Welcome to Litsy!

Gaaaaah!I like when books can catch me off guard 🙅🏻‍♀️

What a fantastic surprise to come home to at the end of a draining week @TheLudicReader !!! Thank you so much!!! I will be writing back shortly 😃🫶🏻💌📬

#Litsylove #HappyMail #Friendship #Bookllovers

A relaxing Thursday before my 3-day weekend!

Pouring rain so it was the perfect time to finish this terrific book. At 15, Lex escaped confinement in her family home and thus rescued her siblings. Now, many years later, her mother has died leaving Lex executor of the estate which includes the “Horror House” where it all went down. Fantastic book about trauma, memory, sibling relationships…not graphic but still. So well written, I couldn‘t put it down.

I‘m getting my books ready for this month! I didn‘t read either of my #bookspin books last month, but a girl can dream. Thanks as always to @TheAromaofBooks for organizing!

Book 12 of ‘24

Took longer to finish than expected. Sad, but it didn‘t really *go* anywhere. Horrific as it sounds, I was expecting more visceral moments regarding the religious fervor & child trauma at the heart of this story. Instead, it‘s just pretty tepid and sad. There is one mild twist but not a real gotcha. Overall, not sure I‘d recommend. Not for the faint of heart.

The summary describes this as a thriller, but that‘s not quite accurate. It is more like a fictional “where are they now” about siblings who survived horrific child abuse. It is beautifully written, but it is very sad and won‘t be for everyone.

Bail on page 47.

This is wrongly marketed as a thriller. It isn't a thriller at all.

I couldn't get into it. The timeline is everywhere and so messy. There are decades of difference to the plot in each sentence. It's so hard to follow.

A no from me.

Dark. Disturbing. Sad. Child abuse survivor Lex comes home to settle her parents' estate with her siblings, each of whom carry their own baggage of horrific abuse into adulthood. While I believe it was written beautifully, it left me with more questions, and I was unsatisfied in the end.

Bring a new book home and immediately lose it to the cat! Life with #TomKitten. #CatsOfLitsy

🌟3/5🌟
Not a thriller at all. It‘s more so a retelling of a traumatic, heartbreaking childhood, heavily inspired from the Turpin case. The author likes to switch different timelines a lot (almost every paragraph) and it gets very confusing which timeline you‘re in or which character is being referred to. It‘s one of those things where you gotta read a few more sentences to get the gist. Starts slow but starts picking up towards the end!

I‘m back from the dead & have posted some reviews of previous reads. I lost touch with posting about books for a bit. So much has happened but here I am again and I look forward to seeing what everyone‘s been reading.

Today I continued reading Girl A by Abigial Dean with a super red strawberry chocolate drink. 🩸 I guess the Christmas spirit has not come off me yet. I hope to read more before the year ends!
#happyholidays #blurb #bookish

Tough story! Great characters. I was disappointed in the ending and was hoping for some more resolution, but overall a powerful story.

49 of 2022. #SuperSeptember

⭐️⭐️

Books Read: 3
Pages Read: 352
Total Pages Read: 1098

I remember when this was a #BOTM pick and folks had a lot of negative things to say about it. I think the problem is honestly that it was mismarketed as a thriller. To me it felt more like *dark* contemporary fiction, the exploration of how a group of siblings were each impacted by their incredibly traumatic childhood. Told through the eyes of Girl A, Lexi, who's forced to revisit the trauma after being made executor of her mother's will. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is less of a psychological thriller; more of a psychological memoir. It was interesting nonetheless.

We go from past to present in almost every paragraph, and the constant switch became tiring quickly.

There was no ease of transition - characters would be dropped in with no introduction, leaving me wondering if I had missed something. Interesting story, however it was also flat and confusing.

I was a little unsure of this book at the beginning, but once I got into it, despite its dark and troubling subject matter (too many sad kid story lines recently!), I really enjoyed it and found it to be endearing and interesting at the same time. Something about Lex really touched me, and I loved the way the book ended.

Loved this dark, trauma-filled book! It crept up on me—I didn‘t love it at first—but I just fell deeper and deeper. The twisting timelines are really well done, and it uses one of my favorite tropes. It‘s SO dark but it really focuses on how the trauma affects the children, especially Lex, the main character, rather than getting too far into the gory details.

Which should I read next and which should I put off for another day? I want to go for The Unfit Heiress, but I‘m reading (and really enjoying) Girl A right now, so maybe I should take a break between two books about abusive parents.

It‘s difficult to describe this book in a few words. Brutal, traumatic, vulnerable, heartbreaking. For such a tough read I found it impossible to put down, its heavy and I had to force myself to take breaks at some points. Definitely not one for the faint hearted but if you can manage it you won‘t be disappointed. #pick

Could not put this down!

