this series in order!]]> 4.40 2024 Speculations in Sin (Below Stairs Mystery #7)
author: Jennifer Ashley
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, part-of-a-series
review:
Anne-Marie Piazza Is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel.

4 stars, and highly recommended. But please read this series in order!
]]> The Queen 199797559 “It’s impossible to know another person, isn’t it? To step past that locked door of their secretive inner self. . . . But honestly, do you even want to know?�

One sunny morning in June, Margaret Carpenter wakes up to find a new iPhone on her doorstep. She switches it on and is greeted by a text from her best friend, Charity Atwater. The problem is, Charity’s been missing for over a month. Most people in town � even the police � think she’s dead.

Margaret and Charity have been lifelong friends. They share everything, know the most intimate details about each other . . . except for the destructive secret hidden from them both. A secret that will trigger a chain of events ending in tragedy, bloodshed, and death. And now Charity wants Margaret to know her story � the real story.

In a narrative that takes place over one feverish day, Margaret follows a series of increasingly disquieting breadcrumbs as she forges deeper into the mystery of her best friend � a person she never truly knew at all. . . .]]> 374 Nick Cutter 1668020971 Stephanie 4
Becky Spratford: /review/show...

Horror Reads: /review/show...

Dennis: /review/show...

Nick Cutter has outdone himself in this novel. Its gruesome scenes might be better dealt with in smaller sections. Even with all the body horror, insect attacks, and feelings of being trapped by monsters, I loved it.

Ariel Blake, with Zac Aleman, Corey Brill, and Pete Simonelli were the narrators for the audiobook version of this novel. I’m pretty sure Ariel Blake did the majority of the narration, as she was the voice of Margaret Carpenter, probably. But who the others voiced/narrated, I don’t know, because Simon & Schuster Audio, nor the producers of this audiobook didn’t state it.
Other than that little thing, I loved each and every one of their narrations. Fantastic job everyone!

4 stars, and recommended to those who can handle the content. (Seriously, go check out those warnings!)
]]> 3.56 2024 The Queen
author: Nick Cutter
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/28
date added: 2025/01/28
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library
review:
Please google those content warnings before reading this novel! There are some very graphic scenes in it. And if you’re afraid of, or hate wasps and ants, then steer clear completely! These insects are dangerous.

Becky Spratford: /review/show...

Horror Reads: /review/show...

Dennis: /review/show...

Nick Cutter has outdone himself in this novel. Its gruesome scenes might be better dealt with in smaller sections. Even with all the body horror, insect attacks, and feelings of being trapped by monsters, I loved it.

Ariel Blake, with Zac Aleman, Corey Brill, and Pete Simonelli were the narrators for the audiobook version of this novel. I’m pretty sure Ariel Blake did the majority of the narration, as she was the voice of Margaret Carpenter, probably. But who the others voiced/narrated, I don’t know, because Simon & Schuster Audio, nor the producers of this audiobook didn’t state it.
Other than that little thing, I loved each and every one of their narrations. Fantastic job everyone!

4 stars, and recommended to those who can handle the content. (Seriously, go check out those warnings!)

]]> Malice (Detective Kaga, #1) 20613611
Acclaimed bestselling novelist Kunihiko Hidaka is found brutally murdered in his home on the night before he's planning to leave Japan and relocate to Vancouver. His body is found in his office, in a locked room, within his locked house, by his wife and his best friend, both of whom have rock solid alibis. Or so it seems.

Police Detective Kyochiro Kaga recognizes Hidaka's best friend from years ago when they were both teachers. Kaga joined the police force while Nonoguchi became a writer, though with not nearly the success of his friend Hidaka. When Kaga suspects something is a little bit off with Nonoguchi's statement, he investigates further, searching Nonoguchi's apartment. There he finds evidence that shows that the two writers' relationship was very different than the two claimed...

In a brilliantly realized tale of cat and mouse, the detective and the writer battle over the truth of the past and how events that led to the murder really unfolded. Which one of the two writers was ultimately guilty of malice?]]> 288 Keigo Higashino 1250035600 Stephanie 3 I also believe that Higashino sacrifices character portrayal in favor of shrewd plotting, and thoroughness. I could not connect to a single character in this novel, nor did I care how the novel turned out because of this lack of caring. I just hope that the next novel in this Detective Kaga series turns out better than this. I would hope so, primarily because the author is obviously a genius or something.

I think Carol’s review of this novel here on goodreads, is the perfect review for this novel. It says everything I could possibly feel about it, and more:

/review/show...

Jeff Woodman, who’s narrating skills I have known from too many audiobooks to mention - and loved, narrates the audiobook version of this novel. As usual, he was wonderful. Thank you Macmillan Audio for continuing to bring authors from other countries to us all, so we can delight in their works as well. I, for one, am hugely thankful, and appreciative of your inclusions (if that is the correct word to use in this sentence). And kudos for a job well done!

3 stars, and recommended only to those who have read the other novels in this series.]]> 4.02 1996 Malice (Detective Kaga, #1)
author: Keigo Higashino
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/25
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, it-was-ok, part-of-a-series
review:
Having read and loved Higashino’s Detective Galileo series, and unable to get my hands on the last English translated novel in that series, I thought I would give this series a try. Unfortunately, at times I was rather bored with this novel. It was going pretty well until around the middle of it, and then everything seemed to unravel. There didn’t seem to be any impetus to keep going, and so the tension left, leaving the climax limp and uninteresting to me. I finished the novel because I am a huge fan of the author, and I love that other series� but this novel doesn’t leave me with any longing to finish it immediately. I think I’ll wait until ‘Invisible Helix� is available, and go from there.
I also believe that Higashino sacrifices character portrayal in favor of shrewd plotting, and thoroughness. I could not connect to a single character in this novel, nor did I care how the novel turned out because of this lack of caring. I just hope that the next novel in this Detective Kaga series turns out better than this. I would hope so, primarily because the author is obviously a genius or something.

I think Carol’s review of this novel here on goodreads, is the perfect review for this novel. It says everything I could possibly feel about it, and more:

/review/show...

Jeff Woodman, who’s narrating skills I have known from too many audiobooks to mention - and loved, narrates the audiobook version of this novel. As usual, he was wonderful. Thank you Macmillan Audio for continuing to bring authors from other countries to us all, so we can delight in their works as well. I, for one, am hugely thankful, and appreciative of your inclusions (if that is the correct word to use in this sentence). And kudos for a job well done!

3 stars, and recommended only to those who have read the other novels in this series.
]]> Between the Sound and Sea 199454331
As the work begins, "Joey" discovers strange notes tucked deep in the crevices of the old stone walls--pages torn from a lighthouse keeper's log signed by someone named Mae who recounts harrowing rescues at sea. Fascinated by a woman lighthouse keeper, Joey digs into the past only to discover there's never been a record of a lighthouse keeper by that name.

When things start to go amiss on the island, locals are convinced that it is the ghost of the lighthouse keeper and his daughter who were lost at sea during World War II. As Joey sifts through decades of rumors and legends and puts together the pieces of the past, what emerges is a love story--one that's not over yet.

Multiple Christy Award winner Amanda Cox is your guide upon the raging seas of young love, heartbreaking loss, and learning to risk it all for a chance at happiness in this timeless novel.]]> 336 Amanda Cox 0800742745 Stephanie 2 I will be avoiding this author from now on, if this is the way all her books are like. If you like it, that’s totally cool - I try not to yuck anyone else’s yum. But it’s not for me.

