Bookwild - Ranking Our Top Three from Auto-Buy Authors with Gare and Steph

Episode Date: October 25, 2024

This week, Gare, Steph and I share some of our auto-buy authors and rank the top 3 books we've read of theirs!Books We Talked AboutAmina AkhtarKismetAlmost Surely Dead#fashionvictimCatherine Ryan HowardThe TrapThe Liar's GirlThe Nothing ManJulia HeaberlinBlack Eyed SusansNight Will Find YouWe Are All the Same in the DarkJ.M. CannonThis Family LiesBlood OrangesThe Flash GirlsChevy StevensThose GirlsStill MissingDark RoadsSally HepworthThe Good SisterDarling GirlsThe Mother-in-LawSusan WalterOver Her Dead BodyLie By the PoolRunning ColdLucinda BerrySaving NoahIf You Tell a LieOff the Deep EndSimone St. JamesThe Broken GirlsThe Sundown MotelThe Haunting of Maddy Clare   Get Bookwild MerchCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackCheck Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck out the Imposter Hour Podcast with Liz and GregFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrian 

So we're back with Steph and Gare. Stefan Gare. I've got to hardcore pronounce it. And yeah, we have some fun. We have some fun author rankings to do after we do this wonderful icebreaker. But yeah, I might seem dumb because I haven't slept very well for three nights. So there we go. You get wild card, Kate.

Yes, you do. I love a wild card. I mean, obviously, I hope that you get some sleep, but the thing that I enjoy about that is I feel like sometimes, like, when people are lacking sleep, there's like zero filter. And let's be honest, when you have no filter, that's like the best time to record a podcast. It really is. I'm like, literally going to hand her a burn book and be like, let it out. I'm your question. Oh, my gosh.

Don't even, you don't want to hear about my clients because that's where it would go. Anyway. Well, I have an icebreaker. If you could pick one song that describes your current life right now, what song would you pick? Oh, gosh. It can be old or new. It doesn't have to be like... Oh.

You stumped us. Okay. I have two that I, like, listen to on repeat right now, but I'd have to look at what they're actually called. Let's see. Shocker, their lady rage songs. Good. So one is, and they're like all over social media, I love Little Girl gone by Chinchilla,

and I love Labor by Paris Paloma. And I think in the current climate that's just like my, constant mood. Is that the you make me do too much labor song? Yes. And there's like a cacophony version. And then there's like a, I think the original is maybe like a little bit less. It almost sounds like acousticy compared to the other one that's on.

Coral. Yeah. Yeah. So those are my, those are my songs. I still know what song relates to my life right now. I'm going to say it's probably a lady or a lady It's probably an M&M song or

Chapel Rowan song Yeah Feminine nomin. Well, no, I'm not with a woman, never mind. But you are a phenomenon. I am a feminine nominon. It fits the vibe of the season, at least.

What would it be? What would it be? Okay. So I am in a season of letting things go, according to what the astrologers are telling me. So maybe, I mean, this sounds a little cliche, but I have been like literally journaling on the stuff that I want to let go of right now because apparently it's the most potent time to do that for Libras. I saw that too. So maybe clean by Taylor Swift because there's a lot of shit that I just want to like drop and be done with. Oh, no.

I froze. Am I frozen? Oh. No, I froze for a second. Oh, no. A little fuzzy gear. What's yours? Mine is Sharpest Tool by Sabrina Carpenter.

That one's amazing. I have not familiarized to myself enough with her collection of work. Well. Not like a super fan level, but I definitely listen to the new album and some of the old one. I love her new album. There's a part of the song. that I like will like scream in my car about how she says you found God at your ex's house, always had your phone face down and now I'm just the bitch you hate now.

And then she says like how you guilt tripped me to open up to you. And I'm just like, wow, what a lyricist. If anybody can write a song that you can relate to it is Ms. Sabrina Carpenter. It doesn't matter if you are sad, horny, sad and horny. or just happy and horny occasionally yeah is one of her songs a clapback at someone who did she date yeah yeah that's the one sharpest tool is the clapback at sean mendez yeah yeah there's also some line about the shrooms don't make you as deep as you think they are they do it's amazing I think taste is about him too uh yeah and and uh

Camilla Cabello. Mm-hmm. Which is who, What's Her Face, played in the music video. Wednesday. Diana Ortega. Thank you, yes. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

She's awesome. Sabrina's whole, I don't know if you guys are seeing all her tour footage, but it looks so fun. I bet. I wanted to go so bad. Is she in New York? Regretting. Well, the thing is, is that she was in Canada. So like if I like stayed in the U.S., I probably would have had to travel like six or seven hours to see her somewhere.

And then like if I would have went to Canada, it would have been like an hour and a half. Damn. That's disappointing. That's been my life for the last few months. It's just overcoming disappointments. Sometimes I be like that. Sometimes life be like that. I'm gonna I'm gonna after we finish recording this I'm gonna restart tell me lies from the beginning and amped myself up okay okay that season was just I loved the second season a lot hopefully in a week you guys will I will send a message in our group text that's like I guess who's iPhone I threw across the floor I'm here for it I love that scene Lucy like season's like see them going oh what are you doing here and she's like I know fucking iPhone out of my face

It just trucks it. Oh, powerhouse moment. And it's in the era where that means he has to go back to a flip phone. And I'm like, hell yeah. Yes. Yes. I remember buying that phone. And like I was out at a bar one night.

And like they didn't have like cases for them. They didn't have like screen protectors. And like I was like out one night. And I like dropped my phone. But I was outside and it hit the grass like a few inches from like the sidewalk. And I was like, think. God. Yeah. I saved up and bought my first one, this my senior year of high school. I think I was a freshman or a sophomore in college. I drove two and a half hours to buy it.

Well, and you know what? Actually, the first version came out only on singular. That singular, singular, singular. Yeah. And then AT&T bought them. So actually, I wanted it forever, but we had Verizon. So I had to wait, I think, until like the second iPhone or something than they were at Verizon, but I wanted it so bad. I had singular. I thought I had the coolest cell phone in the world because it was a gold razor. Uh-huh. Like, do you remember like the really thin, like razors? I had the gold one and I was like, this is so cool. And then I got an iPhone and I was like, I don't know what to do with half of this. I had a Blackberry before my iPhone. So I really do feel like Lucy. I think I'd like the same one.

