Lisa's Cubby

One wonders what must go on inside the mind of Catriona Ward, author of The Last House on Needless Street. She is able to write the most macabre yet imaginative, horrific stories.

Take Little Eve for example. This was a story actually written prior to her success with Needless Street. At the time Little Eve not only came out to accolades, but awards as well. So, it was only fair that it should be re-released for those Needless Street fans who had never heard of it.

In a dilapidated castle on an island named Altnaharra near Scotland lives the most messed up group of women, children and one man. Saying this clan is some sort of cult would be putting it mildly.

Adder, the male leader is the master who makes all the decisions, eats the best and most leaving crumbs for the rest and punishes the others with incredible cruelty as they all await Adder’s claim that the end of the world is near.

Little Eve, one of the young children, looks at Adder and sees his power. She wants that title. She will stop at nothing, endure all the torture thrown at her in order to make that happen.

Known as the outcasts in the town due to their dirty appearances and potato sack clothes, the children are incessantly mocked and tormented by the other children at their school. And when a school leader is murdered, it’s the family of Altnaharra who are blamed for instigating.

Which then brings Chief Inspector Black into the picture. He takes a liking to Little Eve as she reminds him of his sister who passed away at a young age. He seems to understand the mess on the island and tries to make her see there is a world outside of the pain and suffering she endures. She does begin to see through a different set of eyes but feels hopeless as to what to do about her situation.

Adder will not tolerate this kind of thinking and abuses the others as well as Eve for even questioning him about the outside world and how they actually all ended up where they are now. He tells them they will be given a reward when the end comes.

But curiously the story opens to all at the castle being dead and Eve missing. Through a series of horrific flashbacks, we see the horrible abuse and physical violence brought on by an unwell man to others who know no other way. We see the despair they live in on a daily basis. As the story progresses, but there are so many unsettling questions.

Who killed them? Where is Eve? Where did this group come from? The twisted conclusion which is seen through their eyes will send chills down your spine.

Thank you #NetGalley #TorNightfire #LittleEve #CatrionaWard for the advanced copy.

Just in time for Halloween, Malice House will give you chills up your spine, have you seeing monsters in your dreams and put your imagination into overdrive. For those who love twists and turns haunted houses, monsters, and a good mystery…enter at your own risk! You will not be disappointed.

Haven Marbury is cleaning out her late father’s house, Malice House. Her father was a best-selling author with a cult-like following. An illustrator herself, she has never quite understood the lure her father had to readers. Although his career included a Pulitzer Prize, his final year was filled with dementia, hearing voices in the walls, under the bed and seeing monsters.

But as Haven is up in the attic, she finds a handwritten manuscript called Bedtime Stories for Monsters. As she begins to read the stories, she can’t tell if they were created years ago or in her father’s later years when his mind was beginning to go. Why was the manuscript hidden away?

Haven, who needs money desperately, as she has just left her abusive husband, decides she will sell the manuscript to a publisher, hopefully making enough money to assist her own career as an illustrator and give her the financial freedom she needs. She goes to the local coffee shop where she knows the couple who own it helped her father get his other stories published. But they become quite obsessed with seeing the manuscript which makes Haven nervous. She’s not sure she can trust them.

She makes the decision with the help of an employee at the coffee shop to make her own calls and sell the manuscript as a package of sorts with her illustrations, sort of like a father, daughter collaboration. And then she begins to draw replicas of what she feels the monsters in the stories would look like.

And that’s when things begin to get really weird.

She uncovers a group who call themselves the Ink Drinkers who meet and are obsessed with her father’s writings. A barista at the coffeeshop goes missing. And then the deaths begin. Some supposedly caused by an animal in the woods. All the while she has decided she has a bit of a crust on her next-door neighbor after she accidently hits him with her car. Cute, but a bit quirky, she sees him out in the middle of the night doing something in his backyard.

Haven soon discovers nothing in her own life is what she has always been led to believe and monsters are unfortunately real, and they are looking to kill her. Because her father kept terrible secrets, she now must pay the price, perhaps with her own life and everybody’s around her. Who are the monsters and what did she do to call them?

Malice House is spooky, haunting and includes everything you want in a story to go bump in the night. Boo!!

Thank you #NetGalley #HyperionAvenue #MeganShepherd #MaliceHouse for the advanced copy.

