Happy Fall You Guys!!!

Words can’t even express how thrilled I am to be deep into October (the best month of the year). I love all the spooky vibes, all the beautiful trees, all the returning TV shows , and mostly HALLOWEEN.  I have so much fun Halloween content coming for you guys on the blog! Lots of baking ideas, decorations, scary book recommendations, horrifying movie suggestions, and of course tons of Halloween costumes. You all know how hard I go on Halloween, haha. I have 3 costumes heading your way in the next few weeks.

So back to the post at hand…. No Spoilers I Promise!

I read quite a bit over the Summer & into early Fall. I hated a few, liked a lot, and LOVED ten of them. I haven’t done a Wrap-Up/Review in quite some time , and now that I have 10 brilliant books to tell you guys all about… it seemed like the ideal moment to strike!

I will stop rambling on and on, and let you get right into it. I hope you guys enjoy the post, and maybe you will find a book I mentioned that tickles your fancy.

Also PS, “Tickles Your Fancy” is actually a really creepy saying, and I just realized quite HOW creepy it is, while I typed out the words in my dark living room. Love that energy for me, haha.

In no particular order, here are the Top 10 Books I read over the Summer/Early Fall

1.) “We Were Never Here”

By, Andrea Bartz

THRILLER/MYSTERY

“Cognitive behavioral therapy is kind of the same thing: You examine your thoughts like a scientist so you can challenge the ones that don’t hold up. So let’s look at this fear, this belief or, or thought pattern you’ve noticed. Just because a feeling is real doesn’t mean it’s true.”- Andrea Bartz (We Were Never Here)

Oh my GOD this book was a twisted little journey. I saw this book being talked about a lot online, on Instagram, and mainly on Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club’s page. I had a credit to use up on Audible, so I decided to go for the Audiobook version of this book. It was narrated by Becca Tobin (who is an Actress I love), and she did a spectacular job. If I’m going to listen to an Audiobook, I need the narrator to be pretty great, or else I just can’t focus. I wish I had gotten the hard copy of the book, because I would have loved to pass this one around to my friends & family. I snapped the above photo of the book at my local Bookstore, so you guys could see the beautiful cover. I’ll share my thoughts below, with no spoilers that aren’t on the back of the book.

This book is a story about two young women, who are on an exotic vacation together. They are best friends, and have a intense passion for travelling and discovering new places together. The story starts out with them on Vacation in Chile, and everything is going great. The novel is all told from the POV of Emily, and in the first chapter we see her reflecting and thinking vaguely about something bad that happened the last time she and Kristin were on vacation. The last night of their trip in Chile, Kristen is attacked by a backpacker she met in the bar. She kills him in self defense, and she and Emily are left having to deal with this horrifying situation. They are far from home, and don’t trust the legal system where they are, and the girls panic thinking how they can cover this up. Then we learn the truly horrifying this is.. something very similar happened the year before on the girls last trip.

This all goes down in the first few chapters, and then this book takes OFF and never stops racing. It’s SO twisted and so much fun. We have our main character wondering if maybe this coincidence is too suspicious. The odds of these two attacks, and they way they ended so violently.. happening twice in the same way… leaves our protagonist wondering if maybe something is wrong with Kristen. Something sinister.

This story was INTENSE, and it reminded me a lot of the film “Brokedown Palace”.. in the way these two young girls get involved in a crime, in a country they don’t know  the language or how the law works over there.

I will attach the Indigo Plot Blurb as well here for you guys. 

(A backpacking trip has deadly consequences in this “eerie psychological thriller . . . with alluring locales, Hitchcockian tension, and possibly the best pair of female leads since Thelma and Louise” (BookPage), from the bestselling author of The Lost Night and The Herd.)

(Emily is having the time of her life—she’s in the mountains of Chile with her best friend, Kristen, on their annual reunion trip, and the women are feeling closer than ever. But on the last night of the trip, Emily enters their hotel suite to find blood and broken glass on the floor. Kristen says the cute backpacker she brought back to their room attacked her, and she had no choice but to kill him in self-defense. Even more shocking: The scene is horrifyingly similar to last year’s trip, when another backpacker wound up dead. Emily can’t believe it’s happened again—can lightning really strike twice?

