What’s on my NetGalley shelf? Day 5

It’s the LAST day of my NetGalley series, and I CAN NOT wait to share this book with you! Today we’re going to talk about Gallows Hill by Darcy Coates. Gallows Hill is a gothic, paranormal, psychological ride, and I want on! I love a good coming home story, and this one sounds delicious!

DAY 5

Gallows Hill

Description

Darcy Coates brings you a brand-new horror novel that’ll take your breath away… Gallows Hill is:
Perfect for fans of Jennifer McMahon and Simone St. James
For lovers of ghost stories and anyone mesmerized by the twisted secrets of the past

The Hull family has owned the Gallows Hill Winery for generations, living and working on the beautiful grounds where they grow their famous grapes. Until the night Mr. and Mrs. Hull settle down for the evening…and are dead by morning.

When their daughter, Margot, inherits the family business, she wants nothing to do with it. The winery is valued for its unparalleled produce, but it’s built on a field where hundreds of convicts were once hanged, and the locals whisper morbid rumors. They say the ground is cursed.

It’s been more than a decade since Margot last saw her childhood home. But now that she’s alone in the sprawling, dilapidated building, she begins to believe the curse is more than real-and that she may be the next victim of the house that never rests…

All the vibes with this one! I love a good paranormal mystery. I haven’t read any books by this author yet, this will be my first, and I can’t wait to devour it!

Also By Darcy Coates:
The Haunting of Leigh Harker
From Below
The Whispering Dead
The Haunting of Ashburn House
The Haunting of Blackwood House
Craven Manor
The House Next Door
Voices in the Snow

Gallows Hill comes out on September 6, 2022

Thank you NetGalley & Poisioned Pen Press for my copy of this thriller!

Read the early reviews HERE

Check out the author HERE

Happy Reading, friends!

What’s on my NetGalley Shelf? Day 1

I have 5 books on my NetGalley shelf, and I want to talk about ALL of them so I’m sharing one book from my shelf every day for 5 days. I can’t squeeze them all into one post, so here I am, making a NetGalley series!

I’ve been reviewing on NetGalley for a few years now, and I’ve met a lot of really great books there! They make it easy for us reviewers to support the authors we love- and share the books we love!

If you’re new to book reviewing, you should stop reading this and go get a NetGalley account- It’s easy, and free! Right now, I have 5 books on my shelf, and I’m excited about ALL OF THEM!

I only request books I REALLY feel like I would be interested in, so when I get approved, I’m always SO stoked, and when I get declined it’s a huge bummer. My toxic trait is buying all the books I get declined for….so that’s been working out for me!

DAY ONE

All Good People Here

Description

In the propulsive debut novel from the host of the #1 true crime podcast Crime Junkie, a journalist uncovers her hometown’s dark secrets when she becomes obsessed with the unsolved murder of her childhood neighbor—and the disappearance of another girl twenty years later.

You can’t ever know for sure what happens behind closed doors.

Everyone from Wakarusa, Indiana, remembers the infamous case of January Jacobs, who was discovered in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone. Margot Davies was six at the time, the same age as January—and they were next-door neighbors. In the twenty years since, Margot has grown up, moved away, and become a big-city journalist. But she’s always been haunted by the feeling that it could’ve been her. And the worst part is, January’s killer has never been brought to justice.

When Margot returns home to help care for her uncle after he is diagnosed with early-onset dementia, she feels like she’s walked into a time capsule. Wakarusa is exactly how she remembers—genial, stifled, secretive. Then news breaks about five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over, who’s gone missing under circumstances eerily similar to January’s. With all the old feelings rushing back, Margot vows to find Natalie and to solve January’s murder once and for all.

But the police, Natalie’s family, the townspeople—they all seem to be hiding something. And the deeper Margot digs into Natalie’s disappearance, the more resistance she encounters, and the colder January’s case feels. Could January’s killer still be out there? Is it the same person who took Natalie? And what will it cost to finally discover what truly happened that night twenty years ago?

Twisty, chilling, and intense, All Good People Here is a searing tale that asks: What are your neighbors capable of when they think no one is watching?

