Welcome to Litsy!

Not for everyone, but it was certainly for ME!! Wtf did I even read lol? A haunted house story of sorts…(or haunted marriage?), inexplainable events keep recurring, madness ensues, and a couple simply looking for a fresh start collectively loses their minds. Who or what is haunting who? There are no concrete answers. Subtle, creepy, scary literary gothic horror. 4⭐️s #HauntedShelf #BlackCatCrew Cover #ScavengerHunt and #BookRec for Frightful

This creepy book was extra fun to listen to while in WI since that‘s where it takes place. Julie & James move from the city after James‘ gambling spirals out of control. In a fixer-upper is a small town, at first strange noises & a spying grumpy neighbor seem to be the extent of their troubles. Soon, Julie sports mysterious bruises & hallucinations plague them both. Jemc offers multiple explanations but I wanted something more concrete to satisfy!

Disorienting and a house occupied by either mold or malevolence. A couple moves in. A neighbor is hostile. And both experience a house inflicting illness. Everyone has a story of the scandal and story - but the ‘why‘ is of no importance. Told from his/hers rapid short chapters, the reader is, literally, in the grip of the home, people, and delirium. How do you leave unscathed? Is it an infection passed on? A thrilling read!

So good!

This has been on my tbr for ages. I'm not usually into stories about hauntings, but I liked this one. Not scary at all, but definitely eerie. It was fast paced, and I enjoyed the writing. I also love a book with short chapters. The ending is open ended, which I would normally hate, but I think it kinda works here. It's a low "pick".

Definitely a creepy horror/haunted house (or is it?) story that will leave you probably with more questions than answers.

Very weird in an awesome way!

#SavvySettings Day 12: #HauntedHouse - More than the plot, I admired Jemc‘s sinuous voice, despite the fragmented, choppy trajectories that I felt were pointed and calculated. Never mind that I felt unsympathetic towards James and Julie in the end, there was still an artfulness in the way that their story was delivered. This one has serious creepazoid elements. Read at your own peril. My review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-igY

I can‘t waste any more time on this. I‘m almost 100 pages in and I‘m bored to tears and everytime I put it down it‘s even longer before I pick it back up. Maybe I‘ll revisit it in the future but right now it‘s time to move on.

Book 5🎧

Is the house haunted? Are they haunted? Is it a medical illness? A hoax?

I‘m still not sure!😱

Bunny!💗 @Yuki_Onna 🐰💕
@MoonWitch94 🖤

1 - My goal is 150! #gottacatchemall 😂

2 - Love

3 - Another haunted house story, how can I not enjoy!🖤

Saturday plans.

What is worse? To be confronted with an obvious horror, or to be haunted by a never-ending premonition of what‘s ahead?

They should get a divorce and also exist in a human world and not some hell place.

Telling someone to leave your house and then non-sarcastically waving goodbye to them in unwell behavior.

The little faces on the cover should glow in the dark, imo

I really enjoyed the book while I was reading it, but then I got to the last 30ish pages and I was wondering how they were going to bring everything together. It ended with you just having more questions.
I also wasn't a huge fan of the sentence structure. They were like very blunt. If that makes any sense.
I loved the short chapters though so it made for a very quick read!!!
#HauntedHouse #TheGripOfIt #Halloween #Reading #DisappointedRead

Anyone care to weigh in on my next read? 📚📚📖

#ChooseMyNextRead #ItsAlwaysHardToPickTheNextBook

🎧 escape our past bad habits to a small town, she said. Between a lake & a forest where we first met, he said. Chapters switch male/female (husband/wife) POV & narrators. Supernatural short haunted house thriller. Super creepy & liked it but wasn‘t fond of the ending, actually I‘m not sure how it ended other than abruptly ... possibly the way the author wanted it?! ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Entertaining, but not as good as I had hoped.

The story involves a couple who buy a house only to discover strange things start happening once they move in. For me personally, it just didn't have enough scare factor to it. I wanted more creepiness.

It is difficult to believe in any given trajectory, physics being an interpretation of the world and not an explanation.

With everything stated above I don't think I'm going to be recommending this book. I just have too many issues with it.

Please read my full review here:
https://tamarathereadingmermaid.weebly.com/book-reviews/the-grip-of-it-by-jac-je...

Squidapus understands how people can love or hate this book; he liked it quite a lot. A lot of his issues were easily looked past due to the overwhelming dread this book evokes with each passing page. Like the best horror it is focused on it's characters, the secrets between them and the relationship that hides under the surface which horror distressingly unearths. The prose is downright poetic (towards the end distractingly so) and evocative.

Squidapus has heard quite varying opinions on this book but figures he'd give it a shot himself. He really wants to read more horror/thriller books but has no real reference points lol.

This book started out with great potential I thought, I didn't mind the back and forth between characters In the chapters. It's a decent story about a couple having creepy and weird things happening in their new house. I had a lot of questions throughout the book, but the ending was abrupt and none of my questions really got answered.