Back home in Wisconsin, Emily struggles to bury her trauma, diving headfirst into a new relationship and throwing herself into work. But when Kristen shows up for a surprise visit, Emily is forced to confront their violent past. The more Kristen tries to keep Emily close, the more Emily questions her motives. As Emily feels the walls closing in on their cover-ups, she must reckon with the truth about her closest friend. Can Emily outrun the secrets she shares with Kristen, or will they destroy her relationship, her freedom—even her life?)

2.) “The Plot”

By, Jean Hanff Korelitz

THRILLER

“Once you were in possession of an actual idea, you owed it a debt for having chosen you, and not some other writer, and you paid that debt by getting down to work, not just as a journeyman fabricator of sentences but as an unshrinking artist ready to make painful, time-consuming, even self-flagellating mistakes.”- Jean Hanff Korelitz (The Plot)

Ohhh this was such a fantastic book! The second I heard the plot for this book, I was so intrigued. The premise of the story is so original and unique, which is ironic because that’s what this book “The Plot” is about. It’s about a incredible “Plot”. Very meta.

Basically this is the story of a man named Jacob who was once a very successional Novelist. His first book was a big hit, and he’s having a hard time writing and publishing anything else. Jacob teaches Creative Writing at a fancy MFA program, and it is there he meets Evan Parker. Evan is like the worlds biggest asshole, and he rolls up to the class SO full of himself. He boasts that this class has nothing to teach him, because he has the world’s BEST idea for a book. He says his idea is so good that it’s guaranteed to be a huge success. Jacob is curious, and once he hears Evan’s idea he has to agree. It IS a great idea.

A few years pass, and one day Jacob is thinking about his old rude student and wondering why he hasn’t seen this book published yet! He does a little online lurking and he is shocked to find out Evan is dead, and the book was never written. Jacob struggles with this, and in the end he decides to write the book for himself. He takes Evan’s idea, and writes the story with this amazing plot… and all is well for now. Then in the midst of Jacob’s new literary fame and success, he gets an e-mail calling him a thief. What follows is an intense, gripping, and wildly interesting story.

What I loved about this book was how much it talked in depth about Writers, and the process of writing. It goes into great detail about the Literary world, and it sort of asks of us the reader, to consider what is literary theft?  Jacob stole the idea for the book from Evan, but he didn’t plagiarize one word of it. He wrote every word of his own story, but the idea was stolen. Where does one draw the ethical line? Also a huge thrill in this book, is that it’s kind of a book-within-a-book, and I couldn’t WAIT to find out what this “impossible to fail mind blowing idea” was going to be.

I also randomly just found out this was a Jimmy Kimmel “Summer Read” pick, and that it won! He had the author on his show and everything.

I will attach the Indigo Plot Blurb as well here for you guys. 

(Hailed as “breathtakingly suspenseful,” Jean Hanff Korelitz”s The Plot is a propulsive read about a story too good not to steal, and the writer who steals it. Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he’s teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect; he hasn’t written-let alone published-anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then . . . he hears the plot.
Jake returns to the downward trajectory of his own career and braces himself for the supernova publication of Evan Parker’s first novel: but it never comes. When he discovers that his former student has died, presumably without ever completing his book, Jake does what any self-respecting writer would do with a story like that-a story that absolutely needs to be told.
In a few short years, all of Evan Parker’s predictions have come true, but Jake is the author enjoying the wave. He is wealthy, famous, praised and read all over the world. But at the height of his glorious new life, an e-mail arrives, the first salvo in a terrifying, anonymous campaign: You are a thief, it says.
As Jake struggles to understand his antagonist and hide the truth from his readers and his publishers, he begins to learn more about his late student, and what he discovers both amazes and terrifies him. Who was Evan Parker, and how did he get the idea for his “sure thing” of a novel? What is the real story behind the plot, and who stole it from whom?)

