Welcome to Litsy!

I've been forgetting to post my #BookspinBingo lists lately. 😅

Here's my December list. I have a multitude of christmas or winter books to choose from, so I'll go with mood reading for this month.

I have buddyreads for #NaturaLitsy #VirginiaBloomsberries #BookedInTime #SheSaid #AAM #LosersClub #HashtagBrigade #QueerBC 📚

Starting with the tagged. 🙂

@TheAromaofBooks @Cuilin @Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Soubhiville @BarkingMadRead @PuddleJumper

This was a delightful change from the norm. I really enjoyed reading it. While it‘s not pleasant to think about all the abuse of young girls back in the day, it is good to read a different concept of their story.

This book started off a bit slowly & introduced a wide cast of characters, but once it kicked in it was an intense, harrowing & absolutely gripping read. Neva, a pregnant teenager, is banished to a remote home in Florida where she can be hidden away until her baby is born & given up for adoption. When she gets a very special book from the visiting bookmobile, she & her new friends realize they have more options than they realized--but at a price.

So I‘ve started the tagged book and I‘m going to read the Matchmaking for Psychopaths next 📖

"There is always a price to be paid..." Is it even soooky season without Grady Hendrix? Set in a home for pregnant teens, in 1970. And with a dark coven of witches. He does a really great job writing women.

‘There‘s power in a book....
But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it‘s never given freely. There‘s always a price to be paid... and it‘s usually paid in blood.‘

Great writing, great story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#SPNBookBingo2025 #Croatoan
#Witchathon #AfterDarkBingo #ErasGhostBingo #OneSnackToRuleThemAll #TeamPumpkinSpice #PumpkabooHunt (Super) #Read2025 #Pages4Rest #JustOneMoreChapter #HauntedShelf #TBR 12 hrs

+286 points #BlackCatCrew

Starting next.

#TBR #HauntedShelf #OneSnackToRuleThemAll
#Witchathon #SPNBookBingo2025 #Croatoan
#AfterDarkBingo #ErasGhostBingo #Read2025
#PumpkabooHunt

+1 point #BlackCatCrew

4.5 stars! Hats off to Grady Hendrix for getting the feminine rage to shriek off the page. I was truly moved by his demonstration of women's choices (or lack thereof) around their bodies and the subsequent, soul-crushing, life-altering fall out. Through fierce storytelling he wolfishly circles the question: who pays the price?

"There is always a price to be paid...and it's usually paid in blood"

Halloween book lists organized by vibe 🖤🎃🖤
https://search.app/KBa7u

What unfolded was a dark and yet still in some aspects hopeful read, despite the dark and emotive subject matter.The home for wayward girls is where young girls are sent when they have “gotten themselves into trouble“ by falling pregnant and being unwed.The way the book was written, I found myself emotional at times thankfully the witchcraft elements provided some relief to the harrowing ordeals of these girls. A very enjoyable read. ⭐⭐⭐

First day of fall 🍁🍂🌾🖤 I am powering through my Sep/Oct TBR 🙌🏽 up next 💫

I had no idea what this book was about until the author was featured on a podcast I subscribe to: Feminist Buzzkills. I knew I had to read it! Here we have a story of young girls being forced to carry out pregnancies, hidden away from the rest of the world. When they meet the mobile librarian, things begin to change drastically with a single book. Though I did find parts of this book to be cheesy, I still enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot⬇️

I‘m a big fan of Hendrix & his latest, set in 1970 At a Florida home for unwed mothers is far scarier in the treatment the girls receive than the supernatural dealings. Fast-paced & hard to put down, I thought all of the characters really came to life. Well-researched & a book where I was never sure what would happen next, I appreciated the historic detail & it made me glad to have a couple more of his books still on my TBR to catch up on!

She‘d tried everything to fix this. She‘d searched for Humphrey‘s 11 but couldn‘t find it anywhere. She‘d bought a bottle of castor oil and drunk the whole thing, but it only gave her the runs. She‘d jumped off her dad‘s worktable in the basement over and over until her legs gave out, lifted the dictionary above her head until her arms cramped; she‘d even drunk turpentine, but she barely managed a capful before throwing up. She‘d closed her⬇️

Well, I finished this one. Yet, some of those scenes I really wish were out of my head. 😔 It also didn‘t last long on my bracket.