Confessions of the Other Sister is a powerful story about family, misguided jealousy and secrets between two sisters and the unfortunate trauma it takes to heal their souls.

Frances Turner is a chef to celebrities. She lives in L.A. and really wants to become an actress, but it seems the only thing she is good at is cooking and auditioning. She is a very organized person with an organized life and plans…for everything, accept when her employer tells her she is moving to Palm Springs and invites Frances to go with her. But if Frances goes, she knows she will never become the actress she knows she can be.

Crosby Turner, Frances’ sister, is a bestselling author who lives a glamorous life in New York City. She buys the best of everything and doesn’t worry about where the money will come from because she is rich, rich, rich! Until her accounts tells her she is poor, poor, poor and she better come out with another best-seller if she wants to survive! Unfortunately for Crosby, she has had a bit of writer’s block for years…probably too busy enjoying her lifestyle! But when an offer comes from a singer Crosby grew up loving to ghostwrite her memoir, she thinks she’s hit the jackpot. But there is a catch. She would have to go to L.A. to do the interviews and ugh, her sister lives there.

Frances and Crosby have not been very close for years, even when they were children, they both seemed to vie for their parent’s attention and have been competitive ever since. When Crosby stole Frances’ boyfriend during high school, well that sealed the deal for her. So, when Frances finds out Crosby will be coming to her neck of the woods, needless to say she is not too thrilled.

As the two try and get along things don’t seem to be working out so well. Neither can understand why the other is so hurtful. Crosby really can’t afford to be here and finds out she rented a dump. Then she realizes the musician she admired all those years ago it a bit of a scatterbrain. Frances must choose between following her dream, or the security of a job and when she is asked to put her sister in contact with someone she has auditioned for she must decide if she wants to do that fearing her sister’s vibrant personality will push her out of the running for the part.

But when an unexpected tragedy occurs, which will change their lives forever, they must somehow come together and put all their past grievances aside and reconcile. They must attempt to listen to each other and heal their grievances. They must become the sisters they never really were.

Confessions of the Other Sister is a witty look at sibling rivalry, a heartbreaking story about all the time which was lost due to misunderstandings, and a hopeful story of learning to not only be siblings, but friends.

Thank you #Goodreads #WilliamMorrow #/BethHarbison #ConfessionsoftheotherSister for the advanced copy.

Hester is a wonderfully crafted, imaginative story about who the real character, Hester Prynne could have been in author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter. With most of Hawthorne’s novels, historians have always been able to trace the backstory to his college years or childhood, etc. But no one has been able to figure out who Hester Prynne was to Nathaniel Hawthorne. Or where the idea for the story came from.

Laurie Lico Albanese’s take on the mystery is not only riveting, but masterfully played out.

Isobel Gambel is a young talented seamstress in the 1800’s who lives in Scotland. Trained by her now dead mother, she is a skillful, imaginative sewer just as the women in her family have been for decades. Some had even been accused of being witches.

When it’s time, she marries a doctor, Edward because she believes he is kind and she feels a sense of security with him. But unbeknownst to Isobel, Edward has a terrible addiction to opioids. When Isobel discovers there is no money and Edward becomes the talk of the town, they decide to sail by ship to Salem in hopes to start a new life. It is there as she is stepping off the ship that she glimpses a handsome man she finds out is Nathaniel Hawthorne.

While Isobel begins to establish herself as a talented seamstress in Salem, Edward decides to take a job as a medic on a ship leaving her by herself with barely any money in a town which she is not totally comfortable. As time passes, she begins to get close to Nathaniel who has admired her work and has requested she make something for him. Not sure of Edward’s whereabouts, they begin an affair. And Isobel is beside herself when she realizes she is pregnant, and Edward has been gone too long for the town’s people to think it is his. She hides the pregnancy and keeps the information from Nathaniel.

When she finally does tell Nathaniel, she cannot believe what she hears. And then Edward returns. Isobel is an adulterer and fears for her and her baby’s safety. But there are friends who she can rely on. Staying in Salem would be a death sentence. What can Isobel possibly do?

Hester tackles more than just a story of adultery. It tells of secrets which had been kept in Salem during that time period as well as how much a young woman cast aside can endure by being tortured and embarrassed in a gossipy town. It also shows her strength in understanding what must be done.

