Eternal Lag

1. The Haunting of Payne's Hollow (Kelley Armstrong).

This one is grim. There's a lot of murder here, SA and abuse - I wasn't actually sure what was going to happen just by reading the back panel, and it definitely wasn't what I thought was going to happen. The SA is hard to read, as is the abuse/murder, but it's written in a way to make it as horrifying as it is in real life, not just for shock. The last quarter of the book left me angry and crying for all the characters but it was a good kind of crying. The ending was definitely worth the pain.

This one is a version of the little mermaid if the genders were reversed - but really it's so much more than that. I think this is my favorite book that I started and stopped in 2025. I finally finished it now that I got a copy again from the library and I can say it's definitely overly romantic at times but it's also deeply painful and sorrowful. There's a lot to unpack here and I don't think there are any real warnings to be had (aside from if you're terrified of drowning. But that's also in the title so it's kind of already there.)

This one is a hard read - not because it's difficult but because the content is so dark and upsetting at times that it's hard to see how there could be any light afterwards. The is death in these pages and it is some of the worst I've read because it's real. This one isn't entirely fiction. The characters are but the information isn't.

There's a lot for history here that hurts to read about and I can definitely see why this novel won a Nobel prize in literature in 2024.

This one is set in Russia during the 1917 wars that took place there (WW1/Revolutionary war etc) and it is pretty brutal. The two main protagonists are sisters of a long lived Russian family that has been part of the ruling class for generations, and deals with them having to live through the Cheka and Bolsheviks going after those they didn't like. And after all the real life horror around them, their house starts to become haunted.

To me it was a really fascinating take on Russian history and the government changes from royalty to communism - and the old Russian folk stories/history meshes really well with the supernatural. This one is definitely unique. Terrifying and unique.

This one is rough. The story repeats a lot of content over and over again and while it is indeed a haunted house story, it also includes a demon and a whoooooole bunch of PTSD and gore that won't stop letting you know why it's happening. The story is interesting enough but because the author is in his eighties, the dialogue and phrasing can be really weird and outdated. I'm sure someone who's from the UK will probably have an easier time reading this one but for someone in Canada who isn't in their eighties, it's a tough slog. I've never heard some of the phrases in this book before and I've read and watched a lot of BBC shows and movies.

The editing is bad here. Very bad. The stiff dialogue gets the story along but details and comments get repeated every few pages and by the time you get to the end of it, you realize you've read the same lines so often you can almost guess what'll happen right after. And holy shit if I read the word/name Frank one more damn time I'm going to pull out my hair and scream. There are over 300 pages here and at least 50 of them could be cut just for saying the same plot point in a different way. Every time the main character finds out about a horrible death happening she gets to hear it from at least one other character twice - and everyone explodes. I swear to god it becomes boring. I was watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice right before this and it just became almost comical just how often people exploded and their guts flew everywhere. (Kinda like a very specific scene with where Winona Rider's character meets her least favorite person again after so many years and he 'spills his guts' to her).

If you're like me and you read most stuff to the end even if it pisses you the hell off, feel free to take a shot at this one. If you don't, I wouldn't blame you - it's interesting but just such a struggle to finish.

This one is super dark and heavy. There's a monster here but it's more than just the supernatural one lurking in the smoke.

This one is a murder mystery set in 1800 Korea. There's a lot in here and it's all interesting - tons of murder and torture, but also so much emotion and history weaved into the story. Definitely worth a read but be warned, it will probably make you cry (just like I did).

This one is a mini story about Gamache and three pines, which I'm pretty sure the plot was reused in another longer novel sized version. It was super familiar and a much less polished version of the larger story. Kind of like getting a glimpse of a first draft that hasn't really been touched yet.

This one is spooky - an old town on an almost forgotten island, filled with secrets and monsters. But only some of those are human.

This one had an unexpected twist at the end - one I wasn't entirely happy with, but could kind of sense at while I was reading through it. It starts as survival horror and then morphs into something entirely not that.

This is the author's first book (I read her second one before this one and didn't realize I'd done it until waaaaaay later) and it's really really solid. It's sad, moving in a way that makes you really feel everything the protagonist is going through.

The world in this book has changed. Time is flowing faster and slower in places in Japan and the people that were in the middle of the earthquake zone when it happened have all disappeared.

I don't want to post spoilers but this one is LGBTQ friendly! It also made me cry a lot and talks a lot about memory and losing memories so be warned, it can be super heavy at times. But there's also folklore and SciFi too so it's got a lot to offer.

1. The Haunting of Payne's Hollow (Kelley Armstrong).

This one is grim. There's a lot of murder here, SA and abuse - I wasn't actually sure what was going to happen just by reading the back panel, and it definitely wasn't what I thought was going to happen. The SA is hard to read, as is the abuse/murder, but it's written in a way to make it as horrifying as it is in real life, not just for shock. The last quarter of the book left me angry and crying for all the characters but it was a good kind of crying. The ending was definitely worth the pain.