3✨ This is not something I would have picked up for myself. I struggled with the teen pregnancy and the girls were cared for, but not well. One character was so young and her story was difficult to read. The imagery in certain scenes was graphic and hard to get through. I felt like I was closing my eyes for a scary scene in a movie, but peaking through my fingers to actually read that scene. As a mom this hit me really hard. #FableBR

4.5⭐️ this was not my favorite Grady Hendrix book. Couple of times I wanted to chuck it because of how hard the content was to read. So why a 4.5… because Hendrix is a master writer. It may have been hard to read, but holy crap was as a roller coaster for me. Any emotion I could possibly feel, I was feeling and by the end of the book I was in freaking tears. So despite my personal feelings, I bow down to the master. #Fable #RoaringWolfFrightNight

I have very mixed feelings about this. I love Grady Hendrix I love everything I‘ve read by him. And honestly, I loved this book. The story was so good, and I really cared about the characters.

At the same time, I‘m not sure how to feel about a man writing about the female experience. Don‘t get me wrong, he nailed it. It felt like a woman wrote it. Based on the acknowledgements in the back of the book, it seems like he had lots of women helping…

New book to try and battle the months long reading slump , so I had to rummage through the bookmark collection and find a suitable match.

Rejoined the RoaringWolf Fright Night book club on Fable when this was chosen. I‘m excited to discuss a book again. 😅❤️

Repost for @Roary47 @Littlewolf1

I can‘t believe July is coming to an end already. So many more books I wanted to read this month, but just didn‘t have the time. But as we close out this month, I want to introduce the new books for the #FableBookClub. If you like the thrills and chills, join us at the #RoaringWolfFrightNight. If fantasies more your speed, join us at #TheWyvernScrolls.

Original post - https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2886950

I can‘t believe July is coming to an end already. So many more books I wanted to read this month, but just didn‘t have the time. But as we close out this month, I want to introduce the new books for the #FableBookClub. If you like the thrills and chills, join us at the #RoaringWolfFrightNight. If fantasies more your speed, join us at #TheWyvernScrolls. Links for both our below.

While I really liked the "home for wayward girls" premise and the exploration of the many ways girls were (are) manipulated in the name of doing what's considered right, I really don't know if the witchcraft piece is necessary, unless the idea of girls actually having agency without the assistance of magic is just too unbelievable. Which, well, maybe it is. Regardless, I still didn't like the chanting.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Read this one in

Read the first page and have not been able to put this book down since yesterday

This was an interesting read. Neva Craven is a 15 yo who gets pregnant. Her family can‘t fathom it, so they send her to the Home which is a place for unwed pregnant teens. There we meet an array of girls that have sad backstories, and they‘re all fed up with people telling them what to do. They get their hands on a book about witchcraft, and start casting spells for life to work in their favor. This was just an okay read for me.

6-15-25: My 40th finished book of 2025! I like Hendrix‘s books. They are weird and fun usually. This one was weird but also very sad. A 15 year old girl named Neva is brought to a home for pregnant unwed girls. Stick there for 3 months she must give birth and give up her child for adoption. It‘s the rule. In between that sorrow are witches. A book given to Neva and her friends turns deadly when they decide to use it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️📖#️⃣4️⃣0️⃣

Such an energetic & informative dive into the history of witches & witchcraft from Hendrix. Plus he complimented my Fright Night long sleeve. I‘ll take that!