Although we may never know Hawthorne’s inspiration for The Scarlet Letter, this account is both captivating and bewitching!

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #Hester #LaurieLicoAlbanese for the advanced copy.

Just Like Magic is a wonderful story which all Christmas junkies should read to put themselves in the holiday spirit. It’s so funny, heartwarming and well…just magical!

Bettie Huges had it all! An influencer who had money to buy anything her little (and I mean literally little) heart desired. She was also the creator of products which would (or should) do wonders for you. And then everybody found out she was just a fraud and she lost it all.

Now, she is living in a small town in a dead woman’s house with no money right before Christmas, the very holiday in which her very wealthy family including her movie star mother, her diplomatic father, her sister who is a famous model, and her brother who is an actor and producer all try to outdo each other by giving the most outrageously, expensive unusual gifts or feel the wrath of shame.

As Bettie drinks her embarrassing life away, she ponders, how did she get here? Not looking forward the next week of staying at her parents with all her siblings, she decides to get herself somehow into the holiday spirit by of course playing Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You. But in her drunken stupor she accidentally plays the record backwards. That’s when she sees a very handsome yet quirky man appear in from of her whose name is Hall and he explains he is there to make all her wishes come true so she can find joy in the season.

But when she wakes up, she thinks, boy what a dream, until she finds Hall waiting for her so they can begin their holiday journey. And when he proves to her he really can make her wishes come true, Bettie sees a way of being the envy of her family by wishing for the most outlandish items for them. No one will be able to top her! She will win!

So, she concocts a plan to take Hall with her to her parent’s house and introducing him to everyone as her fiancée. At first, they don’t believe anybody could fall for Bettie. But their time all together begins to be something very different than they are all used to. Something begins to happen to them all. The petty jealousy, selfishness, competitiveness and apathetic family begins to see and feel differently. Hall seems to be creating some kind of Christmas miracle! He is innocently giving them the Christmas they never could have imagined.

And as they all begin to get along, with Bettie even changing her mind about the extravagant gifts she has wished for like Amal Clooney’s engagement ring, she asks they be returned. Bettie starts to become happier, which is the whole reason for Hall’s visit. But with that knowledge comes the fact that as soon as Bettie’s joy meter is full, it will be time for Hall to leave, something they both begin to feel they don’t want to happen.

But too soon it’s time for Hall to move on. Something he and Bettie have dreaded. Unfortunately, his job has been accomplished. He must go back to wherever he came from. But Bettie is not sure what will happen to her when they finally have to say goodbye. Her life has changed, she has changed so much thanks to him. What will she do?

Just Like Magic is such a delightful feel-good read with so many funny pop culture moments thrown in you will find yourself laughing out loud and smiling up until and including the ending!

Thank you #NetGalley #G.P.Putnam’sSons #SarahHogle #JustLikeMagic for the advanced copy.

Crime Writer is an incredible read! It’s gumshoe, romance, action-packed and funny!

Evie Howland is your average introverted best-selling crime writer. In real life she lives in New York and is engaged to a handsome billionaire named Daniel Bradley. Although she must go to some fancy events, which in truth she hates because she would rather be at home in her sweats eating licorice and writing, she adores her soon to be (in two weeks) husband-to-be so she tolerates the inconvenience.

She also treasures her two main characters in her crime series, Detectives Carolyn Harding and Jack Ryan. But for some reason she is finding it very hard to sit and concentrate and write. You see this is book sixteen and it will be the last in the series. While writing she usually talks to her characters and they talk back (in her head), or so she thought. But for some crazy reason this time is different.

She could always envision them in her mind’s eye, but now they can be seen by everyone! She has no idea why, and neither do they, but they are very excited! Carolyn and Jack now have free will and don’t have to listen to Evie’s boring written instructions. While the story Evie is writing plays in real life, she not only becomes embroiled in it, but she realizes the bad guys have also somehow crossed over to reality.

As Carolyn and Jack enjoy their new freedom, Evie finds it hard to reel them back in. And while the three of them try to avoid being killed by a psycho she created in a past book, she begins to feel the excitement her characters must have felt for all these years. She even realizes they have given themselves their own backstories which she finds bewildering.