I'm not going to lie to you. I still miss. I still miss my blackberry. Yeah. I had like five of them. Oh. Like how people act with iPhones now is how I acted with a blackberry. Hmm.

I didn't have like, it had special messenger too, right? Like BB Messenger. Yeah. BBM. BBM. BBM. BBM. I only had three friends on BBM, but I was like, this is the coolest of the cool.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Oh, that was such a good season. It is so nostalgic, too. Yeah, and you want to know, AJ and I, we were making dinner the other day, and I was like, can you just put on, like, covers, like, song covers? And the Florence version of Addicted to Love came on, and I was just like, God, this is so perfect for that show.

It is. It's so good. And they do like the, what's it called? Mr. Brightside. Yeah. It was in both Finale. Yeah.

I think that's cool. I think it is too. And it was like applicable. Yeah. I know. It's so cool. Yeah. I don't know when I'm going to find a show that I get that obsessed with again.

I'm hoping it's the show disclaimer I keep hearing about on Apple TV, but we'll see. Yeah. I just saved a bunch of shows to watch on Apple TV, honestly. Yeah. shrinking is back so we got Apple TV back. Same. Just canceled a bunch of stuff and then I'm like, well, I guess I had to get back. I know.

We canceled a bunch of stuff too. But then we were like, we'll see. If we really notice that we're missing it, then that's fine. We can restart it. But there have definitely been some that just needed to be canceled. Yeah. Well, we think you know what we're talking about today. What?

Authors make us feel like Tell Me Lies. Yeah. Right. Actually, the Lake of Lost Girls, you could kind of argue, which comes out November 5th. And I won't say anything else. But there were some things where I was like, this is kind of similar. Like, if you liked Tell Me Lies, you might like this one. But it's not all on campus.

40%. I'm really into it. So I'm interested to see how it goes. Yeah. Cool. Well, I can start us off with... We're doing some of our favorite auto buy authors and then ranking our three favorite of their books, which is kind of funny because I actually, there were a couple authors where I was like, oh, I should include them. And then they only had one or two books. So yeah, definitely have to have a backlist for us to do this one. Yeah. But the first one who came to mind for me was Omina Oktar because I can't stop talking about her. I knew you would pick her, so I let you pick her.

I'm going to go. Okay. I'll just keep talking. So if I were to rank hers, she actually has three that are out. And I do, I was so torn on which one was first, whether it was Kismet or almost surely dead. I think that technically I loved Kismet just a little bit more. So Kismet is kind of like this. woman who I think was living in New York, basically, yep, lifelong New Yorker.

She didn't think she'd ever leave New York. And then she basically gets, she kind of becomes friends with this wellness guru who convinces her to move out to Sedona for this kind of like wellness type retreat, basically. And then gurus, clam gurus, start showing up gruesomely murdered. And this one, when I read it, I was like, it reminds me, it reminded me so much of like, get out. Like, some of the scenes are so similar and the satires, like, similar. But then it turns into just like this bloody mess of a thriller at the very end.

So I just really loved it. the commentary on like wellness as a like trillion dollar industry was really fun to read as well so i think that's my number one it is then almost surely dead would be my second favorite and it has a bit of a podcast element in it as well we had an episode about that a little while ago but it's about a woman named dunia who basically someone makes an attempt on her life I'm looking at a synopsis to make sure I don't spoil it if it's not in the synopsis. It's not. Someone makes him the tamp on her life.

And then people keep trying to come after her. But then the person that the police think was the killer winds up dead and she's still getting hunted. So it goes back and forth between her childhood and her president to show like the things in her childhood that are related to what's happening to her. So I'll just leave it at that. But there is a podcast intertwined where they're all wondering where she is. Because in the podcast perspective, she's been missing for, I think, like a year or something like that. And then my third favorite, but like I love this one too, is it's actually hashtag fashion victim. And so it is about an editor, a woman who's an editor for a big fashion magazine.

her wardrobe is to die for and just saw on the synopsis which is amazing um and then she starts to get obsessed with this like other woman who works there and and kind of single white female gets obsessed with her and and then bodies start showing up and that's that's the short version of what happens there so that one is like again like satire on like the fashion industry too and all of the beauty standard. So you could see why it was so hard for me to pick an order because I'm such a sucker for a satire. Yeah. Yeah. And she's like really good at like fully diving into like completely different stories with each book. Yeah. Like they're so different from one another. It's like a 90s grungy thriller. Okay. Yeah. Okay. They are just really distinct. I agree.

I want to be so cool like her. I know, I do too. Glasses are so cool. For audio listeners, hashtag Fashion Victim has like the sassiest, snarkiest sounding narrator that I love so much. And then I also love Kismet on audio.

There's chapters by the birds, the Ravens. No. The Ravens, yeah. Yeah. And like it's, at first I was like, what's going on? But I kind of loved it.

Yeah. I felt the same way. I was like, because it was my first one of hers that I read too. And I was like, Ravens. And then now I like tell Tyler Raven facts all the time. That is so funny. Yeah. I have to piggyback off from this because I actually DM her when fashion victim, hashtag

passion victim came out. I DM'd her and I said, your book is kind of giving me vibes of this 90s movie called Office Killer, which has Carol Kane. in it. Jean Triplehorn and Molly Ringwald and it's about like a woman who just like kind of get sick of like the office environment and like starts like clapping back at some assholes that she works with. And I like told her about it and she was like, oh, I need to look this up.

And then like all of a sudden I got like a DM that was like this might possibly be my new favorite movie. Oh, that's so cool. So like that if you do like hashtag fashion victim or you want to have like a book movie pairing, you should check out Office Killer because it's. a gem and it's like extremely like funny with like the satire and like the acting is incredible nice the cover is cool i just looked it up or poster whatever yeah good picks thanks who wants to go next oh i assumed that gear was going because he was piggy-picking so i feel like oh i did too and oh um i can unless you want to stuff

no you go okay um okay um i want to say like i agree with what you said earlier like there are some people that i would consider auto by authors that like may have only two or three books out so like jess canole i love you but like you know that you're an auto buy author i'm going to get a tattoo of you soon but yes um my first auto buy author is katherine ryan howard She's never let me down once. I'm completely obsessed with her. She is just a phenomenal storyteller. My favorite one by her is the bleak book called The Trap.

