Welcome to Litsy!

In the wake of finishing Gailey‘s “Just Like Home,” I, like Vera (the MC) am brought right back to my (early 90‘s) childhood. The lyrics from one of Ferngully‘s undeniably catchy jams wormed their way right into my brain:

“Oil and grime, poison sludge,
diesel clouds & noxious muck.
Slime beneath me, slime up above,
…Ah-ah-ah…
Toxic love.”

I can‘t say it better than Tim Curry! Toxic love is at the heart(h) of this tragic & intimate horror novel.

Okay, WOW and WTF? Gailey does such a great job of thwarting the reader's expectations for haunted house stories and serial killer true crime narratives in this genuinely creepy book. That ending! Very effective use of an unreliable narrator and slow burn tension. Vera is a fascinating character with equally fucked-up (but very different) relationships with her mom, dad, and her childhood home itself. Superb #audiobook performance by Xe Sands!

Okay, how reliable a narrator is Vera??? I am suspicious. Also it's remarkable how her perspective -- having loved her father, a serial killer -- is so well done that it's hard to remember that he's a monster? That you can't help but feel like he can't be that bad? Or is Vera somehow a murderer too? 😨

It's spooky season!!! 👻🎃🏚

One chapter in and I am hooked by this scary story of a young woman going back to her childhood home that her serial killer father built. Xe Sands is such a good #audiobook performer!

Book 47📚 3.5⭐️

Creepy haunted house tale about the monsters we live with and the ones who call us back.

So, this book was creepy and disturbing as all get-out, which I mean as a compliment. It's dedicated "to everyone who has ever loved a monster." What I think Gailey does so well is to trouble what it means to be monstrous.

Next

I honestly don't know how to rate this book. It was an easy read and a good story....right up to the big reveal. Which is hands down 1 of the dumbest things I ever read. I would have bailed if there weren't just 2 chapters left and surely that wasn't the real ending...it was. 🤦‍♀️

Hmm this was so odd. It started off as a spooky haunted house book where I wasn‘t reading at night and then turned into a whole lot of murder. It was just a bit too gruesome for me.

#rushathon #20in4 #31by31 #spookoween #falling4books #bookspin #finalstretchreadathon #littenlisten

LGBTQ haunted house books just in time to read before Halloween!

bookriot.com/queer-haunted-house-books/

It's such beautiful fall weather, and I couldn't stomach the thought of being stuck in the studio all day. Instead, I lugged all the magnets that need assembled out onto the porch and have been listening to this haunted house (?) audiobook while I work.

#audiocrafting #Studio42Books

An extremely well done horror novel about a daughters return to her childhood home to care for her elderly sick mother. The audiobook was so vividly narrated I had to pause and take long deep breaths to get my heart to stop pounding out of my chest several times.
#horror #scarybook #halloween

🌟🌟two stars for cover and atmosphere. Other than that, this was a hot mess!

Saw this as a staff pick on the west coast then heard it recommended by a trusted bookseller on my coast. I admit, I bought from neither and opted for the audio version from my library‘s digital collection. Enjoyed it, though I do agree it was a bit of a slow burn. I‘ll have to try some of Sarah Gailey‘s other work as well.

JUST LIKE HOME by Sarah Gailey

Vera hasn‘t returned home in over a decade. Her mother disowned her after her father was outed as a serial killer and sent to prison. But now Vera‘s mother is dying, and old affairs need to be put in order, along with the house. But the house seems strange now… or does it?

This was a fresh take on the haunted house genre. It‘s creepy, mysterious, engaging, and full of twisted secrets that make for great reveals.🫣

It‘s easiest to love a monster when that love springs from familiarity. So many of us spend our lives learning and re-learning how love is supposed to look and feel, and our teachers are often, themselves, monsters. — Author

Gailey is hit or miss for me- I loved Outlaw Librarian and was lukewarm on Echo Wife.

This was a hit! Just enough of foreshadowing to keep me listening until the truth of it all was revealed. And by then I was just as home as Vera.

Loved the premise, but I found the execution a little dry and the ending didn‘t work for me. Still plenty to love here, but I was underwhelmed.

Well, how could Sarah Gailey not be a pick? Even though I didn't quite like the narrator of the audio book, the story itself was as captivating as expected. I love the way Gailey writes her characters. Even more when those characters are suffering, she just knows how to do this. This book is an unusual take on the family topic. First I thought it would go the usual way - but not with Sarah Gailey. Nope, nope.

For some reason a trope I have noticed in my readings recently is the MC being the child of a serial killer & how the notoriety shapes their lives. & usually I‘m like, why would that turn you against them, they were just kids etc.

but Vera gave me the creeps.

Everything is creepy. Multiple plots that would be a horror story on their own. It all works though.

