Welcome to Litsy!

Quite a family! Twisty, and emotional drama set on Manhattan‘s Upper East Side, that explores the dark side of love and family.

“You can‘t shroud yourself in self-pity to avoid accountability.”

#Family
#HumbleHarvest
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I‘m not really sure how I feel about this book. It was very repetitive and the characters were all super unlikable. There weren‘t many redeeming qualities. The story was tough, but I just felt like it could have been presented better. I didn‘t love the ending. I didn‘t find it very satisfying and I was a little bit disappointed in the way it all came together. Interesting and hard subject matter, but I didn‘t love this one.

This was darker and more twisted than I thought it‘d be, given that the premise is that our narrator‘s brother was accused of rape. It‘s a sad tale about a dysfunctional family who has everything money can buy and yet still takes intangible things from the innocent.

3.5⭐️ #botm

Book 96/100 of the year.

Jillian Medoff writes a story of a privileged and moneyed college student accused of raping his on/off girlfriend. This book dragged in parts but I was too invested to stop. Outstanding narration from Marin Ireland elevated the prose. #BorrowNotBuy probably will not appeal to everyone as the fictitious Quinn family are truly horrible.

A privileged white male is accused of rape, guilty or not? Told from the perspective of his adopted sister who has secrets of her own. While I appreciate the story trying to be told, not one character is likeable and made for a rough read.

A quick read about a rich family from NYC facing a rape accusation. This book gave me a bit of whiplash trying to figure out who was telling the truth, mostly among the Quinn family, and the plot twist with Cassandra's life. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

2/2023

I liked this one. It was a complex issue at hand. How do you react when your brother allegedly raped someone? It's definitely dark and twisty but I won't refute the reviews that claim it's a book full of rich people with rich people problems. Nevertheless, I love a good book with intense social issues and this one did not miss the mark for me. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I'm moving on to this title and I'm excited that Marin Ireland is the narrator. I'm only 7 chapters in but I'm hooked. It's another genre bending novel but these have been working out for me lately. Will update with review!!!

I tried to find things to like about this book because the premise is interesting: a rich family is thrown into chaos when their Ivy League college student son is accused of rape. But the story is slow moving and even the trial is not very suspenseful. Most of what we know about the characters comes from uninteresting memories of the unreliable narrator. The book is as much about the narrator's illicit affair with a married man that started ⏬

I am three chapters in. Has anyone read this? Are we SUPPOSED to hate the narrator? She is a rich phD student who drives like a maniac in her ridiculously expensive car because she can afford the tickets--but, she also shows skin and flirts, almost to the point of offering sex, to get out of tickets. This after looking down on another girl who "plays down her attractiveness . . . as if there's virtue in looking dowdy." Yuck.

3.5/5 ⭐

An interesting story.

#TeamSlaughter
@Clwojick

10-12-22: My 102nd finished book of 2022! This was tough subject matter. Cassie Quinn receives a call that her younger brother Billy has been arrested for the rape of his girlfriend, Diana. She races from New Haven to NYC, to her family home, the Valmont, to stand by his side because she believes he is innocent. During a lengthy trial many dirty secrets come out including one about Cassie that is earth shattering. ⭐️⭐️⭐️📖#️⃣1️⃣0️⃣2️⃣

This was interesting, an unusual take on an unreliable narrator but it fell short for me. The upsetting content was approached in a way that at times felt flippant and more for shock value than character building. I will be thinking about it for awhile though and found it compelling enough to want to read more from the author. #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Fast read ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Day7:

Finished The It Girl audiobook…between 3 and 4⭐️
Finished the tagged…compelling but dark/cringey-
low 4⭐️
Finished 13 books so far

#SuperSeptemberReadathon @Andrew65

2.5 ⭐️ - borderline pan, but going with so-so since I was compelled enough to finish the book. Rich people problems, #MeToo commentary, courtroom drama. Cassie, the adopted middle child of an extremely wealthy old money NYC family with plenty of secrets, is the unreliable narrator who tells the story of her brother‘s accusation and trial for raping his ex-girlfriend. All the characters were venal and selfish, and I didn‘t care about any of them.

3.5 cringy stars. Won‘t soon forget this one about this crazy, uber rich, privileged, wacko fictional family. #bookstagram #bookreview #whenwewerebrightandbeautiful

Book 50 for 2022, this was a tough one to rate. It was good and I might have been in the wrong headspace but I found the twist to be very confusing.

While the plot kept me reading to find the outcome I found this book to be problematic. I‘m sure it‘s representative of the way victims may feel however I was hoping for more out of this story. It‘s a book that certainly makes you think, I just found myself wanting more at the end. #BOTM

I had no indication going into this book about how disturbing it would be, and I wish I had skipped it. Alluding to what bothered me is going to give too much away, so I‘ll just say that this one was not for me. If anyone is thinking of reading it but wants to know the trigger warning, just let me know.

Wrapped up the work day and now this book. Something was dark but good here, I wanted to keep at it but in the end it was just ok for me.

Eh.. I‘m probably going to be going against popular opinion on this one, but I didn‘t love it. Characters felt underdeveloped, and big chunks of plot felt empty. Just not my favorite- but it was still an interesting read and can see where people are enjoying certain parts of the storylines. All the trigger warnings for this one. #botm

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This haunting and captivating book begs to be discussed! I did pick up on the twist, but didn‘t mind because it allowed me to fully appreciate how clever the writing is. Cassie‘s narration of the story is at times frustrating, uncomfortable, and disorienting - and it‘s masterfully done. I know I won‘t stop thinking about the Quinn family anytime soon. #BOTM

This one was pretty dark. I expected it to elicit some not great feelings because of the prevailing plot but it still surprised me. Some complex characters rounded out the story in unsettling ways.

My #botm picks!

Went with this #BOTM this month, but plan to get some others through the library! Did anyone else choose this one? 🙋🏻‍♀️

#botm selections Have read Practical Magic but want it in hardcover. Will get Rules of Magic next month and then will have the whole trilogy in hardcover ❤️

I chose this for my #botm! I hadn‘t heard anything about it but liked the description and it‘ll be fun to read a new-to-me author. If I hadn‘t chosen this, I would have picked Daisy Darker, but I can easily borrow that one from the library. 🤷🏻‍♀️

What did everyone else choose?