And that's about a woman named Lucy, whose sister had vanished when she was out one night, like having drinks with friends. And she was not the first woman to vanish in that circumstance. So Lucy's been kind of just like searching for her, for I believe. a year. Don't quote me on that, but like, anyway, she's just like, that's all she thinks about. And then there's a woman named Angela, who is, like, a paper pusher in the missing persons department, and she kind of, like, independently starts following a lead that could, like, tear the whole case open as to, like, who this man is that's taking these women. And then they're, like, lives sort of collide from that because there's alternating chapters of a man who is telling a story

about this man who is taking all of these women and there is a woman in his car listening to it all. So the trap is my fave obsessed. My second one is The Liar's Girl, which is about a woman who thought she had like the perfect college experience with like this amazing boyfriend, but there was a serial killer who was like around campus and her best friend was murdered by the serial killer. And then her boyfriend was arrested and sent to prison for it. And I believe it's like 10 years later, he says that he will confess to something if he can tell it to her. And like so it brings back all of these memories of what she went through in college.

and like her best friend's murder and like the fact that it was like her boyfriend that did it. Um, but it's just so good. The ending break my heart in half. It's just so good. I will never stop thinking about it. Um, it's one of my favorite like twists ever or reveals. I will say. Mm-hmm.

And then my third, but not least is one called the nothing man, which is loosely based. is loosely based off from the Golden State Killer. But it's about a woman who was the sole survivor when a serial killer attacked her family. So as an adult, she's just like obsessed with trying to figure out who the nothing man that they called him was. And then there's a supermarket security guard named Jim who just started reading her memory. about her experience, like, surviving this killer, and he is getting pissed because he realizes that she's getting really close to finding out who he is, as he's been, like, flying under the radar for years.

But it's a really fun opposite cat and mouse game, I guess you will say, where, like, he kind of feels like she's hunting him, even though, like, she was the victim. And the ending is incredible. But she's always really good at like slapping you across the face with the end of a book and then being like, when do I get the next one? I love her. She's never disappointed me once. Yeah, she's so talented. Like the details she manages to like pull together at the end.

I still think of her all the time. Yeah. I was like, I think I might be burnt out on serial killer books kind of like as that type of thriller. And then I started The Nothing Man and it was so. unique and such a different take on that trope subject matter that it was like so refreshing in my opinion yeah that's how I felt too I mean I don't get burnt out on serial killer books I know I feel like never but like I remember like reading that and I was like wow like this is like a really interesting way of like having a serial killer that like is like kind of a chicken like he's like

pissed, but he's also like that goofy guy that like could only get a job like, you know, doing like a security guard, like a mall or something. But like in his mind, he thinks he should be like this, you know, like head of security. But doesn't not just fit it though? Like just I felt like that's so smart. Like a serial killer is like usually like your ordinary average guy. It's not like this, you know, like Patrick Bateman or like. You know, something like that. But it's just like so interesting how she did that where like he was the one that was like scared shitless throughout most of the book that like she was going to like hone out on him. Yeah.

That is cool. I need to read it still. I haven't read that one. Oh, the nothing man. The nothing man. It's so good. I think you would really like it. Another.

I'll like put my part in there for people that are audio listeners. It was fantastic. Nice. I love that input because the narrator for Jim is just like so perfect so you can tell he's worked up and he's reading this book

and I don't know I think he's actually I think they she uses the same ones for a lot of her books because I think he also the trap nice very cool to listen to well well

the first person that that I thought of was Julia Haberlin and a sentimental moment. This was the first time that I feel like Kate and I connected was over. I will find you because I remember one of my friends from a book club was like, Kate talked about you on this podcast and I was like, Oh, that's awesome. Oh, my God. That is the cutest thing.

I'm obsessed. That is so cool. I was like, oh, my God. So anyway, so she's also special to me in that way, I guess. But my first one is black. My dog is licking my toes. So for anyone who was watching, I was not disgusted by Steph. It was my dog leaking my toes.

It's weird when they do that. It's like, no. Like, what do you need right now? Right. Oh, my gosh. So I love a lot of Julia Haberlain's books, but I think the one that takes the cake for me so far is Black-Eyed Susan's. And that one, I feel like her books are really hard to describe succinctly.

But at 16, the main character, Tessa, was found, like barely alive on a bed of Black-Eyed Susan's. She survives 20 years later. She's a mom. And someone is planting Black-Eyed Susans in her yard. so she is wondering if the person convicted of the crimes was wrongfully convicted. So that one I felt like I could have lived in the world for a very long time. Yes, it was creepy. For sure.

And I think it has, like some of her books seem to have this element of, I'll say so she was one of multiple victims and she she like has senses of the other susans sometimes and it's not really like goathy or very paranormal in any way but you can tell that they're like an important part of her intuition interesting yes i'm very a big fan then um her newest release is called night will find you and i was immediately intrigued by this synopsis because it looks at like being a psychic and having any type of visions versus science

and how you find proof of let's say a crime Vivie the main character has visions but she's also a scientist and so she kind of understands the how they can conflict but she's asked

to help on a case of a kidnapped girl and it's just kind of hard because even if she has a vision like how do you prove that, especially law enforcement side of things. So one of the things that was interesting about that one is there's definitely like a podcast

element or like a serious radio element with like conspiracy theorists on it. So it has like a lot of present day relevance with media and. Why can't I think of who it is? Questions about what's real and what's not. it's maddening but really interesting. I think she even said she modeled it after. I can't think of the guy's name. The guy who thinks Sandy Hook.

There we go, Alex Jones. Yeah. I think she said she modeled it after him. It's fascinating. I'll give her that. Like I will say, and it's probably something that people on a high profile case have to deal with. Mm-hmm.

Often. Yep. And then the third one I picked by, her is we're all the same in the dark. I think this might be actually one of her most popular ones. I actually want to reread this one at some point. In the beginning, a girl is

found on the side of the road and it just kind of stirs up some long buried secrets in a small town. A kind of a who done it. There's a very interesting twist in the middle or reveal in the middle. Big event. And

I really love like one of the characters. She's very strong female. She is incredible. I love a strong female lady. That's the only book by her that I've read. But like I think I was telling Kate or maybe I like mentioned it briefly when we recorded sometime that like she's somebody who like I want to dive back into her like backlist because her other like earlier books sounds so interesting to me, especially black eyed Susan.