I am a HUGE Crime Junkie fan, so when I heard that Ashley Flowers herself was writing a book, YOU GUYS, I HOPPED ON IT SO FAST! I’m starting this book today, and I can’t wait to share my review with you all when I’m finished!

All Good People Here comes out on August 16th so mark your calendars and set your alarms! If you’re into murder-mystery, small town-who done it, coming home stories, you won’t want to miss this book.

You can Pre-Order it HERE

You can check out The Crime Junkie Podcast HERE

If you use Netgalley, what’s on your shelf?

Home Before Dark + Review

Twenty-five years ago, when Maggie Holt was five, her parents moved into Baneberry Hall, an infamous estate in Vermont.
Only a few weeks later they fled in the dead of night, never to return.
Maggie’s father wrote about their experience in the house, a tell-all ghost story that swept the nation. Now, after 25 years Maggie is back at Baneberry hall, putting the pieces together to figure out what really happened the night her family fled.
I’m just going to say it. Hi, my name is Lindsay, and I’m a Riley Sager fan girl. Always have been always will be, and his books will always be a yes for me.
With that said, Home Before dark was no exception, and it checked every creepy, twisty mystery box that I love when I read psychological thrillers, and I will absolutely recommend NOT reading this book before bed. Don’t make the same mistake I did guys! What I loved the most about this book was that I predicted every twist and turn….I predicted them all so incredibly wrong. If you think you know, no you don’t!
P.S.-I love a strong female protagonist, and Maggie Holt did not disappoint!
Thank you @riley.sager for another Gem.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/10 would definitely recommend.
Go buy this book!

People we meet on vacation

“I’ve always felt like, when someone sees me deep down, that’s it. There’s something ugly in there, or unlovable, and you’re the only person who’s ever made me feel like I’m okay.”

SWOON! Poppy and Alex forever!

People we meet on vacation is the first book I have read by Emily Henry, and all I have to say is YES to this slow burning atmospheric romance.
Poppy and Alex have been best friends for ten years. He is stoic, reserved, and slightly neurotic, while she is the complete opposite. Bright, loud, and hilarious. Every summer they take the most epic of vacations together, all the while falling deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole that is their complicated love.
I fell in love with the cast of characters in this book right away, and it had me laughing out loud before I finished the first chapter. I fell completely in love with Poppy, she is funny, charming, and the chemistry she shares with Alex is complete FIRE.
This book is a slow burn, which I have to admit, I am not used to when it comes to romance. I am used to the fast paced, falling in love happily ever after romance books, and I can tell you right now, this is not that. Okay, I digress, there IS happily ever after, just not how I predicted it, which I LOVED.
People we meet on vacation is written in a dual timeline, switching between each year’s epic summer vacation, to the current summer, which I thought gave the book and the characters evolving relationship a lot of depth. The reader really gets to know them, and the changing dynamics of their love story. We get taken on such amazing adventures with these two characters, Canada, Croatia, Nashville, Vail….honestly, the adventure and atmosphere of everywhere this book takes us one thousand percent makes up for the slow burn.
While I was sitting there thinking, OKAY LET’S GET TO IT, Y’ALL LOVE EACHOTHER LET’S MAKE OUT NOW, I was also swooning over every new place we would be swept off to, wondering where the author would take us next.

I loved this book. It’s the perfect book to read in the dead of winter, curled up with a cozy blanket and hot tea. It’s the perfect vacation!

The Sundown Motel

Viv Delaney disappeared from the Sundown Motel in 1982, years before her niece Carly was born. When Carly’s mother passes away, she decides she needs to visit the motel where her aunt disappeared all those years ago. When she gets to Fell, New York and finally sets foot into the roadside motel that her aunt disappeared from, she realizes that nothing has changed.

The Sundown Motel by Simone St. James is a very compelling ghost story. I read this book after a very long reading slump, and I wasn’t disappointed…. but I didn’t love it either. It was good. I was following this book all over instagram, I was seeing it everywhere, it was one of those “Bookstagram made me buy it” books. The world St. James delivered was nothing short of creepy and I thought she did an amazing job of painting the picture of a retro roadside motel.

