Welcome to Litsy!

Read in February 2025...
18 Books
Three 5-Star reads this month:
• The Push
• The Overnight Guest
• The Collected Regrets of Clover

#Goodreads #Bookstagram #OUABC #Litsy #Libby #Everand #Audible #Kindle #Bookish

Quite an engaging audiobook with the perfect eerie winter setting! I loved the dualing timelines between characters and felt the pacing/plot was great to maintain suspense. I devoured this audiobook because I needed to know what happened next. I did predict the ending, but I still enjoyed the ride as there were several plot twists I was not expecting.

Great spooky winter read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

5 Stars • I don‘t know why people often overlook this author. But, I think her books are amazing. I‘m fairly sure this one will give me nightmares.

The Overnight Guest dives into three interconnected stories: ⬇️

This one started off really strong and I was sucked in right away. I didn‘t want to put it down. But, by the end, I do think it fell a little flat. It was definitely good and I liked it, but the twist didn‘t really grab me like I thought it would. I liked the different view points and the way it gave the different perspectives through time, but when it ended it just seemed like it was rushed.

Arrived home tonight from a fun but exhausting weeklong road trip. Now a little R&R (rest and reading) to recover!

It‘s another good one by Heather Gudenkauf.

Have YOU read it?

THRILLER - MYSTERY

A remote farmhouse, a snow storm, an overnight guest, a mother and daughter imprisoned in a basement, a kidnapping of a young girl, and a murder.

How are they all connected? 

FULL REVIEW: https://tinyurl.com/2n4xym3s

@heathergudenkauf

#TheOvernightGuest #HeatherGudenkauf #BookSpinBingo #AwesomeApril

True crime writer Wylie Lark doesn‘t mind being snowed in at the isolated farmhouse where she‘s retreated to write her new book. A cozy fire, complete silence. It would be perfect, if not for the fact that decades earlier, at this very house, two people were murdered in cold blood and a girl disappeared without a trace.

I was underwhelmed by this one. It was too gritty for my tastes and it didn‘t have the cool twists to make me overlook that. 🤷🏻‍♀️

People on Goodreads apparently love this mystery/thriller but I was annoyed by the heavy reliance on coincidence. It‘s possible that I just wasn‘t in the mood, but I also found the big finale too unrealistic.

#AdventRecommends @emilyrose_x

Another favorite from this year. Written from three perspectives, the suspense continuously built. Add in a secluded farmhouse in a blizzard and it was a perfect setting.

Lots of plot holes in an otherwise potentially good book :(

Multiple timelines that converge at the end. A little predictable. Still enjoyable.

Hopefully this keeps me up.

Surprisingly good!

To be fair... I was hopped up on one (or a few) too many mojitos when I started this, so it was a comedy of errors trying to keep all of the players straight. Objectively a good mystery. Just one I would surely have enjoyed more sober 😂 3.5⭐️

I got a little sunburned yesterday so I'm enjoying my last morning in Mexico from this shady, breezy spot with a book and a mimosa. Life is good.

Woke up to the first snowfall of the year, and pulled out my eggnog spiced coffee beans. Drank my festive coffee while finishing a snowy thriller, The Overnight Guest. I ripped through it in less than 2 days. So. Freaking. Good.

I took myself on a date to the bigger library (and then out for pad Thai) to pick out some October reads… and now I‘m struggling to decide which to pick next 🤷‍♀️

Not a fan. For as brutal a crime as this was, it should not have been boring at all. Yet when I put it down for a few days and then picked it back up I literally had to remind myself what was going on. And now that I've finished it, it's almost like it left a bad taste in my mouth and made me question why I even read thrillers to begin with. Because there was absolutely nothing worthwhile that I felt I could take away from this. 🤷

Last day of working before a week vacation super excited so thought I‘d start this #thriller today Happy Thursday my fellow bibliophiles 📚#stayreading

Finished this yesterday. The premise was good but the dialogue was frustrating. I think it would have worked better in print than audio.

This was a quick fun read that I think I enjoyed mostly because I read it all at once. It reads like you‘re watching a movie. There‘s not a lot of character development,but the story definitely keeps moving and while I guessed part of the ending there were still surprises.

