Jenny Lawson just gives me so much life. Her stories are hilarious and unique and the way she tells them always makes me laugh. I love her stories because they lighten up the day and we can all use some lighthearted humor from time to time as opposed to other types that can be repetitive and also make you feel like a crappy human for laughing. I need her to write more!! 5 stars!

Full of a variety of stories, Wildflower captures Drew Barrymore at her finest. Above all things, she is just a joyful woman, mother, and friend. I loved every single chapter in this book - some made me laugh, some inspired me, and some were so bittersweet I was on the verge of tears. From hearing about her time on the set of E.T. with Spielberg and co-stars to the heart wrenching deaths of her dogs to her amazing friendship and partnership with Adam Sandler, she has led a LIFE. She does so much and she aspires to be so incredible to her peers, friends, and children. 5 stars - and I want her to do more books now!

I was hoping this would have a lot of information I have not already heard, but alas, it did not. It was full of your generic 'Is there a God?' and 'What happened before the big bang?' crap that he's always talking about so why is there a posthumous book about it all... again? Anyway... I was quite bored with most of it and most of the information was recycled from prior talks/essays so it is just a 2.5 from me and I'll round it on up to a 3 for Goodreads.

I was pulled into this book from the first page. The premise of "an entity" who is as clueless who it is as we are introduces itself and gets the ball rolling. This entity becomes known as "the keeper." I loved the way this story progressed along with the keeper itself.

Many scenes had my heart racing as I was unsure of a negative or fatal outcome for one of the characters. It was written in such a way that I definitely connected with every character, even the not-so-good guys. T.F. Allen does not miss a beat in his debut novel and I am excited for more to come!

4 stars! A semi-supernatural thriller with action and heart! Thank you to the author for this book in exchange for an honest review!

I do not even know where to begin with Limbs other then that I absolutely loved it. It had heart and action and terror and good ole-fashioned sex fetishes. It is such a unique story that I knew I had to read it the instant I read about it the first time. It also showed me that Meyer has such a wide-range of writing because this story is unlike anything else of his I have ever read.

This story is dark and twisted and I couldn't stop myself from reading it in one sitting. It's a love story with a dark soul. And Limbs reminds us of some of the insane things we think of or might do in the name of love.

Meyer continues to knock it out of the park and I highly recommend Limbs! 5 stars!

30 Minutes or Less is a great gorefest of a story! If that is what you are into, then I highly recommend this one. It gave me awesome "Slumber Party Massacre" vibes and it's the kind of horror that I could read and read and read. Home invasions are one of my fears in horror movies and books and this short story definitely honed in on that and had me on the edge of my seat fearing for the main characters. 4 stars!

This little book is packed with perfection. First of all, the cover is wicked. Secondly, the premise of the story itself had me thinking that I had to read this book immediately. One of my favorite horror tropes is the coming-of-age storyline and you definitely get some of that in this one. The way Lutzke tells this story I could have just kept reading forever. It was so unique to me and the way he tells the story is haunting and comforting at the same time. The story broke my heart a couple of times and was full of surprises.

5 stars!!

I originally gave this 3.5 stars but after thinking about it I have marked it down to 2.5.

Like most reviews of this book, I will just start out by saying this is graphic and there are trigger warnings for abuse, rape, etc. But I really think it will be rare that anyone goes into this completely blind without any sort of insight as to what the book is about. I know there have been some and will continue to be, but I believe the majority of readers WILL know what they are getting themselves into.

There's no point to rehash the plot- you can read the back of the book or multiple synopses online. Any summary I provide will just be regurgitation and the real reason I am even writing this review is to explain why I gave it 2.5 stars.

First and foremost, half of the book was just boring to me. I kept waiting on the "shocking, horrifying" things to happen. Yes, the monstrous actions of evil people eventually make their way into the plot, but it just seems to take forever in this average sized book for any action to happen. I did not find the buildup to have much of a purpose as to what the author's intent seemed to be. Sure, people can be and are evil. This poor girl did nothing to deserve this. Neither did her sister. Got it. Check. It started out with some great writing and I enjoyed the style. But then it just got repetitive and what began as original morphed into something simplistic to me. The pacing was just off. And by the time I finished the book not even the writing style could not save me from just shrugging this off as just some other re-telling of a horrific true crime or police report write-up of what happened. (In fact, Ashley Flowers did a fantastic job on Episode 29 of CrimeJunkie Podcast in just THIRTY minutes.)

Honestly, I have heard dozens and dozens of better well-told podcasts about true crime and murder and abuse. Were the stories JUST as shocking and haunting and horrifying leaving me disgusted and hating the perpetrator(s)? Absolutely. But did I get bored throughout them? Nope. That was the biggest issue for me. I KNOW the story of this crime can be told in a way that doesn't leave me yawning. In the end, my biggest feeling of The Girl Next Door is just feeling annoyed. I am annoyed at all the characters and hated most of them.

The Girl Next Door has received just about every rating there is from DNFs to glowing 5 star reviews. This book just was not for me. And it's not because of the graphic content OR the lack of expected/hyped-up graphic content. When I closed the book my final thoughts were, "What am I supposed to even think about this? What was the point?" I would have preferred to read a factual non-fiction book of the real crimes. I left the book hating the insane adult "ringleader" and these bratty, whiny, entitled, criminal children more than wanting justice for the victims. And I think there was no honoring or justice served by this dramatized re-telling of the cruel acts that befell Sylvia Likens in 1965.