This one is a version of the little mermaid if the genders were reversed - but really it's so much more than that. I think this is my favorite book that I started and stopped in 2025. I finally finished it now that I got a copy again from the library and I can say it's definitely overly romantic at times but it's also deeply painful and sorrowful. There's a lot to unpack here and I don't think there are any real warnings to be had (aside from if you're terrified of drowning. But that's also in the title so it's kind of already there.)

This one is a hard read - not because it's difficult but because the content is so dark and upsetting at times that it's hard to see how there could be any light afterwards. The is death in these pages and it is some of the worst I've read because it's real. This one isn't entirely fiction. The characters are but the information isn't.

There's a lot for history here that hurts to read about and I can definitely see why this novel won a Nobel prize in literature in 2024.

This one is set in Russia during the 1917 wars that took place there (WW1/Revolutionary war etc) and it is pretty brutal. The two main protagonists are sisters of a long lived Russian family that has been part of the ruling class for generations, and deals with them having to live through the Cheka and Bolsheviks going after those they didn't like. And after all the real life horror around them, their house starts to become haunted.

To me it was a really fascinating take on Russian history and the government changes from royalty to communism - and the old Russian folk stories/history meshes really well with the supernatural. This one is definitely unique. Terrifying and unique.

This one is rough. The story repeats a lot of content over and over again and while it is indeed a haunted house story, it also includes a demon and a whoooooole bunch of PTSD and gore that won't stop letting you know why it's happening. The story is interesting enough but because the author is in his eighties, the dialogue and phrasing can be really weird and outdated. I'm sure someone who's from the UK will probably have an easier time reading this one but for someone in Canada who isn't in their eighties, it's a tough slog. I've never heard some of the phrases in this book before and I've read and watched a lot of BBC shows and movies.

The editing is bad here. Very bad. The stiff dialogue gets the story along but details and comments get repeated every few pages and by the time you get to the end of it, you realize you've read the same lines so often you can almost guess what'll happen right after. And holy shit if I read the word/name Frank one more damn time I'm going to pull out my hair and scream. There are over 300 pages here and at least 50 of them could be cut just for saying the same plot point in a different way. Every time the main character finds out about a horrible death happening she gets to hear it from at least one other character twice - and everyone explodes. I swear to god it becomes boring. I was watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice right before this and it just became almost comical just how often people exploded and their guts flew everywhere. (Kinda like a very specific scene with where Winona Rider's character meets her least favorite person again after so many years and he 'spills his guts' to her).

If you're like me and you read most stuff to the end even if it pisses you the hell off, feel free to take a shot at this one. If you don't, I wouldn't blame you - it's interesting but just such a struggle to finish.

This one is super dark and heavy. There's a monster here but it's more than just the supernatural one lurking in the smoke.

This one is a murder mystery set in 1800 Korea. There's a lot in here and it's all interesting - tons of murder and torture, but also so much emotion and history weaved into the story. Definitely worth a read but be warned, it will probably make you cry (just like I did).

This one is a mini story about Gamache and three pines, which I'm pretty sure the plot was reused in another longer novel sized version. It was super familiar and a much less polished version of the larger story. Kind of like getting a glimpse of a first draft that hasn't really been touched yet.

This one is spooky - an old town on an almost forgotten island, filled with secrets and monsters. But only some of those are human.

This one had an unexpected twist at the end - one I wasn't entirely happy with, but could kind of sense at while I was reading through it. It starts as survival horror and then morphs into something entirely not that.

1. The Haunting of Payne's Hollow (Kelley Armstrong).

This one is grim. There's a lot of murder here, SA and abuse - I wasn't actually sure what was going to happen just by reading the back panel, and it definitely wasn't what I thought was going to happen. The SA is hard to read, as is the abuse/murder, but it's written in a way to make it as horrifying as it is in real life, not just for shock. The last quarter of the book left me angry and crying for all the characters but it was a good kind of crying. The ending was definitely worth the pain.

This one is a version of the little mermaid if the genders were reversed - but really it's so much more than that. I think this is my favorite book that I started and stopped in 2025. I finally finished it now that I got a copy again from the library and I can say it's definitely overly romantic at times but it's also deeply painful and sorrowful. There's a lot to unpack here and I don't think there are any real warnings to be had (aside from if you're terrified of drowning. But that's also in the title so it's kind of already there.)

This one is a hard read - not because it's difficult but because the content is so dark and upsetting at times that it's hard to see how there could be any light afterwards. The is death in these pages and it is some of the worst I've read because it's real. This one isn't entirely fiction. The characters are but the information isn't.

There's a lot for history here that hurts to read about and I can definitely see why this novel won a Nobel prize in literature in 2024.

This one is set in Russia during the 1917 wars that took place there (WW1/Revolutionary war etc) and it is pretty brutal. The two main protagonists are sisters of a long lived Russian family that has been part of the ruling class for generations, and deals with them having to live through the Cheka and Bolsheviks going after those they didn't like. And after all the real life horror around them, their house starts to become haunted.