When Carly moves to Fell, the similarities between her life and her aunt’s life are eerily similar, which I thought added a nice touch to the atmosphere and characters. It was interesting to see how the mystery of her aunt’s disappearance unfolded and learning about the characters secrets was one of my favorite things about this book. If you think you know the characters, no you don’t. The characters surprise you up until the end, which, honestly, I live for! I love a good character twist.

For me, the story fell flat at the end, it was pretty predictable, and I did end up predicting the ending, so that was a bit of a letdown, HOWEVER, I feel like the character twists made up for that a bit. All in all, I enjoyed this book. This is the first book I have read by St. James, and I would definitely pick up another.

If you enjoy a twisty-ghost-revenge-mystery story, this one is it!

Whispers

💀BOOK REVIEW💀

Stacey is the coolest aunt EVER hands-down!
When she organizes a trip for her two sisters and their kids to the happiest place on earth, none of them could have ever prepared for the nightmare that awaited them!

This debut thriller by Bonne Bartron is everything I never knew I needed! It was a perfect spooky season read, and although I’m not a gal that is easily creeped out, as a mom, this one did me in.
If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE a strong female protagonist, and this book has three soooooo-I was sold on the first chapter.
This book deals with subject matter that is SO RELEVANT RIGHT NOW and that is one of the things I absolutely loved about it. I like a good twisty mystery that feels relevant, fresh, and scary all the while delivering those twisty blows I live for! This book is a slow burn that I devoured happily-with the lights on, and definitely not before bed.
Without giving too much away because I really want y’all to read this book, I will say this- step aside Slenderman & Momo, Mr. Tasty Treats is here, and he’s coming for your babies. 💀

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Untamed+Review

Short story- I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it.

Long story- I wanted this to be a life altering, perception changing, empowering book, but it just wasn’t that for me.

I’m not a self-help/memoir reader, so maybe I’m not the target audience for this book, but I had to read this empowering, feminist piece of work everyone on bookstagram was raving about. Im always up for a feminist tirade!

The first 1/4 was great! It was interesting, the stories pulled me in, and it felt relevant and real….after that it all went downhill for me. It was fluff peppered with cute motivational quotes.

This was not a memoir or self help book, it was a book of short stories about Glennon’s life, a book about how she CHOSE to be gay, how she has life figured out, and to achieve the best life you must be selfish, always choosing yourself over everyone else. If you’re not choosing you and your truth, are you even living? Sometimes I like to put my kids or husband first, and that feels good to me and my heart. It doesn’t make me a martyr. Sorry Glennon.

Im probably not the target audience for this book, but I gave it a good solid college try.

If you’re into motivational quotes and want a fast, feel-good read, you’ll love this book!

If I Disappear +Review

Eliza Jane Brazier's debut novel If I Disappear is a campy, culty delight! 

I live for the creep factor, the who-done-it mystery, where the fingers seem to point in every direction and you just can't for the life of you seem to figure any of it out. 

Sera is a lonely woman, a divorcee who has recently lost her baby, her husband, and is on the verge of losing her job and even her home when her favorite podcast host seems to have gone missing. 
Rachel is the host of a true-crime podcast called "Murder, she spoke." When Rachel suddenly stops airing episodes, Sera takes it upon herself to travel to Rachel's hometown to solve this mystery. At first Sera is unsure if Rachel is even missing, I mean, after all, she doesn't even really know this person, does she? 
Once she arrives at Rachel's family's summer dude ranch, she finds it in disrepair, not at all the idyllic ranch Rachel painted for her podcast listeners, and she quickly realizes something is amiss. there is a mystery to be solved here, a missing woman, and EVERYONE is a suspect!

This book is a slow burn, an unraveling of small clues. Just when I would have an AHA moment,  thinking I had it all figured out, I would be left with 12 more questions, and honestly, i'm not mad about that aspect of the story at all! 
The protagonist's personality wasn't developed enough for me to connect with her, and her personality fell flat for me. I feel like she was trying to be portrayed as strong and fearless but she felt very one dimensional. 
I was hoping to have an explosive ending after such a slow unraveling, but it wasn't that for me at all. So many loose ends needed to be tied up, leaving the reader with an open ending and even more questions, What happened to Rachel? What did Sera do? How did it end? I had Sopranos flashbacks all over again. 

