“A puppet is a possession that possesses the possessor”
Hendrix has done it again, y’all! How to sell a Haunted house is everything I never knew I needed in a horror book, and *spoiler alert* it’s not actually about a haunted house. I mean kind of, but it’s so much deeper than that. The puppets sucked me in, and the wild ass family drama kept me going.
When Mark and Louise’s parents unexpectedly pass away in a car accident Louise comes home to South Carolina to help her brother with the arrangements. Mark and Louise have never been close, their strained relationship made worse by the reading of their parents will. The drama unfolds as we learn that Louise gets her moms prized art collection (haunted puppets included) and Mark gets everything else. Everything. As Louise starts clearing her moms art collection from the house scary things start happening….and only get worse. Mark and Louise have to work together to not only clean out and sell the house, but try to stay alive while doing it.
Hendrix’s campy style never gets old to me, and I absolutely love how the book is sectioned by the stages of grief. It was a perfect added touch! I found myself invested in the family dynamics and fell in love with every character. Even Pupkin. I finished this book in one day and as soon as I closed it I wished I could read it again for the first time.
This book made me laugh AND cry. I really loved it, and I will always recommend it!
Short story- I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it.
Long story- I wanted this to be a life altering, perception changing, empowering book, but it just wasn’t that for me.
I’m not a self-help/memoir reader, so maybe I’m not the target audience for this book, but I had to read this empowering, feminist piece of work everyone on bookstagram was raving about. Im always up for a feminist tirade!
The first 1/4 was great! It was interesting, the stories pulled me in, and it felt relevant and real….after that it all went downhill for me. It was fluff peppered with cute motivational quotes.
This was not a memoir or self help book, it was a book of short stories about Glennon’s life, a book about how she CHOSE to be gay, how she has life figured out, and to achieve the best life you must be selfish, always choosing yourself over everyone else. If you’re not choosing you and your truth, are you even living? Sometimes I like to put my kids or husband first, and that feels good to me and my heart. It doesn’t make me a martyr. Sorry Glennon.
Im probably not the target audience for this book, but I gave it a good solid college try.
If you’re into motivational quotes and want a fast, feel-good read, you’ll love this book!
Eliza Jane Brazier's debut novel If I Disappear is a campy, culty delight!
I live for the creep factor, the who-done-it mystery, where the fingers seem to point in every direction and you just can't for the life of you seem to figure any of it out.
Sera is a lonely woman, a divorcee who has recently lost her baby, her husband, and is on the verge of losing her job and even her home when her favorite podcast host seems to have gone missing. Rachel is the host of a true-crime podcast called "Murder, she spoke." When Rachel suddenly stops airing episodes, Sera takes it upon herself to travel to Rachel's hometown to solve this mystery. At first Sera is unsure if Rachel is even missing, I mean, after all, she doesn't even really know this person, does she? Once she arrives at Rachel's family's summer dude ranch, she finds it in disrepair, not at all the idyllic ranch Rachel painted for her podcast listeners, and she quickly realizes something is amiss. there is a mystery to be solved here, a missing woman, and EVERYONE is a suspect!
This book is a slow burn, an unraveling of small clues. Just when I would have an AHA moment, thinking I had it all figured out, I would be left with 12 more questions, and honestly, i'm not mad about that aspect of the story at all! The protagonist's personality wasn't developed enough for me to connect with her, and her personality fell flat for me. I feel like she was trying to be portrayed as strong and fearless but she felt very one dimensional. I was hoping to have an explosive ending after such a slow unraveling, but it wasn't that for me at all. So many loose ends needed to be tied up, leaving the reader with an open ending and even more questions, What happened to Rachel? What did Sera do? How did it end? I had Sopranos flashbacks all over again.
Overall, this was a solid debut, it was a good book, and I can't wait to see what they do with the TV series!
If I Disappear will be out on January 26, 2021 (which happens to be my birthday, BTW!) So set a reminder, you’re not going to want to miss this one!
Thank you Berkley Publishing & Netgalley for my gifted copy of this book!
First of all I want to say THANK YOU to Simon & Schuster Scout Press & NetGalley for my advanced copy of The Drowning Kind by Jennifer Mc Mahon. Without the wonderful publishers and Netgalley I wouldn’t have the opportunity to review so many fantastic books. I love what I do, and I couldn’t do it without them!