To me it was a really fascinating take on Russian history and the government changes from royalty to communism - and the old Russian folk stories/history meshes really well with the supernatural. This one is definitely unique. Terrifying and unique.

This one is rough. The story repeats a lot of content over and over again and while it is indeed a haunted house story, it also includes a demon and a whoooooole bunch of PTSD and gore that won't stop letting you know why it's happening. The story is interesting enough but because the author is in his eighties, the dialogue and phrasing can be really weird and outdated. I'm sure someone who's from the UK will probably have an easier time reading this one but for someone in Canada who isn't in their eighties, it's a tough slog. I've never heard some of the phrases in this book before and I've read and watched a lot of BBC shows and movies.

The editing is bad here. Very bad. The stiff dialogue gets the story along but details and comments get repeated every few pages and by the time you get to the end of it, you realize you've read the same lines so often you can almost guess what'll happen right after. And holy shit if I read the word/name Frank one more damn time I'm going to pull out my hair and scream. There are over 300 pages here and at least 50 of them could be cut just for saying the same plot point in a different way. Every time the main character finds out about a horrible death happening she gets to hear it from at least one other character twice - and everyone explodes. I swear to god it becomes boring. I was watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice right before this and it just became almost comical just how often people exploded and their guts flew everywhere. (Kinda like a very specific scene with where Winona Rider's character meets her least favorite person again after so many years and he 'spills his guts' to her).

If you're like me and you read most stuff to the end even if it pisses you the hell off, feel free to take a shot at this one. If you don't, I wouldn't blame you - it's interesting but just such a struggle to finish.

This one is super dark and heavy. There's a monster here but it's more than just the supernatural one lurking in the smoke.

This one is a murder mystery set in 1800 Korea. There's a lot in here and it's all interesting - tons of murder and torture, but also so much emotion and history weaved into the story. Definitely worth a read but be warned, it will probably make you cry (just like I did).

This one is a mini story about Gamache and three pines, which I'm pretty sure the plot was reused in another longer novel sized version. It was super familiar and a much less polished version of the larger story. Kind of like getting a glimpse of a first draft that hasn't really been touched yet.

This one is spooky - an old town on an almost forgotten island, filled with secrets and monsters. But only some of those are human.

- sneezed wrong

- turned your neck a little too fast

- slept weird

- took the trash out to the curb and stepped at a slightly different angle than usual

- breathed

- failed to breathe properly

- breathed in the wrong stuff. Allergy time

- looked too hard at something too far away

1. The Haunting of Payne's Hollow (Kelley Armstrong).

This one is grim. There's a lot of murder here, SA and abuse - I wasn't actually sure what was going to happen just by reading the back panel, and it definitely wasn't what I thought was going to happen. The SA is hard to read, as is the abuse/murder, but it's written in a way to make it as horrifying as it is in real life, not just for shock. The last quarter of the book left me angry and crying for all the characters but it was a good kind of crying. The ending was definitely worth the pain.

This one is a version of the little mermaid if the genders were reversed - but really it's so much more than that. I think this is my favorite book that I started and stopped in 2025. I finally finished it now that I got a copy again from the library and I can say it's definitely overly romantic at times but it's also deeply painful and sorrowful. There's a lot to unpack here and I don't think there are any real warnings to be had (aside from if you're terrified of drowning. But that's also in the title so it's kind of already there.)

This one is a hard read - not because it's difficult but because the content is so dark and upsetting at times that it's hard to see how there could be any light afterwards. The is death in these pages and it is some of the worst I've read because it's real. This one isn't entirely fiction. The characters are but the information isn't.

There's a lot for history here that hurts to read about and I can definitely see why this novel won a Nobel prize in literature in 2024.

This one is set in Russia during the 1917 wars that took place there (WW1/Revolutionary war etc) and it is pretty brutal. The two main protagonists are sisters of a long lived Russian family that has been part of the ruling class for generations, and deals with them having to live through the Cheka and Bolsheviks going after those they didn't like. And after all the real life horror around them, their house starts to become haunted.

To me it was a really fascinating take on Russian history and the government changes from royalty to communism - and the old Russian folk stories/history meshes really well with the supernatural. This one is definitely unique. Terrifying and unique.

This one is rough. The story repeats a lot of content over and over again and while it is indeed a haunted house story, it also includes a demon and a whoooooole bunch of PTSD and gore that won't stop letting you know why it's happening. The story is interesting enough but because the author is in his eighties, the dialogue and phrasing can be really weird and outdated. I'm sure someone who's from the UK will probably have an easier time reading this one but for someone in Canada who isn't in their eighties, it's a tough slog. I've never heard some of the phrases in this book before and I've read and watched a lot of BBC shows and movies.

