Mollee

I loved this. 
It had camp vibes which I love and it had religious horror undertones actually done WELL. I don't typically like religious horror but this one was so good. 
I loved that despite it being slasher in the way where since so many characters are being killed off there aren't many options left by the end of who the killer could be, that we still got plenty of plot twists along the way. 
A beautiful marriage of my love for horror and mystery. 

I've never read anything like this.  Our narration is told from the perspective of several members of the court during a murder trial. It was so unique I thoroughly enjoyed how it was done. Especially since we don't know the truth either, so we go through deliberations and find things out like we're also a member of the jury until the end. 

I could have done without that chapter. The one everyone always talks about. The one that added nothing to the story. The one that didn't need to be there. The one that was used simply as shock factor. Yeah, that one. 
But the rest of the book was actually pretty good. Obviously you're warned about what you're going into. It's extreme horror with kids. That's not for everyone. But I felt this was well written and well executed. 

I literally picked this up on a whim at my library. I'd never heard anything about it but something just stood out to me and so I pulled it off the shelf and read the synopsis. Still unsure I put it back but it just kept calling to me and so I figured “it's only 120 pages might as well just give it a shot” 
I LOVED THIS. 
Why is no one talking about this book when it's so good??? 
First off; It already has so many of the things I like in a horror so that set us up for success from the beginning (cults, unreliable narrators, mushroom horror? Or like fungal horror? Google says it's called “Sporror” Idk but I love that shit). 
And the writing was so beautiful. It was a little dense at times with a lot of big words that would trip me up in a few paragraphs but after rereading said paragraphs I was fine. 
This was just so creepy, and eerie and just so GOOD. 
Please read this book. It deserves more hype. 

This was.... Not what I was expecting based on the synopsis. 
And this was.... Decidedly not  for me. 

Why did I low key kind of like this? 
I had read so many negative reviews of people hating this. But I didn't. 
Maybe it's because I know the main character (not literally obviously) but I know the type of person he is. I know him. I've loved him. And relating the MC to someone I know so deeply helped me connect to the horrors of the book. 
Maybe in 2006 this type of man was more shocking. But in 2024 this type of man is so common place in the world I wasn't really shocked by anything he said or did and I think that's the true horror of this book. 
The fact that something that was created to be so horrific and shocking has become so commonplace that not only did the actions and thoughts of this man didn't phase me, but I felt as if I knew him intimately in the men I've dated. 
I know that what I took from this book is very different from what most people probably have, but it allowed me the capability to actually sort of enjoy it so I'm okay with that. 

This was a Black Mirror episode in a book and I ATE IT UP. 

Allie's story was my favorite but all 3 women were so good. 
I'd seen a few people talking about how good this was and it didn't disappoint. 
Not an all time favorite but I thoroughly enjoyed. 
We love strong independent women . 

The hype for this book was high. And it didn't quite live up to it. 
I was expecting a 5 Star. 
I'd heard about twists and turns and a wild ride from start to finish, but I wasn't as thrilled as I expected to be. 
I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong and it read very easily and quickly it just wasn't as good as I was hoping it would be. 
That last chapter though really did me in. That I did not in fact see coming and wow I can't stop thinking about it. That upped my rating in and of itself.  

I'm not usually a historical fiction girlie but I wanted to read this one since it's so widely beloved.  I've been in whatever the opposite of a slump is lately so I was flying through it but wasn't sure if I was actually enjoying it at first. 
But as I continued to read I found myself falling in love with the characters and becoming deeply connected to them. 
I sobbed so hard at the end I could barely see the words anymore. And that ability to evoke such strong emotion in me is what caused me to give this a 4 instead of what I was sure would be closer to a 3 most of the read. 
This story is heartbreaking and so unique in the way it's told (be g narrated by death??) 
Even if it's not your typical genre I would still recommend it. 

God this book was awful. 
It was so boring, and there wasn't a “twist” I didn't see coming. 
It took me forever to get through and it threw me into a few slumps. 
Had it not been a Riley Sager book I probably would have DNF'd it but I should have anyways. 
It felt like NOTHING happened in the 300+ pages. 
Anytime anything started to get interesting it was explained away almost as quickly as it'd come up. I feel like any of the other suspect's being the  culprit would have been more interesting than the actual culprit and their story was. 
Riley Sager has always been a hit or miss author for me ranging from 2 stars (Lock Every Door) to near 5 Stars (Survive the Night and The Only One Left) but this was the biggest swing and a miss I've ever seen from him and boy am I disappointed. Even prior works that I rated low feel like 5 stars in comparison to this one. 
My worst book of the year so far. 

I'm not usually one for anthologies but I'd heard too many good things about this book to not give it a try.
I felt like I was reading a Black Mirror episode with every story in the best way possible.
We started off strong, hit a bit of a bump in the middle but ended pretty well.
As a whole I would say I enjoyed this collection.
Below is a detailed “review” and rating for each of the stories with spoilers. 


