Welcome to Litsy!

3 ⭐ This book packs quite a bit into a few pages. You have the only black boy and a white school. You have ghosts and frights and other things that go bump in the night. You have LGBTQ factors. As well as school shootings, death and everything else. Florida recently banned this book and it‘s not hard to guess why. Do I think that book deserves to be banned… absolutely not. This book has a heaviness to it. The overarching idea is that Jake is

This was honestly so good(and hella dark/heavy). It‘s a book abt ghosts and ghouls where the scariest thing is actually the real world- events caused and perpetuated by white supremacy and heteronormativity. There‘s lots of “food for thought” here, but I felt like it also left lots of room for bad takes…it‘s good to have some opportunities for interpretation, I guess? I loved the backstory and the action and the romance. Solid 🤘🏽

ake Livingston is one of a very small number of black students at St Clair Prep. He's not a swot, but neither does he fight against the rules like his brother, instead he tries to fly under the radar, however, he has an unusual problem. Jake sees ghosts, ghouls, & ectoplasm everywhere he goes & now he's being haunted by the ghost of a white school shooter, Sawyer Doon. (Continued)

I usually avoid horror cause I'm a scaredy cat so this one was out of my comfort zone but I'm really glad I read it. Jake is a medium who is being haunted by a violent ghost. He already feels isolated in his life and now the ghost is preying on that to try and take over his body. Check trigger warnings, especially school shootings. This one touches on a lot of difficult subjects in a unique way.
#Scarathlon2022 #TeamMonsterMash @StayCurious

While I applaud, and appreciate, this author for trying to write a YA paranormal book that deals with suicide, racism, bullying, abuse, and school shootings, this book just didn't work for me.

Jake is haunted by the ghost of a troubled boy, but we never learn how that happens. Lots of things aren't fully explained and for the seriousness of the subject matter, the characters needed more depth.

#TeamSlaughter #Scarathlon @Clwojick

Was reading this for a book club and was nicely surprised at this one! Weaves together well. Definitely a page-turner. Dealt with interesting topics that YA books in my youth didn‘t deal with. Loved it!

A friend warned me that I might be disappointed by this one. Unfortunately, I was. A lack of world-building, an unlikeable main character, poor handling of serious social issues…it was a “pan” for me.

There was some really good bits in this book but they got lost in the confusing and chaotic writing style. I kept having to go back and reread bits because I didn't understand what was going on

The paranormal stuff wasn't really explained so again, got confused reading it. For me it was a slog to get through with the occasional few enjoyable pages

For Black History Month I am reading books with Black authors or protagonists. This Ya paranormal was unfortunately not great. I had high hopes but the lack of character development and the general icky feeling I got from the villain made it a no for me.

Sadly this didn‘t work out for me. The biggest issue was that the author never explains how the ghost haunting Jake even latched on to Jake, considering his death took place in a completely different school. There was also a lot of ‘convenient‘ moments that crop up when they are needed and then just fade away like they were never really part of the whole story, this includes characters.

“I‘d hate to be that kid who died in PE class.”

#FirstLineFridays

Thank you so much for your #AHRS package Crystal! The tagged book is one the my most hoped for books this year and I was so happy to see it. These bookmarks are really amazing too. The little charms are so cute. Will definitely be tearing into the candy when I can taste again 😅🥴🦇#AllHallowsReadSwap

This book was something different to what I expected. It is dark, gory and violent. I analyzed it from a mental health perspective and it was so sad😢dysfunctional family, lack of tx., refuse of meds, low self esteem, no social support, rejection because he was gay, and almost a rape were the factors present in one of the characters who became violent. Those phrases in his diary were devastate. But it has an end with hope. I love Allister. 3.5⭐️

This was a cute YA Horror novel.

I knew I wanted to read this as soon as I saw the cover. I‘m a medium, too—and though my experiences are not like Jake‘s, I can still relate. There‘s definitely some scary stuff in this book, and not just the paranormal kind. There‘s encouragement too, though. Be who you are, even if it scares other peoplx. Because not doing that is a tragedy in itself. Have to say too, that I loved the queer characters! It‘s gay, it‘s spooky…I‘m in!!!

So I like some things about this one, but some of the supernatural happening were a little unbelievable and the ending seemed rush. I really like the cover though! It‘s the reason I chose this book to listen to. #teamslaughter #scarathlon #scarathlon2021 @Clwojick

A good quick, fun ghost story perfect for spooky season! This YA was more on the mature side, but had a nice balance of ghost story and coming of age for the lead character. The short length was nice, but also took away from more depth overall, but I still enjoyed it!
#thetakingofjakelivingston #ghoststory #yaghoststory #yabooks #spookyseason #ghosty

…”The Great Gatsby is a snoozefest, and if I‘m gonna read words, I‘d rather them be by Octavia Butler, Tananarive Due, or Stephen Graham Jones instead of the guy who wrote a story about the tragedy of being rich.”

