Bookwild

This week, Gare and I got to talk with Jennifer Fawcett about her serial killer thriller Keep This For Me! We dive into her inspiration for the story, how she was drawn to writing about the aftermath of a serial killer's actions, and how grief and trauma effect families for generations.

Keep This For Me Synopsis

One hot August night in 1993, a young couple go to a party. When their car breaks down, they are picked up by a truck driver who attacks the man and abducts the woman. She is never seen again.

That woman was Fiona Green’s mother.

When the trucker, Eddie Ward, is caught, a mass grave of bodies is discovered in his backyard but Fiona’s mother isn’t there. Thirty years later, on his prison deathbed, Ward insists that he didn’t kill her, so Fiona finds herself back in the small town where her mother disappeared. Fighting demons of her own, she’s shocked when history repeats itself: another woman, another roadside breakdown, and another disappearance. Only this time the primary suspect is Jason Ward, Eddie’s son. Desperate, Fiona hunts down answers, unaware that she is being drawn into a dangerous trap.

With Jennifer Fawcett’s signature “suspenseful and immersive” (Library Journal) prose, Keep This for Me is a fresh, spellbinding exploration of what we unwillingly inherit from our parents and how one random act can send ripples years into the future.

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Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, I talk with C.I. Jerez about her emotional and empowering novel At the Island's Edge. We dive into the inspiration for the story, how she explored PTSD, and why she chose to write about a single mom who served in the army.

At the Island's Edge Synopsis

An Iraq War veteran returns to Puerto Rico to reconnect with―and confront―the past in a heart-wrenching novel about duty, motherhood, and the healing power of home.
 

As a combat medic, Lina LaSalle went to Iraq to save the lives of fellow soldiers. But when her convoy is attacked, she must set aside her identity as a healer and take a life herself.

Although she is honored as a hero when she returns to the US, Lina cannot find her footing. She is stricken with PTSD and unsure of how to support her young son, Teó, a little boy with Tourette’s. As her attempts to self-medicate become harder to hide, Lina realizes she must do the toughest thing yet: ask for help.

She retreats to her parents’ house in Puerto Rico, where Teó thrives under her family’s care. Lina finds kinship, too―with a cousin whose dreams were also shattered by the war and with a handsome and caring veteran who sought refuge on the island and runs a neighborhood bar.

But amid the magic of the island are secrets and years of misunderstandings that could erode the very stability she’s fighting for. Hope lies on the horizon, but can she keep her gaze steady?

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Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, we have some chaotic dog interruptions, I recorded int he dark because I couldn't even with the light, AND we broke a record and talked about more than 30 books in one episode!! Enjoy the chaos that is Gare, Steph and my 10 Before the End episode.

Kate’s  10 Before the End

What We Leave Behind by Wanda Morris

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/250326a1-6252-41eb-8fbd-318b3903b56c

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/3e324bb5-9f00-4258-817b-00c69ad824f7

The Midnight Knock by John Fram

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/46ce3210-0707-4b1d-89b7-0c573c72aca8

When They Burned the Butterfly by Wen-Yi Lee

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/e294b55a-9bf5-42cd-a8c2-88aa2f65c91b

Boom Town by Nic Stone

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/81091a8c-97c2-4037-aaaf-666230289df8

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/3aaf1dab-83a2-4089-9345-680455651355

James by Percival Everett

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/cd626fd8-11de-458a-a71a-4b1c64c86ff1

Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/cda69bb3-94a7-4b17-82ef-3036a098d7cd

Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/a5d8c362-9ccc-4bfa-869c-44c8847b17ef

I, Medusa by Ayana Gray

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/e2c48dc1-1ee0-4904-9b6e-d53e3f23712b

Gare’s 10 Before the End

Forget You Saw Her Noelle W Ihli

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/bbd97b5b-38b0-4982-bb5d-60fcee5a243c

Haven’t Killed In Years by Amy K. Green

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/70c6f0b5-c572-4689-b5e5-880199ce497c

We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/49154c03-2e3c-4b00-b63f-1d6a7ef61fdb

