Loved it. I appreciate so many things about this. But especially Twitter randos tried to downplay Michelle McNamara‘s role in the arrest of GSK and the way Holes recalls their intersections & what she brought to the table, the credit he gives her was just awesome.
He discusses his home life, &I appreciate that he could have shown himself in a better light but was aware of his flaws.

#scarathlon2022 #31by31 #spookoween #teamslaughter

I‘ll probably finish this today but wanted to give my thoughts so far:
From the other reviews there are some who didn‘t enjoy the personal anecdotes. But I do. I watch a lot of fictional procedurals &think “oh theyd never”, from more common archetypes: choosing work over home life, mental health, work romance to “Paul, why are you at this crime scene, you are the chief of forensics” & using the lab for unsanctioned investigations. Paul would.

#scarathlondailyprompts (Day 2 - Creature)
#scarathlon2022 #TeamSlaughter
(My pj set has creature from the black lagoon drinking drinks out of a tiki, had to wear it for this prompt & instantly thought of this book)

AND checked something off my October Bucket List (✅ Take a Hike) while listening to Paul Holes. 🍂

The bonus chapter delivered. This book is absolutely unhinged. You think you‘ve got it and then she spins the whole scenario.
If you‘ve read it, let me know who you believe!

#scarathlon2022 #teamslaughter #20in4 #31by31 #spookoween

#ScarathlonDailyPrompts (Day 1: Black)
#20in4 #31by31 #spookoween

Charlie Hall aka The Charlatan, is a semi-reformed con artist/bartender, with a boyfriend is not who he seems but pays half the rent& complex family life in an alternative Western Massachusetts where people use magic to manipulate shadows in aesthetic &/or murderous ways.
Interesting urban fantasy. Good. Even if no one was likable &the random MA things pulled me out of it a bit.

#20in4
Today, I‘m going to try to finish Book of Night, with maybe some #LosersClub audiobooking thrown in. And then kick off #Scarathlon2022 with Unmasked, The Honeys and Verity.
🔪🔪 let‘s kill it #TeamSlaughter

I can‘t do it
You‘re telling me a 17yo girl who jumped in the pool fully clothed at a party &forgot she was wearing a white top was allowed to live by herself with an unsecured Glock.& she lives next door to her bestie turned bully (who tormented her by, for example, having a case of yeast infection cream delivered. To the classroom.How?) who has a key to the house. Plot goes nowhere fast. Tate is both pretentious &an idiot. Not in a youthful way.

October Bucket List #Scarathlon

Anyone else snag the Collector‘s Edition that came out today? Will be a reread for me, can‘t wait to see how unhinged the bonus chapter is.

Team Letter or Team Manuscript?

Soft pick
Strengths: many of these retellings do Helen so dirty, glad to see a dimensional character made. The dynamics between Daphne, Helen, Hippolyta & Lykou are good.

Weaknesses: Troy is a big story. many iconic moments aren‘t executed well. Kassandra -cursed by Apollo- barely interacted with the MCs. Why in book 2 with Trojan War as backdrop &plenty of myths left are we adding other pantheons? & some of the tension with Apollo was childish.

#audiobaking to this months #losersclub selection. Peach pie 🥧 to use up probably the last of the season. Got through the first 2 stories between this, dying my hair and doing laundry. 🚂🍻, 🏃🏻‍♀️🔪🪑

Lucy has declared reading with a cat on you season is officially open 🐈‍⬛ #catsoflitsy

Cousins unite to under the premise of working for their Grandmother (who cut of her children/their parents 24 years ago). Plenty of family secrets, hidden agendas and dubious motives.

Well paced, good premise. Loved Millie. There were a lot of characters to keep track of. Overall a lot of fun.

Audrey & Zero (& I) are so excited about our #FallingForFallSwap #FFF package 🎃 thank you @Nessavamusic I love everything, the candle & tea smell so good & I‘m so excited for ALL the books but especially Gods of Jade and Shadow! And the book sleeve is so pretty!

I feel like the library is disappointed in me. I‘m only at 9% with 2 days left 😂

👰🏻‍♀️🧛🏻‍♂️ Coming March 21, 2023
I‘m so excited for this wedding finally 😂
Book 29. Will this be it? Or will we be on book 49 with the old married couples?

@DarkMina I feel like we‘ve talked about this series! Any predictions?

Plot wise this is one of the best in the series so far. An elaborate conspiracy involving a cult, the crime impacts not just Kay‘s office, but nearby jurisdictions and has possible global implications. Since @OutsmartYourShelf brought it up in their review I‘m going to go off in the comments about how up Lucy‘s ass Kay is. But it was certainly a fun, quicker read than the Gault trilogy 💯

This was just so pretty.
Sandman on Netflix and Neil owning people on twitter has made me realize lately that I should have gotten in on Neil Gaiman earlier. His audio books are great, he‘s always so good at doing the voices.

