Bookwild - Single POV Thrillers with Gare and Steph

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

This week, Gare, Steph and I share some of our favorite single POV thrillers!Books We Talked AboutAnd Now She’s GoneChasing the BoogeymanThe Devil and Mrs DavenportThe Book of EssieThe Family TreeThings We Do in the DarkAn Anonymous GirlProvidenceTheir Vicious GamesKismetLook What You Made Me DoSugarA Criminal DefenseThe InmateThe Mirror House Girls 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 

I have a cozy, bookish icebreaker. If you guys were given, like, you want to sweepstakes, and they're like, we're going to send you on a bookish retreat for one week, anywhere you want to go in the United States, where would you pick? Like, luxury hotel doesn't matter. Airbnb, anything. Like, where would you want to be for, like, a reading, relaxing vacation, fly in solo? so it's like you get to just go and read somewhere yeah cool okay it's just making sure um i mean you can do activities if you want to but no i probably it's more like what beauty you want to it's like fuck that yeah yeah yeah activities uh okay okay where would i know mine i'd go to the

Pacific Northwest. That's my like peaceful. That's fire to my soul type place like the coast and like the lush yeah. That would be mine. I would pick Seattle. Have you ever been? No. But I really want to go. I just feel like if I if I went to Seattle and I went to like visit, I feel like that would be one of those vacations where like I would be like I want to here. And it'd be like all I want to like all I would think about.

Yeah. Yeah. Man, I just can't decide. Mainly, like, it would be cool to go to, like, an Airbnb that's, like, in a cave or something that's, like, super dark. Ooh, yeah. And just, like, so cool, like, 60 degrees is the top temp. of the day just cool and dark

and quiet and I could just read yeah I thought of it because you and I were texting the other night and we sent each other pictures of like the ambiance

that we put on YouTube when we read like how you do like the like rain and fireplace or like thunderstorm or like beach waves or whatever and I was like huh like I feel like I always like

am more productive with reading like I'm not on my phone as much when I have those in the background because I just kind of like imagine that I'm there. But I always pick like a dark like skyrise in like a city where it's like pouring down rain. So I was like I should go to like Seattle. I just looked up to see if they have like like W ambiance. And of course like one, two, three, the fourth or fifth one down is the twilight forest ambiance. That's amazing.

That would be fun. Oh my God. If you really like the mild temp, Kate, I feel like we could find some bookish event to go to in that area at some point. Oh, yeah. I think we could. We all want to. I get my life back together after this, after one more travel date. And then I can think about another one.

Where do you travel next? I'm going to her book event tomorrow. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah. When do you fly out in the morning? Yeah, I'll be boarding in like 12 hours. Really fuck.

Yeah. Then I can catch up with like sleep and reading after that. And then let's book another one. It's supposed to be 89 in Houston tomorrow. And I'm like, fuck you, Houston. I can't imagine. It was like so hot. It was like 65 here a couple weeks ago and I was out running errands.

I was like Yeah, yeah. So yeah, it'll be fun though. It will be fun. I'm so excited for you. Dun, done. Me too. I know.

It'll be cool. That was one we had chatted about doing. It just didn't work out. I know. The stars didn't the line. It's okay. It's a fucker. At least we're here virtually together.

I know. I hear of where, was it you kate did someone ask about it yeah i saw a tic-tok that was like i can't they're like right now i'm too dumb to do multiple povs like what's a thrill what are thrillers with just one pov and i was like oh yeah sometimes you really don't want to head hop basically something they call it when you're just swapping around so i was like i'm sure we could think of some single pov thrillers we love yeah oh yeah it was breeze I guess it's so interesting.

And then Gare thought that he couldn't, and then he did. I was like, I'm just going to bow out. Ten minutes later. He's like, actually, it's been five minutes and now I have double the amount, triple D. Yeah, I was like, I have so many. Well, it's interesting because I never really thought about it. And I think I thought about it with timelines once. Like, wow, so many thrillers have multiple timelines.

And I guess I've thought about it, but I didn't realize how many. yeah it is common yeah yeah yeah i was like thinking of like a lot that i love and i was like oh that's a dual pov oh that's like you know a third person do you think that this so i'm interested because like for my upcoming book club we're reading a mary higgins clark book like a 1975 pub date like do you think that yeah this is something that's newer or have mysteries and thrillers always had multiple POVs. Like, I just don't know. I think it's newer.

Mm-hmm. I don't want to, like, say this in, like, a, like, shady way, but, like, I feel like they really took off with Gone Girl. Oh, okay. Like, having a two-person perspective for me is, like, when I noticed that the most. Mm-hmm. And then, like, multiple perspective, I noticed most, like, more than two. I think my first one was probably the...

girl on the train. Oh, yeah. Because I think that one had three. And yeah, when you think of the like old school detective mysteries, people talk about, it is really. You're just like with the detective. That's what came into my head. I was like when you think of like I never read, for example, and then there were none

in a locked room. Was that from the detectives point of view or just like a one narrator? That's a good question. I think it's from the detective's point. of you if I can remember correctly. I just remember like reading like Silence of the Lambs the Archie Sheridan series

by a single unnamed narrator in And then there were none. It's third person. Yeah, I feel like a lot of them were third person until like that might be that third person limited. Yeah. Yeah. Where the stories narrated by a third person

narrator meaning the narrator is not a character but an external observer but they're not breaking the fourth wall it's just mm-hmm that's interesting interesting it was a good question oh thank you I just didn't know because I feel like I'm a little newer to the game I just don't feel like I noticed that really until gone girl maybe that's why it was such a influential book. Yeah. Well, who wants to start? I can start.