Watch Us Fall by Christina Kovac

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/25a51cf8-34f3-41d5-aefa-f4ff20d1159c

With Friends Like These by Alissa Lee

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/224004584-with-friends-like-these?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=9sa6BhhMqr&rank=1

The Fix by Mia Sheridan

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/7642f03d-53ab-441d-bfc2-c435fde870a1

Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/03c6a590-d537-4566-8bb2-0147089b467d

If I Go Missing by Leslie Wolfe

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/4a5751dd-ce3d-4d23-b7e5-21d8c95028b4

The Wives of Hawthorne Lane by Stephanie DeCarolis

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/345b587e-4541-496e-91d6-9738a1e5534a

The Haunting by Natasha Preston

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/2ebce8b2-c94b-489f-87a4-bcff8591d1d8

Steph’s  10 Before the End

The Adults by Alison Espach

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/b9ebc09a-4c52-4a56-a833-b25b38572ac8

The Artist of Blackberry Grange by Paulette Jackson

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/1d352936-217c-4d99-a0a3-8e5167d6c7cf

Breakneck Bay by Faith Gardner

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/886205bb-7647-4a28-b688-71c275927c32

Still True by Maggie Ginsburg

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/b2973ace-7b9a-47c8-9bde-faf6b87874e3

Heartbroke by Chelsea Bieker

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/9ee3902f-6e65-4e7e-992d-cf742c3938ef

Is This A Cry For Help by Emily Austin

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/868d3c84-e887-4075-adea-460a26d5eb79

Matchmaking for Psychopaths by Tasha Coryell

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/7fe84956-aabb-4e62-9fbb-66813da5b7c5

This Girl’s a Killer by Emma C. Wells

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/ad549123-76a8-442c-a809-789048a5902a

Love You to Death by Christina Dotson

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/4ffd068e-b2da-4108-9e79-409aff0c9a9c

The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/bb8fdd23-aaa5-4103-8972-427720e99382

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Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, I talk with Alma Katsu about her new horror novel Fiend. We dive into her inspiration for the story, what draws her to horror, and how she crafted this insidious family.

**Every tech issue that could happen did happen, so there's a somewhat rough cut when we had to switch platforms.

Fiend by Alma Katsu Synopsis

Imagine if the Sackler family had a demon at their beck and call.

The Berisha family runs one of the largest import-export companies in the world, and they’ve always been lucky. Their rivals suffer strokes. Inconvenient buildings catch on fire. Earthquakes swallow up manufacturing plants, destroying harmful evidence. Things always seem to work out for the Berishas. They’re blessed.

At least that is what Zef, the patriarch, has always told his three children. And each of them knows their place in the family—Dardan, as the only male heir, must prepare to take over as keeper of the Berisha secrets, Maris’s most powerful contribution, much to her dismay, will be to marry strategically, and Nora’s job, as the youngest, is to just stay out of the way. But when things stop going as planned, and the family blessing starts looking more like a curse, the Berishas begin to splinter, each hatching their own secret scheme. They didn’t get to be one of the richest families in the world without spilling a little blood, but this time, it might be their own.

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MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, I dive into how I went from listening to audiobooks, to wanting to edit audiobooks, to co-narrating and editing my first audiobook over the course of like six months!

Hear how narrating and producing The Underdog came together with Sagit Schwartz, what surprised me about narrating, and how sentimental I am that I recorded it in my neighborhood library.

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MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, I got to talk with Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado about their second in their Sanchez & Heron series The Grave Artists. We dive into how they create a Serial Killer 2.0, the positive and negative uses of technology, and how they write together.

The Grave Artist Synopsis

A wedding reception is coming to a close in the Hollywood Hills when the blissful day is shattered by the death of one of the newlyweds. Though the incident appears to be an accident, Homeland Security Investigations agent Carmen Sanchez and her partner, security expert Jake Heron, discover that the tragedy is the third in a series of similar deaths and conclude something far more sinister is at play.