The Husband Stitch: 4 stars.  How bizarre of a story. It elicited so much emotion for being as vague as it was. I felt my pulse quickening, my stomach dropping. While involving the fantastical elements of a world that's just slightly different than ours all of the stories our main character tells us still feel so realistic.  The selfishness of her husband, the fixation on her ribbon, the blatant disrespect of her wishes, the very evident connection and illusion to consent, of how men take what is not theirs to be taken.  I'm left confused as to what the ribbons in varying locations of the body indicate, but the metaphor of the ribbon as a whole was beautifully done. 
Inventory: 4.5 stars.  This has no right being as good as it was for how short it was.  We're literally just going through each of our main characters sexual partners throughout her life. But it's such a beautiful slice of life into those most intimate experiences    I don't know if I like the virus aspect more or less than I might have had I read this when it was originally teleased  in 2017 before the Covid outbreak. I actually had to check the publication year because I thought they were referencing Covid. It just makes it hit that much harder though now that we have had that experience. 

Mothers: 2 Stars  This one wasn't for me.  It left me confused and not in a good way like The Husband Stitch. I still don't know what was happening or what it meant and while the writing was still flowery and beautiful it felt like almost too much. 
Especially Heinous: 3.5 Stars Love the concept, little episode summaries that collectively tell a story.  Law and Order SVU meets Twilight Zone. The doppelgänger situation was kind of meh for me but I actually loved that all of the victims wound up in Benson's head telling her how to help them find peace. That was really freaking cool.  Also I looked up the real SVU episodes and they're all the same in the book. Including some of the same plots which I thought was cool.  It got a bit sluggish in the middle and I found myself counting how much longer we had to go. I understand that we're doing every episode in what was 12 seasons (at the time) but it started to drag after awhile.  But at the end it picked up again for me and I liked the end of it. 
Real Women Have Bodies: 3 Stars This one was just real fucking sad. It made me think of couples where one of them has cancer and is slowly withering away.  It was just heartbreaking.  And on a deeper level so meaningful and terrifying g that women are just randomly fading away and no one knows why or even really cares.  Because that's just how society would be if there was something that actually caused our female population to randomly wither away. Most of them wouldn't give a shit and wouldn't try to fix it. 
Eight Bites: 4 Stars I don't know how to put my thoughts into words about this one.  I just loved the message of how even when you hate your body she still loves you. Like our bodies are so amazing with all the things they can do and no matter how much we may dislike what we see when we look in the mirror are body still keeps doing everything she needs to do to keep us alive. She keeps us going no matter how awful we are to her. Until one day she cannot keep going anymore and that apology at the end was like a knife to the heart.  Our bodies deserve so much more love than we can ever give them. 
The Resident: 3.75 Stars I am a sucker for camp and retreat stories. I eat them up. So this was right up my alley. And it had me. Until the end. I didn't like the ambiguous ending. I didn't quite get it. I have theories that our main character was never actually married, she was actually insane after all and had stalked this woman she thought was her wife. But then it all just ended, so abruptly without explanation.
Difficult at Parties: 3.5 Stars This one was also confusing. But I think I understood what it was trying to say. Maybe it's up for interpretation and I just interpreted it a certain way? But it made it impactful for me. Seeing our main character truly become a shell of herself was truly heart breaking.

Ughhhh I'm so disappointed. 
I loved the first 2 “acts” of this book. Even if it is literally Charles Manson's story.  I don't even think you could say it's “inspired by”  because really the only thing they bothered to change was that Charles's name was “Henry”. 
 But I was still really enjoying it! 
I love a novel told in verse, and found Ostow's writing style to be very beautiful. 
I really enjoyed the fact that this didn't feel like I was being told a story, it felt like I was reading Mel's diary. I wasn't drawn into it feeling like I was experiencing what happened the way most novels are and it was a refreshing take on a cult novel. 
I could really Mel's delusions about Henry and her belief in the family. And it was so cool. Getting that perspective from a cult member? I was eating it up. 

And then we hit act 3. Which is just repeating previous chapters with a bit more information thrown in to clarify things. And maybe it's because I read this in one sitting but I don't want to read the same chapters over again 100 pages later. So that already knocked it down probably half a star for me. 

And then the spoilery bits that knocked another half star off. This just wasn't what I wanted from an ending. For Mel to suddenly find clarity and give up on Henry and the entire family? I hated it. I wish we would have kept the brainwashed perspective through until the end. I understand wanting your character to be reformed and gave a “happy ending” where the main character is free from the cult. But it really sucked for me!
I'm just bummed because the first half I was thinking this could be at least a high 3 star, and I didn't understand the low average rating. 
Well... the second half ruined it. 
I've had this book on my shelves for like 8 years though and it's survived countless unhauls so I'm glad I finally got to it and I'll no longer be plagued by the mystery of “Family by Micol Ostow”. 
I just wish I'd enjoyed it more than I did. 