I think we've come to, like, have an order. Probably. Yeah. I'm probably always like, I can start. Well, my first one is my favorite Rachel Housel Hall, and now she's gone. came out in 2020. Isabel Lincoln is gone, but is she missing? It's up to Grace and skies to find her.

Although she is reluctant to track down a woman who may not want to be found, Gray's search for Isabel Lincoln becomes more complicated and dangerous with every new revelation about the woman's secrets and the truth she's hidden from her friends and family. Featuring two complicated women, which makes me scared that it's not single P of you, but I think it is. in a dangerous cat and mouse game. And now she's gone, explores the nature of secrets, and how violence and fear can lead you to abandon everything in order to survive.

I still feel relatively sure. This single BOP, but I could be wrong. Well, it does say, okay, what you says it takes place over two timelines. We're introduced to a protagonist, Grace and Sykes. Yeah. I think it's

I still, I'm still pretty fucking sure that it's all through Grayson. I love how this is the first one and we're like, this is number one. Imagine like somebody like starts reading this one and they're like the first recommendation and they're like, there's two people in here. A asshole lied to me.

Moment of truth. I'm pointing me up. Maybe they thought one perspective at a time. Okay, the chapter names do not alternate. Okay. I'm feeling pretty sure that it's one POV. The reviews are kind of saying that people really liked, like, the main character, Grayson. I feel like they would say more if it...

Yeah. Yeah, I loved this book. I remember loving Grayson, who I think is the main character. Yes. Like, do I remember this book? Or do I just know I liked it? Just good vibes. Yeah. That's all I got.

The vibes were there. I love it. Well, now I don't want to go. We're all serious. I'll go if you don't want to do. I'm just, no, I'm kidding. I'm fine. I do.

percent know this one is because like this this book is like engraved in my brain and I haven't talked about it a hundred times like some of the other ones I wanted to pick so I'm really excited um so my first one which was the easiest pick for me was chasing the boogie man by Richard Chisholmire that was on my pile too was it oh my god cool I only heard about it because of this podcast no that's why I have 10 yeah oh thank God Yeah, because you imagine if I only had like four or five and you guys each had them. But in the summer of 1988, the mutilated the mutilated bodies of several missing girls begin to turn up in a small Maryland town. The grizzly evidence lead police to terrifying assumption that a serial killer is on the loose in the quiet suburb. Soon a rumor begins to spread that the evil stalking local teens is not entirely human.

Law enforcement, as well as members of the FBI, are certain that the killer is a living, breathing, madman, and he's playing games with them. For once peaceful community trapped in the depths of paranoia and suspicion, it feels like a nightmare that will never end. Recent college graduate Richard Chisholmire returns to his hometown just as the curfew is enacted and a neighborhood watch is formed. In the midst of preparing for his wedding and embarking on a writing career,

he soon finds himself thrust into the real-life horror story. Inspired by the terrified by the terrified, events, Richard writes a personal account of the serial killer's reign of terror, unaware that these events will continue to haunt him for years to come. So, written by Richard Chisholmire, starring Richard Chisholmire, this is similar to how, like, the Shards is where, like, Richard is, like, envisioning his real hometown, real people that he knew, and, but it's not a true case. Yeah. So I recommend with this one personally, physical copy, because the thing that I think is so cool

about this is he actually, like, puts photos in the book that, like, look like their crime scene photos. Like, even if it'll be, like, a man with, like, a ski mask on. that's like allegedly caught on like somebody's like surveillance camera. Yes. Yeah. Or like there's a sequel too. And there's, I remember like one there was like something where if like I think they were like dead bodies found in like trash bags and he like loaded up these trash bags to make it like it.

It's just so cool. But it is a fictional. It is a fictional story that will creep the shit out of you. And all I can say is it is no surprise to me that he. he co-writes with Stephen King. Have you ever read any of their books together? I haven't. Richard Chisholmarsh sent me one about Gwendy.

Gwendy's final task, I think is called. But I haven't read it yet. But I'm obsessed with chasing the boogeyman and becoming the boogeyman. And I believe there's going to be a third one. Oh, really? Nice. So yeah. That one is really creepy and good.

It took, like, he takes, if you're a person that's, like, really conscious of pacing, like, keep in mind he, like, takes a minute to set the scene and then stuff, like, starts happening. So, like, just so that would be named to me. Okay. Just kidding. I know. Well, I don't know, because I feel like I know.

You know, it's a good disclaimer. I feel like I'm a disclaimer. queen because I'm just like I love a book and I want someone else to love it. I'm like listen here are some things that I think as they're reading it I'm addressing it and then you're gonna still love it. Right. So I'm such a visual person that like I really enjoyed the like slower aspect in the beginning because it really helped me like build like a vision of this like suburban town with like sunshine all the time and like sprinklers going and like kids running around not being annoying just like kid noises yeah so i was like i can still like envision the street and it's so probably so interesting because like i know what my vision of like his house and the house next across street river like i can i know what mine looks like and i have no idea obviously like if yours looks the same

but you know what i'm saying but like i know exactly what i think it looks like i'm i kind of envisioned his house to look like the house to look like the house that's in the movie Disturbia with Shia Love off. I fucking love that house. I wanted that house so bad. I love a bungalow. Serial killer neighbor? I don't give a shit. That house was amazing.

I was like that house. Move in. I envisioned my old neighborhood, which was like all like 1950s mid-century ranches, which I like loved. But it's kind of like same time frame. I loved those. Yeah.

