Guest review by: Becki Bayley
“What were you both afraid of?” My voice is so quiet, I’m lowkey shocked that I said anything.
Katie bites her lip and shakes her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t. I thought about telling you ever since you booked me. But I just can’t do that to her. My truth is hers, too. And if I tell it, everyone will know, and she won’t have a say in it. Grace Odlin was not a good friend to me, but I can’t help being one to her. She has the capacity for it. She did. I know she loved me in her own way. But she had to focus on surviving. There are no friends in survival. Everyone else is just a raft to keep you afloat.”
I’m exhaling before I realize it. Sinking back into the dinette cushions. Either Katie is right, and she and Grace were scared of the same thing. Something she won’t talk about. Or she’s wrong, and Grace was terrified of something completely different. Or maybe a bit of each because now we had whatever freaked out Jordan in the mix.
Which is scarier—the supernatural and a house being more than it appears to be, or people who aren’t what they appear or are supposed to be?
Official synopsis:
A decade later, Brittney is desperate to get out from under the thumb of her abusive mother, a bestselling author who claims her stay at “Miracle Mansion” allowed her to see the error of her ways. But Brittney knows that’s nothing but a sham. She decides the new season of her popular Haunted web series will uncover what happened to a young Black girl in the mansion ten years prior and finally expose her mother’s lies. But as she gets more wrapped up in the investigation, she’ll have to decide: if she can only bring one story to light, which one matters most—Daisy’s or her own?
As Brittney investigates the mansion in the present, Daisy’s story runs parallel in the past, both timelines propelling the girls to face the most dangerous monsters of all: those that hide in plain sight.
Learning what really happened to Daisy and her mom, Grace, while following along with Brittney and Jayden’s investigation of it all years later, took a little getting used to. The background of who these characters really were, and how their relationships with their mothers shaped them into these characters, was a mystery of its own worth untangling.
While that was all going on, there’s also a supernatural house and a few more creepy characters who are necessary to the mix. Then the reader is left with trying to find the line between good and evil. The line, of course, isn’t always clear, and might even move a bit when someone gets too close.
Overall, this was a thoroughly intriguing book about some very interesting lives. It deserved a high 3 out of 5 star rating, with the author’s description of the setting creating perhaps the most fundamental character to the storyline. This book is recommended to those who enjoy gothic mysteries and family dramas, and the author offers a great list of trigger warnings for those with concerns.
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Becki Bayley is a middle-aged wife and mom who enjoys using her few spare minutes to herself to read. Find out what else she’s been reading on her blog, SweetlyBSquared.com.
GIVEAWAY:
One of my lucky readers will win a copy of Delicious Monsters!
Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Thursday, March 23rd, at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be notified via email the next day, and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.
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Delicious Monsters, by Liselle Sambury
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