Overall, this was a solid debut, it was a good book, and I can't wait to see what they do with the TV series!

If I Disappear will be out on January 26, 2021 (which happens to be my birthday, BTW!) So set a reminder, you’re not going to want to miss this one!

Thank you Berkley Publishing & Netgalley for my gifted copy of this book!

The Drowning Kind+Review

“Miracles are not without their price, my darling”

Jennifer McMahon has done it again, folks!

Another beautifully written timeless ghost story. I have grown to expect nothing less from McMahon, as every book I have read is better than the last, the next story more original, more chilling, and more real than the last!

Come sit, let me tell you a story. The story of Sparrow’s Crest, the beautiful, sprawling stone estate built in the Vermont countryside upon the healing waters of the Brandengurg Springs. The springs, said to be cursed, said to hold healing powers, and grant wishes. These springs hold a secret far more powerful than any one person can fathom.
This story is a brilliant, refreshing ghost story that I will not soon forget.
Beautifully written from two POV is the story of Jax, who has come home to Sparrow’s crest after her sister Lexie has drowned in the spring fed pool on the property of the estate- and the story of Ethel, her great-grandmother who’s husband built the home upon the rubble of the hotel that was once there.
Jax and Lexie have been estranged for many years, a strained relationship that all returns to those waters. That pool. That house.
McMahon take us on Jax’s mission to understand what happened to Lexie in her final days. Coming back to Sparrow’s Crest after so many years, finding it in shambles, papers upon papers all leading back to the springs; Lexie spends her time there trying to unravel the mystery of her sisters death.

I love McMahons timeless style of storytelling, and I can honestly say I was not prepared for this one. It hit me right in the gut, and held on until the very end. Food? Water? Sleep? Who needs those things? I found myself gripping my kindle underneath my covers in the middle of the night imagining the bumps, wet feet padding on my wood floor….my front door creaking open….One piece of advice? Don’t read this book in the dark.

Brilliant. I can NOT wait to share this book with everyone, and I can NOT wait to have a paperback copy in my greedy little hands.

Thank you Netgalley & scour Press Books for the advanced copy of my new favorite ghost story!

The Drowning Kind

First of all I want to say THANK YOU to Simon & Schuster Scout Press & NetGalley for my advanced copy of The Drowning Kind by Jennifer Mc Mahon. Without the wonderful publishers and Netgalley I wouldn’t have the opportunity to review so many fantastic books. I love what I do, and I couldn’t do it without them!

So, let’s talk about this delicious morsel- Not only is this book beautiful, it is a modern day ghost story and that is something I can NOT miss!
Jennifer McMahon is the author of one of my favorite books, The Winter People, and from the sound of it, this book is going to be just as good.

DESCRIPTION👇

Be careful what you wish for.
When social worker Jax receives nine missed calls from her older sister, Lexie, she assumes that it’s just another one of her sister’s episodes. Manic and increasingly out of touch with reality, Lexie has pushed Jax away for over a year. But the next day, Lexie is dead: drowned in the pool at their grandmother’s estate. When Jax arrives at the house to go through her sister’s things, she learns that Lexie was researching the history of their family and the property. And as she dives deeper into the research herself, she discovers that the land holds a far darker past than she could have ever imagined.

In 1929, thirty-seven-year-old newlywed Ethel Monroe hopes desperately for a baby. In an effort to distract her, her husband whisks her away on a trip to Vermont, where a natural spring is showcased by the newest and most modern hotel in the Northeast. Once there, Ethel learns that the water is rumored to grant wishes, never suspecting that the spring takes in equal measure to what it gives.

Do you like ghost stories? Paranormal thrillers that will keep you up at night, guessing and checking every noise you hear? If that is your jam, Jennifer McMahon is your girl! I was never really into the paranormal stuff until I read The Winter People, and I was hooked. Not only does she write a kickass ghost story, but the mystery had me reeling! I love a good twisty book.

What is your favorite ghost story?

The Drowning Kind will be published on April 06, 2021, so keep an eye out for it!