I can't envision my hometown because we did we don't have sidewalks. Oh, I didn't even think about that. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You're like, we don't have sidewalks. Just Amish and drug dealers. Well, speaking of 1950s, mid-century, so I did bring up this book last time because it was Kindle Unlimited. And I since have read it and finished it this morning.

And it's so good is the devil and this is Davenport. This was a five-star read for me. No questions. I honestly, like, didn't want to finish it because I didn't want to finish it. because I didn't want it to end. But I'll just do a synopsis really quick in case you didn't listen to last time. The first. Kate.

Wait, what? No, I was like, Kate. I was just being sassy, like, and why didn't you? I feel like every time I look down at a synopsis is what good happens with you guys. Or it's like we're like the two kids out of like giggling while you're like trying to do your words. The first day of autumn brought the fever, and with the fever came the voices. Missouri, 1955, Loretta Davenport has led an isolated life as a young mother and a wife to Pete, an ambitious assistant professor at a Bible college. They're the picture of domestic tranquility

until a local girl is murdered, and Loretta begins receiving messages from beyond. Pete dismisses them as delusions as a fevered female imagination. Loretta knows they're real and frightening. defying Pete's demands Loretta finds an encouraging supporter and parapsychologist in Dr. Curtis Hansen. He sees a woman with a rare gift, more blessing than curse. With Dr. Hansen's help, Loretta's life opens up to an empowering new purpose. But for Pete, the God-fearing image he's worked hard to cultivate is under threat. No longer in control of his dutiful wife, he sees the devil at work. As Loretta's powers grow stronger and the pleading spirits beckon,

Pete is determined to deliver his wife from evil. To solve the mysteries of the dead, Loretta must first save herself. I'm obsessed with it. I'm obsessed with it. Oh my gosh. I wish I wish I could just read two books at the same time. I think the thing that I was nervous about,

whenever I see horror, I think I might have mentioned this. I'm like, oh, am I not going to understand it? Is it going to go over my head? It was so digestible. and like I loved um I hated her husband with like the most fiery passion um but also I told Kate Gere before you popped on like I think about Mr. Rogers when he says like look for the helpers and like I love the helper characters or like the the good like you get so mad but like you're balanced out because there's like people to root for and I think I really love that balance in my

books of like I hate you but I love you I do too yeah it is a fun balance so I'm not like only raging because you sit there and you're just like you like the steam coming out of your ears and you're like I'm fucking suck you I swear like sometimes I think that we are all like mentally, like, syncopated at times. Because I'm 50% through a book right now. It's called If Two Are Dead by Rick Puffina. Yeah. Or.

Rock moron as auto-correcting it. But I, there is a character in this book. And, like, as I'm reading it, like, every time he shows up on the page, I, like, roll my eyes. And I'm like, I've never fucking hated a character as much as this man. And, like, you're supposed to hate him. not like I'm not like bashing the book like I'm I'm obsessed with the book it's so good um but this one character I'm like I have never hated somebody so much in my life and like I just pray that by

99% he is like thrown in a woodchipper and it's a 30 page chapter of his death like I hate him so much yeah I think that's when the author really like did their job well because you just It, like, invokes, evokes so much emotion. Yeah. Yeah. So I highly recommend. I can you guys. Son of a bitch.

I know. I will read it. The way you hate institutions, Kate. Don't I what? The way you hate certain institutions. Me. Speaking of institutions, I hate. And then trying to control women religiously.

this is when I read a really long time ago called the book of Essie by Megan McLean Weir. And it's about Esther Ann Hicks or Essie is the youngest child of Six for Hicks, a reality of television phenomenon. She's grown up in the spotlight, both idolized and despised for her family's fire and brimstone brand of faith. When Essie's mother, Celia, discovers that Essie is pregnant, she arranges an emergency meeting with the show's producers. Do they sneak her out of the country for an abortion? Do they pass the child off as Celia's, or do they try to arrange a marriage and a ratings blockbuster wedding? Meanwhile, Essie is quietly pairing herself up with Rourke Richards, a senior at her school with a secret of his own to protect. As the newly formed couple attempt to sell their fabricated love story to the media, through exclusive interviews with an infamously conservative reporter named Liberty Bell,

as he finds she has questions of her own what was the real reason for her older sister leaving home who can she trust with the truth about her family and how much is she willing to sacrifice to win her own freedom this one is very good I this one so Gare and I recently did books we would reread and I almost had this one on my list so I think that's like it was just kind of like in my mind and I was like oh I could mention that one like I read it in 2018 and I still just remember how much I loved it and there is a part of me that really thinks I might reread it someday. I would love that. It's available at all the libraries except for the one I want to go to today. Maybe I'll have to order it over. Can you do a

Kindle copy from your library? I should look and see if it's on Libby. The thing is is sometimes like Libby is like oh there's several months wait but like it's at physically like one and it would probably be shorter to just like have them transferred it over yeah interesting yeah yeah i've had that book on my radar i think like since i met kate because she's been a huge fan of it i know i feel like i would like reading it again um i think you should yeah i've got to read the devil of mrs davenport I wanted to interrupt this episode really quickly. I have a goal of monetizing Book Wild, but I would love to do it without having to have ads in the podcast. And one way that I can do that is through my Patreon community.

