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elizabethandhermonsters's reviews
82 reviews
Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Suburban Hell by Maureen Kilmer
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Come Closer by Sara Gran
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
I really enjoyed Come Closer, but I took a star off for the ending being completely predictable. I don't know if it's my pattern recognition, or maybe I possess some clairvoyance that I was unaware up to now, but Come Closer follows a long line of 2024 reads that I just "knew" before I read them. I think I was annoyed because the protagonist was so infuriatingly stubborn about her choices, and that contributed to the later events.
Make no mistake. Come Closer is a smart and forward-thinking novel that is tragic, thrilling, and surprisingly feminist, and I enjoyed the ride. Even with references to things that were common in 2003 that seem anachronistic now, I liked the pacing, the worldbuilding, and the complicated nature of Amanda, the woman who is either possessed or rapidly losing her grip on reality. Each of the main characters is complex and imperfect, and that's a nice change from the idealized characters a lot of the horror novels I've read this year tend to feature. Amanda felt relatable despite her frustrating decision-making process. She could be someone that you grab a beer with on a Friday night, or
The "big bad" is hard to hate, because she brings a new vitality to Amanda's comfortable-yet-one-dimensional existence that she otherwise would have experienced. This is good in some ways, but catastrophic in others, especially when Amanda absolutely refuses to communicate about what's happening to her.
If you like strong female leads, examinations of mental health, imperfect characters, and an antagonist who may have a point, then Come Closer is definitely for you.
Make no mistake. Come Closer is a smart and forward-thinking novel that is tragic, thrilling, and surprisingly feminist, and I enjoyed the ride. Even with references to things that were common in 2003 that seem anachronistic now, I liked the pacing, the worldbuilding, and the complicated nature of Amanda, the woman who is either possessed or rapidly losing her grip on reality. Each of the main characters is complex and imperfect, and that's a nice change from the idealized characters a lot of the horror novels I've read this year tend to feature. Amanda felt relatable despite her frustrating decision-making process. She could be someone that you grab a beer with on a Friday night, or
The "big bad" is hard to hate, because she brings a new vitality to Amanda's comfortable-yet-one-dimensional existence that she otherwise would have experienced. This is good in some ways, but catastrophic in others, especially when Amanda absolutely refuses to communicate about what's happening to her.
If you like strong female leads, examinations of mental health, imperfect characters, and an antagonist who may have a point, then Come Closer is definitely for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Murder
Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
It's rare that anything, whether it be a book, movie, TV show, restaurant, etc. that lives up to its own hype, but Incidents Around The House does exactly that. I finished it in July, and even in mid-August, I'm still thinking about it.
First, if you're thinking about reading it, do yourself a favor and get the audiobook. It's so much more engrossing to listen to Bela tell her story that to just read it silently and watch the movie your brain plays as you try to make sense of what's going on. It's that good.
One of the main things I noticed and immediately appreciated is that Bela's family is broken. Her mom is toxic, her dad clueless, and to make matters worse, there's an evil entity that makes Bela call it "Other Mommy" that keeps asking Bela if she can go into her heart.
Other Mommy is terrifying, but so is the dysfunction in Bela's house. Both of her parents are objectively terrible, and it's a little irritating that the mother was cast in a very negative light while the father's shortcomings as treated as quirks or completely dismissed. I think I'm in the minority of readers who recognized this, and it's crazy-making. It was each of their actions and self-centeredness that gave Other Mommy an opening into Bela's life.
And what she does with it is absolutely horrifying. She stalks Bela daily, growing more impatient and aggressive, demanding that Bela let her into her heart, while offering few details on what would happen to Bela or her family if she agrees. She finds various ways to trick Bela into trusting her, and at various points, simply wants to torment us. And by extension, she torments the reader, because holy crap, are these scenes terrifying. You know your brain starts playing a "movie" of what you're reading to help you make sense of the material? You may not want to watch it, because Incidents Around The House is heavy on well thought-out scares, and atmospheric creepiness. When you think Other Mommy can't get any worse, she does exactly that in very unexpected ways.
I really want to see this one in a theater soon.
First, if you're thinking about reading it, do yourself a favor and get the audiobook. It's so much more engrossing to listen to Bela tell her story that to just read it silently and watch the movie your brain plays as you try to make sense of what's going on. It's that good.
One of the main things I noticed and immediately appreciated is that Bela's family is broken. Her mom is toxic, her dad clueless, and to make matters worse, there's an evil entity that makes Bela call it "Other Mommy" that keeps asking Bela if she can go into her heart.
Other Mommy is terrifying, but so is the dysfunction in Bela's house. Both of her parents are objectively terrible, and it's a little irritating that the mother was cast in a very negative light while the father's shortcomings as treated as quirks or completely dismissed. I think I'm in the minority of readers who recognized this, and it's crazy-making. It was each of their actions and self-centeredness that gave Other Mommy an opening into Bela's life.
And what she does with it is absolutely horrifying. She stalks Bela daily, growing more impatient and aggressive, demanding that Bela let her into her heart, while offering few details on what would happen to Bela or her family if she agrees. She finds various ways to trick Bela into trusting her, and at various points, simply wants to torment us. And by extension, she torments the reader, because holy crap, are these scenes terrifying. You know your brain starts playing a "movie" of what you're reading to help you make sense of the material? You may not want to watch it, because Incidents Around The House is heavy on well thought-out scares, and atmospheric creepiness. When you think Other Mommy can't get any worse, she does exactly that in very unexpected ways.
I really want to see this one in a theater soon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
A God in the Shed by J-F. Dubeau
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.
The pacing and the constant switching to different characters ruined what was a promising plot.