The editing is bad here. Very bad. The stiff dialogue gets the story along but details and comments get repeated every few pages and by the time you get to the end of it, you realize you've read the same lines so often you can almost guess what'll happen right after. And holy shit if I read the word/name Frank one more damn time I'm going to pull out my hair and scream. There are over 300 pages here and at least 50 of them could be cut just for saying the same plot point in a different way. Every time the main character finds out about a horrible death happening she gets to hear it from at least one other character twice - and everyone explodes. I swear to god it becomes boring. I was watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice right before this and it just became almost comical just how often people exploded and their guts flew everywhere. (Kinda like a very specific scene with where Winona Rider's character meets her least favorite person again after so many years and he 'spills his guts' to her).

If you're like me and you read most stuff to the end even if it pisses you the hell off, feel free to take a shot at this one. If you don't, I wouldn't blame you - it's interesting but just such a struggle to finish.

This one is super dark and heavy. There's a monster here but it's more than just the supernatural one lurking in the smoke.

This one is a murder mystery set in 1800 Korea. There's a lot in here and it's all interesting - tons of murder and torture, but also so much emotion and history weaved into the story. Definitely worth a read but be warned, it will probably make you cry (just like I did).

This one is a mini story about Gamache and three pines, which I'm pretty sure the plot was reused in another longer novel sized version. It was super familiar and a much less polished version of the larger story. Kind of like getting a glimpse of a first draft that hasn't really been touched yet.

1. The Haunting of Payne's Hollow (Kelley Armstrong).

This one is grim. There's a lot of murder here, SA and abuse - I wasn't actually sure what was going to happen just by reading the back panel, and it definitely wasn't what I thought was going to happen. The SA is hard to read, as is the abuse/murder, but it's written in a way to make it as horrifying as it is in real life, not just for shock. The last quarter of the book left me angry and crying for all the characters but it was a good kind of crying. The ending was definitely worth the pain.

This one is a version of the little mermaid if the genders were reversed - but really it's so much more than that. I think this is my favorite book that I started and stopped in 2025. I finally finished it now that I got a copy again from the library and I can say it's definitely overly romantic at times but it's also deeply painful and sorrowful. There's a lot to unpack here and I don't think there are any real warnings to be had (aside from if you're terrified of drowning. But that's also in the title so it's kind of already there.)

This one is a hard read - not because it's difficult but because the content is so dark and upsetting at times that it's hard to see how there could be any light afterwards. The is death in these pages and it is some of the worst I've read because it's real. This one isn't entirely fiction. The characters are but the information isn't.

There's a lot for history here that hurts to read about and I can definitely see why this novel won a Nobel prize in literature in 2024.

This one is set in Russia during the 1917 wars that took place there (WW1/Revolutionary war etc) and it is pretty brutal. The two main protagonists are sisters of a long lived Russian family that has been part of the ruling class for generations, and deals with them having to live through the Cheka and Bolsheviks going after those they didn't like. And after all the real life horror around them, their house starts to become haunted.

To me it was a really fascinating take on Russian history and the government changes from royalty to communism - and the old Russian folk stories/history meshes really well with the supernatural. This one is definitely unique. Terrifying and unique.

This one is rough. The story repeats a lot of content over and over again and while it is indeed a haunted house story, it also includes a demon and a whoooooole bunch of PTSD and gore that won't stop letting you know why it's happening. The story is interesting enough but because the author is in his eighties, the dialogue and phrasing can be really weird and outdated. I'm sure someone who's from the UK will probably have an easier time reading this one but for someone in Canada who isn't in their eighties, it's a tough slog. I've never heard some of the phrases in this book before and I've read and watched a lot of BBC shows and movies.

The editing is bad here. Very bad. The stiff dialogue gets the story along but details and comments get repeated every few pages and by the time you get to the end of it, you realize you've read the same lines so often you can almost guess what'll happen right after. And holy shit if I read the word/name Frank one more damn time I'm going to pull out my hair and scream. There are over 300 pages here and at least 50 of them could be cut just for saying the same plot point in a different way. Every time the main character finds out about a horrible death happening she gets to hear it from at least one other character twice - and everyone explodes. I swear to god it becomes boring. I was watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice right before this and it just became almost comical just how often people exploded and their guts flew everywhere. (Kinda like a very specific scene with where Winona Rider's character meets her least favorite person again after so many years and he 'spills his guts' to her).

If you're like me and you read most stuff to the end even if it pisses you the hell off, feel free to take a shot at this one. If you don't, I wouldn't blame you - it's interesting but just such a struggle to finish.

This one is super dark and heavy. There's a monster here but it's more than just the supernatural one lurking in the smoke.

This one is a murder mystery set in 1800 Korea. There's a lot in here and it's all interesting - tons of murder and torture, but also so much emotion and history weaved into the story. Definitely worth a read but be warned, it will probably make you cry (just like I did).

1. The Haunting of Payne's Hollow (Kelley Armstrong).

This one is grim. There's a lot of murder here, SA and abuse - I wasn't actually sure what was going to happen just by reading the back panel, and it definitely wasn't what I thought was going to happen. The SA is hard to read, as is the abuse/murder, but it's written in a way to make it as horrifying as it is in real life, not just for shock. The last quarter of the book left me angry and crying for all the characters but it was a good kind of crying. The ending was definitely worth the pain.