For those who don't know, Patreon is a community platform that allows creators to share what they're creating behind a paywall. And so that means exclusive content or early releases. The Book Wild Patreon has two tiers. The first tier is the bookish tier. And at that tier, you get all of the episodes out a day early. And you get access to our private community chat where we can talk about anything book-related or TV shows or movies. The second tier is the Book Wild tier. And it includes everything from the first tier, but also Book Wild's Backlist Book Club. So this year, I've been wanting to also still read more backlist, even though I read plenty of arcs. And Book Wilde's Backlist Book Club felt like the perfect way to do that. We meet on Sundays. We are international

right now. So Sundays are the best way to do it. And we meet on Zoom and we all pick a book and we talk about it. And then we talk about everything else we read during the month. And then we pick another book for the next month. So it's been so much fun so far. And we'd love to have you join the book club. So if you'd like to support the Book Wild podcast, you can go to the Patreon link in the show notes and you can sign up for whichever tier interests you. And if you're looking for a free way to support the show, if you can like and review it on whichever platform you listen to, that helps so much. Someone just asked me if I reread books, one of my friends. And I was like, I haven't, but I have a, like, a list of ones that I would.

You know what I mean? Like there's ones that I would be happy to at some. Yeah. When I feel. 2025 has been the most stressed out TBR I've ever had in my entire life. So if it wasn't for that, I would. Because I used to reread books. And like there are a few that I've read before, like a handful of times.

And I think it's like really good to get out of a reading slump. I just don't know what I ever do it again. Um, but there is one. It's a fail on Libby. Okay, I'm going to read it. Yeah. Good idea, Gare. Always thinking this one.

Um, but if I were to have time to re-read a book. Yeah. I would love to reread the family tree by Steph Mullen and Nicole Mabry. Liz Cotillano is shocked when an ancestry kit reveals she's adopted, but she could never have imagined connecting with her unknown family would plunge her into an FBI investigation of a notorious serial killer. The tri-state killer has been abducting pairs of women for 40 years, leaving no clues behind, only bodies.

Can Liz figure out who the killer in her new family is, and can she save his newest victims before it's too late? Is it like the shortest synopsis we've ever had? Yeah. Thank God. I know. But like this book is so good. It's so creepy.

I'm going to say like I did. Like there are like interspersed chapters that are like third person about like the victims and like what happened to them. But it is a singular P.O.B from Liz's perspective. Do you mean kind of like almost like please see us? kind of. Yeah, but like the the like victims are written in like third person. So like Liz will be like

I walked into the house and like met like this person, this person, this person, this person. And then like randomly there'll be like a chapter that's like Ruby was walking to her car when the man like stole her and like whatever. Yeah. So it's not like from like the victim perspective, but like they're very like short and they're very like few and far

in between. Okay, I get it. Got it. That counts. Yeah. but it's such a good book. I, like, am staring at it right now, and they put, like, a lot of, like, really cool detail into it. I feel like I haven't heard you talk about it somehow. I don't really think that I have. Mm.

And that's why I was, like, super pumped when I, like, finally did. It's exciting. Find my, like, when my panic attack went away and I, like, was like, okay, guys, I can do this. Because I was, like, thinking of ones that, like, like, I know that I've discussed chasing the book. man before but like I will be 90 still talking about that book um but this is like another one that I was like oh my god like I for some reason don't think this is ever really like fit into a lot of like subjects that we've discussed and I just loved it okay I'm going to do okay guys it always looks like it pains stuff okay for for any

background. I was like, can you give me more rules so that I can not take three minutes to pick? Okay, I'm just going to go with, I don't know if we've talked about this one that many times. So I'm going to go with a gender for Hillier, but I don't know if we've talked about things we do in the dark that often, have we? Oh, we don't. I mean, we have, but you're right, not often. hers are her what i am like beating the shit out of myself right now because like i am jennifer hilly's biggest fan and i didn't even think of that book for this i was just thinking actually are most of her book single p o v i think jar of hearts is third person okay third person can kind of be single p o v so i thought of it that way as long as it didn't like flip-flop chapters

I was okay with picking it. I like, but then I think about things like the reformatory. It's all in third person, but you can tell like the perspective shifts or like the character shift. I think I think you're safe with this one because I think the only thing that changes and things we do in the dark are the timeline, but it's still from the same perspective. Which is interesting because there's no labels. So we must have just figured it.

it out at some point. That's one I want to read again. Maybe I'll bring it with me. I have to bring it to my gosh. So there is in one of my book clubs. There is this kind of like middle-aged guy and we did a blind date with a book holiday exchange and he ended up with this one. And I said, Tim, please read the first sentence out loud, which is, if you don't remember,

there's a time and a place for erect nipples with the back of a Seattle police card. definitely isn't it. And I like, home that's so much. Okay, so this one is when Paris Peralta is arrested in her own bathroom, covered in blood holding a straight razor, her celebrity husband dead in the bathtub behind her. She knows she'll be charged with murder. But as bad as this looks, it's not what worries her the most. It's only a matter of time before someone from her long

hidden past recognizes her and destroys the new life she's worked so hard to build. 25 years later, Ruby Reyes, known as the Ice Queen, was convicted of a similar murder in a trial that was a media sensation and riveted the nation. Reyes knows who Paris really is, and when Reyes is unexpectedly granted in early release from prison, she threatens to expose all of Paris's secrets. Left with no other choice, Paris must finally, once and for all, confront the dark past she thought she had escaped. because the only thing worse than a murder charge is the dark personal history that Paris will do anything to keep it in. Is it single POV? Yeah. Or is Reyes one in Paris the other?