4.5 🌟 - full review here:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31574739

Two things to know:
1. This was a rec from MyTbr.co. Now I can not only recommend this book, but also this service. Let an expert tell you what to read - try it!
2. If this book appeals to you at all, take some of that Christmas money you‘re about to get & spend it on this - you won‘t regret it.

Read this book! ❤️📚

Vacation #TBR ❤️📚

Last night I hit my #MountTBR goal, and all my other challenges are satisfied for the year. Now I‘ve got free rein over allllll my books.

So from now until the New Year, I‘m working on:
My next two MyTBR.co picks
A book by a friend
A January book club pick
A couple auto purchases I had to put off
& some graphic novels.

One more day of work, & then all this ☝🏻🙌🏻❤️📚

Hey, do you know about MyTbr.co? It‘s a service that gives Tailored Book Recommendations! You fill out a questionnaire, share some notes about yourself, and pick your service level. And then you get an email (or package of books) with recs based on your likes, dislikes, & willingness to try new things. I just got my first sets of recs, & I‘ve decided to treat myself to the books, too, & see how good my bibliotherapist is 😜. Check it out!

My pick is back and @BookishTrish once again you have been too generous 💜. I've been waiting to read an American Marriage since it came out. It was great to see everyone's thoughts on the book and I'm happy everyone seemed to enjoy it more then I did. I like Trish's idea to use the same notebooks on the second go around so we can all read the entries we didn't get to see.

#screamsbymail

I‘m on Chapter 19 but not sure how I feel about this one. Right now, the writing style seems both too much and not enough. #spookathon

"I go back to the edge of the yard. I look for what Julie thought was a grave. I consider burying myself there. The idea of it sounds secure to me."
Mood.

"Something shifts in my mind, and James looks unusual, like my husband is being played by another actor, like swapped-out kids in a sitcom series."

"The nights like this start to line up like matchsticks, close together, hard to count."

Am teetering between Pick because it is so well written, and So-So because it didn‘t have that much of an impact for me; couple buys a house in the country and very much House of Blue Leaves mashup with Paranormal. Think it is scarier when read as how a marriage can fall apart. Cover is fantastic though!

"Shadows caw outside the window. I know what a shadow is."

"Something hides beneath her skin. Like a mouse running under a fitted sheet."

"On my first walk through the woods, I find neighbor kids playing a game called Murder. One kid has to hide and think up a way to have been killed. Then, the others have to guess how it happened. I can see only one of the children, hanging over a high branch. I hear the others below trying to determine how the body has gotten into the tree."
I wish I'd known about this game as a kid. It sounds fun.

A creepy, gripping (sorry) read with a better cover than it deserves. I couldn‘t put it down and was bitterly disappointed in the ending. Please, Paul Tremblay, can you write Rolf‘s story for me? #screamsbymail @danibolahood

Starting my last read for Round One of #screamsbymail How‘s everyone else doing? I‘d love if we share our favourites from the round when we‘re all done.

My #completelyplausible October #TBR

A haunted house story that‘s more about a couple drifting apart than ghosts. It‘s an unsettling book, and you‘re left to wonder at what‘s real and imagined. I was left feeling that the whole story was a metaphor for the dangers of trying to solve relationship troubles by buying a new house.

This certainly delivered in the creep factor, though a lot of that was the can't look away horror of watching the couple fall deeper into the mystery of this house. The alternating narration keeps you guessing along with them if they're crazy or if they're being haunted. The ending was a little unsatisfying but overall I quite liked this one.

I'm hoping this read proves to be creepier.

BookishTrish, look away, don‘t comeback until you‘ve read the book. I‘m so glad I was near the end of this rotation for the comments in the journal that gave me so much joy. Clara, you really broke down every question I had about this book. And it was great to see how it affected everyone in different ways. Danielle, thanks for this book. I got sick after eating something today, and while reading this book, it just made me feel worse. Lol.P.s.👇🏼

#HorrorPostalBookClub #ScreamsByMail @kamoorephoto the next book is going out to you all the way from Singapore. Am hoping the chocolates won‘t get too crushed by the time they reach you. And I think I forgot to fill out the postcard meant for @danibolahood - please feel free to write on it for Danielle. :)

#HeyJune Day 15: This is most definitely not an #IFeelFine moment, with unexplained bruises, strange guttural sounds, the gradual unstitching of one‘s consciousness, that everything else becomes frayed as one‘s sanity unravels before one‘s eyes, triggering a double vision of sorts that has serious creepazoid elements. I enjoyed this novel @danibolahood #ScreamsByMail. Sending the book over to you @kamoorephoto this week.

Perfect to read while in the process of buying our 1st home! Creepy, unsettling story about uncertainty, doubt, and secrets. I agree w/other reviews here that the ending got a bit “weird.” It became abstracted. @Howardsimmons and I read it 2x week for a month and it may be best read at a faster pace to get the flow, because that quality is there from page 1, growing as the characters lose their “grip.” Going to re-read as it has more to offer.

.

#ReadingResolutions Day 8: This is one of my #MostAnticipated read, especially since #HorrorPostalBookClub #ScreamsByMail book friend @scripturient was worried that it might not get here (Singapore) from Germany.