Welcome to Litsy!

A cult story AND a ghost story??? Yes please! I really enjoyed the story but it was a little long. Could have cut out 100 pages and made it more concise and I would have enjoyed it more. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I guess I thought this would be more ghost-scary and less family-drama-scary. I liked the cult aspect, and I liked the ghost stuff, but it seemed on a whole to be more about family and generational drama. It‘s a little long, but enjoyable.

Book 25🎧 2.4⭐️

Hmm. This just didn‘t do it for me.

I felt like I was getting the run around just like the main character. I really liked the synopsis but it didn‘t play out as id hoped.

Starting to build my stack of #TeamMonsterMash books for my #scarathlon TBR. I have more options on my shelves than I‘ll ever read!

This was my 1st Ahlborn book and I went into it with no expectations. The first half of the book dragged for me and I wasn‘t a huge fan of any of the characters. However….that ending 😳🤯! I was listening to the audiobook and had to rewind and listen to the ending again since I just didn‘t see it coming! That saved the whole story for me. I‘ve heard great things about her other novels and will definitely give them a try! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

A lot of creepy books in #October two of the standouts were Ahlborn's most ambitious novel Within These Walls. Frankly it could have used a little bit of editing,but I really appreciate the ambition & it contained plenty of intriguing ideas. She continues to be my go to author that always unnerves me. Darnielle's Universal Harvester is about an altered video tape, but it is even more so about how geography has an individuality that can haunt👇

Lucas Graham's life is falling apart when he receives a letter from imprisoned cult leader Jeffrey Halcomb. Once a bestselling true crime author, it's been years since he's published a book. His marriage is quickly disintegrating & he worries about his relationship changing with his daughter as she begins to enter adolescence. Jeff Halcomb has not granted a single interview since he was the sole surviving member of a gruesome crime scene in a👇

Another instance of book synchronicity. I read this chapter shortly after making plans to have lunch this afternoon at Chili's before seeing Dune. OMG, what if I'm living in an Ania Ahlborn novel?! 😱😬

Book synchronicity! My supervisor & I were talking about the upcoming season of Dexter earlier today.

This book is more than a story about a cult leader and his followers. It‘s more than a Manson retelling with factionalized names. It‘s a ghost story. It‘s a murder story. It‘s a horror story. And the ending is terrifying to think of the possibility of that shit actually happening out here in the real world. I went into this story kind of expecting one thing and that was absolutely flipped on its head. Bravo!

A perfect pairing of song and book: wanting to be alone + never being alone ( because: ghosts 👻). I enjoyed this book— especially how it was told from multiple perspectives and from the past and present. It also reminded me of a an unofficial prequel to the tv show : The Following.

Much like 2020, I had high hopes got this book and was just dissatisfied by the end. Predictably, this is how my reading year ends too! 🤣 I would have liked this better if it focused more on the cult and less on the supernatural aspect of it. It dragged on and was so repetitive... umm, very much like 2020...

Onwards to #Booked2021!!!!

LMAO... I can't take anything in this book seriously now that I've read this exact line about 5 times in Yzma's voice!!!! 😂😂😂
60 pages or so to go and if anyone wants this book, I'll be happy to pass it on! This is a one and done read for me...
A quick cup of coffee, then I'LL FINISH THE JOB!

Skimming at page 388 because I'm really over this book but I'm too invested and still slightly more than moderately interested in what's going to happen. I really loved The Bird Eater so I'm disappointed in this super slow burn. It's along the lines of Josh Malerman, not the hard & fast scare of The Bird Eater. *shrug*

Within These Walls is a great slow-burn, character driven novel. What best summarizes any disappointment I experienced is that a slow build produces high expectations. I do feel this was a creative and memorable ghost story with well-established themes of human vulnerability and cult dynamics.

Full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3505795284

#amreading #promotehorror

Working long hours this weekend so I probably won‘t get a lot of reading done but I am definitely looking forward to my lunch break so I can dive into this one. I adore Ania Ahlborn! Also, don‘t you love my bookmark from A Stranger Dream? 🖤 🤡

Lol my day... Babysitting my granddaughter, enjoying a cold one, deck painting projects and some reading on this beautiful day! #perfection

1. The pics on the left are of my son and his gf's daughter, they have the sweetest bond
2. I'm about 1/2 through the tagged book. I can't wait to see how the second half goes
3. Today my youngest gets inducted into an honors program, and then we're going shopping for her grad dress. Tonight I get to pick up the cutie in the pic on the right (that's her daddy in the other pics) and snuggle her all wknd
4. A sunny day
5. Whatever my daughter wants

Somebody is making it very hard to read.... And I'm enjoying this book, almost halfway through it...#dogsoflitsy #aniaahlborn

Now back to my obsession with creepy, dark books and Ania Ahlborn.... Heading to Des Moines to take my 5 year old granddaughter to the Science Center and out for lunch 😃 #ilovecreepy #aniaahlborn #travelreading #dogsoflitsy

Very solid and spooky book about a cult and a haunted house. Perfect combo for my interests.

