Mini-Reviews: THE GOOD LIE, THE GUILT TRIP, and THERE'S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE

 A collection of mini-reviews, quick thoughts, and books worth mentioning. Check them out!

THE GOOD LIE by A.R. Torre

Publication Date: July 20, 2021

Pages: 254

Source: Kindle Unlimited

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis (link to Goodreads)

My Thoughts

I read THE GOOD LIE through my Kindle Unlimited subscription. 

Fans of murder mysteries, podcasts, and CSI type shows will really enjoy this book. I loved the "who done it" aspect with all of the theories, media responses, and kept/withheld information that kept my guessing. It was fun playing detective and trying to figure out the motives and who the real killer is.

THE GOOD LIE has a high level of creepiness that kept me on edge until the very end. It was so good and now I get to decide which book by A.R. Torre that I get to read next. I'm excited to read more by this author!

THE GUILT TRIP by Sandie Jones

Publication Date: August 3, 2021

Pages: 320

Source: Purchased

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis (link to Goodreads)

My Thoughts

THE GUILT TRIP was another book that I read with my book club. I love the play on the title - the trip of a destination wedding and all of the guilty parties.

THE GUILT TRIP read like a soap opera and the best possible way. It was full of drama, secrets, scandals, and misdirection. It offered a lot to be discussed and considered during our book club and it left us with some questions that we still don't have the answers too. THE GUILT TRIP was a great book club selection.

THERE'S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE by Stephanie Perkins

Publication Date: September 26, 2017

Pages: 287

Source: Purchased

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis (link to Goodreads)

My Thoughts

I've been a longtime fan of Stephanie Perkins and her YA contemporary books ever since I read ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, so of course I bought a copy of THERE'S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE when she wrote a thriller. I wanted to read her talent in a new genre. However, it took me a while to finally read it. (I've had the book on my shelf since 2017). Once I found out that the Netflix release day of the movie adaptation was coming up, I decided I needed to read it ASAP. And I thought I wanted to be creeped out, so why not? Well, it did creep me out for sure. It's definitely a gory thriller. It was so gory (more than what I've read in a long time) that I was almost hesitant to watch the movie. Almost. Let me just say that I was covering my eyes in just the few minutes and if I'm being honest I did that pretty much throughout. 

If you like horror and being freaked out, then this book is for you. 

Blog Tour: Amity by Micol Ostow - Guest Post and Giveaway

I've had my eye on Micol Ostow's YA horror novel, Amity, for quite a while. Publication day is almost here! I want a book that scares me beyond words and I think Amity just might be the book to do it. I'm pleased to be a part of this tour, hosting Micol and offering a copy of Amity to one lucky reader.

AMITY

by Micol Ostow

Published by EgmontUSA

Publication Date: August 26, 2014

368 Pages

About Amity

For fans of Stephen King and American Horror Story, a gruesome thriller suggested by the events of the Amityville Horror.

Connor's family moves to Amity to escape shady business deals. Ten years later, Gwen's family moves to Amity for a fresh start after she's recovered from a psychotic break.

But something is not right about this secluded house. Connor's nights are plagued with gore-filled dreams of demons and destruction. Dreams he kind of likes. Gwen has lurid visions of corpses that aren't there and bleeding blisters that disappear in the blink of an eye. She knows Amity is evil and she must get her family out, but who would ever believe her?

Amity isn't just a house. She is a living force, bent on manipulating her inhabitants to her twisted will. She will use Connor and Gwen to bring about a bloody end as she's done before. As she'll do again.

Alternating between parallel narratives, Amity is a tense and terrifying tale suggested by true-crime events that will satisfy even the most demanding horror fan.

Add to Goodreads

For my stop on the blog tour, I've asked Micol to share some books that made her fall in love with reading and writing.

Welcome Micol!!

Good question! Happy to share a few of my favorites.

Eloise, Kay Thompson (illustrated by Hilary Knight)

Eloise lives at the Plaza hotel, and she is interested in people when they are not boring. I think we all can relate! Eloise is one of my favorite read-alouds. It taught me all about voice, character, language, and the interplay between words and text. There’s a reason she’s a classic.

A Little Princess, Frances Hodgson Burnett

When it comes to Hodgson Burnett, I find people to be pretty divided between Princess and The Secret Garden when it comes to choosing favorites. I always came down on the side of Little Princess because, as we see from Eloise, I have a soft spot for charming young girls with absentee parents and lots to share with the right reader. My mother read this one aloud to me long after I was old enough to be reading it myself.

Tiger Eyes, Judy Blume

Judy Blume was the first author I encountered who didn’t talk down to teens and wrote about issues we were actually concerned with, in a non-moralistic way (death! sex! adolescent friendships!). She felt very fresh and modern to my pre-teen eyes. From there I moved on to others in the same vein, like Paul Zindel and Paula Danziger, but Tiger Eyes was the beginning of it all for me.

The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood

Everything Atwood writes is whip-smart, incisive, and even humorous in its darkest moments, but Handmaid’s Tale was the first of her novels that I encountered. It was as subversive as Catch-22 or Lord of the Flies but unique to me in that it dealt with gender issues and feminism, which, as a high school student I was just beginning to be interested in. It’s more accessible than some of her later work, but it’s indelible, and it packs a punch. Atwood 101. 

Giveaway Details

Prize: One copy of Amity by Micol Ostow

(provided by EgmontUSA)

Must be 13 years or Older to enter

U.S./Canada addresses only

To enter, fill out Rafflecopter below

Giveaway ends August 28, 2014

If I cannot verify your entries, those entries will  not count.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tomorrow's Tour Stop

 August 19, 2014

A Dream within a Dream

Check THIS LIST for all tour stops 

 Micol Ostow is half Puerto Rican, half Jewish, half editor, half writer, half chocolate, half peanut butter. When she is under deadline, she is often half asleep. She believes that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts except in the case of Chubby Hubby ice cream. Micol is the author (or ghostwriter) of over 40 books for teens, including Egmont USA’s family and So Punk Rock (and Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother). Amity is her first horror novel. She received her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and lives in New York City, where she practices liberal consumption of coffee, cheese, and chocolate.

Waiting on Wednesday: Amity by Micol Ostow

Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
 
This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Amity
by Micol Ostow
Published by EgmontUSA
Publication Date: August 26, 2014
Add to Goodreads









(from Goodreads)

For fans of Stephen King and American Horror Story, a gruesome thriller suggested by the events of the Amityville Horror.

Inspired by a true-crime story of supernatural happenings and gory murders, Amity spans two generations and beyond to weave an overlapping, interconnected tale of terror, insanity, danger, and death.

Why I'm Waiting 

• "For fans of . .. and American Horror Story" - I am a fan! I love that show.
• Another telling of the Amity true-crime story - I liked the original movie and want to read this interpretation. 
• Sometimes you need to read something creepy and that scares the crap out of you.