#the taking of jake livingston

[autumnsaesthetics]

🍁 Books for Autumn & Halloween 🎃

Part One!

(Row One) 🍁

Mooncakes by Wendy Xu & Suzanne Walker

The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldtree

(Row Two) 🎃

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

A Dowry Of Blood by S.T Gibson

Burn Down, Rise Up by Vincent Tirado

(Row Three) 🍁

The Taking Of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

A Lesson In Vengeance by Victoria Lee

The Diviners by Libba Bray

[your-stranger-halfblood-things]

LGBTQ+ book recommendations:

. Felix Ever After - Kacen Callender

. The Art of Being Normal - Lisa Williamson

. Into the Light - Mark Oshiro

. Last Night at the Telegraph Club - Malinda Lo

. Ziggy, Stardust & Me - James Brandon

. Carry On - Rainbow Rowell

. Red, White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston

. The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

. Cemetery Boys - Aiden Thomas

. George - Alex Gino

. Rick - Alex Gino

. Camp QUILTBAG - Nicole Melleby and A.J. Sass

. The Taking of Jake Livingston - Ryan Douglass

. The Wicker King - Ancrum

[fivequartersoftheorange]

I need more queer horror book reccs. I finished Cemetery Boys last month and I'm currently reading The Taking of Jake Livingston. Anybody have any reccs???

[bracketsoffear]

Ever After High: The Legend of Shadow High (Shannon & Dean Hale) "Now, Ever After High itself is very Web. The children of famous fairytales being destiny-bound to relive their stories or go 'poof' is the driving force behind all the books' conflicts.

However, Shadow High takes it to another level. The narrators, who were present throughout the series, are more influential within the story. Even the straight-laced narrator parents who believe only in observing stories leave 'plop devices' to coerce characters in or out of making decisions. The titular Shadow High is a school for narrators run by antagonist Ms. Direction after a narrator schism between those who observe stories and those who control them. Ms. Direction uses 'unmaking lava' that turns characters and props into the words that compose them, destroying them so that they can be made again in her vision. She also uses narration to compel characters into doing her bidding. The narrator of the book, Brooke Page, is the daughter of the other books' narrators and has frequent arguments with her parents between chapters about why she can't intervene in the story to help the characters. Brooke ultimately does this in the book's climax by climbing the Fourth Wall and asking the reader for help, turning the book into a choose-your-own-adventure and having the reader write in how Ms. Direction is ultimately defeated.

Also, it's a crossover with Monster High so Frankie Stein and Draculaura are there."

The Taking of Jake Livingston (Ryan Douglass) "Jake Livingston is one of the only Black kids at St. Clair Prep, one of the others being his infinitely more popular older brother. It’s hard enough fitting in but to make matters worse and definitely more complicated, Jake can see the dead. In fact he sees the dead around him all the time. Most are harmless. Stuck in their death loops as they relive their deaths over and over again, they don’t interact often with people. But then Jake meets Sawyer. A troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school last year before taking his own life. Now a powerful, vengeful ghost, he has plans for his afterlife–plans that include Jake. Suddenly, everything Jake knows about ghosts and the rules to life itself go out the window as Sawyer begins haunting him and bodies turn up in his neighborhood. High school soon becomes a survival game–one Jake is not sure he’s going to win."

[slaughter-books]

Day 15: JOMPBPC: Black Books

Four beautiful black books! 🖤

[loose-rhymer]

I read The Taking of Jake Livingston this year. I really liked the imagery of this scene. Maybe I'll animate it eventually.

[sphynxskullz]

redraw of the cover of the taking of jake livingston by ryan douglass

[professionalqueerbookworm]

Queer Reviews: Ryan Douglass, "The Taking of Jake Livingston".

CW: mildly graphic violence, racism, child abuse, domestic abuse, mentions of different kinds assault

Plot: Jake Livingston is one of the only Black kids at St. Clair Prep, one of the others being his infinitely more popular older brother. It’s hard enough fitting in but to make matters worse and definitely more complicated, Jake can see the dead. In fact he sees the dead around him all the time. Most are harmless. Stuck in their death loops as they relive their deaths over and over again, they don’t interact often with people. But then Jake meets Sawyer. A troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school last year before taking his own life. Now a powerful, vengeful ghost, he has plans for his afterlife–plans that include Jake. Suddenly, everything Jake knows about ghosts and the rules to life itself go out the window as Sawyer begins haunting him and bodies turn up in his neighborhood. High school soon becomes a survival game–one Jake is not sure he’s going to win.

9/10 on the Rainbow Scale™ 🌈: It doesn't happen everyday that I feel sympathy for a villain while also being genuinely terrified of them, but this novel managed just that. The storytelling is incredible, the characters are complex and fleshed out, I had to remind myself to breathe at times. A true masterpiece of queer horror.

[mangotortoise]

Ok mood

[Picture of a paragraph from "The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass. Conversation between the main character Jake and his brother:

"You knew?"

"Yes, everybody knows." He smiles and blinks, not mocking, but not concerned with it either. "I'm glad almost dying in the middle of the road has given you the courage to say it."

"I can't be that gay."

"Nah, you're pretty gay."]

[rainydaypaperback]

Jake Livingston is one of the only Black kids at St. Clair Prep, one of the others being his infinitely more popular older brother. It's hard enough fitting in but to make matters worse and definitely more complicated, Jake can see the dead. In fact he sees the dead around him all the time.

