#getriveted

[hollymbryan]

Blog Tour + #Review: DELICIOUS MONSTERS by Liselle Sambury!

Welcome to Book-Keeping and my stop on the Turn the Page Tours blog tour for Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury! This YA horror was one of my most-anticipated reads for 2023, and boy did it deliver! I’m so excited to tell you all about the book and my review, so let’s go!

About the Book

title: Delicious Monsters author: Liselle Sambury publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books release date: 28 February 2023

The Haunting of Hill House meets Sadie in this evocative and mind-bending psychological thriller following two teen girls navigating the treacherous past of a mysterious mansion ten years apart.

Daisy sees dead people—something impossible to forget in bustling, ghost-packed Toronto. She usually manages to deal with her unwanted ability, but she’s completely unprepared to be dumped by her boyfriend. So when her mother inherits a secluded mansion in northern Ontario where she spent her childhood summers, Daisy jumps at the chance to escape. But the house is nothing like Daisy expects, and she begins to realize that her experience with the supernatural might be no match for her mother’s secrets, nor what lurks within these walls…

A decade later, Brittney is desperate to get out from under the thumb of her abusive mother, a bestselling author who claims her stay at “Miracle Mansion” allowed her to see the error of her ways. But Brittney knows that’s nothing but a sham. She decides the new season of her popular Haunted web series will uncover what happened to a young Black girl in the mansion ten years prior and finally expose her mother’s lies. But as she gets more wrapped up in the investigation, she’ll have to decide: if she can only bring one story to light, which one matters most—Daisy’s or her own?

As Brittney investigates the mansion in the present, Daisy’s story runs parallel in the past, both timelines propelling the girls to face the most dangerous monsters of all: those that hide in plain sight.

Add to Goodreads Purchase the Book

About the Author

Liselle Sambury is the Trinidadian-Canadian author of the Governor General’s Literary Awards Finalist, Blood Like Magic. Her work spans multiple genres, from fantasy to sci-fi, horror, and more. In her free time, she shares helpful tips for upcoming writers and details of her publishing journey through a YouTube channel dedicated to demystifying the sometimes complicated business of being an author. She’s represented by Kristy Hunter at The Knight Agency.

Connect with Liselle: Website | Goodreads | Instagram

My 5-Star Review

Delicious Monsters was one of my most-anticipated reads of 2023, and boy did it deliver! I was so ready for a creepy, horror-filled tale, and that’s exactly what I got -- whether it’s body horror or birds (oh how I hate birds, and this book did not help!), it’s all in here. We’ve got the tale of a mansion we keep hearing is “dangerous,” told from the POV of two teen Black girls a decade apart: Daisy, in the past, and Brittney, in the present. Daisy and her mom inherit the cursed mansion and move up to live on the grounds and turn the house into an Airbnb. Brittney, who grew up with an awful, abusive mother who has since become famous for “turning her life around” after a stay at the mansion, is a YouTube documentarian. She and her partner are working on their show, “Haunted,” with a season she wants to be about forgotten Black girls. Slowly, slowly, the story unravels before us, alternating timelines and POVs, and I swear you will be unable to look away from the horror that you know is around the corner.

This story is creeptastic and spooky and just fabulously horrific, and I mean that in the best way. We need more YA horror like this! Also, I have to mention *that cover*, which I’m declaring now as my favorite cover of the year. I can’t imagine *anything* coming along that will beat the creepy beauty of this one!

Rating: 5 stars!

Side note: Delicious Monsters will be our April pick for #getthrilledbuddyreads on Insta, so be sure and follow me if you’d like to join!

Check out the Bookstagram tour too! You can find my post here!

[hollymbryan]

Blog Tour + #Review: I WILL FIND YOU AGAIN by Sarah Lyu! #tbrbeyondtours

Welcome to Book-Keeping! I’m so happy today to be hosting a spot on the TBR and Beyond Tours blog tour for the incredible contemporary YA novel from Sarah Lyu, I Will Find You Again, which released yesterday! I’ve got all the details for you below, along with my review.

About the Book

title: I Will Find You Again author: Sarah Lyu publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR release date: 14 March 2023

All the Bright Places meets Ace of Spades in this smart, twisty teen thriller about a girl who can’t stop pushing herself to be the best—even after losing her best friend and the love of her life.

Welcome to Meadowlark, Long Island—expensive homes and good schools, ambition and loneliness. Meet Chase Ohara and Lia Vestiano: the driven overachiever and the impulsive wanderer, the future CEO and the free spirit. Best friends for years—weekend trips to Montauk, sleepovers on a yacht—and then, first love. True love.

But when Lia disappears, Chase’s life turns into a series of grim snapshots. Anger. Grief. Running. Pink pills in an Altoids tin. A cheating ring at school. Heartbreak and lies. A catastrophic secret.

And the shocking truth that will change everything about the way Chase sees Lia—and herself.

Content Warning: drug use, suicide, discussions of depression & anxiety

Add to Goodreads: I Will Find You Again Purchase the Book: Amazon | B&N | TBD | IndieBound

About the Author

Sarah Lyu grew up outside of Atlanta, GA, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. She loves a good hike and can often be found with a paintbrush in one hand and a cup of milky tea in the other. She is the author of I Will Find You Again and The Best Lies.

Connect with Sarah: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Facebook | TikTok

My 5-Star Review

Ohhh, this book, y’all. This. Book. I felt pain in my heart and a rising sense of dread in my stomach the whole time I was reading. This story is heartbreaking and devastating, but ultimately hopeful and liberating in the best way. I felt *all* the emotions while reading this, and the way Sarah Lyu gently unfolds Chase and Lia’s story for us is so unexpected and darn near perfect. This is the best contemporary YA I’ve read in a long time, despite the heaviness of the subject matter; the ultimate conclusion or moral of the story is such a necessary one for today’s teens that I want to press this into the hands of every young person I know. Please do pick up this novel (if you can handle the subject matter), and do let me know what you think if you read it. I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Rating: 5 stars!

**I received a copy of this book from the publisher for purposes of this blog tour. Thank you to the publisher, TBR and Beyond Tours, and the author for letting me take part.

Check out the Bookstagram tour too! You can find my post here, and the full schedule is here.