That was horrifying. 😲
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Eta: last book of April
I read 21 books this month. ❤📚

3.5⭐Mostly A Pick but also So-So.
•This started great, and I was fully invested, but eventually, the witchcraft elements got a bit out of hand, which I feel is typical for Hendrix. It got to the point that I couldn‘t follow what was going on. I don‘t think the narration did this issue any favors, either. Overall, for me, it dragged something fierce.
•The narration for the birthing sections was atrocious to listen to.
⬇️⬇️⬇️

#Read2025

Another book I finished a while ago & didn‘t post a review for. My second April #Roll100 pick (#16 Any Library Book). While not my favorite Hendrix book (it didn‘t have as much dark humor as his others), I did enjoy it. It did drag a little in spots, but by the end I was anxiously turning the pages to find out what happened. Less about witchcrafty horror & more about the horrors done to unmarried pregnant girls & women in the era.😱

This starts out slow—the witchcraft takes a while to show up—but builds to astonishing intensity. The real-life horrors of the Home for Unwed Mothers combine very well with the magical horrors. There are some extremely intense depictions of childbirth that I could feel viscerally! I truly felt like all the characters were real people. The epilogue fell a little flat for me, unfortunately.

This book wrecked me, emotionally. What a great experience that I didn‘t know that I needed. Read the full review on Goodreads.
www.goodreads.com/c_graham

This looks suspiciously like one of my predawn airport pictures last week but life is on repeat lately. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Anyway, headed to Hilo for business review meetings so caffeine, breakfast & a few chapters. I‘m about 1/3 of the way through this one & enjoying it so far.

4⭐. Good advertisement for abstinence. Brings out all the realities of childbirth plus some.

I don‘t think I‘ve ever seen a fictional depiction of pregnancy rhinitis before. It‘s not a well-known side effect, and it was one of the worst parts of pregnancy for me—my nose just running constantly. So it‘s really cool to see this main character also having to deal with it!

My 23 yo son is in town and we partook in a roadtrip. This book became available on Libby and he likes the horror genre so we decided to listen. There‘s a lot of child birthing that I found awkward to be listening to w/ him, and it didn‘t have the humor his other books have but it was a great book and we both enjoyed it. Son says he‘s interested in checking out some more books by Hendrix. I suggested How to Sell a Haunted House next 🤣

(2025) It's a supernatural thriller set in a maternity home for pregnant teenagers in the 1970s. Forced by circumstances into a place where they have no agency, some of the girls are drawn to a darker path that leads to a tight spot between the patriarchy and a a power that demands more than they may be willing to give. It moves right along, delivers the promised suspense, and wraps nicely. Recommended.

The witchcraft wasn‘t nearly as horrific as the way these pregnant girls were treated. I was getting 🤬 mad a few times listening to how they were dismissed, condescended to, preyed upon, and abused. Solid audiobook narrator. Some of the spell chanting got intense, but I liked listening to the performance. Much more atmospheric than me skimming over or past those parts if I read them on the page.

Book 15 of 2025! So good! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Off to Hilo for meetings today & tomorrow. A little early morning airport breakfast & coffee. I‘m excited to start this one! It‘s one of my #Roll100 books this month.

My April #Roll100 picks:

#24 Any stories or essays: Every Drop is a Man‘s Nightmare (also my #FictionalTraveler April #Island pick)

#36 Any Non-Fiction: Challenger (Also for April‘s #MonthlyNonFiction)

#16 Any Library Book: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

I‘m excited about all three of these!

When I was a horror-loving Heathers-and-The-Craft-fanatic of a teen I would have been OBSESSED with this book.

I liked the plot - pregnant teenagers at a home for unwed mothers try to reclaim their power through witchcraft - but it was a little too long and a little too slow.

4⭐️/5⭐️

For my Grady Hendrix fans: one of my favorite witchy podcasts did an interview with him! I haven‘t read any of his books yet but after this interview I definitely will. When he starts off his discussion of researching witchcraft with “it‘s complicated” you know he really did the work.

https://newworldwitchery.com/2025/03/14/episode-258-witchcraft-for-wayward-girls...

🥰💖🫣🤷🏻‍♀️💪🏻 #bnbookfest

Grady Hendrix is one of my favorite horror authors because he can use horror to dig into topics like this. Hendrix mixes magical realism, the occult, and the power of women to create an atmospheric and topical horror story. Hendrix does not hold back in his indictment of the patriarchy and the way society treats young women like the ones depicted in this novel. Women working together can accomplish anything.

Another great one! 🦋🔮

Another great book by this author, I was excited to read this one, and it has lived up to the hype 🙌

Read for reading challenges

4.25/5