Talk about a stage mom from hell!
Jennette McCurdy chronicles her life as a child actress which was imposed upon her by her dominating and manipulative mother.
As a result, she struggles with mental health issues, addiction and eating disorders.
A very candid and surprisingly funny memoir.

I went to buy a copy at Bookstar but it was SOLD OUT...when does that ever happen?
It also won the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Fiction 2022.
With all that, I figured it must be amazing!
Ehhh...it was good. I cared about the characters (game developers) and their decades-spanning relationship.
But it didn't knock my socks off.
Had I learned that a secret highway here in L.A. actually existed, I would have given it 5 stars.

Now in paperback, the debut novel from S.A. Cosby is another propulsive southern noir that, much like his other books, You. Can't. Put. Down.
Cosby has a knack for creating these morally compromised anti-heroes that you can't help but root for as they come up against the powers that be.
Looking forward to "All Sinners Bleed" in June!

Michael Ausiello‘s moving and heartfelt memoir about love and loss. I laughed, I cried…I have a new appreciation for Smurfs.

I may have gone through a few tissues.

Ok…many.😢

Take the subjects and format of "Daisy Jones and the Six" and place them at "The Haunting of Hill House" add a dash of "Picnic at Hanging Rock" and you have "Wylding Hall".
Granted this book predates Daisy, but it's told in the same interview format with members of the band Windhollow Faire looking back at a summer long ago when they rented an old manor to record an album.
More of a mystery than a haunted house story.
A quick and fun read!

A gothic thriller/ murder mystery set on an island involving a cult during the early part of the 20th century.
At times I had difficulty following the storyline, but in the end, with all its unexpected twists and turns, it was totally worth it.

This reimagining of the famous tale focuses on Carlota Moreau, the titular daughter of the infamous Dr. Moreau. With Montgomery Laughton (shout out to Charles Laughton!) as the overseer of the Doctor‘s hacienda, Carlota finds herself at a crossroads as the actual owners of the hacienda plan to kick Carlota,the hybrids &her ailing father to the curb. So begins a race against time as Carlota must figure out a way to save everyone, including herself!

Taking place a few years after the Mexico War of Independence, a young woman marries a wealthy politician and moves with him into the family hacienda. A hybrid of "Rebecca", "The Thorn Birds" and "The Haunting of Hill House", Isabel Canas brings us this thrilgothic horror story about family, greed, revenge and the extent one will go to retain power.

One of the scariest and creepiest opening scenes in a book that I can ever recall reading.

Nick Grevers is an accomplished travel journalist & mountain climber. He & his climbing buddy Augustin decide to take on the Maudit. But it‘s the Maudit that takes on them.

Blending elements of the supernatural & harrowing survivalism, at its heart, this is a love story.

At 400 pages, it took awhile to finish because they used the “Medicine Bottle Font”.

While not a lot happens story wise, emotionally this is a tender and endearing story about childhood, memories and perception. There is a sci-fi element to it, which is quite horrifying when you think about it, but the less you know going in, the better.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 for some truly scary and gruesome scenes.
This story was definitely giving off some serious "A Nightmare on Elm Street" vibes almost to the point where I thought "Does the estate of Wes Craven have grounds to sue?"
This story about a myth that comes to life to stalk the all-girls high school basketball team has way too much basketball, clunky writing and a storyline that didn‘t fully make sense.
P.S. I hate basketball.

I don't usually read YA, but I had heard great things about this book.
Incredibly creepy and disturbing, it seems much too intense for middle grade kids, it's target audience.
That said, this was a quick and engrossing read.
If you have an aversion to insects, especially wasps, find another book.
Now excuse me while I go buy some Raid.

This is just awful. This is an iconic bookstore here in Los Angeles. Here is the GoFundMe if you want to donate: https://www.gofundme.com/f/iliad-bookshop-needs-help-recovering-from-arson

Just when you think nothing fresh can be brought to the Zombie genre, along comes this book.
Interesting examination of what is reality and how we are affected by what we "believe" to be true.
While I didn't exactly love this novella, I did enjoy it's fresh take on a familiar genre.

Its 1922 and a young woman named Sarah Piper gets hired as an assistant to a ghost hunter investigating a haunting in an English village. The ghost named...yup...Maddy Clare committed suicide in real life & now is hell bent on vengeance. Its up to Sarah and the ghost hunting team to solve the mystery.

Not my favorite of St. James's books as the mystery wasn't that hard to figure out and the romantic interludes were too many and felt like filler.

What luck that two of my favorite new authors (new to me at least!) were doing a joint book signing today!

Dark, suspenseful, gritty, tense and at times downright nauseating.
It's like Breaking Bad with supernatural elements.
I just wish I had paid more attention in my Spanish classes back in the day as there are many passages written in Spanish. I could make out some, others I couldn't. But that's what Google translate is for!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

A woman returns to pack up her childhood home while her estranged (and awful) dying mother is wasting away in the living room. Yeah, that's not creepy.
With flashbacks to her childhood, we learn why her Mom & Dad didn't win Parents of the Year.
And if the cover of the book wasn't any indication, there is something creepy AF going on in the house.
Loved the parallel timelines, but unsure how I feel about the twist at the end.
A good Halloween read

😂 😂 😂

This would have been 5 stars but I guessed the major plot twist by page 20, so..
If you‘re looking for a Halloween read this may be the book for you!
On a dark and stormy night, a dysfunctional family gathers at the isolated home of their matriarch to celebrate her 80th birthday, which of course is on...Halloween!
And then things...happen.
While a bit far-fetched, this nod to Agatha Christie is a fun & scary mystery with twists & turns galore.

3.5 stars
This love letter to her father, author Peter Straub (who died this month), was a fun take on the "if you could go back and time and change things, would you?" trope.
I love these types of books, but for me there was too much back and forth and repetitive scenarios.
Nor did it pack the emotional punch I was expecting.

I much prefer his horror novels so I approached this fantasy book with some trepidation. Then I remembered how much I loved The Talisman and 11/22/63. As far as I'm concerned this book ranks right up there with them.
Could not put it down and didn't want it to end.
Once again King transports the Constant Reader into two parallel worlds both rife with mystery, danger and magic.
And yes, I cried in the end and then took my elderly dog for a walk.

RIP Hilary Mantel 😢

And now this super terrifying book is a movie from M. Night Shyamalan.
People...Just stay out of the woods!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wiBHEACNHs&t=159s

“We can afford neither defective space-time filaments, nor any further drops in donut sales.”

I know I‘m really in the minority here, but this was not for me.
Pros: Great LGBTQ and Asian representation. Great cover. And donuts. Lots of donuts.
Cons: Overly long, too much plot crammed into one book, disjointed and jarring writing style
I almost DNF this book, but I was too close to the end. An end which I thought would never come.

That was fast!

I waited 3 days past the release date for this to come in as my local bookstore sold out and I wanted to support them rather than Jeff Bezos. Hopefully Jeff will be okay.

The best tennis player in the world comes out of retirement when her record is broken. With her adoring and equally driven father (a once famous tennis player in his own right) as her coach, 37 year old Carrie Soto, in the face of sexism and ageism, sets out to reclaim her title.

I have to hand it to TJR. She has created a brusque character, whom I can‘t help but root for, in a setting I couldn‘t care less about, and yet, I was riveted!

A modern update of Rear Window about an alcoholic actress grieving the loss of her husband who drowned in the lake at their vacation home. Naturally she takes refuge there and starts to spy on her neighbors.
A suspenseful page turner with plenty of twists and turns(one of which annoyingly appears out of the blue) that will keep you guessing until the end.

A few minor issues aside, I found this to be an enjoyable story where the the character that ties everything together is an octopus. Yes, that may sound silly, but it works.

Carrie Soto Is HERE!

When I heard that Seth describes his interaction with my former boss, I just had to read this. To my delight, he writes about TWO of my former bosses and even I make a brief albeit anonymous appearance.
This was a quick & funny read about Seth getting high for the first time, interactions with celebrities, getting high after school, Jewish Summer camp, getting high before a meeting with Spielberg, meeting your heroes, and getting high.

In my eyes, David Sedaris can do no wrong and is always a pleasure to read.
From laugh out loud moment to poignant ones, he covers the entire gamut.
Stories about his crazy family, his dying father, book tours and travel in our pre and post-Covid world... and teeth.

I‘ve been immortalized albeit anonymously!
Yeah, I‘ll take it!😂

"Miracles are not without their price, my darling."
Another creepy page turner from Jennifer McMahon!
A story with dual timelines (1929/ 2019) set in a secluded area in Vermont, centering around two sisters with a complicated relationship, a mysterious house with an eerie pool that may or may not be haunted and a few drownings.
Aside from a couple of unresolved plot points, this beautiful, haunting and nostalgic tale is definitely worth reading!

A thought provoking sci-fi thriller about a man who, not by his own choice, has his genetics upgraded which enables him to do things he never could do before. And everyone lives happily ever after because, really, what could possibly go wrong?

Another irresistible page turner from Julie Clark! I knocked out the first 200 pages in one day as I could not put this down. While it didn't have as many twists and turns as I was expecting, this story of two women, one a con artist and the other a reporter, definitely kept me entertained and eager to see how this tale of righteous vengeance played out.

As a lifelong fan of the Universal Monster canon, I was excited to read this fictionalized take on the days leading up to the making of Frankenstein. Junior Laemmle wanted to make the movie, his father and founder of Universal,did not. The story dramatizes the battle between father and son as well as the two actors (Karloff and Lugosi) vying for the role of the Monster. Unless you are a fan of the genre, you might be hard pressed to enjoy it.

First published about a decade after her death, this felt like I was reading Marilyn Monroes's personal diary. In it she recounts her early childhood, her views on men and women, the industry and it's inability to take her seriously as an actress, her one-sided "feud" with Joan Crawford (my favorite part), her marriage to Joe DiMaggio and abruptly ends around the time she married Arthur Miller.

At 700+ pages, one should get immense credit for creating a propulsive page turner such as BLONDE. A hybrid of fact &fiction, Oates has crafted a mythic & poetic story about Monroe from her innocent & heartbreaking beginnings, through the sexist &misogynistic studio system, and to the well-known tragic end.Through it all, Oates dispels the misconception of Monroe as just another "dumb blonde" by revealing the intelligence &ambition of Norma Jean.

Well that gave me chills....

A wholly unique experience when it comes to the narrative style and execution. However, there's a lot of internal dialogue going on (it is presented as a memoir...no, it's a novel...no, it's a memoir!) and not a lot seems to be happening. There's a few creepy moments and some fantastic LOL one-liners and barbs by the person (who I won't name) marking up the book in red ink.
But ultimately, in the end, it just didn't do it for me.

No one in my family took the hint…

If you are a “Monster Kid” like me or a child of the 70‘s (um…also me) then look no further for your next read! Taking place over two parallel time lines, this is a gripping tale of a child abducting monster, a creepy old institution, and a monster hunter trying to piece it all together…and nothing is as it seems!
And as an added bonus, I have a favorite new author in Jennifer McMahon!

The latest addition to my physical TBR pile!

For Pride month I picked this classic which I had never read. A moving examination of repression, internalized homophobia and the resulting consequences in 1950‘s Paris.

3.5 stars for me.
2 brutal murders set 15 years apart. One takes place in a Blockbuster video (remember those?)the other in an ice cream shop.
My issue was that there were a ton of characters that all had the same "voice" which made it difficult to discern who was who. Although, this could just be a "me" issue. Lots of red herrings in addition to what felt like incomplete storylines that left more questions than answers.
Yet, it's a page-turner!

My physical TBR stack is growing.

A little light vacation read! ?

If you read Bugliosi's Helter Skelter and think you know what happened on that tragic night in August 1969...you don't.
A blistering exposé that shows the lengths Bugliosi went to in order to create the narrative we've all come to believe as the definitive truth while also examining the various elements & events that were conveniently overlooked.

Don‘t mess with Doris Day!
😂😂