Welcome to Litsy!

Today is going to be a busy one, with another 16 he shift at the hospital, so I‘m trying to get what little points in, while I can. Here are my picks for #Campfire #OminousOctober and #Creature which fits todays #ScarathlonDailyPrompts, as well as the monthly #Buzzwordathon challenge. Hoping to read it within the next few days.

Aside from that, hoping to do some more planning for this weeks game. I‘ve written down ways to match similarities ⬇️

I felt it was a frightening and compelling character study. I like books that don‘t tell you all of their secrets, that make you think about what the text isn‘t saying. I think that especially worked well here because the characters demand the same as the narrative - there is more than what we can see on the surface.

My full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4433510563

Genuinely not sure who I disliked more in this book, but I guess that‘s the point.
#frenemies #booked2021 - last one 😁😁

Talented Mr. Ripley with Instagram. This one is not going to appeal to everyone because it is dark. But it was wickedly fun.

At 278 pages, this is a short book...and yet it felt like it dragged on and on. Since I despised every character in this book, they were all so overly dramatic and pompous that no matter how much I tried I couldn't get into the story...I think I only finished it...in hopes that they would all die in the end.

See My Full Review Here: https://leahsbookishobsession2.blogspot.com/2020/02/review-social-creature.html

Starting this one. It seems intriguing to me, but the chapters are suuuuuuper long 🙄😓🤨!

This has been sitting on bookshelf for quite awhile. Not sure why I was tentative to read this, but I really enjoyed this. For those who like Single White Female, gives off a very similar vibe.

Dark, compelling, dark, charming in its own way, dark. Really enjoyed it but I suspect it's love-it-or-hate-it. Halfway between Single White Female and The Talented Mr. Ripley with a dash of Sex and the City-style Manhattan hijinks.

There‘s no one here to like. Lavinia is a needy, manipulative mess. Louise may be soulless - it‘s hard to tell.
We have such a stable society now. And experience tells me that‘s good. But I love reading stories where people look like they‘re thriving in a normal life, like Louise. And then you see she is holding on to her life by her fingernails. I wouldn‘t want to meet her in real life. But I love spending time with her in a book.

I‘ve heard mixed things about this one.
But any world with a secret bookstore is a world I‘ll gladly spend a few hours of my life in 📚

Impromptu purchase? Oh hey, how have you guys been????

#AyUpAugust

(Day 3 - #MardyBum)

*This is a story of a rich, young women, named Lavinia, who spends most of her life at parties and art openings and drinking champagne out in the open on the High Line, who meets a struggling, slightly older woman, from Brooklyn, named Louise, who works three jobs to make ends meet. Lavinia is demanding and very needy—she requires Louise‘s company 24/7. If she doesn‘t get her way, she can be quite a mardy bum.

This was a dark, twisty story full of awful, unsympathetic characters. It was a fun read even if the shallow characters meant I didn't ultimately care what happened to them. #libraryloot

More #libraryloot ! The holds really do seem to come in all at once!

Read this in one go yesterday, it‘s incredible. Sort of like The Great Gatsby meets You by Caroline Kepnes, completely over the top and compelling critique of the upper class. Also a must read for anyone who loves books based in New York! @squirrelbrain

Louise, aspiring writer working several jobs to make ends meet, meets the rich, beautiful Lavinia. Swept away by the decadence & party lifestyle, Louise realises there is a dark side to both of them.

I found this compulsive reading. Neither character is particularly likeable, & things quickly spiral into darkness. 4🌟

Thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Bloomsbury Publishing / Raven Books, for the opportunity to read an ARC. #NetGalley

This novel tells the story of a struggling young woman in New York who gets befriended by a socialite and then decides to take over her life. This trope has been done many times before (and better). I was willing to give it a shot because I thought it could be done in a fresh way with a social media lens. However, a lot of it was predictable, and the writing style just felt really stilted and stale. ⭐️⭐️

I read approximately 50pp of this before quitting it. Maybe I'm aging out of this genre? I have no problem with unlikable characters, but I wasn't even interested in these people or their problems. Anyone read this and like it?

Enjoying this read. Need to know what happens next!

Yeesh. I don‘t know where to begin. The story keeps you engaged but the characters, every single one of them, are just so terrible that when they betray one another, I didn‘t care. At all. Not even in a sardonic or dark-humor kind of way. I am not afraid of unlikeable characters or unreliable narrators, but this was more than that. I did think the ending was clever enough, though.

Tonight‘s #bythetree read!