At first the multiple story lines frustrated me, I felt more drawn to the year 2000 series of events and wanted to know what happened. Sticking with the multiple story lines pays off in the end though, I liked how this book all came together.

4⭐/5⭐

Loved this on audio - couldn't stop listening!

This was a really solid thriller! I went back and forth between the audiobook and the paperback and I found I really enjoyed the audiobook narrator. So good at keeping the tension building! I was able to guess a few of the twists but I was way off with the main surprise. I‘m definitely excited to read more by the author! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Hits all the right buttons as a popcorn thriller. Told in plain, serviceable prose that's all about the plot, which I think the author handled deftly with multiple different timelines & POVs. The narrative moves back & forth & culminates in a satisfying ending in terms of not being an illogical, bananas big reveal. The first half was creepy enough that I sat up one night while reading before bed & turned on all the lights. Not my finest moment 😂

Book 42🎧 4⭐️

A thriller for a snowy day❄️🌨 We love a good revenge story👏🏻

This is a very atmospheric story, told in two timelines which are full of suspense and tension. Snowed in tales are often creepy and thrilling and this one has that in spades. Couldn‘t put it down.

Look what followed me home today!

I was hooked from page 1. Best thriller I have read in ages.

This is a solid mystery suspense. Even though the revelations are easy to figure out, I was still invested in the story enough to want to find out what happens in the end. I do wish this book comes with a trigger warning. There are quite a few dark scenes in the story and it made me sick to my stomach as I read them.

Finished this one in a day! I was hooked from the beginning. It starts off a little confusing…but it all starts to come together eventually. I thought the writing was really well done. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

I really struggled to find a good read after that newest Colleen Hoover, but this one finally has me hooked to something!

I absolutely love this cover! It‘s hard to tell but the little drops of snow on the front are shiny and really cool 😍. I‘m definitely going to try to read this in February!

5⭐
I'm not sure what it is about her books but I seem to really like them…even when others don‘t. There are multiple POVs and at least a couple of timeframes and admittedly, I was a tad lost in the beginning but it didn‘t last. I had each of the 3 POVs sorted out fairly quickly. This is definitely hard-hitting, dark, and probably has a slew of triggers but all these elements are what drew me in and had me totally hooked. I highly recommend it.

A remote farmhouse, a snow storm, an overnight guest, a mother and daughter imprisoned in a basement, a kidnapping of a young girl, and a murder

How are they all connected? 

You will be on the edge of your seat as you read THE OVERNIGHT GUEST.

Ms. Gudenkauf never disappoints with her books.

FULL REVIEW: https://tinyurl.com/2p988tnu

@heathergudenkauf

`•.•❄️ 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 ❄️•.•´
⁣
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗚𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁 by 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗚𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗸𝗮𝘂𝗳 is a briskly paced, atmospheric thriller populated by sympathetic & memorable characters. So light a fire, get cozy, & settle in for a skillfully structured & inventive tale told via three narratives that Gudenkauf seamlessly melds into a cohesive conclusion. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
⁣
𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸: https://tinyurl.com/2p96nccb

Gudenkauf‘s latest novel, set in rural Iowa is compelling and hard to put down! It blends together three narratives- the present with true crime writer Wylie, another present from an unnamed girl‘s perspective and a 2000 storyline of the crime that rocked the whole county. While some parts are more expected than others, the extreme Midwest weather provides additional excitement to the story! I can‘t wait to see what she writes next!

Wow, this pulled me in right away and I wanted to keep reading! Unfortunately, for me, I was reading before bed (twice) and especially the first night, I had a hard time getting to sleep! (Which, really, in a thriller or horror book, is a good thing!). All three storylines were appealing to me, and the author brought them together very well.

FULL REVIEW WILL BE ON JANUARY 28.

Wow, Wow, Wow!!

A remote farmhouse, a snow storm, an overnight guest, a mother and daughter imprisoned in a basement, a kidnapping of a young girl, and a murder.

You will be on the edge of your seat as you read THE OVERNIGHT GUEST.

Ms. Gudenkauf never disappoints with her books.

Don‘t miss this one if you are a fan. 5/5

@heathergudenkauf
@parkrowbooks