She soon discovers as they are being hunted and shot at that she starts to look at Jack in a very inappropriate way which is kind of crazy as he is not real, right? When she figures out she can write their way out of the chaos and killing, she’s not sure she wants to. You see, she knows the ending. She’s not ready to let them go. But unfortunately for Evie, New York City depends on her solving this case before it gets blown up!

But how can she say good-bye to these lovable, crazy, uncouth hero’s, one of which she may love?

Crime writer has everything in a story you could ask for. Funny, witty quick dialogue, bombs, explosions, romance quirky characters and many surprises.

One last thing, there is a music video from the 1980’s called Take On Me by a group called Aha. Watch it. Enough said.

Thank you #NetGalley #RubyBooks #DimeSheppard #CrimeWriter for the advanced copy.

When a widow with a young child inherits a dilapidated, unkept countryside home in England, she accidentally discovers a hidden diary written by the previous owner of the property, her father-in-law, Frank’s sister Maude.

As she begins reading the diary, which was written by a very young Maude during the late 1800’s, she discovers a girl whose life was changed forever by the death of both her parents. Her father dying quite suddenly and her mother due to illness the deaths coming very close together. The lavish life she and her older brother Frank were accustomed to came crashing down as she became an orphan and her brother who was in college certainly unable not take care of her.

She was then parceled out by “the relatives” to a stranger named Mrs. Greenaway who owned an estate called Orchard House. No knowing or understanding the woman’s connection to her family, she desperately tries to like her and fit in. But she finds the house cold and is not quite sure what to make of her new guardian.

Parts of her feel Mrs. Greenaway is trying to take her under her wing and help her, but there is a side of the woman that makes Maude uncomfortable. Maude is put in a situation that she as a child is not really capable of understanding. She begins to snoop a bit and discovers adult secrets her adolescent mind finds confusing.

But when her older brother Frank suddenly comes to visit and seems to take a liking to Mrs. Greenaway, Maude is terribly jealous she will take her brother away from her and petrified at what might happen to her next. She begins to not trust Mrs. Greenaway and believes she wants her to leave.

When the three decide to travel for a few weeks in the summer, Maude believes they are trying to get rid of her. She concocts a plan to make sure Frank and Mrs. Greenaway don’t go away together with her. Instead, she will have her brother all to herself in hopes of making him love her as much as he used to.

But her plan goes terribly wrong, and the three lives will be changed forever. Maude will never be the same and will regret her actions until the day she dies.

The House in the Orchard is a tragic story about a child, too young to understand the complexities of adult life, too embarrassed to ask and sadly with no one she believes she can trust, just a lost soul.

Thank you #NetGalley #TinHouseBooks #ElizabethBrooks #TheHouseintheOrchard for the advanced copy.

Joel Dicker’s novel, The Enigma Of Room 622 is an absolute homage to Agatha Christie and is flawless with mystery upon mystery upon mystery within the pages of this unexpected imaginative story with an astonishing ending.

When a writer named Joel loses his girlfriend and then his publisher who was also a close friend suddenly dies, he tries to start a new novel, just as his assistant reminds him, she will be taking vacation which he of course forgot about. So, he decides to get away also and try and pull himself together to continue his work. He travels to a plush resort in the Swiss Alps called Hotel de Verbier hoping to relax. But upon checking in he notices something very strange. There seems to be no Room 622. Now, there is a 621 and a 623. Of all the rooms not to be listed, why is room 621 not there?

As he is mulling this over, he bumps into a woman named Scarlett who is as intrigued as he is, and she convinces him that they should investigate this strange enigma. And their curiosity is piqued deeper when no one at the hotel will give them any information as to why there is no room 622.

So, left on their own, they begin to put together what happened all those years ago. They discover there had been a murder in the room one weekend during an elaborate Bank Gala years ago where the new President of a large bank was going to be announced. The murder was never solved and in order to keep the reputation of the hotel in good standing, they wiped out all traces (including the room number) of the horrible event. Then Scarlett convinces Joel to write a book about the missing room, and the murder.

As they investigate, they come up with a cast of characters who could possibly be responsible for the murder. They begin interviewing witnesses from that weekend. What the reader soon discovers through going back in time years before and days before the actual fateful Bank Gala is the complexity of all the lives of the people connected to that weekend. What they will find as they dive into the characters is a foray of lies, deceits, espionage, greed, trickery, jealousy and affairs.