If anyone tells you they saw the end coming, they‘re lying. Lol. Vera gets a call from her dying mother asking her to come home. Home to the house where her father killed all those people in the basement. The house that has a shed where an “artist” is trying to commune with the feel of the house for art‘s sake. The home that might be haunted. This was good. Gailey really does some creepy stuff coupled with intense familial relationships. Pick!

My favorite book for January is of course a mark up book! @magyklyXdelish @Bookish_AF @babyruth2510

Vera goes home because her mom, Daphne, is dying. She is asked to clean out the home but Vera‘s dad was a famous serial killer and there may be secrets left behind. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

• Upon a Book Club #OUABC Limited Edition - Trick & Treat 2022 Box

#StoryGraph: fiction horror thriller dark mysterious tense medium-paced horror psychological-thriller supernatural
344 pages • first pub 2022

Sarah Gailey is one of my favorite horror/thriller authors. It‘s really hard to put her in just one category, but I can say that I have rated all of her books very highly. This one was exceptional....ly creepy!

This book was incredible. The slow reveal of Vera‘s past and the actions of her father and mother was a great structure choice and opposition to Vera‘s current day chapters. The narrator was great, even listening on 1.4x or 1.2x speed. Her voice for Daphne and James were perfect. This is exactly the haunted house, childhood trauma, horror, contemporary book I needed. Listening to the beginning again right after finishing just to hear more.

This was a wild ride! It had some turns I genuinely didn‘t see coming, and was super tense in several places. Vera is a woman who‘s father was a serial killer. When Vera‘s dying mother calls her to go home, she has to go and confront her past. Definitely not was I expected, but two enthusiastic thumbs up!

Halfway done and this is a beautifully written book. Both thriller and horror vibes are here, but it hasn‘t leaned into one genre over the other too far yet. Nice mix. 🩸🩸

1-13-23: My 5th finished book of 2023! Wow, this book was deeply disturbing. Vera Crowder has been called back to her childhood home, the house her father built, by her dying mother. She is tasked with getting the house in order before her mother dies. In flashback, we learn that a young Vera saw things she shouldn‘t have, things her father did to others. We also learn that Vera‘s mother, Daphne, never loved her. Very creepy and uncomfortable.

This was a slow burn…it was good but not great, and the ending was not what I wanted. I don‘t read horror often and this book reminds me why.
⭐️: 3/5

For those who are fans of The Haunting of Hill House, then this book is for you!

This gripping story of Vera and her mother is so haunting and promises to give you the chills and the thrills. Digging up old wounds, full of family drama, while you follow the trail back and forth from past to present, it's full of twists and turns all throughout.

#thriller #gothic #horror #hauntedhouse

A book about monsters and how they can come in all shapes and sizes. I had a lot of fun with this one for #LMPBC - some things I kinda saw coming but I can say for sure I was not expecting that end.

I finished this so fast. Literally couldn‘t put it down. The prose is beautiful and the content is disturbing! Just how I like it!

Just recently read this with my boyfriend and sadly it wasn‘t that great. I really want some kind of haunted house story that‘s creepy and I keep getting disappointed. Any suggestions?

Think my expectations were just way too high with this after reading all the reviews.
I so expected the ending and I wasn‘t creeped out at all 😞 so slightly disappointed, but probably my fault!

I didn't really like this one. I didn't like the writing style and it was sooo slow paced. Also I had a very hard time imagining a lot of what the book was trying to say. I was also left with sooo many unanswered questions. 1/5

Reading buddy this morning is Fat Butt 🐾🐈‍⬛😻

Currently reading. I feel like I haven‘t been enjoying what I‘m reading lately but this one is finally breaking the bad streak. So good.

Going in!!

Truly TERRIFYING!!! You've been warned. ☠️

4/5

This is such an atmospheric, creepy haunted house book. There were some things I saw coming, but many surprises to. I did the audiobook, and wouldn't necessarily recommend that for anyone who finds slasher type horror particularly creepy, but other than two chapters that I listened to in 30 second increments, I enjoyed the book.

#scarathlon2022 #teammonstermash @staycurious

Ooh! What a deliciously creepy book this is! It resists definition at every turn. Just when I thought I'd figured out what it was about, something---usually bizarre---would happen, and I'd have to regroup. It's filled with the thing I find scariest and love most about scary books: that moment I sit on the edge of my bed and put my foot on the floor and feel the cold anticipation that something is about to grasp my ankle from under the bed.

Saturday afternoon beer and baths!! Very intriguing book so far!

Creepy creepy book for #scarathlon2022 #teamslaughter #teamtheme @Clwojick #stabbybingo #redoncover #autumnatoz G, for the author‘s last name. @Texreader

This was part of my #scarthlon #TeamMonsterMash read. I loved the dual timelines but I‘m somewhat conflicted about the ending. This is a perfect October/spooky read @StayCurious

Starting the second #ouabc Halloween box today! Should be perfect for #scarathlon2022 @Clwojick