essiest
✨essie✨ she/her 🖤🩶🤍💜 neurodivergent millennial find me writing, puzzling, diamond painting & reading horror, lgbtq+, sff, graphic novels +more! on discord @essiest
16202 points
essiest is interested in reading...
4h
When Evil Lingers
Melissa Blair
A high-stakes speculative thriller about two Indigenous teens, born decades apart, who must solve a string of murders haunting their community, before the past and present collide in deadly ways. Seventeen-year-old eventeen-Wade isn’t sure she’ll ever be ready to lead her Anishinaabe community. Not the way her grandma did. If she's too afraid to speak in front of a crowd, how is she supposed to carry on her family’s legacy? Forced to grow up at residential school, Cheesh knows little about Nish life by the time she’s seventeen. And after she’s cruelly murdered at the school, she realizes she knows even less about Anishinaabe death. Then a doorway between their worlds opens, and Cheesh ends up stuck in the land of the living, where only Wade can see her. Maybe guiding Cheesh back to her ancestors is the way Wade honors her family’s name? But when Indigenous teens in their town start turning up dead, the girls discover so much more is at stake. Will they find the strength to stop even more bloodshed, or will evil win . . . again?
essiest started reading...
5h
Headlights
C.J. Leede
An FBI agent with an uncanny ability to sense danger must hunt down a serial killer through the wilderness of Colorado, in this tense and gripping thrill ride by bestselling author CJ Leede. Perfect for fans of The Shining, Longlegs and Twin Peaks. Every instinct tells him to run. Every memory tells him he can’t. Special Agent Daniel Stansfield is ready for a change. Burnt out and defeated by the job, it’s his last day with the FBI. But before he can turn in his badge, he’s summoned back to Denver, the city he ran from four years ago, with a chilling message: it's happening again. Seemingly innocent people are waking up on the side of the highway, with no memory of how they got there, wearing the skin of victims they've allegedly never met. And they each share one haunting detail: a strand of a stranger’s hair is tied around their tongue. Now Daniel is pulled back into the gruesome cycle, and every clue leads him deeper into the shadows of his own past. He will have to confront the ghosts of his traumatic childhood and face what’s been hunting him all along – before he and the people he loves become the next victims.
I remember when I was like 12 (so around 2022/2023) I loved this book about a girl who was a con artist. I was recently reminded of it and can't remember the name for the life of me. If I remember correctly, the girl's name was Geninvie. The cover of the book was pinkand just showed her sunglasses and a reflection in them, and I believe there were two books. Also, she had a guy friend, and in one of the books, I think there was a guy who had some type of zoo. I believe that it was just a leopard. Do you guys have any clue what this book is? Please help! 😭
ladyofwhimsy started reading...
7h
The Wicked Deep
Shea Ernshaw
Hocus Pocus and Practical Magic meets the Salem Witch trials in this haunting story about three sisters on a quest for revenge—and how love may be the only thing powerful enough to stop them. Welcome to the cursed town of Sparrow… Where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town. Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under. Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into. Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain-soaked streets. The townspeople turn against one another. Penny and Bo suspect each other of hiding secrets. And death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters. But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to save Bo, or save herself.
pocketmills started reading...
10h
Room for Rent
Noelle W. Ihli
Nya can’t remember the last time she felt safe. The rundown rental house didn’t seem so bad at first. But now, someone is stealing her food. Rattling her bedroom doorknob. Digging through her belongings. Each night brings more disturbing incidents. And each night, Nya is more convinced that it’s not an intruder. She suspects the culprit is hiding in plain sight: her peculiar roommate-of-necessity, Sidney. Nya can’t afford to live anywhere else. The horrible rental is her only option. In a few months, she’ll finish her final semester of college—and get the hell out of dodge. But to her horror, the sinister mind games are just the beginning. Before long, she’s forced to face the possibility that her physical safety may be at risk. Maybe even her life. The truth is more terrifying than Nya could have guessed. And as the situation spirals out of control, it’s suddenly clear that surviving the night may no longer be an option.
What a fantastically unique vampire tale! I listened to this a little slower than I usually do (though I still devoured it) and it allowed it all to sink in a lot more.
From the start, the atmosphere of the book is eerie and just a tiny bit unsettling. It maintained this vibe throughout the book and only increased near the end as things began to ramp up. The plot was engaging and while the pace was medium, it kept you hooked for the whole story.
Beatrice herself was an interesting character. A vampire brood mother that feeds or “nurses” newly turned vampires, she’s a unique character. While I enjoyed watching her evolve through the story, I would have enjoyed learning more about brood mothers in general and how she became one, especially since she’s the only one, presumably in her area. I especially loved the relationships she had with the fledglings in the book. The relationship with the human in order to attempt to understand her physiology/biology wasn’t quite as interesting, though the human’s curiosity was certainly contagious.
Starling’s writing, as always, was fabulous! I enjoyed the audiobook and the narrator, Stevi Incremona did a great job. Her voice carried a perfect tone that was almost indifferently curious which fit Beatrice’s patience.
I really enjoyed this book, and I think that everyone that loves a good vampire story should give it a read or listen.
Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Caitlin Starling for an ALC.