They begin to feel with all these clues, they themselves may really be able to solve the mystery. But soon begin to realize that not everything is as it seems. As they race around Europe following the past lives of the suspects, the two discover they have an incredible working bond. Excited about solving the mystery, they are also a bit hesitant because they know it will more than likely be the end of “them”. What will they finally discover?

The Enigma Of Room 622 is an incredible page turner, with stunning details no one could have ever seen coming, well, maybe Agatha Christie could have, but no one else! The ending is both surprising and wonderful at the same time!

Thank you #NetGalley #HarperVia #TheEnigmaOfRoom622 #Joel Dicker for the advanced copy.

City of Likes is a satirically mocking yet unfortunately incredibly realistic look at what a super hold social media has on some mothers and how that potential can affect people’s lives, decisions, marriages and ethics.

When Megan Chernoff, an unemployed married mother of two meets Daphne Cole, an infamously famous social media influencer of everything…style, kids, dog food and she takes a liking to Megan and introduces her to the tips of the trade of influencing, Megan, her children and her marriage will never be the same.

As Megan thinks she has hit the motherload, learning from the best of the best as to how to use social media to her advantage and become popular, her popularity with her family begins to suffer. You see, in order to be the best, you must always be a media wizard, whether that means using Instagram to post a new pancake or new shirt. It means locking yourself in the bathroom on Thanksgiving while your family eats, and you try and grab some new followers by posting Turkey.

As her obsession with social media grows and so does her need to be the best, Megan begins to take the lessons she’s learned from the master (Daphne) and try and get her child in the best possible school. So what if there is a bit of embellishment, or perhaps fudging the truth a bit, getting her son into the prestigious school will give her access to more freebies and more followers.

As her life is taken over by likes, her family begins to fall apart. And when she makes the decision to go to Paris with her mentor, even though her husband can’t really take care of the children as he is in the middle of work commitments, what could possibly go wrong! As she throws caution to the wind to be more well-known, Megan begins to see and feel the not so pretty side of being famous.

As everything begins to blow up in her face and she quite possibly could lose her husband and children, she begins to see in Daphne as a person she does not want to become. But is it too late to put her family back together?

Although City of Likes is a very funny, sarcastic look at social media, it is also a sad story to warn those who spend so much time on social media that although they may be enjoying the Instagram “high” of followers they will never meet, there is a real life waiting for them with real people which believe it or not is so much better.

Lucky Girl, How I Became a Horror Writer is both a wonderfully crafted horror tale just in time for a Halloween read, but is also a perfectly written chilling Christmas tale which can be voraciously consumed in one sitting!

When five lonely strangers happen to be in a diner which will soon be closing its doors for good meet and share Thanksgiving together, no one could ever foresee their futures. But as they eat, they decide they will get together again for Christmas dinner. Although they don’t know each other, and have no money, they agree upon picking names and bringing a gift, not worth more than five dollars.

The dinner is held at Ro’s dilapidated apartment with a tree with more branches on it than ornaments. Christmas is not Ro’s favorite time of year. As a struggling writer who has no family, she is a bit uncomfortable at having these strangers see where she lives, but it will take her mind off her problems for a bit.

As with any group of people who hardly know each other, there are awkward silences. That’s when Ro suggests they each tell a ghost story which has a Christmas theme. Everybody does that, right? As they begin their stories, one in particular stands out. It is so haunting that they all seem to feel there could be possible truth in the story. At the end of the evening, they decide they will continue this tradition next Christmas. This time, their gifts must be stolen.

Years pass and Ro is now a best-selling horror writer. She receives an invitation by one of these acquaintances from years past to all get together and have Christmas again. She decides to accept the invitation. Ro realizes just how lucky she has become, remembering their first Christmas and the limit of a five-dollar amount for a gift.

But Ro will never be the same after this Christmas. And the reader will be shocked at what we don’t know. And with that I will leave the rest of the stories…both ghost and real for you to separate out and digest on your own!

What I will say is that sometimes when your luck runs out, fear can set in!

Thank you #NetGalley #Tor.com #M.Rickert #LuckyGirl for the advanced copy.