Welcome to Litsy!

4.5⭐️/5⭐️

In typical Will Dean fashion, this was an absolutely thrilling read. I will read anything that Will Dean writes and this is one of his older novels but just as good! It had me turning the pages and not wanting to put it down. Overall rating is 4.5 ⭐️!

#BookReport 18/24

I loved the tagged one and bailed on both others. I feel so restless. Excited about the #CampLitsy love and also anxious about the state of the world.

A super addictive read about a Vietnamese refugee held hostage by a man in the UK. They are even married but he controls every move she makes and she wants out. So scary and pageturning! It gave me The Collector vibes. The ending felt a bit hurried but I spent some pretty intense hours with this book. Recommended!

Hubby is having surgery to remove a kidney stone. Upside is that I get reading time.

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join in if you want!

#ABookADay2023

😎🌞📖

I flew through the story of Jane, a Vietnamese woman who has been held captive by Lenn for many years. The author does a really great job of creating a sense of dread; I was anxious the whole time. Jane‘s abuse is not graphic, but that doesn‘t make it any less horrifying. The ending is a little tidy, but this was a great, page-turning read.

I saw this recommended on someone's FB page so I decided to pick it up. Jane (her name is not Jane) is a Vietnamese woman who is a victim of human trafficking. She is sold to Lenn as his wife & endures seven years in captivity while continuing her effort to escape. The book was really good until the end. The resolution was unbelievable. And I wish Dean had done was spend a little more time developing the backstory of the characters. ⭐⭐⭐💫

We meet Thanh Dao as she‘s struggling to make it to the road. Due to her hobbled foot she doesn‘t make it halfway before her captor, Len, picks her up and takes her back to his farm where she‘s been for 7 years. She and her sister were fooled in Vietnam by some man telling their family they could make money in the UK but instead are victimized by human trafficking and enslaved. This book is soul crushing and I admired the fire, no matter how 👇🏼

A great story with spectacular writing. But it is also a hard, hard read. Jane and others went thru such horrendous abuses that it was difficult to keep going at times. I finished because I was desperate to know how things would end. This has to be one of the closest depictions of enslavement after trafficking that I‘ve ever read. The bad guy is so terribly vile and bad, and somehow Jane is able to maintain hope that she will eventually escape.

So this story is simultaneously horrifying and inspiring. The story is told through the inner monologue of Thanh aka “Jane”, a Vietnamese girl who is unwitting trafficked. She spends 7 years on the isolated farm of a man who rapes her for kicks and burns her most precious personal belongings as punishment. Despite the dark subject, the story is a triumph of resilience, strength and the power of the human will to survive.

I really wish I could have loved this as much as so many others did. It had excellent literary value, addressed an important topic, and was atmospheric. The male author did a fantastic job capturing a female perspective and it seemed evident that he did a significant amount of research to create this story. All of this is highly commendable.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3676780665

I‘m a fan of Will Dean‘s Tuva books, this book is separate from that series and was compulsively readable even though the content was difficult.

My books read for January. Not the highest for me but home schooling has got in the way of reading this month. May have to lower my Goodreads goal but hopefully next month will be better.

January Wrap-up 📚

The Green Mile 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Last Thing to Burn 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Mad Woman (ebook) 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Dregs 🌟🌟🌟🌟

4 stars
I was hooked from the first page to the last. I felt sad, angry, hopeful and happy. I felt all the feelings at one point or another while reading about Janes journey. This story takes place on an isolated farm in the UK and we follow Jane who is being held captive by a monster. This book is dark & intense and definitely worth the read.

I received this ARC in the mail today.
Release date: 4/20/21
The Last Thing To Burn
By: Will Dean
This book is about a woman being held captive and willing to risk everything to save herself, her unborn child, and her captor‘s latest victim in this claustrophobic thriller.

I wanted to support an indie bookshop and asked them for a surprise box of books. The bookseller really came through and I‘m beyond excited. Three of these were on my wish list, it‘s like she read my mind. Book-ish is an amazing place to shop from even from the US https://www.book-ish.co.uk/

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The Last Thing to Burn was an intense and shocking book that kept me on the edge of my seat. It was truly #unputdownable and I was seriously hooked from the beginning. There were some difficult parts in the story to read but overall this book was intriguing, suspenseful and well written. This was the first book I read by this author but it definitely won't be the last! Highly recommend if you are up for a quick and dark read!

Wow what a thrill ride this was. By the end I was totally gripped, terrified of every word and hoping for a happy ending. The plot starts slowly but builds to a fast pace by the end. The story is well written and so gripping. The bleakness of the landscape is conveyed so well through the text. Jane is an interesting character and her strength is incredible. I loved the twists in the plot. 5* #Netgalley