{I've Been Reading} Adrift

 Adrift by Will Dean 

A married couple and their son, living on a Britist canal boat in Illinois and moving farther and farther from town, begin to unravel. This book reminded me of The Shining, without the supernatural elements  or extreme isolation. Imagine what would have happened if Wendy was writing a book and Jack realized it was better than his own efforts -- that's the awful situation facing the wife in this book. I've got mixed feelings about it. The tension and sense of dread are agonizing. I kept wanting to scream at the characters to do something, anything, to stop what was happening to them. My one complaint about the book is that it didn't feel like it was set in the United States. Some of the details and descriptions felt "off" and a few were absolutely glaring. 

House of Splinters by Laura Purcell

This wonderfully creepy book tells the story of Belinda Bainbridge who moves with her husband and children to his family's estate.  I didn't realize when I first picked it up that this is a prequel to another book, but that didn't interfere with my enjoyment at all. I don't think I've ever read a ghost story set in the 1700s, so it was a neat change of pace. Belinda fears for her children's safety, both from the perils of an old moldering house and  from the "silent companions," wooden figures that seem to be lurking around every corner. (These are a real thing -- look up "dummy boards" if you're curious about them.) I can't wait to read more by this author. 

A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage by MK Oliver

Lalla Rook's priorities are....interesting. She's just as concerned with convincing the other moms at her four-year-old son's birthday party that she made his store bought cake as she is with the body still leaking blood into her living room rug. Driving around with a dead man in the back of her SUV doesn't seem to phase her at all. As long as her daughter gets admitted into that exclusive private school and she can move her family into a more expensive house, she'll be satisfied. The writing is good enough and the plot twists in some interesting ways, but I really didn't care what happened to the protagonist. She lacks the charisma that's kept me turning pages in other books with serial killers as the main characters.  

Disclosure -- The publishers provided me with advance review copies. 

{I've Been Reading} Trad Wife

 The Ravine by Maia Chance 

Set on an island in the Pacific Northwest, this wonderfully creepy thriller kept me turning pages until the end. I love folk horror and this is a fascinating slow burn that definitely delivers. After struggling with her fertility for years, Harlow steps away from her high stress job and moves with her husband and stepson to his childhood home. She has little in common with her next door neighbor or the other moms who take their children to KinderWild, a forest preschool that seems a little too cultish. An island full of nearly identical blonde children, strange religious symbols, her husband's late night trips into the forest and odd behavior.... this book was right up my alley!  

Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer 

This was a wild read!  Camille is a wannabe influencer with a perfect home and a wealthy husband who buys her everything she needs to create their perfectly curated life. What she can't order online -- the thing she knows will absolutely explode her subscriber count -- is a baby, but as hard as she tries, she's not getting pregnant. So she visits the creepy old well behind her house and throws a shiny penny in (her less aesthetically pleasing change goes into donation boxes) and a demonic creature comes to her and before she knows it, she's trying to figure out how to write social media posts documenting a pregnancy that's moving way too fast. I've been a stay a home mom for a loooong time, so I don't get as riled up about the whole tradwife thing as a lot of people seem to. But Camille is grating. Her bamboo dish drainer and hand stitched dishtowels and perfect outfits, not to mention her relationship with her husband, are absolute rage bait. But that Rosemary's Baby twist she willingly threw into her own life? I didn't have to like Camille to enjoy reading about her. 

The Body by Bethany C. Morrow

The book opens with a car crash and, as Mavis calls her husband and he hurries to her side at the hospital, their reactions had me guessing at their relationship and what was actually going on between the two of them. The whole focus of the story is on their marriage and their vows to one another. I feel like I should have loved this one. The type of horror is right up my alley but, for whatever reason I can't put my finger on, the horrific events didn't have much impact when they actually happened. They almost seemed like an afterthought compared to other details. 

Disclosure -- The publishers provided me with advance review copies.