So, let’s talk about this delicious morsel- Not only is this book beautiful, it is a modern day ghost story and that is something I can NOT miss! Jennifer McMahon is the author of one of my favorite books, The Winter People, and from the sound of it, this book is going to be just as good.
DESCRIPTION👇
Be careful what you wish for. When social worker Jax receives nine missed calls from her older sister, Lexie, she assumes that it’s just another one of her sister’s episodes. Manic and increasingly out of touch with reality, Lexie has pushed Jax away for over a year. But the next day, Lexie is dead: drowned in the pool at their grandmother’s estate. When Jax arrives at the house to go through her sister’s things, she learns that Lexie was researching the history of their family and the property. And as she dives deeper into the research herself, she discovers that the land holds a far darker past than she could have ever imagined.
In 1929, thirty-seven-year-old newlywed Ethel Monroe hopes desperately for a baby. In an effort to distract her, her husband whisks her away on a trip to Vermont, where a natural spring is showcased by the newest and most modern hotel in the Northeast. Once there, Ethel learns that the water is rumored to grant wishes, never suspecting that the spring takes in equal measure to what it gives.
Do you like ghost stories? Paranormal thrillers that will keep you up at night, guessing and checking every noise you hear? If that is your jam, Jennifer McMahon is your girl! I was never really into the paranormal stuff until I read The Winter People, and I was hooked. Not only does she write a kickass ghost story, but the mystery had me reeling! I love a good twisty book.
What is your favorite ghost story?
The Drowning Kind will be published on April 06, 2021, so keep an eye out for it!
Since we have been spending more (Ugh, all ) of our time at home, I have had plenty of time to look up all of the new and exciting goings-on in the literary universe…….And I am going to share a few of them with you!
There are a lot of books coming out that I am excited about, (By a LOT of great authors) and I hope, by the end of this list, you are excited about a few too!
The Silent Wife
“Atlanta, Georgia. Present day. A young woman is brutally attacked and left for dead. The police investigate but the trail goes cold. Until a chance assignment takes GBI investigator Will Trent to the state penitentiary, and to a prisoner who says he recognizes the MO. The attack looks identical to the one he was accused of eight years earlier. The prisoner’s always insisted that he was innocent, and now he’s sure he has proof. The killer is still out there.
As Will digs into both crimes it becomes clear that he must solve the original case in order to reach the truth. Yet nearly a decade has passed—time for memories to fade, witnesses to vanish, evidence to disappear. And now he needs medical examiner Sara Linton to help him hunt down a ruthless murderer. But when the past and present collide, everything Will values is at stake . . . “
The Silent Wife will be released on July 28, 2020
Home Before Dark
“What was it like? Living in that house.“
“Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.
Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father’s book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father’s death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous thanks to Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint at a history of dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction.”
Home Before Dark will be released on June 20, 2020
The Waffle House On The Pier
Run away to Sea Salt Bay, where the sand is warm and soft, the sea is a perfect blue, and a candy-coloured waffle house is about to change Sadie’s life…
For as long as she can remember, Sadie’s grandparents have run the waffle house on the pier at Sea Salt Bay. With its pretty painted chairs, sweet smells, and the warm advice of her beloved grandparents, the waffle house is like a second home.
But when Sadie’s grandfather dies, leaving her grandmother without an anchor, Sadie must make a difficult decision. She quits her job and moves back home, determined to keep things going. The trouble is, she knows nothing about running a business, and learning at a million miles an hour with a shop full of hungry people isn’t easy. When she nearly burns the waffle house down, she has to admit she needs to get some help.
Her ex-boyfriend Declan promises to be there for her but Sadie worries that getting too close is a mistake – especially as he has a new girlfriend now. And anyway she’s just met newcomer Luke, with his gorgeous suntan and mellow voice…
Sadie’s family have always loved Declan and they’re not too sure about Luke, leaving Sadie unsure which way to turn. A terrible accident at sea forces her to look into her heart, but what if it’s already too late to tell the right man that she loves him?
If you love stolen kisses under the pier, walking along spray-capped shores eating ice cream, and books by Lucy Diamond, Jill Mansell and Jenny Colgan, you will fall in love with this romantic, heart-breaking read.
