Welcome to Litsy!

“We could have counted our problems on the petals of the daisy in my bouquet, but it wouldn‘t be long before we were lost in a field of them.”

-Ashley Audrain

To call this novel compelling is an understatement…😳

#CoverStories #Reflections

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

5 Stars • "The Push" by Ashley Audrain is a mind-bending thriller about a mom, Blythe, who's not quite clicking with her daughter, Violet. She starts to think there's something off about Violet, especially after her infant son Sam is killed in a freak accident. It's all about the dark side of motherhood, inherited pain, and whether what we see is real or just in our heads.

#Bookish #ThePush #AshleyAudrain

#WeekendReads.
@rachelsbrittain

“A mother‘s heart breaks a million ways in her lifetime.” 💔💔

This book made me #scream and I threw it in the floor at the end! Dark, chilling, heartbreaking, compelling, creepy, heavy, thought provoking… all the things!

#WickedWhispers

Wow. This novel has so much. Generational trauma, mom guilt, unreliable narrator, gaslighting, tension, uncertainty. This is one that ruined a night of sleep for me because I could not put it down until I'd finished it. The way that everything is assumed to be the mom's fault or at least the mom's responsibility to fix...it just feels so spot on. AND it's a great story. Seriously one of the best books I've read this year.

I couldn‘t put this one down
#youfinishedin1day
#aboutabook

For me it‘s The Push by Ashley Audrain

I really enjoyed this fast read. It reminded me a lot of We Need to Talk About Kevin, but like the YA version of that, mixed with some The Bad Seed vibes. With chapters only around 2-4 pages each, it‘s easy to do the “just one more chapter!” thing.

This book hit me in all the maternal feels, like Ashley Audrain removed the veil of motherhood and the relationships with moms and their first borns, partner and subsequent children. While a psych thriller, what won me was the emotional changes mothers feel and Blythe‘s understanding of where she came from. I love the closing quotes “I am capable of moving beyond my mistakes" "I am capable to heal from the hurt and pain I have caused"

A simple, satisfying domestic horror novel. Blythe‘s affluent life is socially limited before she has a baby, and afterwards she only becomes more isolated. There seems to be an intractable animosity between herself and her newborn, and this was my favorite part of the novel, the sheer claustrophobic horror of that dynamic.

A satisfyingly creepy psychological thriller. Once I got going I couldn‘t put it down. Is Blythe too damaged by her own childhood to be a good mother? Is her daughter Violet like other children? A twisted story of parent and child, and a reflection on how much emotional baggage a person brings into parenthood.

If I could triple pick this, I would. The Push is a chilling tale about the darker sides of motherhood told by a third generation child of two unnatural mothers through a letter she writes to her husband. It is heartbreaking. I couldn‘t put it down. I wish I could say more, but it would spoil the best parts of the plot. You must read it!

Awful 🫢

The writing is so good here and the subject matter so uncomfortable that I had to walk away from the actual story and read some reviews. It helped when I stopped reading this as contemporary fiction and read it as a creepy thriller. Kudos to the author for making me flip-flop opinions about the adults in the room. I can‘t wait for later this week and my IRL bookclub discussion about this one!

I like my purple color scheme today as I recover from my gallbladder surgery 💜

This is a disturbing story about a woman named Blythe who has a daughter that she can't relate to, trust, or even love.

How much of child rearing is nature vs. nurture? How much do our own childhoods affect how we raise our kids?

This was a page-turner with short chapters (I love short chapters!)

Woah, that was outstanding! ?

Audrain explores "nature vs. nurture" perfectly. She has written a strong, gritty, and brave debut here. The short chapters are rough, and I found myself wincing in parts. As a mother, I struggled with adapting after birth and beyond (thanks, Covid). I wondered what I was doing wrong. Luckily, I overcame this, but it's horrifying to think some mothers don't.
A mix of "We Need to Talk About Kevin" & "Verity". 5⭐️

Worth it, in my opinion, bc it‘s a short read and the ending will def make you feel something strong. But this was a STRUGGLE. My own family/childhood trauma made this (particularly the first 2/3) a difficult read. I almost selected so-so but here we are.

😠. No

Can‘t wait to start this round with everyone. Here are my selections for #LMPBC #round17. Let me know what sounds good. I have plenty more to choose from if these do not work.

“A mother‘s heart breaks a million ways in her lifetime”

⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book was really addictive but it had one of my very few triggers and it bummed me out and me sort of sick. I finished it tho because I wanted to know what happened and was kind of disappointed.