I don't think you ever get, I don't think you ever get Reyes perspective. Oh, okay. She's just in it. This was one of the first, I probably read this. I read this when it was the book of the month, which was one of my first book. the one picks after and then i think that i discovered this podcast and heard about jar of hearts like if this was the first one i heard of by her i wonder who you heard about jar parts from weird kate kate talks about that book so much it's annoying she's like always like jar apart

i'm like what's your comfort read kate she's like jar hearts just kidding that's me um i think the arc of that book glowed in the dark what what because the real one has not yeah yeah because i am looking at my shelf right now and i remember there was like like the cover was like it was like the arc was hard to minotar i love you jennifer hillyer i love you but like the arc was like a little hard to read because there was something glued on the front page to make it like glow in the dark and it was kind of like a little like stiff but then i bought the canadian paperback and i was like well i had to get all i had to rebuy this one because i have some of her books are hard to find in general but they are all not all of them are wherever hardcover so i had to get paperbacks of all

of them they're reissuing them yeah i finally found creep and freak and the butcher's now coming out that's not a mass market the butcher new paperback cover is amazing i'm picking it up on saturday i needed in my life wonderland has a new cover um i spent like an embarrassing amount of money on wonderland to get like the like old school like original cover. Oh. I don't remember. I think I spent like $40 on a paperback.

I found, because I hate mass market copies. I found an old library copy hardcover of the butcher and bought it just to have like her collection. And now I'm like, okay, finally I can get like the regular paper back and have I have mass market of the butcher and creep. Uh-huh. Um, but everything else I have like paperback and art of, but I need to read. I want to get the new.

Wonderland. Wonderland is so fucking scary. And so like dark and disturbing. There's like one thing in it I will like never forget. I was like, that's so fucked up. Damn. It was dark. The, um, there's a Easter eggish character.

I heard her say that on a podcast. I think there's Easter eggs in all of her books. That's cool. I like that when that happened. Yeah. Oh, it's, I know the Easter egg character. It's, um, I thought one of the detectives was the name. Oh, that's her name. Yes. Yes. It's the female detective. She has, like, what's her name? I know, is I would like for her to have another book come out soon. Hopefully. I think she's working on one

Let's go I will be feral Yeah it is Kim Nice A little weird things to maybe remember That's what I love it Well my next one I do not have a segue way for

But I remember loving it I think I read this in like A basically a day An anonymous girl by Greer Hendrix and Sarah Pecanon. Looking to earn some easy cash, Jessica Ferris agrees to be a test subject in a psychological study about ethics and morality.

But as the study moves from the exam room to the real world, the line between what is real and what is one of Dr. Shield's experiments, blurs. Dr. Shield seems to know what Jess is thinking and what she's hiding. Jessica's behavior will not only be monitored but manipulated. Caught in a web of attraction, deceit and jealousy just quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly. That really, it's short and it's vague, but that does sum it up. There's just some very

inappropriate client-patient relationships going on. I, listen, I am going to tell you right now, I love a short synopsis. Like sometimes I feel like a long one like gives way too much away. and I'm like, short and sweet. Short and sweet. Give it to me. I feel like I don't really read them that much, unless maybe I'm looking at neck galley.

If someone recommends it and is like, oh, this is a good rage book and it's kind of snarky. I'm like, okay. Cool. Bought. Yeah. I need it. Kate, you are good until November to read Jennifer Hillier

Because this is the new Creed cover Oh. What? That is cool. She's doing all of them over? I think so. That's awesome. I'm going to get the new Wonderland and the new butcher on Saturday.

That's exciting. Before I take my mom out. Jennifer for her birthday. Nice. That's nice. Whatever. Okay, so my next pick is Jennifer Hillier. Could be.

I co-signed in an honest girl because that duo always fucked me up with all their books. That one was good. It's just a really good psychological thriller. Fuck yeah, it is. Good pick. Well, Tudkey. All right. How about something gay?

Hey, yo. This is like a literary-ish thriller. It's like slower pace, but like was very unsettling. Providence by Craig Wilson. I read it over the summer and I am obsessed with this book. It's so good. It's about Mark Lawson, a professor stuck in the middle of Ohio, who was smart enough to get a job at an elite liberal arts college,

but not smart enough to know better when he meets characteristic sophomore Tyler Cunningham. In Tyler, Mark sees another way of being in the world. He finds Tyler's self-possession, both compelling and unsettling. Caught in the rush of sex and secrets, Mark ignores the increasing evidence that Tyler can't be trusted. But by the time, Mark comes to his senses that irreparable damage is done. Providence shows how feeling trapped in our own lives can lead us to make choices we otherwise would not,

and the ways in which sexual desire can distort our senses of self and other right or wrong. Damn. So fucking good. So good. That sounds right up your alley. It was so good. Oh my God. And it was like, it's like dark academia, like toxic sex.

Like you don't know who to trust. And there's like little like unsettling things that you're like, well, that's kind of weird. And then like they become a bigger issue later on in the book. What's the name again? Providence That's one that just came out A lot of people were talking about I think it was a book of the month

Penitence Pensions Oh yeah That's what I almost thought you said And I was like what's east I don't know that one I think it's one of those That's like

A slower more literary mystery suspense I'm out Very much up some people's alley But probably not This one is like very much like, I wouldn't say like literary in the sense of like Donna Tart, but like literary in the sense of like there's like a slower pacing to it. Who's the author you said? Craig Willsey.

Sorry. Because all of a sudden it said something in the, it's, hold on. The one I accidentally looked up is by Jamie McGuire. And it said paranormal. romance fantasy angels and I was just like oh really there are no angels

there are no angels in this book especially with a character named Tyler right I was laughing I was like well that should have been your first instinct to run some guy named Tyler that likes to play mind games that you can't trust get the book out of there immediately no thanks I'm thinking

about a segue. Can you guys just give me like a keyword that you're interested in? It's the keyword that I'm interested in. It'll help me. Here, this one I know Kate has read and liked. I'll do that one. And she's bringing me today. This is how I'm going to pick.