🌠🌌 Told as a fairytale, a young man is pursuing his love proposes to her and they see a shooting star, he offers to find her the fallen star and in return she‘ll give him his heart‘s desire. Magic abounds on his quest.

I‘m on chapter 1, the set up is pretty good so far, this exchange is so weird, did Cornwell forget Scarpetta‘s government car was a hearse? in multiple other books she drove a hearse 😂

Finished a whole day early for #losersclub can‘t wait to discuss!

What an adventure!
It‘s a long one, I haven‘t read TOO much Stephen King but in similarities to the others I have read: I found the pacing to be impeccable. The repeated phrasing he uses amped up the tension phenomenally. Creepy twins.
This one also has art, a ghost ship, premonitions, creepy dolls, trauma..

The beginning was uncomfortable, glad I persevered.

Tentative watchlist for #Scarathlon2022

My not very aesthetic TBR for #Scarathlon2022 #TeamSlaughter
Between physical copies, ebooks, library holds, preorders I‘m shooting for 20 books (ok, some are novellas)

Most looking forward to:
Special edition of Verity (a reread for me, but with a bonus chapter for added madness)
Paul Holes newest (been waiting for library hold forever, should be in right on time)
False Witness (picked up a signed copy at her recent event)

🤓🎃

I‘m 1/3 of the way in on this, the sequel to Daughter of Sparta, which is the loosest Greek retelling I have encountered (& im on a streak of Greek retellings)Book 2 takes on the Trojan War, and I don‘t care that it‘s inauthentic, the way she twists the story of Helen & Paris & Helen leaving her daughter Hermoine behind is made into something that‘s actually kinda feminist where usually it‘s pretty vapid.
& Theseus‘s return is fantastic.

(This is my boyfriend 📸 by me last night)
We went to see Rammstein last night, and I‘m going to emo night for my bestie‘s birthday tonight, so my bf brought me a book, energy drink and the cat in bed for optimal relaxation. All of done is scroll on my phone. But it was still nice. So this is my boyfriend appreciation post. 😂

Handsome new neighbor plays a literal game of F*ck/Marry/Kill with the desperate housewives.

Very few likable characters, takes a while to set up, it‘s really just ok. The drama that Will‘s arrival stirred up adds very little to the story and is more annoying than anything.

It does have it‘s moments. But overall eh

🍷

This book has awful reviews, I even stacked it off a bad review, but decided to borrow the audiobook. I am incredibly unclear about the point of this story. It‘s very much a soap opera. But the worst part is that there are 4 narrators and each one does a different voice for Will. So I got used to one which is a little stiff but ok, then the next narrator makes him sound Transylvanian 🧛 and the other like a French woman 🇫🇷

I don‘t know if any of the Wrestling fans are doing the #LosersClub reading this month, but I picture Reba as Alexa Bliss‘s doll (but red) for some reason 🤣

#fallingforfallswap #fffs @Avanders I sent AND received my packages today! 🎃🍂
I‘m excited, can you tell?

The one I shipped is expected delivery by 9/6.

Book 1.5, I read this one too because it was at the end of the library book. It‘s actually somewhat more compelling and cohesive than Shatter Me. Showing Warner‘s perspective & his obsession with Juliette.

It added to the story, but we‘re making excuses for a lot of bad behavior here.

Awful. Rambling inner monologue of a 17 year old sad girl. Lonely, unloveable &untouchable -until she gets a new roommate at the asylum-her crush.

The plot just happens, no depth, things make no sense (we walked through radiation, I can crush solid steel barehanded now, I stole a tank &no one noticed)

Booksta made me do it & they got me with ACOTAR. But this is bad bad. & a scene that was hyped as sexy was… not.

Does it get better as it goes?

I‘m glad the cover caught my eye, because I didn‘t really understand what this book was about before reading, & I might not have picked it if I had known. Emoni is an ambitious teen mom trying to make the best life for herself & her Babygirl, our stories couldn‘t be more different (other than a love of cooking shows 👩🏼‍🍳) but I was rooting for her the whole book.

The prose is a perfect mix of youthful vibrancy & poetic inclinations.

I was so mad when I found out this book was a sequel to Pieces of Her. So mad.

Obviously I was going to read it anyway. And I‘m glad that was a forgone conclusion because I really enjoyed it. The plot lines, twists, mixed with the MCs inner turmoil, gory, intriguing… nobody does it better.

I was pretty annoyed by the dumbed down “Millennial perspective” in PoH but I found less of it here. A good balance was struck. Excited to see what‘s next.

So excited to discuss this ending with #SundayBuddyRead

…it was definitely a ride.