Yeah. I will say this one. It took me a minute to get into the writing for it because there was so much, like within a present moment, like memories happening. So it just took me a second. But once I got into it, I got in, I was very into it. But yeah, she's really talented, I will say. Yeah, I think this is the one most people have read if they've read anything by her. Black Eyed Susan's kind of is giving me vibes of like, please see us.

combined with the new Leave the Girls Behind by Jacqueline Bublitz. Did you finish that? No, I have 70 pages left. Okay. We'll convene later about it. I told her like four days ago I was going to finish it and I have not picked it up since, but I just keep staring at it. Like, I miss you so much.

I'm obsessed. It's easily in my top five of the year. I don't care if like the plot reveal and the twist is like a, rabid group of chipmunks is the culprit. Like, I will still be like, this is one of my top five of the year. I'm sorry for anyone's ears. I just blew out laughing, but I never a million years would have guessed you say rabid chickmunks. It's funny, though, where you're like, it would really take, like, even if the ending is,

like, ridiculous, I don't even care because the journey is so perfect. Yeah, it would take a lot to, like, get this book to, like, lower than a million stars for me. Then I think that you would like. I think that is a fair comparison of a combination of those two. Nice. I'm getting on and Kendall now. I hope you're enjoying this episode of Book Wild. And if you are, could I ask you a favor? Could you go and rate and review this podcast and whatever platform you're listening? Ratings and reviews make the biggest difference in discoverability of the podcast. And I definitely want to find all of our fellow thriller readers out there. So if you could

go rate the podcast and leave a short review, that would make a huge thing. difference. Thank you. And let's get back to the show. So my next one that came up immediately for me is my girl, J.M. Cannon, who I also can't stop talking about. My, as of this year, this one became my favorite of hers or my number one because it came out this year. But it's called This Family Lies by J.M. Cannon. And it is, you guys have heard me talk about it. But the short line is a woman. and her husband are attacked and, like, shot at in their bedroom one night. Her husband dies, and she survives just because the bullet, like, ricocheted off her pinky, I think, something like that.

But it still hit her head. And so she has severe memory loss. She is, like, basically now kind of, like, stuck with her extremely wealthy in-laws. But, like, the longer she's with them, she's like, I don't feel like I like these people. I don't know if they're good people. people and then someone is serial killing girls in the town that they live in. So she's trying to figure that out and try to figure out why she is there with these people. And if she was like a bad person before or like what is going on there. So that is my favorite one of hers by far.

I just, I like a lot of her books I can't put down, but like I could not put this one down at all. My second favorite would be blood oranges, which is about a girl or a woman. I think she's young 20s, basically. And she's the daughter of the most successful female televangelists in the country. And her mom's name is Catherine Cross. Like, just perfect name for a televangelist. and but her the who is the main character? I don't know what her name is, but the main character's sister goes missing and the mom just is more obsessed with not having the public know what's happening

and she doesn't seem to really care where her daughter is. So our main character is basically the only one looking, mainly the one looking for her sisters. and then bodies and strange deaths start happening on the orange farms outside there. I think they're in Florida, a house or outside their biggest state. So another one where her main character is trying to figure out what are all the killings and why is her sister? Who's doing all the killings and why is our sister missing?

Then my third favorite of hers would be the Flash Girls, which is this one takes place. Ooh, in Charleston. That's where Tyler is right now. Yeah. So this one, three teenage girls disappear. In the past, they had disappeared. But all of them saw a camera flash right before they were taken. I can't remember if they see it. And then a couple days, I don't know, it doesn't matter. The timing doesn't matter. So, oh no, it does matter because then the rest of it is that then they're stocked after they have like a picture taken of them late at night. And they're stocked.

And so then our main character, Anna, one of her friends goes missing. And the police are not doing a great job finding the serial killer. And there's a hurricane that is like on its way there. So basically if she's going to want to find any evidence, she's going to have to do it before that gets that. that hits landfall is that what they call it? Before it hits where they're living you can tell I only have to deal with tornadoes.

So yeah, I guess all three of these there are serial killers and the main characters like damn it, I'm going to have to figure it out. And I hadn't realized that until I just said all of those out loud. But I just love her books remind me so much of like the really gritty, dark, sometimes gruesome tone of sharp objects or not dark places. I mean, sharp objects works too. But yeah, I just love, like for someone myself who hates being hot, the like humid atmosphere,

like everything's so atmospheric that I'm like okay with it because it just fits the mood. And like her chapters are super short. They're just so bingeable. it also kind of adds to like the unsettling feeling that you have when you're reading something like that where it's like okay not only are like she's sweating and trying to hunt a serial killer like what could be worse yes oh my gosh speaking of sweat and first messages to people I think the first message I sent to Omina was when I was reading Kitsmith and the main character actually taught actually like it's pointed out that she sweats so much at you yoga classes that she's like slipping on her yoga mat and I was like I sent her screenshot I was like thanks for representing the sweaty girlies out there that was the person you ever sent her yes and she was like oh me too and we just talked about being sweaty I need to see whenever I find something totally relatable yeah you for thank you yeah oh my gosh

Yeah. James Cannon. I did love the Flash Girls and the whole plot device of the, like, having a picture taken of you just scared the shit out of me so much because, like, I can't imagine how, like, unsettling it would be to be, like, walking in the dark or something. And you're, like, always kind of wondering, like, what if something happened right now? But, like, luckily, for most of us, nothing ever does. But, like, if I saw, like, a camera flash, I would, like, first, shit my pants.

Three, or secondly, call the police. And then third, I would never leave my house again. Yeah. Have we talked about how when I get genuinely scared, I fall? Like, just fall. My legs go out from underneath me. Like, not a useful response. But like, if you genuinely scare me, I just fall. You can tell everybody that. Oh, you're right. Target. I'm going to get killed while Tyler's away now. I when I get scared I ball up my one fest and I'm just fucking ready to go must be all of the movies I watch but I don't know I don't know where it came from for me it's it's not a useful stress response no at all scary too that makes it even scarier right yeah yeah I used have those dreams where like you couldn't run because your legs were so heavy like that happened quite a bit so i feel like that's relatable her the flash girls i don't get creeped out

that much but there were moments in that book descriptions of like a the victim in the beginning the hurricane the boats like i'm just like that was she got me in that book yeah there's like a book by like this romantic suspense author her name's mary burton and she wrote a book and i can't remember the name of that but it literally starts off with a woman and like her cousin walking at night and a guy comes out of the bushes wearing a clown mask and like abducts her cousin and she like never sees her again and it was like Flash Girls was like scary as well but like those two like the like the two scenes of that like will just like forever be a blazing in my mind so don't do clowns either.