Ugh...I hate bailing on books. DNF at 20%
But there is so much I want to read this October that I'm ok moving on to another book right now.
Things I liked:
🟢The setting
🟢The world of the dead all around Jake
Things I disliked:
⛔ This book is a mood killer
⛔ Sawyer's chapters are incredibly sad
⛔ TW for School shootings & depression/hopelessness

Decided to DNF the goon squad and start this one tonight. Really ready for fall and October!

I‘m really enjoying this new audiobook! Jake‘s chapter‘s are narrated by Kevin R. Free who is probably my favorite audio narrator. 😍

Is it October yet? 👻

#audio #horror #creepy #ghosts #libby #librarybook #litsyloveslibraries

The book isn't as great as the cover.

review here: https://debbybrauer.org/#the-taking-of-jake-livingston

Oofta, I'm sad I'm rating this book so low, but I hated it. It was way to short for what the author wanted to talk about. There were sooo many really good discussion topics in here, but none was talked about for more than a paragraph. And it was SO CONFUSING, I read and watch a fair amount of paranormal stuff and I was confused threw this whole book! By the end I didn't care, I had no idea what was going on and I was over it. 1/5 stars

Current read has me in a spooky mood. #LitsyReads #CurrentlyReading

Im generally not a horror person but I have been so interested in this one since the cover dropped

I can't sleep, so I finished this book. Lots of trigger warnings: domestic violence, bullying, homophobia, racism, school violence. It's horror, so there is paranormal violence too. It's dark through most of the book, but there is a happy ending. The book pulled me in and I really wanted to see Jake get through everything.

This filled in a free square and gave me a diagonal Bingo for #BookSpinBingo.

I stayed up really late last night finishing Waylaid. So today I'm starting this book.

Made the executive decision last night to work on this one in the daytime.

A little slow to start for my personal taste, but GOD this was good by the end! Very spooky, excellent relationship development. #yahorror

Brought home two books today. One is a library book. Our teen librarian just cataloged it and I snatched it up. The other I ordered after someone retweeted the author and I found the book description very interesting. It's a romance between an adult Peter Pan and Captain Hook.

Considering how excited I was to read this book, it failed to live up to my expectations. Despite being a relatively short novel, I found it difficult to complete it quickly - kept on losing interest.

Brownie points for the brilliant cover though. Wouldn't be a lie if I say that part of the reason why I read this book was because I was intrigued by the cover. Beautifully designed!

Although, there were some chunks of the story relating to the paranormal that I found not well explained and chaotic I enjoyed the pacing, characters and overall plot. I recommend this one to young adult readers that want to read something chilling and creepy with some food for thought about being young, gay and Black and trying to find your voice.

4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

**please see TWs in the comments!**

This book is DARK. It has a bit of a sluggish start, but once it starts…whew. The writing was great, with really lovely (if horrifying) pockets of imagery that sucked me in. The collision course set between Jake & the villain is raw & terrifying. You really feel for Jake as he struggles with his calling. Over all, this was a lush, dark, horror story about accepting yourself & facing your darkness. ★★★★☆.

I really enjoyed this YA Horror and how it deals with issues like: school shootings, bullying, racism, and child abuse. I especially liked the interactions that Jake has with some of the ghosts as well as the slow burn romance. For my full review: https://readingstewardess.wordpress.com/2021/07/15/book-review-the-taking-of-jak...

#BookspinBingo #Doublespin

An own voices story with a supernatural twist.⁣ For Jake, being a queer black teen in a mostly white school is difficult enough, but he also sees dead people everywhere he goes. When one of the ghosts seems to be able to break through into the world of the living, it's up to Jake to stop a murdering ghost, protect himself, & balance the complexities of his life. At times scary, and at other times heartbreaking, this book had more than I expected.

I mostly liked this, although my concerns about what some of the content communicated did affect my overall rating. I especially appreciated that this wasn‘t just a creepy ghost story, but one with unanticipated depth.

My full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3867460868

“Sometimes I can‘t tell the ghosts of my mind from the real thing.”

“I was reading. He asked me what I was reading. My solitude ended and I‘ve never gotten it back.” 😂😂😂

Look who recieved an ARC of this spooky queer YA book that's coming out in July! I am SUPER excited to read this! As you can see, I was so hyper about it I had to bring it in to work with me today! 😂💕📚