This one is a version of the little mermaid if the genders were reversed - but really it's so much more than that. I think this is my favorite book that I started and stopped in 2025. I finally finished it now that I got a copy again from the library and I can say it's definitely overly romantic at times but it's also deeply painful and sorrowful. There's a lot to unpack here and I don't think there are any real warnings to be had (aside from if you're terrified of drowning. But that's also in the title so it's kind of already there.)

This one is a hard read - not because it's difficult but because the content is so dark and upsetting at times that it's hard to see how there could be any light afterwards. The is death in these pages and it is some of the worst I've read because it's real. This one isn't entirely fiction. The characters are but the information isn't.

There's a lot for history here that hurts to read about and I can definitely see why this novel won a Nobel prize in literature in 2024.

This one is set in Russia during the 1917 wars that took place there (WW1/Revolutionary war etc) and it is pretty brutal. The two main protagonists are sisters of a long lived Russian family that has been part of the ruling class for generations, and deals with them having to live through the Cheka and Bolsheviks going after those they didn't like. And after all the real life horror around them, their house starts to become haunted.

To me it was a really fascinating take on Russian history and the government changes from royalty to communism - and the old Russian folk stories/history meshes really well with the supernatural. This one is definitely unique. Terrifying and unique.

This one is rough. The story repeats a lot of content over and over again and while it is indeed a haunted house story, it also includes a demon and a whoooooole bunch of PTSD and gore that won't stop letting you know why it's happening. The story is interesting enough but because the author is in his eighties, the dialogue and phrasing can be really weird and outdated. I'm sure someone who's from the UK will probably have an easier time reading this one but for someone in Canada who isn't in their eighties, it's a tough slog. I've never heard some of the phrases in this book before and I've read and watched a lot of BBC shows and movies.

The editing is bad here. Very bad. The stiff dialogue gets the story along but details and comments get repeated every few pages and by the time you get to the end of it, you realize you've read the same lines so often you can almost guess what'll happen right after. And holy shit if I read the word/name Frank one more damn time I'm going to pull out my hair and scream. There are over 300 pages here and at least 50 of them could be cut just for saying the same plot point in a different way. Every time the main character finds out about a horrible death happening she gets to hear it from at least one other character twice - and everyone explodes. I swear to god it becomes boring. I was watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice right before this and it just became almost comical just how often people exploded and their guts flew everywhere. (Kinda like a very specific scene with where Winona Rider's character meets her least favorite person again after so many years and he 'spills his guts' to her).

If you're like me and you read most stuff to the end even if it pisses you the hell off, feel free to take a shot at this one. If you don't, I wouldn't blame you - it's interesting but just such a struggle to finish.

This one is super dark and heavy. There's a monster here but it's more than just the supernatural one lurking in the smoke.

This one is a murder mystery set in 1800 Korea. There's a lot in here and it's all interesting - tons of murder and torture, but also so much emotion and history weaved into the story. Definitely worth a read but be warned, it will probably make you cry (just like I did).

1. The Haunting of Payne's Hollow (Kelley Armstrong).

This one is grim. There's a lot of murder here, SA and abuse - I wasn't actually sure what was going to happen just by reading the back panel, and it definitely wasn't what I thought was going to happen. The SA is hard to read, as is the abuse/murder, but it's written in a way to make it as horrifying as it is in real life, not just for shock. The last quarter of the book left me angry and crying for all the characters but it was a good kind of crying. The ending was definitely worth the pain.

This one is a version of the little mermaid if the genders were reversed - but really it's so much more than that. I think this is my favorite book that I started and stopped in 2025. I finally finished it now that I got a copy again from the library and I can say it's definitely overly romantic at times but it's also deeply painful and sorrowful. There's a lot to unpack here and I don't think there are any real warnings to be had (aside from if you're terrified of drowning. But that's also in the title so it's kind of already there.)

This one is a hard read - not because it's difficult but because the content is so dark and upsetting at times that it's hard to see how there could be any light afterwards. The is death in these pages and it is some of the worst I've read because it's real. This one isn't entirely fiction. The characters are but the information isn't.

There's a lot for history here that hurts to read about and I can definitely see why this novel won a Nobel prize in literature in 2024.

This one is set in Russia during the 1917 wars that took place there (WW1/Revolutionary war etc) and it is pretty brutal. The two main protagonists are sisters of a long lived Russian family that has been part of the ruling class for generations, and deals with them having to live through the Cheka and Bolsheviks going after those they didn't like. And after all the real life horror around them, their house starts to become haunted.

To me it was a really fascinating take on Russian history and the government changes from royalty to communism - and the old Russian folk stories/history meshes really well with the supernatural. This one is definitely unique. Terrifying and unique.