Rebecca Quinn Robertson is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel.

2 stars, and not recommended unless you really, REALLY like Hallmark movies with religion thrown in. And milk toast blandness.]]> 4.01 2024 Between the Sound and Sea
author: Amanda Cox
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, disappointed, it-was-ok, wish-it-had-been-better
review:
Predictable novel with bland characters, and not much of a storyline. I was bored throughout it, and couldn’t figure out why a couple of the characters kept praying or mentioning God� that’s when I (finally) looked up this author and realized they wrote Christian fiction. That’s my fault, as I never noticed before. But I thought since I’d gotten almost halfway through at that point, I would finish the novel so I could say I did. I ended up feeling nothing for any of the characters, not even before my revelation. I connected with nobody. It didn’t help that the whole issue that this novel revolves around could have been fixed easily, if one of these characters had just spoken up and told everyone. I hate that. The romance was not insta-love thank goodness, but it made me feel nothing. It seemed lukewarm, at best. What annoyed me the most was the reader had to wait around while all these characters caught up to you knowing this predictable plot and everything, and figure things out for themselves. There was no surprises or twists, no character development, and nothing original. This books is like a Hallmark movie with religion thrown in� and that’s not my jam.
I will be avoiding this author from now on, if this is the way all her books are like. If you like it, that’s totally cool - I try not to yuck anyone else’s yum. But it’s not for me.

Rebecca Quinn Robertson is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel.

2 stars, and not recommended unless you really, REALLY like Hallmark movies with religion thrown in. And milk toast blandness.
]]> Leather Maiden 3110246 The New York Times Book Review).

After a scandalous affair costs him his job in Houston, Cason Statler—Gulf War veteran and Pulitzer Prize–nominated journalist—returns home to the small east Texas town of Camp Rapture. Cason is a wreck. He drinks too much, he’s stalking his ex-girlfriend, and he’s wallowing in envy of his successful older brother. To get back on his feet, he takes a job at the local paper, and when he stumbles across his predecessor’s notes on a cold case murder file, he thinks he’s found the thing that’ll keep him out of trouble. No such luck. The further he digs into the case, the more certain he is that the unsolved crime is connected to a series of eerie, inexplicable events that have recently occurred in town. And he knows his suspicions are right on when he finds himself dragged into a deadly game of blackmail and murder that clearly has evil as its only goal.

Leather Maiden is a brash amalgam of suspense, raw humor, and mystery that unfolds in the vividly rendered shadowy lowlands of eastern Texas. It’s country noir as only Joe Lansdale can do it.]]> 287 Joe R. Lansdale 0375414525 Stephanie 3 While I thought this wasn’t Lansdale’s best novel, I was still entertained enough to finish it, and enjoy it. Interesting characters, and a large cast that I kept confusing people - but that’s a Me problem, not an author problem. I did keep thinking the MC Cason might have been way better off without his friend Booger (yes, he preferred to be called this), even though Booger had really gotten Cason out of a jam.

Narrator Tom Butler was fantastic at his job. I’m not familiar with Butler’s work, but I hope he has a long history of working with all the audiobook publishing groups in the future. Kudos to all involved in the making of this project.

3.5 stars.]]> 3.80 2008 Leather Maiden
author: Joe R. Lansdale
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, owned, owned-2
review:
This is NOT a cozy mystery, so don’t come looking for it here. This is Lansdale at his grittiest, and rather gruesome as well. PLEASE check for the content warnings before reading this novel, because it could be quite depressing to some.
While I thought this wasn’t Lansdale’s best novel, I was still entertained enough to finish it, and enjoy it. Interesting characters, and a large cast that I kept confusing people - but that’s a Me problem, not an author problem. I did keep thinking the MC Cason might have been way better off without his friend Booger (yes, he preferred to be called this), even though Booger had really gotten Cason out of a jam.

Narrator Tom Butler was fantastic at his job. I’m not familiar with Butler’s work, but I hope he has a long history of working with all the audiobook publishing groups in the future. Kudos to all involved in the making of this project.

3.5 stars.
]]> The Family Experiment 197108968 From the acclaimed author of The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and brilliant speculative thriller about families: real and virtual.

Some families are virtually perfect�

The world's population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. And in the UK, the breaking point has arrived. A growing number of people can no longer afford to start families, let alone raise them.

But for those desperate to experience parenthood, there is an alternative. For a monthly subscription fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch who they can access via the metaverse and a VR headset. To launch this new initiative, the company behind Virtual Children has created a reality TV show called The Substitute. It will follow ten couples as they raise a Virtual Child from birth to the age of eighteen but in a condensed nine-month time period. The prize: the right to keep their virtual child, or risk it all for the chance of a real baby�

Set in the same universe as John Marrs's bestselling novel The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and twisted thriller about the ultimate Tamagotchi—a virtual baby.]]> 384 John Marrs 1335000364 Stephanie 4
**Warning - this novel might be triggering to some people. It was for me, and this is because of the child trafficking and child deaths. So if these situations among the many other content should upset you, then please skip this one. PLEASE do yourself a favor and check out the content warnings for this novel beforehand!**

I only saw one twist coming, and that was after SO many others� and it was pretty obvious at that lol. But that’s Marrs for ya; you never see most of them coming! And man, are they some goodies, too! I do so adore when Marrs writes this well.

Clare Corbett, Clifford Samuel, Eilidh Beaton, Joshua Riley, Justin Avoth, Thomas Judd, and Nneka Okoye are the narrators for the audiobook version of this novel. But - Who each of these people played, I have no idea. Because again, Harlequin Audio did NOT list their parts in this audiobook..! *sigh�!*
Anyhow, all of the narrators of this audiobook were amazing and awesome. I know Corbett from her wonderful work in other Marrs audiobooks, as well as books by Lucy Foley and Elly Griffiths, among many others. Samuel I know from Tade Thompson’s Far from the Light from Heaven. Judd I know from the novel Slade House by David Mitchell, and the “Take Them to the Stars� series by the ever fantastic Sylvain Neuvel.

If you haven’t yet read this not-exactly-a-series-but-all-are-from-the-same-universe group of novels, then you are missing out on some damn fine writing..! What are you waiting for? Go on and get you some..! (After you check the content warnings, please).

4 stars

]]> 4.00 2024 The Family Experiment
author: John Marrs
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, part-of-a-series, slightly-less-than-most-fave
review:
John Marrs is back with his latest book, set in the same universe as “The One�, “The Marriage Act�, and “The Passengers�. And NO, you don’t have to have read the other novels in this universe in order to read this one. It might make a lot more sense if you do, but it’s not completely necessary. Anyway, this novel is just as amazing as the other novels mentioned above. Tons of twists and turns, lots of wonderfully juicy characters, and this fantastic plotline to boot!

**Warning - this novel might be triggering to some people. It was for me, and this is because of the child trafficking and child deaths. So if these situations among the many other content should upset you, then please skip this one. PLEASE do yourself a favor and check out the content warnings for this novel beforehand!**

I only saw one twist coming, and that was after SO many others� and it was pretty obvious at that lol. But that’s Marrs for ya; you never see most of them coming! And man, are they some goodies, too! I do so adore when Marrs writes this well.

Clare Corbett, Clifford Samuel, Eilidh Beaton, Joshua Riley, Justin Avoth, Thomas Judd, and Nneka Okoye are the narrators for the audiobook version of this novel. But - Who each of these people played, I have no idea. Because again, Harlequin Audio did NOT list their parts in this audiobook..! *sigh�!*
Anyhow, all of the narrators of this audiobook were amazing and awesome. I know Corbett from her wonderful work in other Marrs audiobooks, as well as books by Lucy Foley and Elly Griffiths, among many others. Samuel I know from Tade Thompson’s Far from the Light from Heaven. Judd I know from the novel Slade House by David Mitchell, and the “Take Them to the Stars� series by the ever fantastic Sylvain Neuvel.

If you haven’t yet read this not-exactly-a-series-but-all-are-from-the-same-universe group of novels, then you are missing out on some damn fine writing..! What are you waiting for? Go on and get you some..! (After you check the content warnings, please).

4 stars


]]> When the Moon Hits Your Eye 211004190
It's a whole new moooooon.

One day soon, suddenly and without explanation, the moon as we know it is replaced with an orb of cheese with the exact same mass. Through the length of an entire lunar cycle, from new moon to a spectacular and possibly final solar eclipse, we follow multiple characters -- schoolkids and scientists, billionaires and workers, preachers and politicians -- as they confront the strange new world they live in, and the absurd, impossible moon that now hangs above all their lives.]]> 326 John Scalzi 0765389096 Stephanie 0 to-read 3.85 2025 When the Moon Hits Your Eye
author: John Scalzi
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Life Impossible 198281740
“What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…�

When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.

Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.

Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.]]> 324 Matt Haig 0593489276 Stephanie 4 Joanna Lumley and Jordan Stephens are the narrators for the audiobook version of this novel. They were brilliant.

3.5 stars.]]> 3.45 2024 The Life Impossible
author: Matt Haig
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/18
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, it-was-ok
review:

Joanna Lumley and Jordan Stephens are the narrators for the audiobook version of this novel. They were brilliant.

3.5 stars.
]]> <![CDATA[Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1)]]> 1525997
After hearing damning testimony, magistrate Woodward sentences the accused witch to death by burning. Desperate to exonerate the woman he has come to love, Matthew begins his own investigation among the townspeople. Piecing together the truth, he has no choice but to vanquish a force more malevolent than witchcraft in order to save his beloved Rachel and free Fount Royal from the menace claiming innocent lives.]]> 792 Robert McCammon 1416552502 Stephanie 0 to-read 4.13 2002 Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1)
author: Robert McCammon
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Ring for Jeeves (Jeeves, #10) 18029 240 P.G. Wodehouse 1585675245 Stephanie 4 As usual, the book is very funny. There are characters, and they have things happen to them. They make a HUGE mess of everything and everyone, trying to make their own lives better. Hilarity ensues.
I find these novels a perfect way to wind down, before falling asleep. I loved every bit of it. Please, give these books, ebooks, or audiobooks a try if you haven't already. 4 stars.

Merged review:

I found this free audiobook version of this novel at . The audiobook is read by Mark Nelson, who is SO PERFECT for the role, it's like they somehow got into my brain and linked it to my thoughts on how Jeeves actually should sound, to me.
As usual, the book is very funny. There are characters, and they have things happen to them. They make a HUGE mess of everything and everyone, trying to make their own lives better. Hilarity ensues.
I find these novels a perfect way to wind down, before falling asleep. I loved every bit of it. Please, give these books, ebooks, or audiobooks a try if you haven't already. 4 stars.]]> 4.01 1953 Ring for Jeeves (Jeeves, #10)
author: P.G. Wodehouse
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1953
rating: 4
read at: 2016/02/14
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves: borrowed-from-library, audiobooks, slightly-less-than-most-fave, audible-channels
review:
I found this free audiobook version of this novel at . The audiobook is read by Mark Nelson, who is SO PERFECT for the role, it's like they somehow got into my brain and linked it to my thoughts on how Jeeves actually should sound, to me.
As usual, the book is very funny. There are characters, and they have things happen to them. They make a HUGE mess of everything and everyone, trying to make their own lives better. Hilarity ensues.
I find these novels a perfect way to wind down, before falling asleep. I loved every bit of it. Please, give these books, ebooks, or audiobooks a try if you haven't already. 4 stars.

Merged review:

I found this free audiobook version of this novel at . The audiobook is read by Mark Nelson, who is SO PERFECT for the role, it's like they somehow got into my brain and linked it to my thoughts on how Jeeves actually should sound, to me.
As usual, the book is very funny. There are characters, and they have things happen to them. They make a HUGE mess of everything and everyone, trying to make their own lives better. Hilarity ensues.
I find these novels a perfect way to wind down, before falling asleep. I loved every bit of it. Please, give these books, ebooks, or audiobooks a try if you haven't already. 4 stars.
]]> Water Moon 211479192 A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical journey when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike and enchanting fantasy novel.

On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.

Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it.

Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice—by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds.

But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.]]> 384 Samantha Sotto Yambao 0593724992 Stephanie 0 to-read 3.78 2025 Water Moon
author: Samantha Sotto Yambao
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Stolen Queen 211025454 From New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis, an utterly addictive new novel that will transport you from New York City’s most glamorous party to the labyrinth streets of Cairo and back.

Egypt, 1936: When anthropology student Charlotte Cross is offered a coveted spot on an archaeological dig in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, she leaps at the opportunity. But after an unbearable tragedy strikes, Charlotte knows her future will never be the same.

New York City, 1978: Eighteen-year-old Annie Jenkins is thrilled when she lands an opportunity to work for iconic former Vogue fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who’s in the midst of organizing the famous Met Gala, hosted at the museum and known across the city as the “party of the year.� Though Annie soon realizes she’ll have her work cut out for her, scrambling to meet Diana’s capricious demands and exacting standards.

Meanwhile, Charlotte, now leading a quiet life as the associate curator of the Met’s celebrated Department of Egyptian Art, wants little to do with the upcoming gala. She’s consumed with her research on Hathorkare—a rare female pharaoh dismissed by most other Egyptologists as unimportant.

That is, until the night of the gala. When one of the Egyptian art collection’s most valuable artifacts goes missing . . . and there are signs Hathorkare’s legendary curse might be reawakening.

As Annie and Charlotte team up to search for the missing antiquity, a desperate hunch leads the unlikely duo to one place Charlotte swore she’d never return: Egypt. But if they’re to have any hope of finding the artifact, Charlotte will need to confront the demons of her past—which may mean leading them both directly into danger.]]> 352 Fiona Davis 0593474279 Stephanie 0 to-read 3.91 2025 The Stolen Queen
author: Fiona Davis
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> We Do Not Part 61121126 Han Kang’s most revelatory book since The Vegetarian, We Do Not Part tells the story of a friendship between two women while powerfully reckoning with a hidden chapter in Korean history.

One winter morning, Kyungha receives an urgent message from her friend Inseon to visit her at a hospital in Seoul. Inseon has injured herself in an accident, and she begs Kyungha to return to Jeju Island, where she lives, to save her beloved pet—a white bird called Ama. A snowstorm hits the island when Kyungha arrives. She must reach Inseon’s house at all costs, but the icy wind and squalls slow her down as night begins to fall. She wonders if she will arrive in time to save the animal—or even survive the terrible cold that envelops her with every step. Lost in a world of snow, she doesn’t yet suspect the vertiginous plunge into the darkness that awaits her at her friend’s house.

Blurring the boundaries between dream and reality, We Do Not Part powerfully illuminates a forgotten chapter in Korean history, buried for decades—bringing to light the lost voices of the past to save them from oblivion. Both a hymn to an enduring friendship and an argument for remembering, it is the story of profound love in the face of unspeakable violence—and a celebration of life, however fragile it might be.]]> 256 Han Kang Stephanie 0 to-read 4.02 2021 We Do Not Part
author: Han Kang
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Penitence 211003837 For readers of Ann Patchett and Celeste Ng, Penitence is a poignant exploration of love and forgiveness. It’s a suspenseful, addictive page-turner filled with literary insight that compels readers to consider whether each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.

When a shocking murder occurs in the home of Angie and David Sheehan, their lives are shattered. Desperate to defend their family, they turn to small-town lawyer Martine Dumont for help, but Martine isn’t just legal counsel—she’s also the mother of Angie’s first love, Julian, a now-successful New York City criminal defense attorney. As Julian and Angie confront their shared past and long-buried guilt from a tragic accident years ago, they must navigate their own culpability and the unresolved feelings between them.

Spanning decades, from the ski slopes of rural Colorado to the streets of post-9/11 New York City and back again, Kristin Koval’s debut novel Penitence is an examination of the complexities of familial loyalty, the journey of redemption, and the profound experience of true forgiveness.]]> 320 Kristin Koval 1250342996 Stephanie 0 to-read 3.68 2025 Penitence
author: Kristin Koval
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Vacation 60322612
For eight strangers in a Los Angeles backpacking hostel, even the other side of the world isn’t far enough.

The craving for a new identity and the chance to start again is something they have in common. But the search for a fresh start isn't as easy as they'd imagined.

And they soon discover that it doesn't matter where you are or who you are - if you can't lay the past to rest, coincidence, fate and deception have a way of catching up with you when you least expect it.]]> 480 John Marrs 1529087783 Stephanie 3
/review/show...

It’s not Marrs� best novel to date, but it was still quite good. I was interested enough to continue reading it until the end, as I wanted to know what happened next with all the characters in it. And there are some great characters, too! The twists were fantastic, and I didn’t see a couple of them coming at all, which I love. But I wasn’t quite as connected to these characters as much as I would have liked, this time. This novel didn’t quite give me that *NEED* to get back to it as soon as possible, like other novels of Marrs� do.
I really liked how a couple of the characters in this novel seemed to be one type of person, and then when you get to truly know them, they turned out to be totally different. What a great way to showcase that everything may not be as it seems, and one should never judge a book by its cover..! Someone might be going through a hell of a lot more than you will ever know, so don’t judge the way they act, until you get to actually know them! (Actually, don’t judge people at all. That’s not kosher, or fair).

The audiobook version of this novel is narrated by Peter Noble, who I have heard before in Soren Sveistrup’s ‘The Chestnut Man� novel. I absolutely love Noble’s narrating voice, his various characters voices he used, and his many accents..! He is so good at accents! Noble handled them all like a pro, and as far as I can tell, they were all spot on. I sincerely hope that Clipper Audiobooks, or W. F. Howes Ltd., use Noble’s narration a whole lot more..! Or maybe another audiobook publisher might just snap him up, and use the shit out of him� (Hint, hint, Books On Tape and Hachette Audio..!)

All in all, this novel was a great way to spend time while doing other things around the house, or crafting. Hopefully if you read it, you will like it as much as I did, or more.

3.5 stars, and recommended.]]> 3.54 2015 The Vacation
author: John Marrs
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/14
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library
review:
This novel by Marrs was not my favorite of his, and isn’t quite as good as his other novels, imo. I agree with my friend Joey here, and everything he says about this one:

/review/show...

It’s not Marrs� best novel to date, but it was still quite good. I was interested enough to continue reading it until the end, as I wanted to know what happened next with all the characters in it. And there are some great characters, too! The twists were fantastic, and I didn’t see a couple of them coming at all, which I love. But I wasn’t quite as connected to these characters as much as I would have liked, this time. This novel didn’t quite give me that *NEED* to get back to it as soon as possible, like other novels of Marrs� do.
I really liked how a couple of the characters in this novel seemed to be one type of person, and then when you get to truly know them, they turned out to be totally different. What a great way to showcase that everything may not be as it seems, and one should never judge a book by its cover..! Someone might be going through a hell of a lot more than you will ever know, so don’t judge the way they act, until you get to actually know them! (Actually, don’t judge people at all. That’s not kosher, or fair).

The audiobook version of this novel is narrated by Peter Noble, who I have heard before in Soren Sveistrup’s ‘The Chestnut Man� novel. I absolutely love Noble’s narrating voice, his various characters voices he used, and his many accents..! He is so good at accents! Noble handled them all like a pro, and as far as I can tell, they were all spot on. I sincerely hope that Clipper Audiobooks, or W. F. Howes Ltd., use Noble’s narration a whole lot more..! Or maybe another audiobook publisher might just snap him up, and use the shit out of him� (Hint, hint, Books On Tape and Hachette Audio..!)

All in all, this novel was a great way to spend time while doing other things around the house, or crafting. Hopefully if you read it, you will like it as much as I did, or more.

3.5 stars, and recommended.
]]> Cher: The Memoir, Part 1 214363953
After more than seventy years of fighting to live her life on her own terms, Cher finally reveals her true story in intimate detail, in a two-part memoir.

Her remarkable career is unique and unparalleled. The only woman to top Billboard charts in seven consecutive decades, she is the winner of an Academy Award, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Cannes Film Festival Award, and an inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame who has been lauded by the Kennedy Center.

She is a lifelong activist and philanthropist.

As a dyslexic child who dreamed of becoming famous, Cher was raised in often-chaotic circumstances, surrounded by singers, actors, and a mother who inspired her in spite of their difficult relationship.

With her trademark honesty and humor, Cher: The Memoir traces how this diamond in the rough succeeded with no plan and little confidence to become the trailblazing superstar the world has been unable to ignore for more than half a century.

Cher: The Memoir, Part One follows her extraordinary beginnings through childhood to meeting and marrying Sonny Bono—and reveals the highly complicated relationship that made them world-famous, but eventually drove them apart.

Cher: The Memoir reveals the daughter, the sister, the wife, the lover, the mother, and the superstar.

It is a life too immense for only one book.]]> 432 Cher 0008355371 Stephanie 4
This audiobook is narrated in part by Cher herself, and also Stephanie J. Block, an American actress and singer that starred in the Broadway musical "The Cher Show". Fabulous choice, and huge props to whoever thought of this! Sometimes the changeover is so seamless and tight, you barely notice it. But since I have been a huge Cher fan my entire life, and I would know that voice anywhere, I noticed�.
I watched Cher’s tv shows every single weekend. I thought she was SO gorgeous, and I wanted to *BE* her, just for a little while� and now, I think we would be the best of friends.
Thank you Cher, for writing these novels. I’m so glad to have gotten to know you so well.

