Welcome to Litsy!

I listened to this one while down with a particular bad cold. The cold happened to go perfectly with this fever dream of a novel where lived trauma becomes literal horror. Thanks #netgalley for access to this audiobook.

Nightmares are real. Secrets, violence, parental neglect & sibling rivalry unspool in a black family. Racism makes the terrible more terrifying. And dark humor keeps the reader laughing at unexpected times. 4.5 stars for this scary, funny horror novel & sibling drama. #horror #familydrama

This was a messy family road trip novel. These complex characters filled the pages with sadness, determination, anger, and regret. However, as the trip progressed, they made room for love. The resolution was a bit quick and frustratingly incomplete. Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for an ARC.

I never cease to be amazed by the creative mind of Kevin Wilson. He nailed magical realism in Nothing To See Here, and coming-of-age in Now Is Not The Time To Panic, and now he can add the road trip novel to his trophy shelf. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/run-for-the-hills-kevin-wilson/

(2025) Here's one of the better horror stories I've read in a while, about a sister and two brothers in a difficult family situation. When one brother gets into trouble with the law, they escape to a cabin in the woods where family history, present reality, and the sister's nightmares blur together. It's a suspenseful, surreal, and very smart story about family trust and family trauma, and resonates with experiences of my own extended family

In true Kevin Wilson style, this book deals with dysfunctional families. A group of strangers who discover they share the same father set out on a road trip to find their dad.

Although this isn't my favorite by him, it was still a good read. At times, scenarios felt too easily resolved, but I enjoyed seeing the relationships between the characters grow as the story progressed.

#NetGalley #ARC

Best. Opening. Paragraph. Ever. I love it! 😹

“Calla was wearing the wrong bra. This sort of confrontation called for her sports bra, the one with the six non-nonsense hooks anchoring her down and all the sex appeal of old goulash. Instead, she was in her limpest bra, the one with the missing underwire, making her right breast pop over the cup like a gopher.”

My library literally just barely put the contact paper on when I checked this out!🫶🏼

#readingbracket2025
@CSeydel

If this is her debut, it‘s clear we can expect great things from Neena Viel. It is unlike anything else I can remember reading. It‘s dark, creepy, horrific, and filled with raw emotion. The supernatural element is wild, but makes complete sense. The writing is compelling, vivid, and hard to put down. It‘s violent and gross, at times, but underpinning the whole thing is the fragile but unbreakable bond between siblings. Out tomorrow.

⭐ 🌟 ⭐5 ⭐ 🌟
I might need to buy this one for my niece. The big brother is telling a story and does a fabulous job telling and rhyming. And then the sister interupts. This happens frequently and the brother goes with it and changes his story to match his sisters in interjections. But by the end, the brother is fed up until he realizes how much of a genius his sister is. This book is genius. Flat.It has an amazing story and great illustrations.