Oh, nice. That works for me. I really struggle at picking you guys. right as you can tell so they're vicious games i saw first because kate recommended it and the pink on this cover is really inviting in this lighting okay it's amazing cover is so good and i will say kate and i are both uh y a selective i am jumping on that train i am as well nice yes this one if you like audio it is very good what did you say I was just like, welcome. He said he was going to jump on the train. There's a seat for you right next to us.

Her little hand gesture felt very like maternal though, like a nice, like warm hog. I don't think anyone's ever said that. Thank you. You're welcome. You've been my therapist for years. I might as well call you maternal. You can come here. Let's see. Adina Walker has known this the entire time. Is that the first? No, no.

Oh. Does that sound like the first sentence? Okay. No, I do not. There's, never mind. A pink sentence before the first. Well, you must work twice as hard to get half as much. Adina Walker has known this the entire time she's been on scholarship at the prestigious.

Edgewater or catamary. Okay. Are you thinking of a Cadbury egg? So maybe they don't. I don't like. Did somebody buy you an egg at the bar? You're right. Me too.

I'm really like thinking about how bad I've been at reading today. You cite yourself out. It's getting worse. I didn't even know you started. You lost me at a catabary. It's a little the second sentence. I thought it was a person. Okay.

She's been on scholarship at the prestigious Edgewater Academy, a school for the Uber rich and mostly white New England upper class. It's why she works so hard to be perfect, above reproach, no matter what she has to force under the surface. Even one slip can cost her everything. And it does. One fight. moment of lost control leaves Edina blacklisted from her top choice Ivy League college and any

other. Her only chance is to regain the future she's sacrifice everything for is the finish. A high stakes contest sponsored by Edgewater's founding family in which 12 young ambitious women with exceptional promise are selected to compete in three mysterious events, the ride, the raid, and the royal. The winner will be granted entry into the fold of the Remington family, whose wealth and power can open any door. But when she arrives at the finish, Adina gets the feeling that something isn't quite right with both the Remington's and her competition.

And soon it becomes clear that this larger-than-life prize can only come at an even greater cost. Because the finish's stakes aren't just make or break, their life and death. Adina knows the deck is stacked against her. It always has been. But maybe the only way to survive their vicious games is for her to change the rules.

Fuck, yeah, it is. There was even a sentence in there that I'm like, oh, God, that could be taken the wrong way. Like, it just, like, kept going. It's true. You can go good. Oh, boy. Yeah, I loved that one. I'm still waiting for a YA that I love as much as that one and Ace of Spades.

Yeah. I think I actually was kind of surprised because given the synopsis of like this kind of high stakes game like I didn't I don't think that would typically be for me but I saw so many like good reviews and I'm glad I gave him thought so if you're like there's some I don't know yeah I am not comping it to saltwater but there are some scenes in the book that like reminded me of some of the settings in salt water oh salt burn salt burn sorry Sorry. Just help burn. Oh. I still haven't watched it. Words, man.

I come from. Where did what come from? Elementary or whatever I said. Oh, a catamary. I haven't laughed that hard in so long. I know. And then I was keeping it together. And then Gare was moving off camera.

I know. And then I'd think his red face go across the screen. And then I'd almost laughing it. At least I'd have. remember to mute my mic this time. I kept looking up and seeing like out of the corner my eye, you guys are still laughing and I'm like, keep it together. I was just like staring into the middle distance. I was just like hiding all you could see was my shoulder. Yeah. Going like this. It's effective. Fuck, there was like a YA book that I read recently that I really liked and I can't think of what it was.

Oh, Megan Lally. Oh yeah. Megan Lally's and also I'm just going to do a very quick highlight because I'm not going to do another YA, but one of mine was how to survive your murder. Oh, I really like that one, too. And it's YA and I really liked it. I just got my first Natasha Preston book. Oh, yes, you brought her up

the other day. I'm excited to hear what you think. Yeah, it just came today. I'm very excited. So many. I know. I was like, what if I really like her, that I'm like, okay, now I have like 47 books to my fucking TBR. I forgot who someone said something to me like, oh, have you read? Someone asked if I read her because I must have been talking up a different, a different author that I like and someone recommended her.

So I think a lot of people compare her to Faith Gardner. Really? Oh, okay. Gotcha. So nice. Auto control. Well, my next one. one is similarly

evolves into some bloody horror like their vicious games and I haven't talked about it in a little while so it's time to talk about Kismet by Omina Akhtar Oh Lifelong New Yorker Ronnie Khan never thought she'd leave Queens she's not an aim high dream big person

until she meets socialized wellness guru Marley Dewhurst Marley isn't just a visionary she's a revelation seduced by the fever dream of finding her best self Ronnie makes for the desert mountains of Sedona, Arizona. Healing yoga, transcendent hikes, epic juice cleanses.

Ronnie consumes her new bougie existence like a fine wine. But is it really? Or is this whole self-care business a little sour? When the glam gurus around town start turning up gruesomely murdered, Ronnie has her answer. All is not well in wellness town. As Marley's blind ambition veers into madness, Ronnie fears for her life. this one's kind of like

I've always said it reminded me of like get out in a wellness retreat nice I like that one yeah I need to read that one her books are just so like

I don't know she has this such a unique style yeah I agree fashion victim is like one of my favorite books ever yeah I love the snark I will okay so I've I listened to Kismet and I listened to hashtag fashion victim. And thus the narrator for fashion victim is so snarky.