4.5 stars, and recommended. Please check out the content warnings for this novel/audiobook, before reading. There is DV, and lots of other content. ]]> 4.23 2024 Cher: The Memoir, Part 1
author: Cher
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/11
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, ive-got-to-purchase-this-book, slightly-less-than-most-fave
review:
I don’t even have words for how much I loved this novel.

This audiobook is narrated in part by Cher herself, and also Stephanie J. Block, an American actress and singer that starred in the Broadway musical "The Cher Show". Fabulous choice, and huge props to whoever thought of this! Sometimes the changeover is so seamless and tight, you barely notice it. But since I have been a huge Cher fan my entire life, and I would know that voice anywhere, I noticed�.
I watched Cher’s tv shows every single weekend. I thought she was SO gorgeous, and I wanted to *BE* her, just for a little while� and now, I think we would be the best of friends.
Thank you Cher, for writing these novels. I’m so glad to have gotten to know you so well.

4.5 stars, and recommended. Please check out the content warnings for this novel/audiobook, before reading. There is DV, and lots of other content.
]]> Wool - Holston (Wool, #1) 12287209
Or you'll get what you wish for.]]> 56 Hugh Howey Stephanie 3
Wool is a pretty good novel with some interesting characters and a cool storyline that had me keeping going. I liked Juliette as a female character, and a lot of the others as well. But there were so many issues with this novel that annoyed the hell out of me. Here are a few:

The author, Howey, is so overly descriptive of every little thing sometimes, that it just about drove me mad. And about munane things, too. I found the dialogue was bland most times. The children that were running around playing were always described as ‘squealing�.
Oh, also the love story aspect of this novel was a little too ‘insta love� for me. Juliette and Lukas meet a few times and suddenly they can’t stop thinking about each other, and their hearts are all a flutter�? Lukas even went home after meeting her the first time, and told his mother all about her. That seems a little sudden to me.
The ‘villain� in this novel wasn’t really fleshed out that well, at all. Of course he was overweight, ugly and had crooked teeth, because ALL fat people are bad� and believe me, the author mentioned his large stomach every time he showed up, too.
Oh yeah, there’s stairs. Lots of stairs. And attention to stairs. And descriptions of stairs�. It got really frustrating, all those stairs. And not a single elevator. Was it illegal to have/build one�? I also can’t believe the author forced an aging mayor to climb down something like 140 floors to talk to someone, and then back up again. Idc if there were rests, that’s ridiculous. (And the first 100 pages of the novel was just about how a few characters walked down these same, annoying stairs to talk to a few people, and then walked back up, basically).
Also - There was only ONE generator for that entire silo, which is ridiculous. Yes, there was a backup, but only to provide emergency power for certain areas. Which means any down time on that generator causes most of the silo to shut down. Which means the generator can’t be stopped for regular, routine maintenance�. so the mechs who look after it are faced with the possibility of a total and disastrous breakdown. How can you design something like this set up without the provision for proper maintenance�? That’s really bad planning.
There is also a problem with fabrication and supply. Who is making the replacement parts for all those computers and their little electronic pieces, and out of what ? Ditto with the medical supplies, machinery parts, electrical wire, grow lights, and electric lights? Yet nothing was ever repaired in the whole 400 years or more that those people lived in those silos� not one computer chip, not one light bulb. If there were tons and tons of parts etc in storage, where were those? Please don’t tell me they were in the lowest levels, because those levels flooded, and it said so in the novel.

�.. I’m also pretty sure that radio waves couldn’t penetrate from one silo to another.

I also don’t think that the whole growing their own crops thing wouldn’t have worked at all. And it would take to long to explain here, so I will keep you from the boredom.

Actually, neither would the whole totalitarian rule with fake elections thing. And the new mayor being such a caricature, not knowing much of what he was ruling, and just signing his name on some paperwork, and we are supposed to believe the fought off an entire resistance�? Nothing really made sense.

Oh yeah, I forgot about how the ‘bad guys� who fought the resistance with what seemed like semi machine guns (an evil IT Dept�?), seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of troops, who were armed with weapons that never seemed to run out of bullets. ]]> 4.14 2012 Wool - Holston (Wool, #1)
author: Hugh Howey
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/20
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves: 2023, audiobooks, part-of-a-series, read-online-on-a-site
review:
I saw the trailer for the movie Silo, and I knew I had to move this novel to the top of my t.b.r. pile so I would know what was going on, as I was going in. I’m really glad I did.

Wool is a pretty good novel with some interesting characters and a cool storyline that had me keeping going. I liked Juliette as a female character, and a lot of the others as well. But there were so many issues with this novel that annoyed the hell out of me. Here are a few:

The author, Howey, is so overly descriptive of every little thing sometimes, that it just about drove me mad. And about munane things, too. I found the dialogue was bland most times. The children that were running around playing were always described as ‘squealing�.
Oh, also the love story aspect of this novel was a little too ‘insta love� for me. Juliette and Lukas meet a few times and suddenly they can’t stop thinking about each other, and their hearts are all a flutter�? Lukas even went home after meeting her the first time, and told his mother all about her. That seems a little sudden to me.
The ‘villain� in this novel wasn’t really fleshed out that well, at all. Of course he was overweight, ugly and had crooked teeth, because ALL fat people are bad� and believe me, the author mentioned his large stomach every time he showed up, too.
Oh yeah, there’s stairs. Lots of stairs. And attention to stairs. And descriptions of stairs�. It got really frustrating, all those stairs. And not a single elevator. Was it illegal to have/build one�? I also can’t believe the author forced an aging mayor to climb down something like 140 floors to talk to someone, and then back up again. Idc if there were rests, that’s ridiculous. (And the first 100 pages of the novel was just about how a few characters walked down these same, annoying stairs to talk to a few people, and then walked back up, basically).
Also - There was only ONE generator for that entire silo, which is ridiculous. Yes, there was a backup, but only to provide emergency power for certain areas. Which means any down time on that generator causes most of the silo to shut down. Which means the generator can’t be stopped for regular, routine maintenance�. so the mechs who look after it are faced with the possibility of a total and disastrous breakdown. How can you design something like this set up without the provision for proper maintenance�? That’s really bad planning.
There is also a problem with fabrication and supply. Who is making the replacement parts for all those computers and their little electronic pieces, and out of what ? Ditto with the medical supplies, machinery parts, electrical wire, grow lights, and electric lights? Yet nothing was ever repaired in the whole 400 years or more that those people lived in those silos� not one computer chip, not one light bulb. If there were tons and tons of parts etc in storage, where were those? Please don’t tell me they were in the lowest levels, because those levels flooded, and it said so in the novel.

�.. I’m also pretty sure that radio waves couldn’t penetrate from one silo to another.

I also don’t think that the whole growing their own crops thing wouldn’t have worked at all. And it would take to long to explain here, so I will keep you from the boredom.

Actually, neither would the whole totalitarian rule with fake elections thing. And the new mayor being such a caricature, not knowing much of what he was ruling, and just signing his name on some paperwork, and we are supposed to believe the fought off an entire resistance�? Nothing really made sense.

Oh yeah, I forgot about how the ‘bad guys� who fought the resistance with what seemed like semi machine guns (an evil IT Dept�?), seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of troops, who were armed with weapons that never seemed to run out of bullets.
]]> The Book of Witching 205064706 A mother must fight for her daughter’s life in this fierce and haunting tale of witchcraft and revenge from the author of A Haunting in the Arctic.

