Welcome to Litsy!

Julianna, Josiah, Jesse, & Jada all return to the family home for Christmas. Following their mother's death, the family grew apart & the last Christmas they were together two years ago, erupted into violence when Jesse attacked his father's companion bot, January. January has been repaired & her memory wiped, but when Julianna sees her flinch in Jesse's presence, she wonders if January remembers after all. (continued)

Ever since Lussi Meyer lost her job in a restructuring of the publishing house where she worked, she has been desperate to find another. Last hope is prestigious, yet decidedly staid, Blackwood-Patterson. Still beggars can't be choosers & Lussi vows to knock them dead. Literally as it turns out, when old Mr Blackwood keels over during the interview. Still at least Lussi manages to get a job out of the tragic situation (continued)

A collection of short stories with a ghost/haunting theme. The Chillingham Chair is the best of these stories & was written by Laura Purcell. The others are all really strange & not really very well developed & they left me with an odd sense of disappointment as if there was something missing from all of them. 2.5 ⭐

TWs: mental illness, domestic abuse, sexual content, death of a child, confinement, pregnancy, childbirth, animal cruelty/death.

Two sisters: Erin, older sister who struggles to take care of their mother when she develops cancer, & has felt overshadowed by her younger sister for most of her life - Adele, younger sister who has always felt judged by her older sibling, longs to be able to reach out & tell her that things aren't as great as they seem, but it never seems the right time. (Continued)

DI James Walker & wife, Annie, move to a sleepy Cumbrian village called Kirkby Abbey where Annie grew up as a child. They move there after James receives a threat from a recently released ex-con with a grudge against him. Life is quiet at first, but when James opens a Christmas present left on their doorstep, the gruesome contents & the attached card which warns of a season of ill-will with 12 murders to come. (continued)