reading_under_covers's Reviews (1.61k)

What a storyteller!!!

When Laci said she had more stories up her sleeve that she hadn't shared before, she wasn't kidding.

Loved getting to hear more about her life's history and what got her into scamming and scheming!

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

THE ESTATE by Sarah Jost held a lot of intrigue for me - our main character can go into art and she also ends up in the throes of a mysterious, aristocratic family that she has prior history with - color me curious 👀

However, I felt the story to be missing quite a bit of tension and the plot ultimately didn’t seem to go anywhere. As much as I love a slow burn, this one was a slog to get through and I didn’t find the magical realism strong enough to carry the whole story.

This book was as heartbreaking as it was vengeful and I love love love when a gorey ghost novel can have me crying by the end 😭 

 

As we follow Annie Lane on her path to justice in finding out who murdered her, we get to know her absent mother, shitty (10000%) ex, her best friend who may have left on a bad note, and her new ghost friends that help her understand how to exist in limbo and what her limits are 👻 

 

This story was truly unique and I’d love to see it get adapted to the screen someday!! 

To celebrate moving into a house during college, friends Blair, Evie, Violet, and Phoebe decide to go on a real-life haunted house tour on Halloween night. Barely surviving the night, Blair leaves shaken and the girls decide to leave that night behind them. However, when they get back home, things start to feel off and they begin to question if it’s all in their heads or if it’s really happening.

DEADLY OCCUPANTS by Mads Rafferty is advertised as Pretty Little Liars meets Paranormal Activity and those references fit the bill perfectly!! This book oozes PLL, making it a really fun story to read during the fall.

The scares were creepy, the romance a little cringe, but the friendships were so tight and supportive that I couldn’t help but root for the girls during everything they went through.

As someone who doesn’t f with ghosts, this is not a “read at nighttime in an empty apartment” type of book 😅 and I loved that!

Thanks to the author for sending this book my way in exchange for an honest review!

It’s giving Finlay and Vero as friends in their early 20s 🖤

Ava is not like other 14-year-olds. She has a unique interest in the rate at which different animals decompose. While out collecting roadkill one evening, she stumbles across the body of a fellow classmate, which leads to her making an anonymous call to the police. Ava’s curiosities don’t end there and she finds herself fully enraptured in the case.

DEADLY ANIMALS by Marie Tierney is a debut like no other!

With smart characters who are so steady in who they are and a creepy mystery drenched in folklore, I found this story so incredibly easy to visualize and found myself sneaking through the woods alongside Ava.

I loved the relationship between Ava and Detective Delahaye (give me more more more!!) and I’m hoping we get to see more of this duo in Tierney’s future work!

I docked a star for some pacing issues and for guessing who the killer was very early on, but, overall, this was such a fantastic novel!

Thanks to Henry Holt and Co for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Publication Date: November 12

Will I rate all of these 4 stars?? Its very likely haha

Another really fun mystery with interesting characters that shows off how being the nosy neighbor doesn’t necessarily mean you know everything that’s going on…

This one seems to be the least favorite for many, but I quite enjoyed it!

An all-night game of hide and seek set in a mall with a cash prize for whoever manages not be found 👀 

This one was so fun and chaotic!!