This one is rough. The story repeats a lot of content over and over again and while it is indeed a haunted house story, it also includes a demon and a whoooooole bunch of PTSD and gore that won't stop letting you know why it's happening. The story is interesting enough but because the author is in his eighties, the dialogue and phrasing can be really weird and outdated. I'm sure someone who's from the UK will probably have an easier time reading this one but for someone in Canada who isn't in their eighties, it's a tough slog. I've never heard some of the phrases in this book before and I've read and watched a lot of BBC shows and movies.

The editing is bad here. Very bad. The stiff dialogue gets the story along but details and comments get repeated every few pages and by the time you get to the end of it, you realize you've read the same lines so often you can almost guess what'll happen right after. And holy shit if I read the word/name Frank one more damn time I'm going to pull out my hair and scream. There are over 300 pages here and at least 50 of them could be cut just for saying the same plot point in a different way. Every time the main character finds out about a horrible death happening she gets to hear it from at least one other character twice - and everyone explodes. I swear to god it becomes boring. I was watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice right before this and it just became almost comical just how often people exploded and their guts flew everywhere. (Kinda like a very specific scene with where Winona Rider's character meets her least favorite person again after so many years and he 'spills his guts' to her).

If you're like me and you read most stuff to the end even if it pisses you the hell off, feel free to take a shot at this one. If you don't, I wouldn't blame you - it's interesting but just such a struggle to finish.

This one is super dark and heavy. There's a monster here but it's more than just the supernatural one lurking in the smoke.

This one is a murder mystery set in 1800 Korea. There's a lot in here and it's all interesting - tons of murder and torture, but also so much emotion and history weaved into the story. Definitely worth a read but be warned, it will probably make you cry (just like I did).

1. The Haunting of Payne's Hollow (Kelley Armstrong).

This one is grim. There's a lot of murder here, SA and abuse - I wasn't actually sure what was going to happen just by reading the back panel, and it definitely wasn't what I thought was going to happen. The SA is hard to read, as is the abuse/murder, but it's written in a way to make it as horrifying as it is in real life, not just for shock. The last quarter of the book left me angry and crying for all the characters but it was a good kind of crying. The ending was definitely worth the pain.

This one is a version of the little mermaid if the genders were reversed - but really it's so much more than that. I think this is my favorite book that I started and stopped in 2025. I finally finished it now that I got a copy again from the library and I can say it's definitely overly romantic at times but it's also deeply painful and sorrowful. There's a lot to unpack here and I don't think there are any real warnings to be had (aside from if you're terrified of drowning. But that's also in the title so it's kind of already there.)

This one is a hard read - not because it's difficult but because the content is so dark and upsetting at times that it's hard to see how there could be any light afterwards. The is death in these pages and it is some of the worst I've read because it's real. This one isn't entirely fiction. The characters are but the information isn't.

There's a lot for history here that hurts to read about and I can definitely see why this novel won a Nobel prize in literature in 2024.

This one is set in Russia during the 1917 wars that took place there (WW1/Revolutionary war etc) and it is pretty brutal. The two main protagonists are sisters of a long lived Russian family that has been part of the ruling class for generations, and deals with them having to live through the Cheka and Bolsheviks going after those they didn't like. And after all the real life horror around them, their house starts to become haunted.

To me it was a really fascinating take on Russian history and the government changes from royalty to communism - and the old Russian folk stories/history meshes really well with the supernatural. This one is definitely unique. Terrifying and unique.

This one is rough. The story repeats a lot of content over and over again and while it is indeed a haunted house story, it also includes a demon and a whoooooole bunch of PTSD and gore that won't stop letting you know why it's happening. The story is interesting enough but because the author is in his eighties, the dialogue and phrasing can be really weird and outdated. I'm sure someone who's from the UK will probably have an easier time reading this one but for someone in Canada who isn't in their eighties, it's a tough slog. I've never heard some of the phrases in this book before and I've read and watched a lot of BBC shows and movies.

The editing is bad here. Very bad. The stiff dialogue gets the story along but details and comments get repeated every few pages and by the time you get to the end of it, you realize you've read the same lines so often you can almost guess what'll happen right after. And holy shit if I read the word/name Frank one more damn time I'm going to pull out my hair and scream. There are over 300 pages here and at least 50 of them could be cut just for saying the same plot point in a different way. Every time the main character finds out about a horrible death happening she gets to hear it from at least one other character twice - and everyone explodes. I swear to god it becomes boring. I was watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice right before this and it just became almost comical just how often people exploded and their guts flew everywhere. (Kinda like a very specific scene with where Winona Rider's character meets her least favorite person again after so many years and he 'spills his guts' to her).

If you're like me and you read most stuff to the end even if it pisses you the hell off, feel free to take a shot at this one. If you don't, I wouldn't blame you - it's interesting but just such a struggle to finish.

This one is super dark and heavy. There's a monster here but it's more than just the supernatural one lurking in the smoke.