The two uncover chilling evidence pointing to a serial killer who has taken evil to the next level. Dubbed the Honeymoon Killer, this man isn't interested in his victims but in creating his own macabre masterpiece from their graves--focused on the survivors and reveling in their grief. And now his dark obsession has turned to Carmen and Jake...

The Honeymoon Killer has decided they are the perfect next target. Take one out and delight as the other crumbles. Time is running out as a deadly game between predator and prey begins.

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Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, Gare, Steph and I share books we are excited about on our Fall TBRs!

Books We Talked About

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan
Keep This for Me by Jennifer Fawcett
The Women of Wild Hill by Kirsten Miller
Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite
The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens
The Mad Wife by Meagan Church
Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber
The Intruder by Freida McFadden
Through Our Teeth by Pamela N. Harris
The Haunting of Room 904 by Erica T. Wurth
The Bone Thief by Vanessa Lillie
Life and Death and Giants by Bob Rinaldi

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Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, I got to talk with L.S. Stratton about her newest thriller In Deadly Company! We dive into how she wanted to write a fun, bingey thriller, how she used the meta approach of a movie being made about the past timeline, and how she crafted the very corrupt, very welathy family in the middle of it all.

In Deadly Company Synopsis

As the assistant of the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, Nicole Underwood has plenty of tasks on her to-do list—one of which is the blowout birthday celebration for her nightmare, one-percenter boss, Xander Chambers. But when the party ends in chaos and murder and Nicole is one of the survivors, suspicion—from the investigators to the media—lands on her. Was she the reason for all the bloodshed?

A year after those deadly events, Nicole tries to set the public record straight by agreeing to consult on a feature film based on her story. However, on the set in LA, she's sidelined by inappropriate casting and persistent, bizarre script changes, while also haunted by the events of that party weekend with visions of her now-deceased boss. It seems clearing her name isn't so simple when the question of guilt or innocence is...complicated.

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Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, Steph and I talk about fiction books that taught us about different subjects!

Books We Talked About

Play Nice by Rachel Harrison
Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper
Wordslut by Amanda Montell
Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall
The Great Mann by Kyra Davis Lurie
Francine’s Spectacular Crash and Burn Renee Swindle
You Know Her by Meagan Jennett
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
What Comes After by Joanne Tompkins
Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie
The Whistler by Nick Medina
Do What Godmother Says by Shelley Stratton
Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
The Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson
The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson
Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
The Foundling by Ann Leary
The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li

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Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, I got to talk with Penny Zang about her debut novel Doll Parts! We dive into her inspiration for the story, the importance of music throughout, and the ways Sylvia Plath's life and writing influenced Doll Parts.

Doll Parts Synopsis

Some stories refuse to stay buried.

For best friends Nikki and Sadie, college was supposed to be a fresh start, a way to blast Courtney Love from car speakers and leave their youth behind. But along with sadness-obsessed girls and intrusive professors, a dark story plagues their small all-women's school: the Sylvia Club, a campus legend surrounding the deaths of multiple Sylvia Plath-adoring students, all written off as suicides. Aspiring writer Nikki finds herself drawn to the tragic tales, so much so that dead girls begin to haunt her dark imagination. As she digs deeper, Nikki soon suspects there's much more to the story - a suspicion that will lead to a tragedy of its own, one that will tear her and Sadie apart.

It's been nearly twenty years since Sadie last saw her estranged friend. Now, Nikki is dead, and when Sadie ends up pregnant by Nikki's grieving husband not long after the funeral, she finds herself stepping into her ex-best friend's seemingly perfect life. But the longer Sadie lives in Nikki's eerily preserved home, the more she sees her appear and soon, she's convinced that Nikki is sending her clues from beyond the grave. Because it seems Nikki never stopped looking for answers about what happened to the girls of the Sylvia Club, and she may have been its latest victim. 

Told in a dual timeline, Doll Parts is a provocative and irresistible debut, at once an exploration of the dark chasms that break apart friendships, an ode to the aching beauty of girlhood, and a sharp portrayal of grief that can physically haunt you. 

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Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

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MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor