kendallreadsitall's reviews
313 reviews

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 Witchcraft for Wayward Girls takes place at the Wellwood Home, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to carry and birth their children for adoptive families, and once it is all over - forget it ever happened. Our main character is 15 year old Neva, or as we must call her, Fern, and she befriends other wayward girls Rose, Zinnia, and Holly. All four of these girls are young, pregnant, alone, and scared. Even though every part of their life at Wellwood is very strictly controlled by the adults, the girls get to visit a mobile library every two weeks, where they meet the librarian who gives them a power they never thought possible, but at what cost?

I completely understand why many reviews I saw for this one mentioned that it was much different than they expected, and I can agree. Even though I did love the story from start to finish, I was craving more witchy moments and horror elements. But I think the main point of this book was to be a historical horror story that really shows the true nightmare it was to be a pregnant teen in a time like the 70’s. And not only that, but the horrors of simply being a woman and all of the things you have to deal with in this era. Hendrix really handled these stories with total care and built just beautiful and lovable characters that I couldn’t read about forever.
 

The Memory Ward by Jon Bassoff

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

It’s giving The Truman Show mixed with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind mixed with The Twilight Zone, and I was here 👏🏻 for 👏🏻 it 👏🏻

I’m not going to post a synopsis because this is such a fun book to enter totally blind, but the entire book is an experience of trying to figure out what is real and what isn’t.

The audiobook was phenomenal. Narrated by Bronson Pinchot, Dawn Harvey, and Janina Edward’s - actually, scratch that, this was PERFORMED and one of the best audiobooks I’ve listened to, truly. All three of them voice acted this story impeccably, and I was beyond impressed. Even though I landed at a four for this story, the audio was a five and truly incredibly done. 

Phantom Limb by Lucinda Berry

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 Lucinda Berry sure knows how to traumatize readers through her words because, wow. This one threw me for a loop. I don’t want to say too much about the plot because there are so many twists in this book that you’re going to be dizzy by the end. This story follows twin sisters, Elizabeth and Emily, who suffered a childhood of pure torture by their alcoholic mother later in adulthood. Elizabeth is in school, with a job, and falling in love, and even though her and Emily are as close as you can be when it comes to relationships, Elizabeth feels the weight of having to tiptoe around her. Then everything changes, and Elizabeth no longer knows what is real or who she is.

This one is heavy. Like HEAVY. Huge trigger warning on suicide, death, child abuse, trafficking, treatment facilities - the whole nine yards. Even though this book ripped my heart out and shattered it, I love Lucinda Berry novels because they feel so real, which I’m sure comes from her experience in being a psychologist and childhood trauma researcher, and her expertise really shines through her words. She truly always impresses me.

The audiobook was narrated by Kate Marcin who did an excellent job with presenting this traumatic and heart wrenching story. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide, Trafficking, Suicide attempt

The Blanks (The Shivers Collection) by Grady Hendrix

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

I cannot express how immersed I was in The Blanks. From start to finish, I was terrified. In just over an hour, Hendrix filled this audiobook with a sucker punch that a full length novel delivers. Not only was it horrifying and disturbing in every way, but we also got a clear back story and absolutely heart shattering by the end. Like, wow. I would love to see this story get a full novel to follow this or even a movie adaptation because I must know more. 

The Blanks follows a family to their summer vacation home in Jeckle Island. All is well, and they are happy to be back with the community that they love like family. However, something is a bit off with Jeckle Island and contains something that the citizens simply pretend isn't there... until it is. 

Thank you, NetGalley, Brilliance Publishing, and Grady Hendrix for this advanced listening copy. Moniqua Plante absolutely killed this audio as well, her performance had me stunned. 

Night and Day in Misery (The Shivers Collection) by Catriona Ward

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Night and Day in Misery is a short story that surround the horrors of grief and loss. Stella's son and abusive alcoholic husband died in an accident, and still eight years later, Stella is overtaken by her grief of losing her son and the mental torment she suffers with the way it happened. Stella spends the anniversary of their deaths in a hotel room, spiraling in memories and what-if's. 

I love grief horror. It resonates with me, it pulls my heartstrings, it leaves me with a deep feeling of sadness, and Ward captured all of those feelings for me in a short 1.5 hour audiobook. I love Catriona for always being able to set a firm sense of dread in her stories that weaves through until the very end. The creepiness of the hotel, Stella's spiral into grief, and the sense of hopelessness really bring this story together through different timelines for a satisfying ending.

This story did get a bit convoluted for me in the middle and I had to rewind a couple of times to get back on track, but otherwise, I thought this was a really great short story written by one of my very favorite authors!

Thank you NetGalley, Brilliance Publishing, and Catriona Ward for this advanced listening copy!

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I read The Vegetarian with a group of friends. This one brought up a lot of great discussions that helped me perceive this story and the way it was written in a better light, which I really appreciated. This would be a great book club read!

The Vegetarian was angering, heartbreaking, and truly disgusting in so many ways. I’m going to skip a synopsis on this one because I think it’s best to enter this book totally blind, as I did. This book was beyond strange, but the kind of strange that has you looking into the deeper meaning of every sentence. Han Kang made sure that every word counted and didn’t add any unnecessary filler or fluff to bulk up the story, and that, to me, shows an exceptional writer.

This book, in the grand scheme of it all, is about bodily autonomy, lack of support, and mental health but put together in a way that will have you raging angry, cringing, near tears, and left with questions. I think this book was highly successful in its presentation, and I really enjoyed my time with The Vegetarian. I will definitely be diving into more Han Kang novels. 

The Cut by C.J. Dotson

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

The Cut follows a mother, Sadie, and her three year old daughter, Izzy, who are fleeing from an abusive relationship after finding out she is pregnant with her abuser's baby. She takes a housekeeping job at the L'Arpin hotel nestled on Lake Eerie just as a transitional period so she can have a place to stay until she can get back on her feet. After meeting a cast of strange characters working at this hotel, especially the long time resident, Gertie, Sadie begins to experience some very strange and unsettling happenings in this hotel that no one else seems to notice. Is it her or are they hiding something?

This book really had so much promise in the beginning. I loved the backstory and I was rooting for Sadie to get away, but that is kind of where my enjoyment stopped. This was definitely a slow burn and I found myself being bored throughout this audio. It was predictable but also confusing. Confusing because we kind of had two story lines going on with her past abusive relationship that she is still scared of him finding her on top of the new fear of the hotel and what is taking place. I understood, or I think I understood, what the author was trying to convey with this with Sadie putting up with so much with her ex and how much gaslighting she was forcing herself to withstand in the hotel because of her trauma, but the two just didn't mesh and felt like separate entities. Also, if I heard Sadie call Izzy 'Stinker' one more time, I was going to lose it. Izzy also explicitly asked her to stop calling her that, and as a mom, it frustrated me that Sadie didn't respect that. Speaking of Izzy, she was only 3 in this, but the level of mature dialogue coming out of her was not at all believable to be a 3 year old, which was another reason this story lost me. 

Unfortunately, I didn't like this one. It felt like it took some elements of Nestlings and some elements from a typical domestic thriller and tried to mesh them and it didn't work. 

Thank you to Netgalley, Edelweiss, and CJ Dotson for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. 

The Last Trip by Kiersten Modglin

4.0

Calvin and Sadie are newly engaged and expecting their first child. To celebrate, Calvin booked a babymoon trip to a remote cabin for some r&r before they become new parents. The seem to be totally in love, and Calvin is so attentive to his pregnant wife. Just before they are set to leave, Calvin breaks the news to Sadie that someone has contacted him claiming to be his daughter. Though Sadie is reasonably a little shaken up by this news, she still wants to go on their trip and decide what to do about this unforeseen news when they get back. Soon after arriving to the cabin, Sadie feels unsafe almost instantly. Is all of this in her head or is there something more sinister going on?

This was my first Kiersten Modglin read, and I have to say, I am impressed! This short little audiobook, of just 5 hours, was filled with twists, an unreliable narrator, remote cabin terror, multiple POVs, nonlinear timelines and more. Even though this story was filled with about everything you can think of as far as domestic thriller tropes go, I thought it was so successful and kept the reader totally enthralled with what was going on. I’ll never complain about a short book; however, I do kind of wish we had more time with Sadie questioning her reality to build up more to the end. I think that would have made the plot a bit more thorough, but either way, it was a great little read with some fantastic narrators!

Thank you NetGalley, Kiersten Modglin, and Dreamscape Media for this advanced listener copy! 

Ask for Andrea by Noelle W. Ihli

5.0

“On a date with a guy that isn’t going well? Ask for Andrea at the bar. We’ll make sure you get home safe.”

Wow, it has been a while since I’ve flown through a book so fast simply because I was so enthralled in the story. This is such a unique take on a haunting with three women, all killed by the same man, who stick around to help prevent future murders and help solve their own.

I did not expect how emotional this story would feel. The deep sadness and grief that each girl felt about losing their life or watching their family grieve their loss was palpable. With multiple POV’s, sometimes it’s easy to miss out on plot points, but I felt like Ilhi left no stone unturned and took us through the story with precision, making sure to touch on every detail that the reader might question. The bulk of the book was a grief stricken and haunting mystery, while the last third was essentially a survival story, and I really enjoyed that sort of vibe switch from feeling deep sadness then over to heart pounding suspense.

Overall, I loved this book! I am thoroughly impressed with the writing and uniqueness of the story. I will absolutely be checking out more books by Noelle W. Ihli and can confidently say she has become an auto-buy author for me after this read. Pick up this book if you are a thriller or mystery fan!
 

Shy Girl by Mia Ballard

5.0

Gia’s stuck. She’s been laid off, money is tight, and she is desperate with some serious OCD. After another letter from her landlord, she’s so desperate that she signs up for a sugar baby app to get some cash. Quickly, she meets Nathan, a seemingly kind businessman, who she is more than ready to start a transactional relationship with, but this business deal was much, much more than she could have ever thought possible.

Woof (no pun intended), this book was insane. A literary-female rage-horror book that emphasizes control, physical/mental abuse and what it can do to your psyche, as well as the power of money, and how to escape a cage (metaphorical & physical) to survival. This entire book felt like one long guttural scream that was written with so much intent. The overarching themes really bring this absolutely bizarre and horrifying story together to create something so profound and raw. I really, really enjoyed this one and definitely looking forward to more from Mia Ballard!