Clem gets a call that is every mother’s worst nightmare. Her nineteen-year-old daughter Erin is unconscious in the hospital after a hiking trip with her friends on the remote Orkney Islands that met a horrifying end, leaving her boyfriend dead and her best friend missing. When Erin wakes, she doesn’t recognize her mother. And she doesn’t answer to her name, but insists she is someone named Nyx.

Clem travels the site of her daughter’s accident, determined to find out what happened to her. The answer may lie in a dark secret in the history of the Orkneys: a woman wrongly accused of witchcraft and murder four centuries ago. Clem begins to wonder if Erin’s strange behavior is a symptom of a broken mind, or the effects of an ancient curse?]]> 365 C.J. Cooke 059381696X Stephanie 4
Paula Masterton is the Narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and ai loved her work. She was able to handle this large cast like the pro she is, and all those accents sounded completely realistic and on point. I cannot believe my library only has TWO of her audiobooks on hand, for us to listen to..! Hey Books on Tape, maybe you can fix this issue, and soon? Or any other audiobook publishers out there� pretty please? This narrator is a real jewel, in my book. I can’t wait to hear her work again soon.

Oh yeah, the novel has this fascinating Author’s Note that talks about the author’s research into this era, the burning of supposed ‘witches�, the history of Orkney, and the mention of an Allison Balyfor, who became the inspiration for one of the characters in this novel.

4 stars, and recommended. Please check out the content warnings for this novel before reading. There is a lot of torture in it.]]> 3.74 2024 The Book of Witching
author: C.J. Cooke
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/08
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library
review:
I really enjoyed this novel a great deal. It’s full of some really interesting characters, and there is a wonderful setting as well (not the hospital of course). The writing is so good, I was held spellbound throughout the novel, and I couldn’t wait to get back to it whenever I was away doing other things. I really should read more of this author’s novels, in the future.

Paula Masterton is the Narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and ai loved her work. She was able to handle this large cast like the pro she is, and all those accents sounded completely realistic and on point. I cannot believe my library only has TWO of her audiobooks on hand, for us to listen to..! Hey Books on Tape, maybe you can fix this issue, and soon? Or any other audiobook publishers out there� pretty please? This narrator is a real jewel, in my book. I can’t wait to hear her work again soon.

Oh yeah, the novel has this fascinating Author’s Note that talks about the author’s research into this era, the burning of supposed ‘witches�, the history of Orkney, and the mention of an Allison Balyfor, who became the inspiration for one of the characters in this novel.

4 stars, and recommended. Please check out the content warnings for this novel before reading. There is a lot of torture in it.
]]> Under the Same Stars 200982339
In 1940s Germany, Sophie is excited to discover a message waiting for her in the Bridegroom's Oak from a mysterious suitor. Meanwhile, her best friend, Hanna, is sending messages too—but not to find love. As World War II unfolds in their small town of Kleinwald, the oak may hold the key to resistance against the Nazis.

In 1980s West Germany, American teen transplant Jenny feels suffocated by her strict parents and is struggling to fit in. Until she finds herself falling for Lena, a punk-rock girl hell-bent on tearing down the wall separating West Germany from East Germany, and meeting Frau Hermann, a kind old lady with secrets of her own.

In Spring 2020, New York City, best friends Miles and Chloe are slogging through the last few months of senior year when an unexpected package from Chloe’s grandmother leads them to investigate a cold case about two unidentified teenagers who went missing under the Bridegroom’s Oak eighty years ago.

Age Range: 12-18]]> 480 Libba Bray 0374388946 Stephanie 0 to-read 4.18 2025 Under the Same Stars
author: Libba Bray
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Graveyard Shift 203578770 Author of sales sensation If We Were Villains returns with a story about a ragtag group of night shift workers who meet in the local cemetery to unearth the secrets lurking in an open grave.

Every night, in the college’s ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story.

One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn’t there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom?

Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger returns. As they trail him through the night, they realize he may be the key to a string of strange happenings around town that have made headlines for the last few weeks—and that they may be closer to the mystery than they thought.

Atmospheric and eerie, with the ensemble cast her fans love and a delightfully familiar academic backdrop, Graveyard Shift is a modern Gothic tale in If We Were Villains author M. L. Rio’s inimitable style.]]> 144 M.L. Rio 1250356792 Stephanie 3
The audiobook was narrated by many people. As usual, no one at Macmillan Audio stated who voiced who. The cast includes:

Jess Nahikian, M. L. Rio herself, Max Meyers, Si Chen, Susan Dalian, & Tim Campbell. I wish I could tell you which narrator voiced which chapter.

3.5 stars.

P.s., a note to the author: I’m so sorry to hear about your dog’s cancer, and your foot being shattered. I hope everyone is all healed up, and doing well now. Please hug your dog for me, if possible? ]]> 3.18 2024 Graveyard Shift
author: M.L. Rio
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.18
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, short-story-or-novella
review:
Not bad, for a novella. I just wish it were over 400 pages, because I need to know what happens next. Especially with two of the characters. I hope the author will write more about this world in their next book..? Writing this novella while writing another novel at the same time, must have been hell. Especially going through what the author was going through.

The audiobook was narrated by many people. As usual, no one at Macmillan Audio stated who voiced who. The cast includes:

Jess Nahikian, M. L. Rio herself, Max Meyers, Si Chen, Susan Dalian, & Tim Campbell. I wish I could tell you which narrator voiced which chapter.

3.5 stars.

P.s., a note to the author: I’m so sorry to hear about your dog’s cancer, and your foot being shattered. I hope everyone is all healed up, and doing well now. Please hug your dog for me, if possible?
]]> Anima Rising 217223362 FromNew York Timesbestselling author Christopher Moore comes a hilariously deranged tale of a mad scientist, a famous painter, and an undead woman’s electrifying journey of self-discovery.

Vienna, 1911. Gustav Klimt, the most famous painter in the Austrian Empire, the darling of Viennese society, spots a woman’s nude body in the Danube canal. He knows he should summon a policeman, but he can’t resist stopping to make a sketch first. And as he draws, the woman coughs. She’s alive!

Back at his studio, Klimt and his model-turned-muse Wally tend to the erstwhile-drowned girl. She’s nearly feral and doesn’t remember who she is, or how she came to be floating in the canal. Klimt names her Judith, after one of his most famous paintings, and resolves to help her find her memory.

With a little help from Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, Judith recalls being stranded in the arctic one hundred years ago, locked in a crate by a man named Victor Frankenstein, and visiting the Underworld.

So how did she get here? And why are so many people chasing her, including Geoff, the giant croissant-eating devil dog of the North?

Poor Things meets Bride of Frankenstein in Anima Rising, Christopher Moore’s most ingenious (and probably most hilarious) novel yet.


]]> 400 Christopher Moore 0062434152 Stephanie 0 to-read 3.95 Anima Rising
author: Christopher Moore
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.95
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Night Birds 217387939 The next gripping, atmospheric horror novel from NYT bestselling author Christopher Golden, set in a deteriorated, half-sunken freighter ship off the coast of Galveston, TX.

Charlie Book and Ruby Cahill have history. After their love ended in heartbreak, they never expected to see each other again, but when terror enters Ruby’s life, Charlie Book is the only safe harbor she can believe in.