Most are harmless. Stuck in their death loops as they relive their deaths over and over again, they don't interact often with people. But then Jake meets Sawyer. A troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school last year before taking his own life. Now a powerful, vengeful ghost, he has plans for his afterlife–plans that include Jake.

Suddenly, everything Jake knows about ghosts and the rules to life itself go out the window as Sawyer begins haunting him and bodies turn up in his neighborhood. High school soon becomes a survival game–one Jake is not sure he's going to win.

Text based bookclub via Bethel CT. Pride's Discord.

[crowclubkaz]

I’m so excited to announce that the Queer Horror Cult will be having its first official book club in August, and we’ll be reading The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass 👻

Are you a fan of queer horror books? You’ve come to the right place! The Queer Horror Cult is a Goodreads group and book club that anyone can join, from anywhere in the world! Every month, we’ll group read a queer horror book, and you can discuss your fav queer horror reads and authors in discussion threads! Join the Queer Horror Cult on Goodreads here!

Please note that The Taking Of Jake Livingston has the following trigger warnings: references to abuse (domestic, child, and sexual), sexual assault, school shootings and gun violence, homophobia, racism, references to suicide, and death, injury, and gore. If any of these topics may be triggering for you, please feel free to skip this month’s read, and join us for the September book club!

[hahahax30]

Why is the book I'm reading sad that a rapist got murdered?????? Bitch he tried to rape his nephew

[pocsinspeculativefiction]

Impressions: The Taking of Jake Livingston

Title: The Taking of Jake Livingston Series: N/A; Standalone Author: Ryan Douglass Author Website: https://ryandouglasswriter.com/ Trigger Warnings: Suicide, homophobia, sexual assault, active shootings, murder, physical abuse, bullying Year Released: 2021 Demographic: Young Adult Genres/Subgenres: Horror, Thriller, Paranormal, Ghosts, LGBTQ+

Trailer:

Synopsis:

From Goodreads

"Get Out meets Holly Jackson in this YA social thriller where survival is not a guarantee.

Sixteen-year-old Jake Livingston sees dead people everywhere. But he can't decide what's worse: being a medium forced to watch the dead play out their last moments on a loop or being at the mercy of racist teachers as one of the few Black students at St. Clair Prep. Both are a living nightmare he wishes he could wake up from. But things at St. Clair start looking up with the arrival of another Black student—the handsome Allister—and for the first time, romance is on the horizon for Jake.

Unfortunately, life as a medium is getting worse. Though most ghosts are harmless and Jake is always happy to help them move on to the next place, Sawyer Doon wants much more from Jake. In life, Sawyer was a troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school before taking his own life. Now he's a powerful, vengeful ghost and he has plans for Jake. Suddenly, everything Jake knows about dead world goes out the window as Sawyer begins to haunt him. High school soon becomes a different kind of survival game—one Jake is not sure he can win."

Themes

Effects of bullying

Homophobia

Racism through microaggressions

Gun violence

Poorly treated mental illness

Parental abuse and neglect

Best Features

A pretty well-paced plot

A fleshed-out protagonist with gradual and believable character development

A menacing and cold-hearted but sympathetic/pitiable villain

A charming and believable MLM romance

Jake's grim, cynical narrative voice vividly details the world of racism, violence, and senseless tragedy he observes

Sawyer's depressing and hopeless narrative voice engenders sympathy but also builds tension and dread for the heinous actions he is destined to take

A fleshed-out power system for Jake as a medium and Sawyer as a vengeful spirit

Worst Features

The supporting cast plays a minimal role in the story

The subplots are few and mostly unimportant

The romantic subplot could have used more scenes. I found their relationship very charming and wished they had interacted more.

Manipulation of ectomist is the source of a lot of medium abilities. The substance might do more than you’re willing to believe that it can.

Favorite Spoiler-free Quotes:

“How many more of our friends do we have to lose before we say ‘enough is enough’? There are demons out there who just want the world to burn. And we have to come together to make sure they can’t get the weapons to harm us.”

“When our hands touch, green light blossoms between our thumbs, curls around our fingers, and spirals up our arms. Like a breath of ivy creating one aura between us. Pink flowers sprout to dress the vine and . . . I can honestly say, in all my years as a medium, I have never seen a garden grow between me and another person.”

“It’s amazing how many people don’t want to look racist and how few care about not actually being it.”

Overall Rating - 3.5 out of 5

[bracketsoffear]

Misery (Stephen King) "Paul Sheldon, author of a series of historical romances, wakes up in a secluded farmhouse in Colorado with broken legs and Annie Wilkes, a disappointed fan, hovering over him with drugs, ax, and blowtorch and demanding he bring his heroine back to life"

The Taking of Jake Livingston (Ryan Douglass) "Jake Livingston is one of the only Black kids at St. Clair Prep, one of the others being his infinitely more popular older brother. It’s hard enough fitting in but to make matters worse and definitely more complicated, Jake can see the dead. In fact he sees the dead around him all the time. Most are harmless. Stuck in their death loops as they relive their deaths over and over again, they don’t interact often with people. But then Jake meets Sawyer. A troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school last year before taking his own life. Now a powerful, vengeful ghost, he has plans for his afterlife–plans that include Jake. Suddenly, everything Jake knows about ghosts and the rules to life itself go out the window as Sawyer begins haunting him and bodies turn up in his neighborhood. High school soon becomes a survival game–one Jake is not sure he’s going to win."

[slaughter-books]

Day 18: JOMPBPC: Favourite Title Font

[sphynxskullz]

sketch vs final