Up next for book club!

“You don‘t know me, but you‘ll have seen my face.”

#firstlinefridays
@ShyBookOwl

I really enjoyed this one. The subject matter is tough to read especially if you‘re a parent. But it‘s a great debut novel and I think the author is one to watch

This put me in mind of a fictionalised take on Tara West‘s Educated. A family spirals downwards, and then beyond, when the father becomes more and more obsessed with religion and control. This is brutal and intense but completely compulsive reading; another I couldn‘t put down.

I was somewhat skeptical going into this book. I was nervous that it would just be trauma porn, since I have a rocky history with books like that. In the end, my issues with this book were more with the characterization of the narrator and the lack of closure at the end. Overall, the plot felt a little bit half baked, since the only propulsion is in the past timeline, while the present timeline was pretty boring and lacked momentum for narrator.

I really enjoyed this book. I got it from book club Xmas along with others . The giver had spent her money in op shops and got some amazing recent books.
The narrator is Girl A and she goes between the then and her now. I got very involved in the story.
I‘m counting this as last book of 2021. As I read most of it then. 80 books 2021.
. @MrsMalaprop I think you might like it.
#joysbooks2021

I finished my #BookSpin.
It was definitely a very dark book with a lot of really messed up parts. It was a good story with interesting twists and turns. I just didn't like how much the book jumped around and parts of it kind of dragged on.
@TheAromaofBooks

TRIGGER WARNING: This book is about Child Abuse.
This is a powerful story. Some have said it feels jumbled & confused but when read through a survivor's eyes then the story makes sense. Girl A is one of the children who survives the tabloid named House of Horrors. This is her chance to make sense of what happened to her and her siblings at the hands of her zealous father & mother. It is a difficult read, sometimes sickening & always deeply sad.

I‘m not sure enjoyed is the right word, but I was hooked and wanted to read until the end. I sort of guessed it, but still sad.
Timelines were confusing at first, but you just stepped into her mind and it was easier to follow.
It‘s not a thriller, bad marketing.

Mixed reviews, but I thought this was pretty good. Changing timelines were confusing. #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks #teamslaughter @Clwojick

I should have trusted my instincts and bailed! The constant back and forth in time was annoying and the modern segments were dull compared to the dark, childhood flashbacks which were too brief for me to really care for the characters. It‘s very predictable with a “twist” you can see a mile off. And it‘s depressing with so much child abuse. Meh. 😒

I was pleasantly surprised by this. I find myself side-eyeing any and every book being marketed as a thriller by #BOTM because they inevitably suck. This is not a thriller at all but an examination of the life-long effects of unimaginable cruelty and abuse. It was not an easy read by any means but I could not put it down.

Like Room, this is about the survivors of a terrible act. While there is a thriller aspect, it is more about the terrible things you have to do to survive and the long term impacts of it than a mystery to solve. It is very well written, very psychological, very gritty and dark. Fans of Gillian Flynn would likely enjoy it. Strong pick.

Whoa

Struggling with this one a little bit… 🤷🏻‍♀️

I have a new friend 😍😍
How beautiful is it?

#kindlepaperwhite #newkindle

I am posting one book per day from my to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it. Some will be old, some will be new - don't judge me, I have a lot of books.

Day 83th

Join the fun if you want!

#tbrpile

A novel that deals with abuse, family relationships, memory, religion and living with trauma. It is well written and I liked how each of the characters dealt with things differently. I get why the slight twist at the end was in there but it didn‘t add anything for me 🤷‍♀️ A good read but one of those books that on reflection you see flaws. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I‘ll give it a go for 99p 😁 and @batsy great review!

Wow. This book. I know the reviews were mixed, but I thought this book was really good. It was dark and difficult, but what a crazy story. This is about a family of sibling survivors who were abused by their parents as children and they were able to escape. There‘s some twists and the writing is excellent. Definitely a book that is going to stay with me for a long time.

I always feel accomplished when I get through my backlog of #BOTM books.

This was another emotional one, but very good. I‘d steer clear if you can‘t stomach mention of child abuse, but it was very well done.

The focus is largely on the “after” of the kids lives but “House of Horrors” lives up to its name.

Checking this off my #bookspinbingo board

🎧 Hello darkness my old friend.

Cons: Disappointed in the audiobook. It‘s difficult to follow. The timeline shifts without notice from distant past to recent past to present day without warning. I feel the story is a knock-off of the Turbin story yet not quite as horrific.

Pros: It was well-written. The narrator‘s voice wasn‘t unpleasant. While confusing, each chapter title related to one of the siblings. Ultimately a readable story.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2