Shea: who is consumed by guilt after surviving an attack as a child, taps into some of the rage &starts the blog Book of Cold Cases to find justice for others. Which leads to a meeting with Beth Greer, prime suspect for unsolved murders from the 70s, Beth invites her to her haunted house &things get weirder from there.

I‘ve seen mixed reviews on Girl,Forgotten.. I‘m 100 pages in and I am enjoying it (significantly more than Pieces of Her). And Karin said her next book will be a Will Trent🥳😊

Added *2* Karin Slaughter books to my collection this week. My BF randomly bought me a signed copy of the UK edition of The Last Widow, and it‘s pub day for Girl, Forgotten which I feel like everyone has already read, between the UK release day being so much earlier & BOTM.

Anyway, I‘m gonna go meet her on Friday, what book should I get signed?

The 2nd half was better than the 1st, & I started to come around but the 🌶 wasn‘t worth it. The set up is very much lacking, the world building is no fun, motivations of the other gods are only explored in the most rudimentary sense. They‘re barely gods? Where‘s the myth? Where‘s the magic?

Compared to all the other spicy H&P retellings I read this year (ACOMAF, Helfyre, Touch of Darkness/Ruin/Malice) this was my least favorite 😂

I‘m at 20% and I low key think this book is horrible?

I‘ve wanted to read it since it came out and it‘s not going so hot… the world building is… *different* than the other Greek retellings I e been reading but “the 13” as legacy titles doesn‘t do it for me. it doesn‘t even make sense.

I don‘t think the author does a good job of differentiating between the characters‘ inner monologues.

I don‘t know guys 😅 is the 🌶 going to be worth it?

@BarkingMadRun Thanks for letting me hop into #LosersClub! I copied your photo with the Funko pop, even though I‘m pretty sure Pennywise isn‘t in this one 😅

Looking forward to starting this today!

Thoroughly enjoyed this one. Certainly enhanced by picturing Henry & Anya in my mind, searching for the similarities/differences between the show & the book.

But, even that aside, this is a riveting, disorienting, wonderful story collection with plenty of humor & heart.
“The sword of destiny has two blades”
⚔️

Very solid mystery, I thought I had it figured out a couple times so I was even more impressed when it came together.

The MC drove me a little nuts at the beginning but I can‘t blame her. A young woman from the trailer park marries a rich widower, already the talk of the town. she finds the body of a woman who died similarly to the man‘s 1st wife. on his property. He takes off and leaves her to cover for him. I probably wouldn‘t do a good job 😂

Perfect view to see what‘s happening with Geralt and this mermaid 🧜🏽‍♀️⚔️

I truly was not prepared to love this as much as I did.

Very topical with all that‘s STILL coming out from former teen stars. Fiona, former star of family network sitcom “Birds of California”, has left the biz years ago after a very public Britney-esque breakdown. Then talk of a reboot brings her former co-star Sam back into her life.

Cotugno expertly conveys the fireworks between the MCs, it was delightful. Really hot.
Really endearing.
🌺

Hampton & Gerald. So giddy when we get to Dandelion …& Yennefer.

The action was good, but we‘ve got some problems.
The main villain we worked up to from the 2 previous books is so cartoony: Notorious psychopath, serial killer, spy, crackhead who has Raggedy Andy red hair, karate black belt &fluent in Italian
Kay is all over the place, she should have either been allowed to have a mental breakdown or made sense. Marino‘s character development is entirely gone, I hate him as Kay‘s emotional support bigot.

Between a “pick” and “so-so” for me. It works more as a drama than a thriller, but I feel the blurb really pitches it to be a thriller, but there minimal bread crumbs to the twist. So the reveal is seemingly out of nowhere 😂 maybe I‘m off base, and it was just my preconceptions that tainted my perception.

Characters are likable and consistent enough, and it‘s a quick read.

Oddly enough, I follow this comedian on insta &was at ~75% in Cultish & commented that according to this book the rise of fitness cults is directly related to the decline of organized religion &people trying to find a modern sense of belonging. Also that our healthcare is trash. So 💯 accurate😂

I enjoyed the mix of linguistics, sociology &psychology research to analyze cult followings of religious cults, political figs, MLMs& New Age figures.

Google says it‘s our day, Litsy!

This is due back soon, so I‘m trying to make some headway. It‘s very good, I just hadn‘t been prioritizing it.

What speed are you listening to audiobooks at? Anything higher than 1.5 sounds like chipmunks to me 🤣

90 degree August Day and this is page 1 😂

🌤☀️❄️☃️

“Reliable narration doesn‘t exist”

Definitely the kind of book that can be read through in a day. Great pacing. Dual storylines, a con artist seeking revenge & a woman who was collateral damage in one of her previous cons. A few things seem preposterous. With all the “Two women together can do anything” rhetoric, there‘s an undercurrent of internalized misogyny, i loved the con & the twists but I question some of the execution:
Spoilers below: