Welcome to Litsy!

10-9-25: My 66th finished book of 2025! Shay Evans and her college friends fall for a captivating man, the father of their new roommate. What follows is a travesty to women. And even though Shay gets out, she is pulled back in 8 years later due to the death of one of her friends. She must find out what happened, get closure for her friend, and possibly stop this madman and his group of willing disciples. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📖#️⃣6️⃣6️⃣

I‘m ambivalent about this book. There are a lot of things I liked about the story, but there are also several things that stretched my credulity a little. I didn‘t understand the point of Shay‘s husband at all — he barely appears except by phone and text. The story is tense but I don‘t understand how Shay got away with some of the things she did. I debated between a pick and a so-so. I liked it better than In My Dreams I Hold a Knife. #audiowalk

The amount of internalized misogyny by the women in this book is hard for me. I don‘t have a lot of self-esteem, but they are at another level. #audiowalk

Okay, I‘m not really interested in reading about BDSM or other kinks — especially when they revolve around misogyny— but the mystery is interesting and I‘m hoping these people get their comeuppance. #audiowalk

Well that was a long traumatic road but overall worth the journey. But like, darkkkkkk thriller. And I appreciate how Shea takes things into her own hands.

Honestly a little stupid.

Two chapters in, and I can already tell this will be un-put-down-able.

#Scarathlon Photo Challenge Day 15 prompt: purple

#HHC

@bookmarktavern @dabbe @liatrek @jessclark78 @chrissyreadit @thedaysgoby @vonnie862 @ladyCait84 @sresendez12 @kelli7990 @JessieKB

This book was okay. I really liked the beginning, but then it just went on and on and on.. Really could have been shortened, I just stopped caring. There was a twist by the end, but I didn't really care by then. And, most of the book was predictable. 3/5

Ashley Winstead and Julia Bartz were at Gaithersburg Book Festival yesterday and I had a front row seat! So exciting to see these authors in person! It‘s the second time I‘ve seen Ashley there. Their books are definitely dark and twisted. I read The Last Housewife last year & wow it was intense to put it mildly! Haven‘t had the chance to read The Writing Retreat yet, but it‘s on my list!

#MayMontage
Day 15. Author‘s 2nd book
#Authors2ndBook

I *think* this is Winstead‘s sophomore thriller. Please correct me if I‘m wrong!

Holy moly. This was a page turner and then some. Shay Evans works with podcast host and childhood bestie, Jamie, to find out what really happened to her college roommate, Laurel. What they uncover, in a series of underground BDSM clubs, catapults Shay back eight years. Trigger warnings included on the first page, but I didn‘t find it particularly gratuitous…although I can tolerate a lot. Way better than In My Dreams I Hold a Knife.

This made several “best of 2022” lists…

I have never read a book with a warning at the beginning, but this book comes with one. It was just okay to me, probably because it took me a while to read it. It's very heavy.

My first book finished for #NovelNovember ☺️

#novelnovember
@Andrew65

This was wild 😭💀

I usually avoid books about cults but I heard the author speak at Gaithersburg Book Festival in May & so I figured I‘d give it a try. This book is really intense, to the point that it comes with a content warning, which I‘d never seen in a book before. There‘s a lot of triggering content. The author paced it well & that made it easier to read. I liked the ending. I need to go back and read the author‘s “In My Dreams I Hold a Knife.”

My kid in a giant tree making a goofy face has nothing to do with this book but I am too lazy to take a picture of said book, also miss my kid because vacay is over and he‘s back in CT. 🥺
Anyway: THIS BOOK! It‘s wiiiilldd - anyone else read/reading it? Can we discuss?! 🤯😳

Reading the tagged book and was intrigued to see the content warning. I don‘t think I‘ve read a book that‘s had this before. It‘s interesting, like a rating for movies. What do you make of it? Should all books do this?