In his work for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Book has been living aboard and studying the Christabel, a 19th century freighter that lies half-sunken in Gulf waters, just off the shore of Galveston. Over many years, a massive forest of mangrove trees has grown up through the deck of the ship, creating a startlingly beautiful enigma Book calls the Floating Forest, full of birds, crabs, and snakes. Though a powerful storm churns through the Gulf, Book intends to sleep on board as usual.

But when he arrives at the dock, preparing to motor out to the Christabel, he’s stunned to find Ruby there waiting for him. And Ruby’s not alone. With her are a mysterious, terrified woman named Johanna and an infant child. They need Book to hide them safely aboard the Christabel while they're on the run, only it isn’t the police who are after them. It’s the coven of witches Johanna has fled, stealing away the helpless infant for whom they had hideous plans…or so Johanna claims.

It’s lunacy. Book wants nothing to do with it. But after the way he and Ruby ended things, and the unspoken pain between them, he can’t refuse. Yet even as he brings them out to the ruined ship and its floating forest, back in Galveston there are shadowed figures out in the storm, sniffing the air like bloodhounds. And despite the worsening wind and rain, the night birds are flying, scouring the coastline as if searching for their prey.]]> 304 Christopher Golden 1250285917 Stephanie 0 to-read 3.77 2025 The Night Birds
author: Christopher Golden
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Run 10595576 A rash of bizarre murders swept the country�
Senseless. Brutal. Seemingly unconnected.
A cop walked into a nursing home and unloaded his weapons on elderly and staff alike.
A mass of school shootings.
Prison riots of unprecedented brutality.
Mind-boggling acts of violence in every state.

4 D A Y S A G O
The murders increased ten-fold�

3 D A Y S A G O
The President addressed the nation and begged for calm and peace�

2 D A Y S A G O
The killers began to mobilize�

Y E S T E R D A Y
All the power went out�

T O N I G H T
They’re reading the names of those to be killed on the Emergency Broadcast System. You are listening over the battery-powered radio on your kitchen table, and they’ve just read yours.

Your name is Jack Colclough. You have a wife, a daughter, and a young son. You live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. People are coming to your house to kill you and your family. You don’t know why, but you don’t have time to think about that any more.

You only have time to�.

R U N

This 80,000-word novel also contains a bonus interview with Blake, and excerpts from his other work.]]> 331 Blake Crouch Stephanie 4
—ĔĔĔĔĔĔĔĔĔ�-
1/4/2024

I listened to the audiobook version of this novel, which was narrated by Scott Brick. I have to say, Brick was able to narrate in such a way that I was left breathless throughout the entire audiobook. His skills are so great, I had totally forgotten that I had read this novel in 2020, and I’d thought it was a totally new novel. (My library isn’t helping with this issue, as it’s listing of the publication date of the ebook and audiobook as October 22, 2024. This confuses me a great deal..!). Yes, I am quite forgetful lately. And yes, I have read *hundreds* of novels since then. But I said what I said, and I’ll die on this hill. Scott Brick’s narration skills are that amazing!
If you can get ahold of this novel in audiobook form, please do. You will love this novel just as much as I have, both times - I’m betting on it!

4 stars, and highly recommended. Please check out those content warnings before reading this novel. It’s very violent.]]> 3.79 2011 Run
author: Blake Crouch
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves: 2020, borrowed-from-library, ebook, slightly-less-than-most-fave
review:
Fantastic novel. I enjoyed this book immensely.

—ĔĔĔĔĔĔĔĔĔ�-
1/4/2024

I listened to the audiobook version of this novel, which was narrated by Scott Brick. I have to say, Brick was able to narrate in such a way that I was left breathless throughout the entire audiobook. His skills are so great, I had totally forgotten that I had read this novel in 2020, and I’d thought it was a totally new novel. (My library isn’t helping with this issue, as it’s listing of the publication date of the ebook and audiobook as October 22, 2024. This confuses me a great deal..!). Yes, I am quite forgetful lately. And yes, I have read *hundreds* of novels since then. But I said what I said, and I’ll die on this hill. Scott Brick’s narration skills are that amazing!
If you can get ahold of this novel in audiobook form, please do. You will love this novel just as much as I have, both times - I’m betting on it!

4 stars, and highly recommended. Please check out those content warnings before reading this novel. It’s very violent.
]]> <![CDATA[First Frost (Walt Longmire, #20)]]> 199558474
It’s the summer of 1964, and recent college graduates Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear read the writing on the wall and enlist to serve in the Vietnam War. As they catch a few final waves in California before reporting for duty, a sudden storm assaults the shores and capsizes a nearby cargo boat. Walt and Henry jump to action, but it’s soon revealed by the police who greet them ashore that the sunken boat carried valuable contraband from underground sources.

The boys, in their early twenties and in the peak of their physical prowess from playing college football for the last four years, head out on Route 66. The question, of course, is how far they will get before the consequences of their actions catch up to them—the answer being, not very.

Back in the present day, Walt is forced to speak before a Judge following the fatal events of The Longmire Defense. With powerful enemies lurking behind the scenes, the sheriff of Absaroka County must consider his options if he wishes to finish the fight he started.

Going back and forth between 1964 and the present day, Craig Johnson brings us a propulsive dual timeline as Walt Longmire stands between the crossfire of good and evil, law and anarchy, and compassion and cruelty at two pivotal stages in his life.]]> 333 Craig Johnson 0593830687 Stephanie 4
George Guidall Is still the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, for which I am imminently grateful. Keep hanging in there, Guidall! We all love you so. You are truly the voice of Walt and his crew.

If you haven’t read this series yet, what are you waiting for? It’s SO good..!!

4 stars, and highly recommended.]]> 4.33 2024 First Frost (Walt Longmire, #20)
author: Craig Johnson
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: 2025, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, part-of-a-series
review:
Another fantastic addition to the series. Walt Longmire and Craig Johnson are still chugging along nicely, with the latter still turning out solid, enjoyable novels. I’m always happy when another Longmire novel comes out, but I am even happier when I’m done with them. Sad that they are over with, of course! But still happy that they are still so very well done.

George Guidall Is still the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, for which I am imminently grateful. Keep hanging in there, Guidall! We all love you so. You are truly the voice of Walt and his crew.

If you haven’t read this series yet, what are you waiting for? It’s SO good..!!

4 stars, and highly recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave, #2)]]> 16131484 The riveting follow-up to the New York Times bestselling The 5th Wave, hailed by Justin Cronin as "wildly entertaining."

How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity.

Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others� ultimate the extermination of the human race.

Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate.]]> 320 Rick Yancey 1101599014 Stephanie 3
I may not agree with Emily May’s 4 star rating, but all of her points in her review are pretty much how I felt as well:

/review/show...

Ben Yannette and Phoebe Strole were the Narrators for the audiobook version of this novel. I don’t know why the Dreamscape Media publishers decided to go with Yannette instead of Brandon Espinoza, but maybe Espinoza wasn’t available or something. And while Yannette was perfectly wonderful in his narration skills, I for one, believe that you should stick with the same narrators for the entirety of the series, no matter what. I mean unless one of the narrators die� in which case the publisher should grab an Ouija board and dial that narrator up! ]]> 3.84 2014 The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave, #2)
author: Rick Yancey
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/16
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: 2024, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, part-of-a-series, young-adult
review:
So I decided to dip into the second novel in this series, because I just needed to know what was going on with all these teens/kids. I’m glad I did, because this was also a pretty good book. It can be a little cheesy, and also had some issues, but it also had me completely struck senseless a couple times with what wild things were going on in this novel. I mean, using little kids as incendiary devices? That’s fucked up. And then the huge plots twist, which I did NOT see coming� neither of them. So I may have to read the next novel in the series now lol. That’s fine, because I enjoyed this novel from start to finish, and it kept me engaged throughout. I loved knowing more about Poor, poor Poundcake, and also Ringer, who I now really understand and like much more. They are some great characters.