1. The Haunting of Payne's Hollow (Kelley Armstrong).

This one is grim. There's a lot of murder here, SA and abuse - I wasn't actually sure what was going to happen just by reading the back panel, and it definitely wasn't what I thought was going to happen. The SA is hard to read, as is the abuse/murder, but it's written in a way to make it as horrifying as it is in real life, not just for shock. The last quarter of the book left me angry and crying for all the characters but it was a good kind of crying. The ending was definitely worth the pain.

This one is a version of the little mermaid if the genders were reversed - but really it's so much more than that. I think this is my favorite book that I started and stopped in 2025. I finally finished it now that I got a copy again from the library and I can say it's definitely overly romantic at times but it's also deeply painful and sorrowful. There's a lot to unpack here and I don't think there are any real warnings to be had (aside from if you're terrified of drowning. But that's also in the title so it's kind of already there.)

This one is a hard read - not because it's difficult but because the content is so dark and upsetting at times that it's hard to see how there could be any light afterwards. The is death in these pages and it is some of the worst I've read because it's real. This one isn't entirely fiction. The characters are but the information isn't.

There's a lot for history here that hurts to read about and I can definitely see why this novel won a Nobel prize in literature in 2024.

This one is set in Russia during the 1917 wars that took place there (WW1/Revolutionary war etc) and it is pretty brutal. The two main protagonists are sisters of a long lived Russian family that has been part of the ruling class for generations, and deals with them having to live through the Cheka and Bolsheviks going after those they didn't like. And after all the real life horror around them, their house starts to become haunted.

To me it was a really fascinating take on Russian history and the government changes from royalty to communism - and the old Russian folk stories/history meshes really well with the supernatural. This one is definitely unique. Terrifying and unique.

This one is rough. The story repeats a lot of content over and over again and while it is indeed a haunted house story, it also includes a demon and a whoooooole bunch of PTSD and gore that won't stop letting you know why it's happening. The story is interesting enough but because the author is in his eighties, the dialogue and phrasing can be really weird and outdated. I'm sure someone who's from the UK will probably have an easier time reading this one but for someone in Canada who isn't in their eighties, it's a tough slog. I've never heard some of the phrases in this book before and I've read and watched a lot of BBC shows and movies.

The editing is bad here. Very bad. The stiff dialogue gets the story along but details and comments get repeated every few pages and by the time you get to the end of it, you realize you've read the same lines so often you can almost guess what'll happen right after. And holy shit if I read the word/name Frank one more damn time I'm going to pull out my hair and scream. There are over 300 pages here and at least 50 of them could be cut just for saying the same plot point in a different way. Every time the main character finds out about a horrible death happening she gets to hear it from at least one other character twice - and everyone explodes. I swear to god it becomes boring. I was watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice right before this and it just became almost comical just how often people exploded and their guts flew everywhere. (Kinda like a very specific scene with where Winona Rider's character meets her least favorite person again after so many years and he 'spills his guts' to her).

If you're like me and you read most stuff to the end even if it pisses you the hell off, feel free to take a shot at this one. If you don't, I wouldn't blame you - it's interesting but just such a struggle to finish.

1. The Haunting of Payne's Hollow (Kelley Armstrong).

This one is grim. There's a lot of murder here, SA and abuse - I wasn't actually sure what was going to happen just by reading the back panel, and it definitely wasn't what I thought was going to happen. The SA is hard to read, as is the abuse/murder, but it's written in a way to make it as horrifying as it is in real life, not just for shock. The last quarter of the book left me angry and crying for all the characters but it was a good kind of crying. The ending was definitely worth the pain.

This one is a version of the little mermaid if the genders were reversed - but really it's so much more than that. I think this is my favorite book that I started and stopped in 2025. I finally finished it now that I got a copy again from the library and I can say it's definitely overly romantic at times but it's also deeply painful and sorrowful. There's a lot to unpack here and I don't think there are any real warnings to be had (aside from if you're terrified of drowning. But that's also in the title so it's kind of already there.)

This one is a hard read - not because it's difficult but because the content is so dark and upsetting at times that it's hard to see how there could be any light afterwards. The is death in these pages and it is some of the worst I've read because it's real. This one isn't entirely fiction. The characters are but the information isn't.

There's a lot for history here that hurts to read about and I can definitely see why this novel won a Nobel prize in literature in 2024.

This one is set in Russia during the 1917 wars that took place there (WW1/Revolutionary war etc) and it is pretty brutal. The two main protagonists are sisters of a long lived Russian family that has been part of the ruling class for generations, and deals with them having to live through the Cheka and Bolsheviks going after those they didn't like. And after all the real life horror around them, their house starts to become haunted.

To me it was a really fascinating take on Russian history and the government changes from royalty to communism - and the old Russian folk stories/history meshes really well with the supernatural. This one is definitely unique. Terrifying and unique.

