nerdyprettythings's reviews
495 reviews

I loved it! I don't 100% think it stuck the ending, but I really enjoyed the tone of this book - a dark comedy/horror situation where we're following a family full of people who sold their souls to Hell and the employee from Hell responsible for getting one more. If you enjoyed the Bad Place characters on The Good Place or appreciate some comedy with your actually pretty interesting and thought-provoking horror concepts, I think you'll love this.

This was so weird and fun. A very quick read and the audiobook was fantastic, there are narrators for a bunch of the characters. If you liked the show UnReal and also enjoy thrillers/horror, I highly recommend 

This book is like if your fever dream had a moral of the story. I wouldn't really go in expecting a plot, which is fine! But around the 50% mark I did have to sort of force myself to keep reading, partly because it felt like once you get there, why is there much more of the book left, though around 80-ish I got really into it again! Also I thought the narrator really added to the ambiance and nailed the tone of the book, but I am BEGGING audiobook narrators to stop actually whispering, it's so uncomfortable (but it's not terribly overused here, I just noticed it several times as I was finishing this one today)

First (!!) read of the month and I loved it. I’ve been in a heavy slump, not enjoying a lot of what I picked up, and this one fixed me. The first person narrative is used absolutely perfectly to reveal what’s going on in the house and unfold the story. At first it felt like a comedy - the MC is very matter-of-fact about the creepy goings on, and tbh she loves having the company in her haunted house. But then you get to thinking about why someone might feel comfortable living with monsters. I absolutely recommend checking the TWs, but if you’re up for it, I think this book was really good.

This was just okay imo. It was definitely a fast-paced thriller, and I did get into the "how will they possibly get away" of it all, but I had a lot of issues. (A few: There is a woman and a 14-yr old girl who are basically immediately threatened with SA, the children will randomly have like "Nuh uh! Uh huh!"-style arguments while.on the run for their lives, a lot of characterization stuff, especially with the kids, that I didn't enjoy)
If you saw Infinity Pool - the reason the family is trapped on the Island is the same as that film, but nothing all that weird or innovative happens afterwards, it's just running from murderers, and I kept waiting for it to have a little more going on.

This book is small but it packs a punch! Told in three sections and from three perspectives - the wife, her husband, and her best friend, the whole book takes place over the course of one day, and there are no repeats, each section picks up chronologically in the night from the other. It’s tense, sort of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf vibes but with the added intensity of all of the characters knowing each other and all their weaknesses and sore spots very well.

As the clipping. song that inspired it says, this book is so so deep. It’s about one person’s pain and that of her entire community. It’s about learning to manage her pain and when and how to fight back, and it’s about the possibility of finding happiness. It’s about climate change and the human impact and violence against the ocean and the creatures who live there. 
It hit especially hard reading it during a time when libraries are under attack and across the country so many people are trying to keep future generations ignorant to our real, painful history.
I know I’m late to picking this one up, but I absolutely recommend it, now more than ever. 

Lisa Jewell’s newest book is out and it’s a good one! If I were you, I wouldn’t read the synopsis. It’s a psychological thriller and based on the title you know a lot of what’s going on here, but the synopsis leaves almost nothing to the imagination. It’s told partly as pieces of a true crime podcast and partly through the story in real time and I found it really effective, especially where I knew some things were real and couldn’t make them match where it seemed the book wanted me to be headed. Good stuff! If you liked the idea and quick pacing of Verity but wished it had actually been good (and/or would have cut the romance) you’d enjoy this.

Spent the last couple hours reading and thoroughly enjoying this cute lil choose-your-own-adventure book. For the first few times I did it straight up, choosing a character and going on their adventure, and this book did a great job of creating a sense of accomplishment in me when I made it to the end with them. But as I completed the rest, I really enjoyed all the side quests and characters I met - some of them very creepy and some adorably heartwarming. I picked this up when I got into grownup choose your own path books, but I think if there are middle gradeish+ aged fantasy loving youngsters in your life, this would be a fantastic pick for them.