I love the cover of this book! The premise was interesting enough but the characters were unlikeable and the book fell a little flat.

I don‘t know how I feel. I couldn‘t put this down. But all the characters were terrible. But I think I liked it? 😂

Guilt‘s such a useful mechanism. It makes you a much better person than you otherwise would be🥂💋

F I N A L L Y got my own copy of Social Creature (which is exactly my type of NYC book) and a similar almost chick-lit type of mystery which caught my eye— and also has a beautiful cover who are we kidding 🤩 #bookhaul

I finished it but feel like I wasted time reading it. At least, it went very quickly.

So, I absolutely can‘t stand anyone in this book. They are all horrible people doing nothing good with their time or money or lives. Yet I feel the need to finish it. Ugh.

Well... this must have had a lot of marketing dollars.

As always, the Unabridged crew had a blast with one of our #unabridgedshorts. This time, we‘re digging deep for those books we‘d love to discuss but can‘t *quite* bring ourselves to recommend. My pick, Social Creatures by Tara Isabella Burton, is a perfect example! Take a listen on iTunes or Stitcher or our website unabridgedpod.com.

Reminded me of a non-ya Genuine Fraud. A rich woman takes another woman who is struggling to get by under her wing. Things get dicey.

Thank you @DoubledayBooks !!!!!!! #HappyBirthdayMonthToMe

What in the world! Talk about disturbed! I found similarities in You by Caroline Kepnes, and possibly even Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall. Creepy, and fast-paced. Definitely a thriller. Obsession. Psychotic breaks. Wealth. Greed and jealousy. Parts of me didn‘t like it but I still wanted to find out what was going to happen. Ultimately, a pick.

Reading this wacky book with a beautiful view this morning. #thetidesinn I‘m glad I‘m not an insecure 20-something in NYC!

My immediate reaction is that I disliked this book. While the cover is gorgeous, I‘m left with the same feeling I had at the end of I‘m Thinking Of Ending Things - why did I read that? What did it matter? Maybe after it sinks in, my opinion will change... but at least for right now I think it‘s a dislike. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Whoo hoo! I‘m a winner for #24in48 - hoping to score this book 📖☝🏻
Thanks 🙏🏻 @24in48

So far, it‘s a page-turning read!

I read this trio of three SUPER dark books lately and haven‘t been able to stop considering the ways that they intersect. No spoilers, but there‘s some *great* discussion here just waiting to happen! (Trigger warnings all over the place, though.)

Yay! It‘s here!!

👋👋 We‘re just over here reading, drinking coffee and enjoying summer. 🌻🌞🍦🏊‍♀️

Everyone going to today‘s #PhillyMeetup - hope y‘all have a wonderful time! ❤️

I finished this book in 2 days. It was an engrossing story about obsessive friendship which is not something you typically see people being obsessed with in fiction. It also kind of had a jab at social media and how people portray themselves online vs. the reality of everyday life. It was tense from start to finish and was told from a viewpoint that kind of breaks that fourth wall, i.e. "We know Louise..." which I've not seen done except in⬇️

Oh my gosh this book! You know how some books just grab you from the first page and hold you by the throat until you get to the end, I'm only halfway through and this book is like that. I cannot put it down.

There are a ton of mixed reviews for Social Creature and I'm about to add to that.

This was another book I had high hopes for that sadly fell short. I had the same feeling when reading this as I did when I read Girls on Fire: distaste, dislike, disinterest. I didn‘t like anything about the characters and while there are stories I‘ve enjoyed with toxic relationships (Abigail Haas‘ Dangerous Girls and also Dangerous Boys), this one wasn‘t for me.

Burning through this, so good! 💃💅👄

I'm actually quite shocked that I enjoyed this twisted tale of toxic friendship as much as I did, considering how the characters represent all of the things I hate most. It basically felt like I was uneasily rubbernecking at an imminent trainwreck, wondering just how bad the fallout would be 🙊

Not even gonna lie... I was first drawn to this book because of the cover! 😍

Whoaaa. I was HOOKED by this thriller out the gate -- definitely a page turner. I blasted through it in two sittings.

1. Lazing around the yard with toddlers. Daddy's 3 week vacation starts Monday so we'll be go go go next month!
2. Currently 12 but I'll definitely have Social Creature finished tonight or tomorrow so likely 13.
3. SUMMER! Because I'm from northeast Ohio and haaaaaaate the cold.
4. Cold War Kids

#friyayintro @jesshowbooks