Like I, she was, she was perfect. That'll, yeah, that's the best. I'm obsessed with that. Have you ever watched the movie Sugar and Spice from the 90s? Um, yes. So you know the long world that's like. kind of bitchy and like wants to be on the squad so bad but she doesn't make marla sokoloff that's who she sounds like in that like when she's like it's a fungus leave it alone like when she's

getting her pet her toes done i'm like who does she sound like who does she sound like and i'm like it's her her character i love mina suvari in that movie where like they're in the bathroom and she can't get out and she's like son of a blue ball bitch i always get this one that's favorite fucking movies in the entire world. Oh my god. I'm obsessed. Obsess. Yeah. It's so good. Between that and Drop Dead Gorgeous. Like, yeah, right? Kate, have you seen it? I have not. It is. So I feel like, I feel like us, Gare and I being like pretty much the same age, it might have like just missed you. It's like a lot that missed me. Yeah. Well, and that. And so, but it is. people there are probably like the majority of the world would probably like what is this and

there's people like us that are like this is amazing oh my god i love that reference yeah like they i feel like so many times i'll be reading books and i will think of drop dead gorgeous or sugar and spice are these movies that i if i reference them in a review i'm like does anyone know what i'm talking about. I love that. I need to watch that again. It's like there's one of the cheerleaders gets pregnant and they rob a bank. Oh, nice.

So it's like all these like cheerleaders and they're like let's just like rob a bank but they like buy guns from like a garage sale. Oh gosh. And like have to like try to like put them together. Oh no. And they wear like these masks that are like a doll mask. Oh, okay. Oh, my God.

It's so funny. Yeah. I'm obsessed. Oh, we're next. Yeah. I forgot because, like, you were referencing the narrator, and I thought that it was aster. Yeah. Well, speaking of snarky, sassy, bitchy, laugh out loud, if I can get everybody in the world to read this book, it would make me so happy.

Look What You Made Me Do by Elaine Murphy It's one of my favorite Frickin books in the entire world It's about Carrie Lawrence Who just wants a normal life She doesn't need a happily ever after She'll settle for the after After a decade of helping her sister

Hide her victims After a lifetime of lies She just wants to be safe, boring And not trekking through the woods at night With a dead body wrapped up in a carpet Becca wants to get away with murder Becca Lawrence doesn't believe and happily ever after because she's already happy.

She's gotten away with murder for a decade and has blackmailed her sister into helping her hide the evidence. What more could a girl want? But first they have to stop a serial killer. When 13 bodies are discovered in small town, people are shocked. But not as shocked as Carrie, who thought she knew all of the details of Becca's sordid pastime. When Becca swears she's not behind the new grisly crimes,

they realize the town has a second serial killer who has the sisters in his sights and what he wants is Carrie. I just I love the relationship between like the sisters and like Becca is like so bitchy and snarky but like also like do you ever like talk to somebody and you're just they're like so oblivious as to like why you don't want to do something or why you do like if you're like oh I just feel like relax into the and they're like why. like that's like Becca but like with like murder you know like Carrie's like I want to live a boring life I don't want to help you hide bodies like I'm over this and like Becca's like it's not that big of a deal like put your back into it you know like she just like is like it's not a big deal like and she always has like an excuse for why she like killed somebody oh there's both of those

because it's two books they're so yeah oh my god I'm like obsessed I could read like it's like a darker like finlay donovan for me like this is my like finley donovan like it's very dark it's very creepy like it is not like a finlay donovan at all but like the plot is very dark but like the dialogue and like the snark in it is just like chef's kiss yeah did you read the second one yes i did there's just two right yes yeah i loved both of them i interviewed her for the second one second one yeah yeah she's i mean it reminds like the dialogue reminds me a lot of like scream queens oh nice or like anything emma roberts is in basically i could see her being in it

i think i picked her for for becca yeah and then carrie i think was victoria pedretti love and you oh uh-huh yeah oh yeah i could see them being sisters for sure. Oh, yeah. All right. Well, I'm going to go with, I try to hype books that I don't see around that much for my last one. And I'm picking Sugar by Mia Ballard. I love that cover.

Oh, it's so good. Her new book that just came out has like really, the cover is so unique. and I think it's super fucked up. So it's just like amazing to me like because it's such an innocent looking cover. But so sugar. Okay, this book is crazy. Do not go into this and then be like, oh my God, that's so unrealistic. Like go in and be like it's going to be.

I love that. Well, here, the big red sentence. Satara is unhinged and unwell. All right. That's going to starting. When 35 year old Satara Straton, discovers her husband Dean's treacherous affair with her best friend Lila, she plunges into familiar territory, deceit and death. Having disposed of men before without a hitch, she finds a new thrill in this

betrayal. But with Lila on a crusade to expose her guilt, Sotara must outpace everyone to keep her secret safe. Her fate intertwines with Millicent Garcel, a love which whose tempting spells seem a perfect solution to Satara's woes. With newfound power at her fingertips, she gleefully manipulates the affections of those around her. Yet Satara's lust for love proves her ultimate downfall, and she soon learns that while it's easy to bend others to her will, controlling her own heart is a perilous art indeed.

Prepare for a darkly compelling journey where the boundaries of desire and devastation and the quest for love becomes Satara's most lethal game. Damn. I need to read this. Yeah. And then it says, step into the twisted psychedelic world of a femme fatale hooked on love and acid in this gripping tale of suburban chaos served with a 70s twist. Satara navigates a landscape drenched in love, betrayal, murder, and witchcraft. Yes, it takes place in the 70s and she does a lot of acid.

And she does a lot of acid. Yeah. That's just like her little like, I'm just going to pop this a little. Pop some acid. It kind of reminds me. of like the synopsis kind of reminds me of like kill for love. Oh yeah. By Laura Picklesmeyer.