I may not agree with Emily May’s 4 star rating, but all of her points in her review are pretty much how I felt as well:

/review/show...

Ben Yannette and Phoebe Strole were the Narrators for the audiobook version of this novel. I don’t know why the Dreamscape Media publishers decided to go with Yannette instead of Brandon Espinoza, but maybe Espinoza wasn’t available or something. And while Yannette was perfectly wonderful in his narration skills, I for one, believe that you should stick with the same narrators for the entirety of the series, no matter what. I mean unless one of the narrators die� in which case the publisher should grab an Ouija board and dial that narrator up!
]]> We Should All Be Feminists 22738563 We Should All Be Feminists, a personal, eloquently-argued essay—adapted from her much-viewed TEDx talk of the same name—by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the award-winning author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun.

With humor and levity, here Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century—one rooted in inclusion and awareness. She shines a light not only on blatant discrimination, but also the more insidious, institutional behaviors that marginalize women around the world, in order to help readers of all walks of life better understand the often masked realities of sexual politics. Throughout, she draws extensively on her own experiences—in the U.S., in her native Nigeria, and abroad—offering an artfully nuanced explanation of why the gender divide is harmful for women and men, alike.

Argued in the same observant, witty and clever prose that has made Adichie a bestselling novelist, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman today—and an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.]]> 52 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Stephanie 5
5 stars, and highly recommended.]]> 4.42 2012 We Should All Be Feminists
author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves: 2024, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, ive-got-to-purchase-this-book, short-story-or-novella
review:
The audiobook version of this novel is narrated by the author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. And she was brilliant.

5 stars, and highly recommended.
]]> At the Bottom of the River 40053764
These stories plunge the listener gently into another way of perceiving both the physical world and its elusive inhabitants. Her narrative is, by turns, naïvely whimsical and biblical in its assurance, and it speaks of what is partially remembered, partly divined. The memories often concern a childhood in the Caribbean—family, manners, and landscape—as distilled and transformed by Kincaid’s special style and vision.

Kincaid leads us to consider, as if for the first time, the powerful ties between mother and child, the beauty and destructiveness of nature, the gulf between the masculine and the feminine, the significance of such familiar things as a house, a cup, a pen. Transfiguring our human form and our surroundings—shedding skin, darkening an afternoon, painting a perfect place—these stories tell us something we didn’t know, in a way we hadn’t expected.]]> 10 Jamaica Kincaid Stephanie 3
Robin Miles is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and she was grand. I adore her accent. I hope she has a long career narrating audiobooks in the future.

3 stars.]]> 3.67 1983 At the Bottom of the River
author: Jamaica Kincaid
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1983
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves: 2024, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, it-was-ok, short-story-or-novella
review:
For me, this novel was hard to follow. It seemed more like someone telling you their disjointed and symbolic dreams. It was also hard for me to stay engaged, and hard to see the common theme that this novel had. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t understand what was going on, most of the time. I hope my next novel with this author goes a lot better.

Robin Miles is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and she was grand. I adore her accent. I hope she has a long career narrating audiobooks in the future.

3 stars.
]]> <![CDATA[The Gigantic Beard that Was Evil]]> 16054793 The job of the skin is to keep things in.

On the buttoned-down island of Here, all is well. By which we mean: orderly, neat, contained and, moreover, beardless.

Or at least it is until one famous day, when Dave, bald but for a single hair, finds himself assailed by a terrifying, unstoppable... monster*!

Where did it come from? How should the islanders deal with it? And what, most importantly, are they going to do with Dave?

The first book from a new leading light of UK comics, The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil is an off-beat fable worthy of Roald Dahl. It is about life, death and the meaning of beards.

(*We mean a gigantic beard, basically.)]]> 240 Stephen Collins 0224096281 Stephanie 4
But while I read this in ebook form, I would have to say that the way kindle is set up, this book doesn’t work very well. It should be read in a physical book form, if at all possible.

4 stars, and highly recommended.]]> 4.04 2013 The Gigantic Beard that Was Evil
author: Stephen Collins
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves: 2024, borrowed-from-library, graphic-novels, ebook, short-story-or-novella
review:
Weird, wild and wonderful. This is NOT a kid’s book! I loved it.

But while I read this in ebook form, I would have to say that the way kindle is set up, this book doesn’t work very well. It should be read in a physical book form, if at all possible.

4 stars, and highly recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly]]> 17707648 A Korean Charlotte's Web

This is the story of a hen named Sprout. No longer content to lay eggs on command, only to have them carted off to the market, she glimpses her future every morning through the barn doors, where the other animals roam free, and comes up with a plan to escape into the wild—and to hatch an egg of her own.

An anthem for freedom, individuality and motherhood featuring a plucky, spirited heroine who rebels against the tradition-bound world of the barnyard, The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly is a novel of universal resonance that also opens a window on Korea, where it has captivated millions of readers. And with its array of animal characters—the hen, the duck, the rooster, the dog, the weasel—it calls to mind such classics in English as Animal Farm and Charlotte’s Web.

Featuring specially-commissioned illustrations, this first English-language edition of Sun-mi Hwang’s fable for our times beautifully captures the journey of an unforgettable character in world literature.]]> 134 Sun-mi Hwang 0143123203 Stephanie 4
3.5 stars.]]> 4.02 2000 The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly
author: Sun-mi Hwang
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves: 2024, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, short-story-or-novella
review:
Jill Larson is the Narrator for the audiobook version of this novel.

3.5 stars.
]]> The Man in My Basement 84553 Hailed as a masterpiece-the finest work yet by an American novelist of the first rank-this is the mysterious story of a young black man who agrees to an unusual bargain to save the home that has belonged to his family for generations.

Walter Mosley pierces long-hidden veins of justice and morality with startling insight into the deepest mysteries of human nature.]]> 249 Walter Mosley 031615931X Stephanie 3
The audiobook version of this novel is narrated by Ernie Hudson, the actor. I wish a lot more novels were narrated by Ernie Hudson! He’s very good, naturally talented at storytelling, and I think he could do a lot more. Maybe Hachette Audio will give Hudson more work in the future�? One can only hope!

3 stars.]]> 3.67 2004 The Man in My Basement
author: Walter Mosley
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves: 2024, audiobooks, borrowed-from-library, it-was-ok, wish-it-had-been-better, short-story-or-novella
review:
This isn’t Mosley’s best novel, imo. It was just ok� good enough to keep me interested, but that’s about it.

The audiobook version of this novel is narrated by Ernie Hudson, the actor. I wish a lot more novels were narrated by Ernie Hudson! He’s very good, naturally talented at storytelling, and I think he could do a lot more. Maybe Hachette Audio will give Hudson more work in the future�? One can only hope!

3 stars.
]]>