I was a bit nervous at first because it took me some time to really get into this book.
 But once I did, I really did. 
I was so immersed that I would forget that it wasn't real and would want to google something about it to answer more of my questions. 
The story is horrific and I still can't stop thinking about how awful people are because while I know this is fiction, I can so easily see something like this happening in real life too. 

This just wasn't it. 
I wanted to enjoy it. I liked the premise. I liked the location. I only finished it because I wanted to know who raped Lindy. I wish I would have just read a spoiler review and saved myself the time. 
This isn't a “who done it” thriller. This is an adult man reminiscing on his whiny ass teenage years. 
It wasn't enjoyable, it was just annoying and boring.  

Extreme horror. Straight slasher. 
I watched a YouTube video where Hailey Hughes recommended this book, and talked about how it's out of print and super difficult to come across now days. 

So naturally my curiosity was peaked and I had to find it and read it.  Sprinkle in the fact that I love anything summer camp themed and this was a recipe for success. 

It feels wrong to rate this book highly because of how horrific the subject matter is but it was a wild ride from start to finish and  I enjoyed the journey. Not for the faint of heart. But definitely for me. 

I was hoping to like this book more than I did. 
Usually I love a “good for her” murder/thriller, but not enough of this felt like the “good for her” I was expecting. 
Most of it was just our main character doing very questionable and fucked up things. 

Oh and the plot twist thrown in at the end really didn't do it for me and resulted in probably an entire half star knock down. 

I loved the premise of this book and honestly found it pretty enjoyable. A 3 star thriller me is one I consider an average thriller.
I've seen a few people talk about how shocked they were by the ending, but bummer for me... I wasn't. I had figured it out already before it was revealed and in order for a thriller to get a 4 or 5 star from me I have to be shocked by the reveals and the plot twists. 

I'm definitely not saying I regret reading this one though I like I did with the last Jeneva Rose I read (You Shouldn't Have Come Here) cause this one was a good time!

I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did. 

Grady Hendrix is so hit or miss for me. I loved My Best Friend's Exorcism and Horrorstor but I DNF'd How To Sell a Haunted House so I was nervous going into this one. 
Not to mention I've seen a lot of negative reviews on this one. 
I've seen a lot of things that say this is the “same word, different font” as Final Girl by Riley Sager but I enjoyed this one more! 

So I guess you're either a Final Girls girlie or a Final Girl Support Group girlie and I am a Final Girl Support Group girlie. 

I finally had to read this one because I feel like it's one of the Booktube gold standard thrillers. And while it wasn't the 5 star I was hoping for, it didn't disappoint. 
I see why so many people love this one. It's extremely well written and even though I wasn't  jaw droppingly shocked by all of the reveals I certainly did not see some of them coming. This was a good one. 

I almost DNF'd this one. 
Mona Awad is such a hit or miss for me. I DNF'd Bunny but quite enjoyed All's Well. 
This one had bits and pieces that kept me reading, but a few things I just found too weird for my liking was the Tom Cruise thing and the obsession with her mom's sex life

Taylor Adams does it again. 
No Exit is one of my favorites of all time so I was pretty nervous dipping my toes into another Taylor Adams book but I was NOT disappointed. 

This book had constantly had my heart racing, from having me feeling genuinely scared to shocking me with twist after twist. I was texting all my friends along the way begging them to read this one too. 
Another for the favorite thrillers list. 

Stop this was so good. I DNF'd Babel so I was hesitant to pick up something else by this author but I picked this up on a whim from my library's ebook collection and I could not get enough. 
From reading the synopsis I did not expect to get as much thriller vibes from this book as I did. 
I shudder to think of a life where I never read this book cause it was so freaking good! 

Guys. Guys. Guys. Riley Sager keeps getting better and better with every book he releases in my opinion. 

I really loved the dual timeline in this one, and there were so many twists and turns that I did not see coming. 
Also as a medical professional that side of the book was also very interesting to read about and I feel like was done pretty well. 

I will continue to read everything this man puts out. A staple in the current thriller genre for a reason. 

This was a cover read. Sort of. One of my friends had read it and enjoyed it, but going into it I didn't know what to expect. 
It's fiction, but it read like a true crime which I thought was really neat. 
I know it was inspired by true events which probably contributed to that true crime feeling. 
I definitely didn't want to put this one down as I read it. I couldn't get enough. 
Once I finished it I went out and bought Jessica Knoll's other two thrillers I liked this one so much. 

So glad I loved this one! I usually prefer the Wayward Children installments that revisit the original characters but this one really hit for me. I found it absolutely fascinating the fact that going through the doors steals your years? one of the most innovative additions to this series that I never saw coming. 
Can't wait to continue on with Antsy's journey seeing that she's also going to be a character in the next installment.