This one is rough. The story repeats a lot of content over and over again and while it is indeed a haunted house story, it also includes a demon and a whoooooole bunch of PTSD and gore that won't stop letting you know why it's happening. The story is interesting enough but because the author is in his eighties, the dialogue and phrasing can be really weird and outdated. I'm sure someone who's from the UK will probably have an easier time reading this one but for someone in Canada who isn't in their eighties, it's a tough slog. I've never heard some of the phrases in this book before and I've read and watched a lot of BBC shows and movies.

The editing is bad here. Very bad. The stiff dialogue gets the story along but details and comments get repeated every few pages and by the time you get to the end of it, you realize you've read the same lines so often you can almost guess what'll happen right after. And holy shit if I read the word/name Frank one more damn time I'm going to pull out my hair and scream. There are over 300 pages here and at least 50 of them could be cut just for saying the same plot point in a different way. Every time the main character finds out about a horrible death happening she gets to hear it from at least one other character twice - and everyone explodes. I swear to god it becomes boring. I was watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice right before this and it just became almost comical just how often people exploded and their guts flew everywhere. (Kinda like a very specific scene with where Winona Rider's character meets her least favorite person again after so many years and he 'spills his guts' to her).

If you're like me and you read most stuff to the end even if it pisses you the hell off, feel free to take a shot at this one. If you don't, I wouldn't blame you - it's interesting but just such a struggle to finish.

1. The Haunting of Payne's Hollow (Kelley Armstrong).

This one is grim. There's a lot of murder here, SA and abuse - I wasn't actually sure what was going to happen just by reading the back panel, and it definitely wasn't what I thought was going to happen. The SA is hard to read, as is the abuse/murder, but it's written in a way to make it as horrifying as it is in real life, not just for shock. The last quarter of the book left me angry and crying for all the characters but it was a good kind of crying. The ending was definitely worth the pain.

This one is a version of the little mermaid if the genders were reversed - but really it's so much more than that. I think this is my favorite book that I started and stopped in 2025. I finally finished it now that I got a copy again from the library and I can say it's definitely overly romantic at times but it's also deeply painful and sorrowful. There's a lot to unpack here and I don't think there are any real warnings to be had (aside from if you're terrified of drowning. But that's also in the title so it's kind of already there.)

This one is a hard read - not because it's difficult but because the content is so dark and upsetting at times that it's hard to see how there could be any light afterwards. The is death in these pages and it is some of the worst I've read because it's real. This one isn't entirely fiction. The characters are but the information isn't.

There's a lot for history here that hurts to read about and I can definitely see why this novel won a Nobel prize in literature in 2024.

This one is set in Russia during the 1917 wars that took place there (WW1/Revolutionary war etc) and it is pretty brutal. The two main protagonists are sisters of a long lived Russian family that has been part of the ruling class for generations, and deals with them having to live through the Cheka and Bolsheviks going after those they didn't like. And after all the real life horror around them, their house starts to become haunted.

To me it was a really fascinating take on Russian history and the government changes from royalty to communism - and the old Russian folk stories/history meshes really well with the supernatural. This one is definitely unique. Terrifying and unique.

1. The Haunting of Payne's Hollow (Kelley Armstrong).

This one is grim. There's a lot of murder here, SA and abuse - I wasn't actually sure what was going to happen just by reading the back panel, and it definitely wasn't what I thought was going to happen. The SA is hard to read, as is the abuse/murder, but it's written in a way to make it as horrifying as it is in real life, not just for shock. The last quarter of the book left me angry and crying for all the characters but it was a good kind of crying. The ending was definitely worth the pain.

This one is a version of the little mermaid if the genders were reversed - but really it's so much more than that. I think this is my favorite book that I started and stopped in 2025. I finally finished it now that I got a copy again from the library and I can say it's definitely overly romantic at times but it's also deeply painful and sorrowful. There's a lot to unpack here and I don't think there are any real warnings to be had (aside from if you're terrified of drowning. But that's also in the title so it's kind of already there.)

This one is a hard read - not because it's difficult but because the content is so dark and upsetting at times that it's hard to see how there could be any light afterwards. The is death in these pages and it is some of the worst I've read because it's real. This one isn't entirely fiction. The characters are but the information isn't.

There's a lot for history here that hurts to read about and I can definitely see why this novel won a Nobel prize in literature in 2024.

1. The Haunting of Payne's Hollow (Kelley Armstrong).

This one is grim. There's a lot of murder here, SA and abuse - I wasn't actually sure what was going to happen just by reading the back panel, and it definitely wasn't what I thought was going to happen. The SA is hard to read, as is the abuse/murder, but it's written in a way to make it as horrifying as it is in real life, not just for shock. The last quarter of the book left me angry and crying for all the characters but it was a good kind of crying. The ending was definitely worth the pain.

This one is a version of the little mermaid if the genders were reversed - but really it's so much more than that. I think this is my favorite book that I started and stopped in 2025. I finally finished it now that I got a copy again from the library and I can say it's definitely overly romantic at times but it's also deeply painful and sorrowful. There's a lot to unpack here and I don't think there are any real warnings to be had (aside from if you're terrified of drowning. But that's also in the title so it's kind of already there.)