Well through line to the podcast there's still a scene from oddity that the first night Tyler's gone right as I'm about to fall asleep, that scene runs through my mind. And I have to look over my shoulder to make sure nobody's there. I don't know if I can watch that. It's scary. Okay, Garrett's number two for you. If you want to know who is responsible for Bleak Billings, it is my Canadian bestie Chevy Stevens. she's

oh my god all of her books are so bleak they're so like atmospheric but I would also say that they're also like the opposite of J.M. canon in the way of like they all kind of give you that feeling of like when

it's so cold out that like your bones feel it like it's always like raining and it's always like spooky feeling but like she's just my girl I love her My favorite book by her is called Those Girls. And it's about three sisters who live in Western Canada and their father is abusive. So one night things get out of control and the three of them basically take off and run away.

And they end up, their truck breaks down in this small town and things go from worse to horrific. and they literally end up in a situation that is awful. And they have no other choice but to change their names and move on. But 18 years later, they are still trying to forget that summer. And one of the sisters goes missing and they're kind of like pulled back into like what they were dealing with in the past. And it's just the bleakest, saddest, most disturbing book. check trigger warnings and if I'm saying that then like I mean it but like it's just

she does a really good job of like putting things into words that are like even like dialogue can just like disturb you or like make you like very upset so check the trigger warnings with those girls but it's if you make it through then it's an incredible book and it stays with me all the time I know. I remember you talking about this forever ago, but I never read it. I've read it twice. I really want to reread all of her books again.

Mm-hmm. But, yeah, it's like one of the ones that, like, I just remember, do you remember how the dialogue of when the sister was taken in Night Swim stuck with me? Yes. There's something to that effect in this book, but it's like even more... sinister. Damn. And my second one by her is called Still Missing, which was the first book I read by her.

And it's about a woman who was a realtor and she was at an open house and a guy pulls up in a van and she thinks that he's coming to see the house, but he abducts her. And she's taken basically captive by a psychopath in a remote cabin. so you kind of go back and forth between what happens after she escapes and like what he did to her leading up like from the minute he abducted her and it's like conversations with her therapist and she does such a good job with like describing the trauma that somebody goes through and like very small details um like it's not like a huge spoiler but like there's even like a description of how like she is home, she's safe, he's not going to touch her ever again or be around her. And like, she still can't help, but, like, only feel safe, sleeping in her closet. Yeah. And it's just kind of

like things like that. Like, it's like very sad, but it's also like extremely interesting. But yeah. So that's my second one. And then my third, happy little tale. It's called, um, yeah. Um, my third one. is called Dark Roads, which is her latest. And it's about the Cold Creek Highway in British Columbia. I think this is kind of loosely based off from the Highway of Tears, which like a bunch of indigenous women have like gone missing and been found murdered. And they just kind of like believe that, you know, it's like a dumping ground basically.

But similar to that for decades, young women traveling the Cold Creek Highway have gone missing. people passing through. They can't really figure out who it is. And then there's a girl named Haley McBride. And I believe she's indigenous, but she, you know, is just trying to, like, get out of there before anything happens to her. But she is a teenage orphan in the care of her aunt. And her aunt's husband is a police officer who is kind of a bully and tries to control her. So she plans to vanish into the terrain, hoping that everyone thinks that she is just one of the, you know, another girl who was taken on the highway.

And then a year later, a woman named Beth arrives in Cold Creek looking for her sister Amber because her sister was found murdered on the Cold Creek Highway. And their perspectives kind of start to interweave there. And it's just really, really, really good. And there's like some pretty good, like, believable descriptions of like what some of the families went through for like women of like the highway of tears. And things like that. But it's one of those things where when you read it, you're, you can tell that that's what it's based on. But like that she did either a lot of research or has like a lot of knowledge on the highway of tears because it just kind of hit home a lot. But it's a really good one.

And I think that the ending is like probably one of her least weak ones, I would say. You're like, it's just sad. It's just a little sad. No, they're all sad, but I feel like that one had like more of like a happier like, I can have a sigh of relief ending than some of her other ones. I think we're still missing by her. And I read it. I don't know how if it was just like recommended on like when you buy something online.

And it's like maybe you'd like this. So it was when I first started reading. And I remembered thinking about still missing like, this is dark. Like I don't know if I've read something like this before, but I still can tell now, even after reading a lot more, like you said, it is still like quite bleak. And it's a challenging read, but I thought it was good. And I don't know why I haven't. I think you have to be in a certain mindset to be able to like handle those kinds of books,

but they're still really good. Yeah. all of her books are like extremely like bleak and sad but like they're also like very realistic. Yeah. Like I feel like some people would take the, I don't want to see the easy route because I don't want to like offend anybody. But like some people would be like, oh, this is how this person put their life back together and is now happy after they like spent a year with like a psychopath in a cabin in the woods. And like this one was more like this is a little bit more like as to like what actually happens when you are taken and you're. abused in every which way possible for a year and like you come home you don't just be like oh god

I'm home like time to move on with my life yeah no so it's really good oh my gosh I'm gonna show I like this episode we're getting all kinds of good backlist reminders oh I know like I do love a good backlist yeah um speaking of backlist I have my next one is Sally Hepworth. And once I read my first book by her is my second favorite, darling girls. But once I read that, I was like,

I immediately need to go into her backlist. What just happened? So my favorite one by her is the good sister. And a quick synopsis would be there's two sisters, Fern and Rose. Fern is probably one of my favorite characters of all time. I think I'm not positive.

I wouldn't be surprised if she is neurodivergent in some way. She is, and like it's kind of talked about, but I don't think it's like flat out said. Yeah. But so Rose, her sister really wants to have a baby. Rose is not able to get pregnant. Fern really wants to help her and be almost like a surrogate, but she needs to find a dad. And so she works as a very strict routine, works at the. the library, meets a man at the library.