For a debut novel, it's really good. An intergenerational family trauma, miscommunications, weird mother-daughter relationship and a bunch of trigger warnings. A definite page turner, gave me 'Baby teeth' vibes too. The flashbacks took a lil while to get used to, also the insufferable husband who just wouldn't listen. I felt pity for Blythe who was in the middle of it all. Also, I wanted little more from the ending. Must read.
4/5🌟

This psychological thriller had a #Surprise factor!!! A compelling read!
#JanuaryJazz @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

(enjoy this photo of a dog who didn't care that laundry fell on top of him)
It took me 20-30 min of audio to get into this. I almost gave up. I think b/c of shifting perspectives and times but after the beginning it became clearer and pulled me in.
Definitely worth it.
I don't know about others but that ending did not surprise me.

This is going to have some mixed reviews but I loved it. Deeply unsettling and that ending! 😱 Can‘t wait to see what other works the author comes out with.

9/10

The story immediately pulls you into a page turner with an eerie feeling of something is wrong, but no immediately clear reason why. The making and breaking of a family, a broken woman whose experience of motherhood is everything she feared. Disturbing and couldn't put it down

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The first time I read this, I was super annoyed by the narrative style. This go - a #reread for #bookclub - the style clicked and totally worked. Second person narrative can grow tiresome quickly, but Audrain utilizes it well as Blythe addresses Fox for the duration of this disturbing story. Unhinged mom? Deranged kid? Can‘t wait to discuss with my ladies!

#12Booksof2022. #January

My pick for January is this story of an atypical mother/child relationship which I read as part of my #NewYearWhoDis pairing with @AmyG

Whoah- there‘s a lot tightly packed into this relatively slim novel! Blythe‘s family has a history of bad mothers- and though Blythe is determined to break the cycle with Violet, all may not be right with her daughter… or is Blythe the unreliable narrator of this second-person perspective tale? Gripping, emotionally draining and also tense, I couldn‘t put this one down even though my to-do list is beckoning! #BOTM

Listened to this entire book today while doing a puzzle and chores. Utterly devastating look at a mother who does not connect to her daughter and is unsure why. I‘m not a parent and this was tough to listen too, beware of triggers if you have children or lost a child. Very well written though. 4⭐️
#bookspinbingo

I LOVED this book, although the end was definitely not my favorite. #VioletIrkedMySoul

Currently reading. 🎃

#TeamSlaughter
@Clwojick

Couldn't put it down. I loved how the writing style matched, what seemed to be, how Blythe's mind worked. The development of characters caused me to have such strong feelings towards each of them. I would love to see a sequel.

#alphabetgame #letterP @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Children creep me out a bit in general so I was very disturbed by this read!

This was a creepy, disturbing book, but I loved it!! I threw it in the floor when I finished!! The ending 😱

Which book do you recommend beginning with p?

#AlphabetGame
#Letterp

Everyone is tagged!!

I‘m so behind with this one, but wow what a wild trip start to finish!

Book 125🎧 3⭐️

Reminiscent of Baby Teeth 🦷 but a tad more “serious” and a tad less “comical?” Not sure if that the right term for Baby Teeth😂

A more serious telling of a mother not connecting with her daughter and the history & events that plague them.

*I now LOVE the name Blythe… added to future baby name list✅

How many months did it take me to start this? Too many. How many days did it take me to read it? Two. Couldn't put it down unless I had to.

I did not realize how similar in theme this book was to Babyteeth, a book I loved. This one was quite good as well— the whole nature/nurture together with a possible unreliable narrator makes you start second guessing everything. I think most of the voice worked but I‘m not sure the family history worked for me. Good treatment of these topics- if you like this definitely read Babyteeth-it does better with the child behavior reasons.

4 out of 5

Hurry up & close school so I can get my summer reading started! #6thgradersinterruptingmyreadingtime

This is as good of a next choice as any! I think I bought this on Amazon a while back. Not sure what drew me to it, so we will find out! #tbr #whatirread #bookthreeof2022

Insanely disturbing. So good!

There‘s so much going on here. The pressure society puts on women to procreate, to be naturally nurturing. The gender dynamics of parenting. The way children change a marriage. The way our children can change us. Tragedy and fear.

I listened to the audio version voiced by Marin Ireland. Book and narrator are amazing, and I kept finding new chores to do, so I could keep listening. Finished in two days. Wow. Just wow.

I cried a lot. Difficult to read as a mother, but at the same time I couldn't stop. I read it in a weekend.

One of the best books I‘ve ever read. In this novel, generational trauma meets motherhood. There‘s a lyrical yet sinister feeling throughout the entire story. I found myself having to process every chapter because the topics were so heavy and devastating. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I‘ve had this one on my TBR pile for a while. Perfect time to start it up 👍🏽

It took me a while to get through this one; I‘ve been in a bit of a reading slump. I pushed through and finished this today. Highly recommend for a good psychological read.

This book started out good, and ended even better. I found it very suspenseful, and couldn‘t wait to see how it ended. I did the audio version, and absolutely love the narrator-Marin Ireland. I feel that the author intended for none of the characters to be very likable. The female characters were very intense. It seems that I‘m let down by so many books at the end. Not take one! This is one that I recommend.