Like the over the topness of that, yes. Like how like that ending is just like crazy. Because at first I was like, what is happening? And then I was like just like embrace what it is. And then I was like, okay, this is cool. in the end I was like and it's very short like it's

I've been liking shorter ones lately me too I think her newest one is called shy girl and it's about like a sugar daddy situation and I'm like ooh what's I'm interested yeah it says he like offers to pay all her debts if she lives

with him full time and the longer she's with him the more animalistic stick she becomes is all it says yeah and i've heard it is insane damn you just have me wanting to read everything i know oh my god wait it's out yeah her new one oh yeah i think it might just come out in the last month or two yeah march first i love a sugar daddy i know i'm very intrigued by that time ago too, but best legal thriller I think I've ever read. It sticks out in my mind

that way. And it's called a criminal defense by William L. Myers Jr. When a young reporter is found dead and a prominent Philadelphia businessman is accused of her murder, Mick McFarland finds himself involved

in the case of his life. The defendant, David Hanson, was Mick's close friend in law school and the victim, a news reporter, had reached out to Mick for legal help only hours before her death. Mick's played both sides of Philadelphia's courtrooms. Mix played both sides of Philadelphia's courtroom. As a top shelf defense attorney and former prosecutor,

he knows all the tricks of the trade and he'll need every one of them to win. But as the trial progresses, he's disturbed by developments that confirm his deepest fears. This trial, one that already hits too close to home, may jeopardize his firm, his family, everything. Now, Mix the only way out is to mastermind the most brilliant defense he's ever spun, one that will cross every legal and moral boundary. I remember the ending being like shocking. That sounds really good. I know.

I just loved it. Wow, I read it in 2017. Oh. God, that doesn't seem that long ago and then it is. Yeah, but it is. Yeah. I still get surprised when people are like, like, somebody like we're posting on social media the other day about like how that day marked like the five year anniversary of like the COVID pandemic starting. Right. And I was like five years.

Yeah. Yeah. Insane. Yeah. Insane. Two or three. I would be like, oh, okay, that makes sense. But it's so weird. Also 20, 24. The entire year.

feel like I was on acid, so it makes sense. My God. Well, my last one is the inmate by Frieda McFadden because I'm on a huge Free to Kick, but also I was realizing that a lot of the ones that I've read so far are like dual POB. And this one is actually singular throughout. Nice. And it's one of my favorites.

So there are three rules. Brooke Sullivan must follow as a new nurse practitioner at a men maximum security. Treat all prisoners with respect, never reveal any personal information, and never, ever become too friendly with the inmates. But none of the staff at the prison knows Brooke has already broken the rules. Nobody knows about her intimate connection to Shane Nelson, one of the penitentiary's most notorious and dangerous inmates. And they certainly don't know that Shane was Brooke's high school sweetheart. the star quarterback who is now spending the rest of his life in prison for a series of grizzly murders or that brook's testimony is what put him there but shame knows and he will never forget

damn that's great that you got in there if she works there or vice versa uh-huh yeah yeah so i think there is like there's either like flashbacks or dual like timeline but it is a singular POV and when I tell you like I think this was the second one I read after the housemaid and I flew through it in one night and was like okay like there's drugs in this book because like I just could not put it down and it was so freaking good and it was super cinematic and I loved it. Oh my gosh. I'm a Frida Rita. Well that's funny. Okay, well, since someone said the name Faith Gardner earlier, I'm going to talk about the Mirror House Girls, which came out earlier this year, last year. I don't remember. She's got a lot of books, too, kind of like Frida, like multiple a year. Yeah. By the way, her covers lately have been banging.

Faith? Yeah. This one I think is good. that cover. I love that cover. An isolated compound, a so-called family, a collision course with unthinkable violence. It's a cult thriller. When Winona rents a room at the eccentric mirror house, she hopes to make new friends. What she gets instead is a family led by the charismatic psychologist Simon Spellmeyer. But if she wants to stay at Mirrorhouse, Winona must join in following Simon's strange protocols for self-improvement. Warning bells chime inside her, yet the allure of the transformation keeps her there. His methods are disturbing, but the results are undeniable.

Soon, Simon's vision for their future spirals in a darker direction. The group relocates, expands, and Winona's once close bond with her housemates grows fractured by the mistrust until she's trapped among people she hardly recognizes, including herself. Can Winona wake up to the true cost of Simon's vision in time to get out alive, or will the utopian dream descend into a tragic nightmare? Shocking. Man, you read it. It doesn't work out.

I don't know. But you know that right in the beginning. That's not a spoiler. Like you know right away. So this one, it is a single POV, but there is like a little documentary throughout. You kind of know, like, something goes a rock. right away. Yeah, it's also a thriller.

I mean, she goes awry in thrillers all the time, right? Yeah. What a surprise. Simon sucks. It's always a man. Ooh, here's my drive-by. My little, like, bloodlines by Jess Lowry. Bonkers.

The Haters by Robin Harding. Don't see it around that much. So good. Book about an author. Black Sheep, Rachel Harrison, culty, demonic, amazing, and all the sinners bleed by S.A. Cosby. Oh, my God. You were so good at that. I feel like we need a rapid-fire step segment every time.

Well, if these piles just keep coming. Right. I can do it. I also want to shout out Ashley Winstead because this book will bury me is officially out now. And as Kate reminded me in our group text, it is a single POD. Yeah. So it does have like a lot of like online dialogue. So sometimes it's like hard to even remember that.

But it's technically like a book within a book, which is cool. Yeah. Yeah. It's my favorite one of her so far too. Oh, good.