The Waffle House on the Pier will be released on June 25, 2020
The Guest List
A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the author of The Hunting Party.
The bride ‧ The plus one ‧ The best man ‧ The wedding planner ‧ The bridesmaid ‧ The body
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.
But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.
And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?
The Guest List will be released on June 2nd, 2020
Invisible Girl
ONDON:On a fine avenue of grand houses, big cars and electronic gates, lies a neglected urban wasteland
It is nearly midnight, and very cold. Yet in this dark place of long grass and tall trees where cats hunt and foxes shriek, a girl is waiting…
When Saffyre Maddox was ten something terrible happened and she’s carried the pain of it around with her ever since. The man who she thought was going to heal her didn’t, and now she hides from him, invisible in the shadows, learning his secrets; secrets she could use to blow his safe, cosy world apart.
Owen Pick is invisible too. He’s thirty-three years old and he’s never had a girlfriend, he’s never even had a friend. Nobody sees him. Nobody cares about him.
But when Saffyre Maddox disappears from opposite his house on Valentine’s night, suddenly the whole world is looking at him. Accusing him. Holding him responsible.
Because he’s just the type, isn’t he? A bit creepy?
INVISIBLE GIRL: A story of secrets and injustices, and of how we look in the wrong places for the bad people while the real predators walk among us in plain sight.
Invisible girl will be released on August 6, 2020
One By One
Getting snowed in at a beautiful, rustic mountain chalet doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world, especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a cozy fire, and company to keep you warm. But what happens when that company is eight of your coworkers…and you can’t trust any of them?
When an off-site company retreat meant to promote mindfulness and collaboration goes utterly wrong when an avalanche hits, the corporate food chain becomes irrelevant and survival trumps togetherness. Come Monday morning, how many members short will the team be?
One By One will be released on September 8, 2020
Magic Lessons
Where does the story of the Owens bloodline begin? With Maria Owens, in the 1600s, when she’s abandoned in a snowy field in rural England as a baby. Under the care of Hannah Owens, Maria learns about the “Unnamed Arts.” Hannah recognizes that Maria has a gift and she teaches the girl all she knows. It is here that she learns her first important lesson: Always love someone who will love you back.
When Maria is abandoned by the man who has declared his love for her, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts. Here she invokes the curse that will haunt her family. And it’s is here that she learns the rules of magic and the lesson that she will carry with her for the rest of her life. Love is the only thing that matters.
Magic Lessons is a celebration of life and love and a showcase of Alice Hoffman’s masterful storytelling.
Magic Lessons will be released on October 6, 2020
Mark your calendars and set your alarms so you don’t miss any of these awesome summer/fall releases. I hope you find a few that you are excited about, and if you do, let me know!
Amazon first reads is pretty awesome. If you are an Amazon Prime member you have early access to editors picks, one FREE kindle book each month (Chosen from a selection of books each month) and you can shop select print editions for $9.99 or less in participating months.
ANYWAY, I wanted to share with you my February pick! I’m pretty excited about this one, and after reading a few contemporary YA books recently, I am SO READY for a good thriller.
DRUMROLL PLEASEEEEEEE- I present to you, my February pick, “A Killer’s Wife” By Victor Methos.
From the bestselling author of The Neon Lawyer comes a gripping thriller about a prosecutor confronted with the darkest part of her past and the worst fears for her future…
Fourteen years ago, prosecutor Jessica Yardley’s husband went to prison for a series of brutal murders. She’s finally created a life with her daughter and is a well-respected attorney. She’s moving on. But when a new rash of homicides have her ex-husband, Eddie, written all over them—the nightmares of her past come back to life.
The FBI asks Jessica to get involved in the hunt for this copycat killer—which means visiting her ex and collaborating with the man who tore her life apart.
As the copycat’s motives become clearer, the new life Jessica created for herself gets darker. She must ask herself who she can trust and if she’s capable of stopping the killer—a man whose every crime is a bloody valentine from a twisted mastermind she’s afraid she may never escape.
Okay, Yes, yes and yes. I am all for a good thriller. This book has great reviews on Goodreads, and sounds absolutely delicious. Have you read A Killers Wife? Let me know!!
The Literary Wife 