I‘ve only read one of her books previously, but even just an hour in I‘m very into this one.

Ahhhhhhh! Look at all this booky goodness from @collegecatlady 💕💕💕 Thank you so much sweetness! I love EVERYTHING!!!! And yes that Batman thing to the right side is a stocking!!! 🎄🧦🧦🧦🎅 So cool! 😍😍😍
😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘
#StuffedStockingSwap @Avanders

I've been a terrible litten lately and not posting so much so here's what I've read so far for Spooktober !

Goth - creepy Japanese teens obsessed with serial killers have some close encounters. A novel of short stories
20th Century Ghosts - solid short story collection though not my favorite Hill
13 Bullets - beast vampires and police MCs
Within These Walls - haunted house + creepy cult + true crime writer MC
Dark Tales - SHIRLEY JACKSON ♥️

I finally had a chance to open the last package @mdm139 ! So full of fall goodies, which is perfect for this book. Even princess kitty Eleanor thought so! @Schlinkles mine will be going out early next week--I am finishing the book right now. I am going to miss this swap. @LazyDays #novelandreabookclub @SkeletonKey @TheKidUpstairs

Started this book last night at bedtime during a storm. It is shaping up to be freezer worthy. @LazyDays @schlinkles @piratejenny

@LazyDays I got the #tealoverspostalbookclub box. Thank you for the snacks and tea and herbs to cleanse my house. My son loves tic tacs and watermelon so those are a huge hit. I will try to mail my box to @PirateJenny in the next week. It is already to go just got to get it to post office. @Schlinkles

Got my signed copy of my favorite Ania book but it‘s also signed by RC Bray who narrates the audiobook. Together the make Horror magic! 🖤🖤🖤

This my book about #cults for the #ssdgmchallenge. It was a fairly good cult story but it wasn‘t nearly as creepy as I wanted it to be, and it dragged a lot through the middle. The beliefs of the cult could have been more thoroughly explored!! @shanebeth

This one had me up until the ending and it all went to hell.

Finally diving into this after finishing up books for other swaps #tealoverspostalbookclub

3🌟🌟🌟✌🏼Strikes for this Author for me 😑-I‘m convinced she‘s conclusion illiterate 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️. This is the second book I‘ve read from her where everything is going good until the ending just explodes💩💥& ruins it...I don‘t even know if I want to wait for strike three, but it‘s so sad because it‘s seriously every time it‘s everything but those damn endings😳& yes they‘re that bad😑Giant Donkey Balls suckage City bad🤮🤮🤮 le‘sigh😒

@PirateJenny Your wonderful box arrived today! Thank you so much, I‘m a pin junkie and this little penguin guy is already at home on my backpack. The candle smells wonderful too, who knew graveyard dirt has such a nice aroma?!? #tealoverspostalbookclub

Give me a good creepy cult and give me some ghosts and I am hooked. To everyone who recommended this author, you are so right. She is fantastic! So this is a bit of a creepiest and I recommend for those who enjoy that sort of thing.

I don't celebrate Easter so I'm spending the day trying to finish my pick for the #tealoverspostalbookclub And having tea of course.

Super creepy! I tried reading The Bird Eater, also by Ahlborn, but couldn‘t get through it, it was so terrifying. However, I was listening to the audiobook version, and between the narrator‘s haunting voice and not being able to put it in the freezer @YouReadMyEyes I just couldn‘t do it. Will try again with a hard copy. 😬

So the quote I used a couple a days ago sums up this book so I‘m just gonna go with-you remember that scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Indy is holding onto Elsa while she‘s trying to reach the cup of eternal life? That‘s this book in a nutshell. It‘s not enough to sleep with characters who have the bodies of Harrison Ford and Sean Connery but you got to go die being super greedy. This is a pick but could have used tighter editing.

Look at this stack from @Tiffy_Reads and the bookmark! I will definitely never sleep again! 🖤📚👺👹👻 #mybloodyvalentineswap

#FierceFeb This flashback happens after one of the most intense scenes where Lucas and his daughter dropped off the Mom/Wife, who they both yet separately know is having an affair with her boss, at an airport. Meanwhile, Lucas will be taking his daughter to live in a house that if he lives there, an incarcerated cult leader will give him the exclusive to the story of the 8 suicides/2 murders that happened there 1 night, years ago. #familyaffair

Waiting room means reading time 📖 #currentlyreading

⭐⭐✨
This book took way too long to finish. 150 pages in and I was still waiting for it to really hook me. Every time it came close, I was let down and left frustrated. This book should have taken me a max of two days to finish...a week later, I was just trying to get it over with.

Finally finishing up this one. Every book is 1,000 times better with a reading companion. #catsoflitsy #readingcompanion

Snuggling in for the night to start a spooky read #aniaahlborn #spooky #snuggle #bookoclock #readingtime

Tea and some good books. Hello perfect evening.