But then you find out there's just like with her sister, you're kind of like, something seems off here. And like, Fern, you're almost like, I'm rooting for you to have like family Fern. I'm not sure what's up with your sister. So that's how I would give a synopsis of that book. I freaking love Fern. I love that book. And I laughed out loud at her sometimes, like just her observations.

and like I felt like I could relate so often where she would just be like very literal of like the deadpan dialogue isn't someone asking that like why isn't someone asking that question yeah so perfect um it reminded me of have you have either of you watched atypical on Netflix yes I haven't it had some similarities to that in my opinion so like very endearing in some ways Yes, yeah. Then my second one is darling girls. It is about three women who are foster sisters. They grew up in a foster home together.

At first, the foster mother seemed really great. Couldn't ask for a better experience. And then she kind of falls off and is like very mean, very strict. So these girls grow up They feel like they've escaped Their scary foster mother And then a body is found at the house they grew up in So they have to return back to that space

It is very good I listened to it in one day I know you guys both loved that one And I haven't read it yet I think you'll whip through it Yeah I need to I thought I'd read the good sister

But I had read the mother-in-law Oh, that's my third one. Oh, nice. So the mother-in-law I also thought was good. I would say her books to me are getting more thrillery. Like I felt like darling. I felt like Darling girls, her most recent was like the darkest of hers. And I think that from like her very, very backlist coming up has been more like

suspenseful. And so like I'm interested to see where she's going to go with her books. but the mother-in-law is about a woman who feels like her mother-in-law just does not like her. Like she can tell that her mother-in-law is great. She volunteers all the time, but she just feels like there's not a connection there and she's not really sure why. And then Diana, the mother-in-law, turns up dead. She claimed that she was ill and that she had chosen to die because she was sick of being ill. But then all of a sudden the autopsy comes out and there was no illness.

There was poison in her system. So there's just kind of a mystery there of like what happened to her. And all I know is that I definitely cried at the end and gave it four and a half stars. I did too. Yeah. I read it so long ago too. And I still know. I still remember crying.

Like I think I read it in 2019 is what this says. Yeah. Oh, it's a good one. I knew she was big. I didn't know she was big, big. She has almost 200,000 reviews on a lot of her books. Oh, yeah. I wonder how popular she is in Australia where she's from.

That's a good point. She's got to be, like, crushing it in Australia. Yeah. Is it more, are you in Australia too? Yeah. I believe so. I thought so, too. No, that's an excellent pick.

And the reason that I, like, obviously love you even more now for that is because the thing And then I love about Sally Upworth is I feel like her books are always like pitched as like your summer beat read like juicy psychological. And then like when you start to read it, you're always like this is actually a lot darker than I was expecting. You know what I mean? Like I read something and I almost kind of like I almost like always expect like a popcorn thriller or something like scandalous and juicy for like summertime. And then like I start reading it and I'm like, wow, this is really kind of fucked up. which I love. Oh, yes.

Like the way the, like the good sister is, like, I felt like the way that it ended, I thought there was so much darkness to it, totally. And like the motivations of the villains, for lack of a better term, I was like, ugh. Yeah. So, and I think the end of Darling Girls is very dark. Yeah. Yeah.

So I think you're totally right in my opinion. Yeah. He loves hearing that. So this is, so this will be my last one. Just judging by time. I was like, I have to talk about Susan Walter because I just love her. My favorite of hers is, my eye, of course, is like getting so itchy right now. My favorite of hers is over her dead body.

I think it was the first one I read of hers, too. actually, but it is about this kind of like actress whose career is like failing in L.A. She takes her dog on a walk. Wow. I really said that with a lot of confidence with my dogs in the room. He breaks free of his leash and like runs onto this property that's just like this big acreage that then also has this like old. I think it's kind of like a quirky looking house. But it's basically an essentially. state. And so she goes to get the dog, finds it at this family's house, like meets the family. The woman, her family isn't there yet. There's an older woman who's living there. And she takes her dog back that night. And then the next day or the next week, something very

shortly after the woman passed or no, she, yeah, she passes. Not goes missing. She passes because she leaves well. Duh, Kate. And in the will, she leaves her sizable inheritance to this girl that she just, like, met the other day. And so then all her children and their partners are the other POVs that we cycle through as they try to figure out how to get her cut out of the will. And then this main character is trying to figure out why did she even leave it to me. So there's just like it's kind of I think I compared it to like knives out too just in the sense that it's like a group of lying people. And it's like you could catch all the details and then they all come together at the end.

But it was a really fun one. And the older woman who passes was a casting director. So there's some fun Hollywood stuff threaded throughout it. Yeah. It's kind of fun. like a little bit adjacent to that. Yeah. My second favorite of hers, I was torn between my second and third.

But I think my second favorite is lie by the pool. Also because the name is so cool in the sense that like it can mean two things, maybe three. But that one is about a woman who has basically been homeless because I don't know how much is in the synopsis. So I'll say because of some upheaval that happened in her life recently. And so she's like walking through Beverly Hills or something like that when she finds a house that has a pool house in the back. And she basically just wants to sleep.

So she sleeps on one of the chase lounges. And when she wakes up, the owner is like standing over her essentially. And she's like, oh, fuck, basically. And the owner's like, no, don't worry about it. You should come back for our party that we're having tonight. So then she comes back for a party at this house. And like she sneaks upstairs to the bedroom because it's just like irresistible to get some sleep. Well, she falls asleep there and doesn't leave the house that night.

And when she wakes up, the owner's body is like lying face down. in the pool. And so she's basically the prime suspect and she tries to get out of there before the police know. And basically she has to like figure out who actually did it so she can clear her name. And it's another one with like five POVs, I think. And it's just I said this about running cold, which is my third favorite. Your own segue. I know.

She she does multi-POV like so well, kind of in the vein. of like if you love Jamie Lynn Hendricks all the POVs she uses I would say the storytelling is like really similar here and I just think it's so cool when people can use like that many people to tell a story essentially they there's so many like lies hidden within everything as the title suggests um and then as I said my third one would be running cold that I just read here very recently. My ear is bugging me. So

the main character, Julie, her husband commits suicide and she, like, doesn't know what to do with her life at this point and learns that they're actually kind of broke, even though she thought they were very well off. And so she's kind of like drawn

back to her old stomping grounds that are in Banff in Canada, I believe. leave. Yes. And she basically trained for the Olympics back then. She was a bi-athlete. And so she basically finds work at the luxury resort in Banff.