4⭐/5⭐

Wow, this book was a lot darker than I thought it was going to be! Shay has recently become a housewife and she hates it. While listening to an old friend's true crime podcast, another friend's name pops up- Laurel, and both the podcaster, Jamie, and Shay don't believe that Laurel killed herself. So off Shay goes to back to her college stomping grounds, and the super violent cult she thought she and her friend had escaped years ago ⬇

My #1 Pick for Mystery Thriller of 2022 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Mystery,Thriller,Fiction,Cult, Contemporary, Suspense, Adult

I enjoyed the first part of the book ...then it became a chore and I bailed at 30% because I could not deal with the college girls fawning over an older man so full of himself I wanted to barf and it was headed toward an S&M cult.
Like, that escalated quickly. But not in a good way (and not because of kink, which I don't mind)

I am on a roll with excellent thrillers. This is a very very dark (all the triggers) thriller about a woman that discovers her college best friends has seemingly killed herself. Along with her childhood friend she goes looking for answers and has to revisit her disturbing past. Just like the author‘s previous thriller, this is an absorbing read that I could not stop listening to. I highly recommend but definitely be warned of triggers ⬇️ 5⭐️

I'm invested in this story but I've read some reviews and wish that I hadn't because now I'm waiting for it to become ridiculous.
🤞this doesn't ruin the book for me ☹️

⭐️⭐️⭐️ A difficult book to rate. As a lifelong resident of the Hudson Valley, when I read the setting & the word cult I was in! But this book does not match the description. It‘s ICKY! Pretty Girls/Butterfly Garden level. To sum it up the cult is an underground violent BDSM sex club for wealthy men who abuse broken women. Lucky you! You got a heads up! But it‘s well written, intense, & the plot moves! I did enjoy it, I just wish I was prepared.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This pitch-black, pulsating thrill ride fanned a flame of smoldering resentment within me, one that burns in frustration at the internalization of the male gaze, inequities in gendered power dynamics, and examples of extraordinary and everyday misogyny. With a terrifyingly plausible secret society and a heart-pounding ending, it left me with my thoughts spinning, breathless.

Whhyyyy did I read this book when I just read Winstead‘s previous “In My Dreams I Hold a Knife” and couldn‘t wait for it to be over?? Oh, because I paid ZERO attention to the author and (warp speed) checked it out based on the word “cult” in the description. But you know what? This was not enjoyable and it‘s totally unrealistic which makes me mad at myself. Also, the cover is pretty. But the title didn‘t match the book either. Ugh! #rantorreview

Today is my youngest‘s first day of preschool! (Pictured walking in w big brother!) 😭 my mama heart is so proud and happy for him but it‘s a bittersweet moment because he‘s growing so quickly! I‘m feeling like a housewife today—I took the day off for drop-off and pickup, so this new audiobook is perfect for today!

This book is a wild, dark ride through the inner workings of a secret society. It's like an up close and personal look at the life of a woman from the movie Eyes Wide Shut. I found it interesting but trigger warning: explicit content about sex, bondage, and abuse.

Got a couple new books to explore. Well the tagged book is my current read but I pre-ordered Please Join Us for Tuesday which is my birthday! Upgrade is a little out of my normal wheelhouse but it looks good and I have never been disappointed by any John Marrs book. Will update with news and reviews 😊

(This was dark, and yet so freaking good. Now I don‘t have a masochistic bone in my body…but that doesn‘t mean that I didn‘t find this freakishly interesting. It was actually quite difficult to listen to but overall worth it. If you have any triggers at all, take caution because this basically has them all. So it won‘t be for everyone. Although it did keep you on the outside looking in, so to speak, instead of fully immersing you within it.)

Don‘t be deceived by this innocuous title! This is as dark and creepy as it gets…and I‘m reading it in daylight! College girls, old men pedophiles, secret societies, and prominent officials…the list goes on! Such an absorbing read but like I mentioned, best not to read in the dark!😱
Thanks to #NetGalley