And then one of the long-term guests shows or winds up dead. And Julie was the last person in her hotel room. So she has to clear her name before she. she gets arrested essentially. And this one as well has so many POVs and you just like find out everyone's secrets

the further in you get to the story. It was just very good. And it's cold. So I loved being cold. And we talk about Putin. They do. I just like to read some of her books. I love running cold. I need to get into her books.

Yeah. She's so cool and nice, too. She's somebody who's backlist you want to dive into. Yeah. You're okay. Especially with the Hamelin Hendrix comparison. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like the, like, atmosphere and, like, kind of, like, the actiony part of, like, running colds was, like, reminding me of somebody else. And, like, Meg.

Shiver. Oh, never mind. Meg Gardner does like really well with like action like making it like very like able to like visualize in your mind when it's happening and I felt like that's what like Susan was giving me. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I loved it. Yeah, I want to dive into more. Oh my God. My light TBR is going to get insane after tonight.

Right. Show. My last one is going to be no. surprised to anyone. I feel like we've done really well. Like, I haven't I know we expected any of the people that we've talked about so far or like, yeah, it's funny.

Mine might be a little like predictable, but not as predictable as you think. Because mine is Dr. Lucinda Berry. Okay. And I feel like the only reason it's predictable is because I've been like very much showing her a lot of love on Instagram and out my stories about how like I've read her books.

excuse me and I'm always like oh this is really screwed up and that twist in the end was crazy and then like I waited a year and I would like read something else and be like wow that was really screwed up and then like eventually like it clicked this year because of book talk that like this is somebody who's backless I need to dive into and I have had like zero regrets about it like it has been a wonderful experience um so yeah Dr. Lucinda Berry I love her um I think what I love most about her books is that she actually was like a child psychologist who like specialize in trauma. So like everything seems like psychologically believable with her books. But my favorite one, screwed up as it is, is called saving Noah.

And did you cry? I teared up. Okay. I teared up. I always see TikToks of people like just like sobbing to that one. It was very bleak and it was very sad. I did not, I teared up, but like you, I'm either like going to fully sob or I'm going to tear up. Right.

And I did not fully sob because I think that I don't know what it's like to necessarily be apparent. True. And I think that that's kind of what like a lot of people would relate to or like, you know, if you want to be a parent or whatever. but like Murphy's not going to end up in this situation. So like I'm just, you know, but it was very sad. And it's, it's an incredible book. But the first line of the synopsis is we forgive murders, but not pedophiles.

And basically there's a student named Noah. He's like an award winning swimmer. He gets like straight A's and like everybody in town is like, oh my God, he's like, you know, like the best kid in the world. and then he ends up confessing to molesting little girls during their swim team practice and he's sentenced to 18 months in a juvenile sexual rehabilitation center but like his mom is like that's still my son and the father is like I want nothing to do with him like we have a younger daughter he's not welcome back in the home

so she like has to kind of decide how far she's going to go in protecting her son and being a mother for him and like also still trying to navigate like any sort of relationship with like her husband um and there's alternate chapters of like what she's going through the like what noah went through in the sexual rehabilitation clinic and like i don't want to say they're like twists but there are like a lot of reveals in the book and the last like 30% that I was like, oh my God, like that just when I thought this couldn't get like more like emotionally traumatizing. It kept going and kept going. And then there was like a very sad part and then like a crazy twist. So maybe that's why I didn't cry because I actually threw the book and I was like,

are you fucking kidding me? Like I can't believe she just like tricked me like that. But it was. Yeah. It was so good. So good. I'll never forget the end of that book. Ever. In my second one is her newest, which is called If You Tell a Lie. And it's about four friends who went to this like summer camp together. And they were like the four like amigos, like always together. Um, and their senior summer, basically there was a handsome tennis coach, um, who ended up murdered after a lie that they told. So they kind of kept that secret. And now 20 years later, somebody sends one of them a note claiming to like know what they did. And it has like, they have to like reunite. So it's like, it's them in the present time, like seeing each other for the first time in however long. And then like

what really went down their senior year at this like summer camp and this sexy tennis coach. and she does such a good job of like making it be like, who do I believe in this sense? Because not only is there two timelines, but there's like basically three or four character POVs, maybe five. But it's just so good. It's so good. And I almost through the book in the end of this one.

I was like, because there was something really disturbing that happened. And then you're like, well, that's kind of fucked up. And then like, in the end, you find out, that like it's even more disturbing than you thought and I was like holy shit. Holy shit. I love Dr. Lucinda Barry. And then my third favorite by her is off the deep end. And basically this woman who is like a stay-at-home mom, like lives that suburban life

is driving her car and her son and her son's best friend are in the back. and she goes off the road into an icy lake and like basically when the car starts to like sink she can only save one of them and she ends up grabbing her son's best friend instead of her son. So that's basically it. Yeah. That's heartbreaking. And then like I think a year later he ends up like vanishing and she's like in the center of the police investigation. because obviously she saved this other person's son instead of her own son.

So like she obviously shows that she regrets that. But then like she's brought to like a police investigation. And it's just really good. But like they're very they're very like well detailed. Like I would never thought that I would read a book about a woman who drives like off a road and ends up saving the wrong child. You know what I mean? Because it's like, yeah, you still save someone's child. Like she's still saved someone's child.

a life but like in her mind she's like I saved the wrong one right and there's just like a lot of like psychological elements that like kind of hit you throughout the story but then like when it wraps up and it's over like you can't really keep it off your mind for like days later man yeah so dr. Lucinda berry thank you for coming into my life love you know she sounds perfect for you she is amazing and she's like so so so friggin nice like on like she's so funny on social media too. She's so on TikTok too. Funny.

She is so funny. I like tagged her in a story about like saving Noah and like Murphy was in the background and she's like I'm glad you have some emotional support for the end of this book. Yes. I remember seeing that. That was so cool. And I was like, thank you. But yeah, she's really cool.

I love her. Yeah. I think I need to read more by her. I've only read off the deep end. And I think I've realized as I'm in or. and my current era of my reading journey, that reading about how messy life is and, like, you can assume what you would do in a situation or you can be as judgey as you want,

but until you're in it, you don't know. Yeah. And, like, she writes about being in these situations that are, like, impossible. Yes. Yeah. You know winning of any of it, right? Like, it's like, which shitty decision do I have to make?

And either one will be really hard. And there's probably, like, so many people looking at you negatively, right? But it's like, unless you're that person, you can't say. Yeah. So I like reading books like that lately. I just, yeah, I like because it's like, like you said, it's like zero control, right? It's not like, like, sometimes in a thriller, like, you can kind of get sick of like somebody being like, oh, well, I did this and I knew it wasn't going to be a good idea, but now I'm in like a real shit storm. And like with her, it's like, this woman like trying to live her life and her son's like, I molested a bunch of little girls.

like, you know, a woman, like, is just trying to pick up her son and his friend and, like, ends up in a lake and saves the wrong kid. And then, like, if you tell a lie is, like, a little different different different different. But, like, they still, like, didn't realize that their lie was going to erupt in somebody being murdered and, like, all of the, like, weird, like, different turns that it took. Um, but yeah, she's just, like, extremely fascinating to me because, like, she just does not flinch. Like, she goes there. She just pumps them out. She's prolific. She was like on TikTok. I think she did a TikTok live and she was talking about like her next book is like called like two and three or three and five. And then she's like, but my one after that that I'm researching for now is like maybe going to have like culty vibes. And I was like your next book doesn't come out until May of 2025 and you're like already like deep into like research on your next one. Like she just, like, I feel like when you read her books, you can tell that. She just like genuinely loves telling stories.

That's how I felt with under her care. I really liked that one a lot too. Yeah, that's one of the ones I still have to read. It's good. The ending is so good. Yeah, and I think she probably knows the right places with given her background of like what to research, where to find it, like how to make it. Yeah, you're right. As possible.

Mm-hmm. I feel like because of like her like job as like a child psychologist. too. Like she probably doesn't have to do as much research as like one one. She's just like can like crank it out and be like oh yeah, I remember this because she's like her mind should like her brain should be studied. Like she's just incredible.

I wouldn't be surprised if writing is an outlet for her. Yeah. Right. Well, my last one that I have today is Simone St. James. and I find her fascinating because as I've gone through her backlist, like she just has made a lot of shifts, or at least a couple shifts in her writing style, and I've come to enjoy most of it that I've read so far,

I still have to go into her deep backlist. But I think my favorite is the Broken Girls. I don't know, they're all pretty close for me. But so this one has dual timelines. One is in 1950. One is in 2014. In 1950, there are these girls at a boarding school called Idlewild Hall. And in the other timeline, there is a journalist whose sister's body was found near that school 20 years ago.

And the school has been, it is no longer a functioning school. And so there's some supernatural, if you've read anything with Simone and St. James, there's some supernatural elements. But I would call her as like supernatural light in a way that it's not like super scary or over the top horror. It's just a thriller with supernatural elements is what I would say. I don't know if you. I agree with that 100%. That's she should blurb you. Yes.

Yeah. So that was, I think, my favorite. And then this one, I think I read first or second. So it's been a minute. But the sundown motel, I love the cover so much. This one's also dual timelines. In 1982, a woman is really trying to move to New York City and she's trying to pay for it by getting a job at a motel. And then she disappears.

And then in 2017, her niece, is like what happened to my aunt. I'm going to try and figure it out. So she ends up working at the same hotel. And there are some supernatural elements to this one as well. But this one's really good. I think it's quite well loved. I'm obsessed with that book.

It's so good. It's so good. Every time I see like a hotel on the side of the road or a motel, I like think of that sign. I need to send you a picture of one. Really? I have like the sundown motel of upstate New York. Oh. I love that so much. We stayed in this hotel. This is a side note. Sorry. We're in Bend, Oregon, where they like bought in a very like motel-y-looking space and they revamped the whole thing and it's so cool now. But it's still like it's like very vintage feeling. But they just like up the they elevated it a ton. And so now I'm like, can all the kind of.

stereotypical older motels just like do something similar because I think they could really come alive. Yeah. Well, I guess that's kind of part of Schitt's Creek, but whatever. Yeah. True. Not original. Anyway. And then my last one that, or I guess my third one by her is one of her older ones called the Haunting of Maddie Claire.

And this one was a little creepier to me. It's set in 1920s England. It's not dual timelines. but there's a woman who starts working with a ghost hunter who was called to, I believe, a farm or something. And the ghost that's haunting it will not talk to men. And so she is... My kind of ghost. I know.

I love it. So this ghost is like fuming, I'll say. Yeah. But so Sarah, the main character, goes to kind of help figure out what happened to Maddie Clare, who's the woman that's haunting this barn and find out what happened to her that made her this way. And it is legit. I'd be mad too. And there's a little bit of like romancey in it, which I don't mind.

I thought it was. If you're going to be hunting ghosts in a barn somewhere, you might as well get laid. Let's be honest. Seriously. For sure. And I'm like when you guys a little soft side. Yeah. Like smack me around.

with those callous hands. So I would like to move into it and I don't know. That one I had a really hard time putting down. I remember reading it while I was traveling and I was like, I want to keep reading it so badly. And I love that she's coming out with new covers for her older books because they're all Yes. Yeah.

They are. I'm like, I'm like to read Maddie Claire now. Do you think I'd like it? I want to read it now too. I think if you like her other books, you'll read it. you'll like it because it has a lot of the same elements and I think the fact that like what happened to Maddie Clear and like the anger in it is it's been a while but I think that it's good I I'm interested to see how the rest of her backlist is because one of them I did read it was like

just a little bit slower because they aren't the dual timeline like back and forth right BOVs which I think can keep things moving a little differently so it's just like she just has had a shift in style I can tell. Yeah. I feel like I never shut up about the sundown motel. And the broken girls, like... Give me a boarding school. I remember the boarding school.

And like, I also remember, like, there being, like, a reveal at the end with, like, the sisters, like, the dead sister. and I was like, that's fucking crazy. I would have never thought of that. And like, it was just so good. I love Simone Singh, dude. Oh, my God.

I'm proud of all of us. There's so much reading to do. I know. I really liked the ones we came up with today. Because I tried to pick ones that I was like, I know we're going to have our, like, well-deserved darlings, right? Right. I also really liked the list we came up with today, and I'm pretty impressed.

Me too.