3.) “The Photographer”

By, Mary Dixie Carter

THRILLER

“I considered that my job- to convey to them that I understood their world.”- Mary Dixie Carter (The Photographer)

This book was one of those books you finish, and then can’t stop thinking about (not necessarily in a good way). I found this book so deeply disturbing, strange, and weirdly relatable.  The main character Delta is a photographer, who is known for her fantastic event photography, and beautiful portrait work. She shoots lots of children’s birthday parties, and gets to see the dynamics of all different types of families. I found the way she described her job so SO relatable, because as a photographer myself her words hit the nail on the head. However that being said, that is literally the ONLY thing I related to. Because Delta is a fucking stalker CREEP.

Basically Delta shoots a birthday party for the young daughter, of a very rich family called The Straub’s. She becomes obsessed immediately. Obsessed with the house, obsessed with the Husband, and the Wife too! The entire book is told inside Delta’s head too, and hearing her innermost thoughts is SO creepy I can’t even tell you. The things she thinks about the family, the way she photoshops herself into images of them on her computer. It is NEXT LEVEL stalking, and I LOVED every second of it.

This book fills you with dread, and so much unease. I was so afraid of Delta and so beyond creeped out. I just devoured this in one sitting, and I really hope you guys will check this one out.

I will attach the Indigo Plot Blurb as well here for you guys. 

(“A breathless psychological thriller about epic mind games.”-PEOPLE

WHEN PERFECT IMAGES

As a photographer, Delta Dawn observes the seemingly perfect lives of New York City”s elite: snapping photos of their children”s birthday parties, transforming images of stiff hugs and tearstained faces into visions of pure joy, and creating moments these parents long for.

ARE MADE OF BEAUTIFUL LIES

But when Delta is hired for Natalie Straub”s eleventh birthday, she finds herself wishing she wasn”t behind the lens but a part of the scene-in the Straub family”s gorgeous home and elegant life.

THE TRUTH WILL BE EXPOSED

That”s when Delta puts her plan in place, by babysitting for Natalie; befriending her mother, Amelia; finding chances to listen to her father, Fritz. Soon she”s bathing in the master bathtub, drinking their expensive wine, and eyeing the beautifully finished garden apartment in their townhouse. It seems she can never get close enough, until she discovers that photos aren”t all she can manipulate.)

4.) “You Love Me”

In The “YOU” Series, This is Book #3

By, Caroline Kepnes

THRILLER

“The iPhone killed romance and turned us all into lazy, nasty stalkers…”- Caroline Kepnes (You Love Me #3)

As you guys know, one of my all-time most loved books EVER, is “You” (the first book in Caroline Kepnes’s series). When I read it in 2015, it was unlike anything I had ever read. It was so deeply creepy, while also being so deeply funny. Being inside Joe Goldberg’s head and listening to his scathing social commentary… was EVERYTHING. The “You” series has also been adapted into to a Netflix series, and I love it so much as well. Penn Badgley couldn’t have portrayed Joe any better, he’s perfection. However the one thing about the show is that by Book #2 & Book #3 the show goes WAYY off book. It’s like a completely different story. I actually personally like that a lot, because it’s like we get a whole new Joe adventure.

I won’t go into the plot blurb or my feelings on this particular one, because it is the third in the series. I will attach the plot blurb for You #1, Book 1.. so you can get a feel for what the series is about. I can wholeheartedly say that all three books are brilliant, and I can’t wait to read/or watch on Netflix.. all the shenanigans our boy Joe will be getting up to.

Indigo Plot Blurb for “You, Book #1” 

(When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do: he Googles the name on her credit card.

There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance” meeting.

As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way—even if it means murder.

A terrifying exploration of how vulnerable we all are to stalking and manipulation, debut author Caroline Kepnes delivers a razor-sharp novel for our hyper-connected digital age. You is a compulsively readable page-turner that’s being compared to Gone Girl, American Psycho, and Stephen King’s Misery.)

5.) “People Like Them”

By, Samira Sedira/ Translated By, Lara Vergnaud

THRILLER/ Foreign Translated from French

“How could a seemingly “normal” person commit an atrocious crime?”- Samira Sedira (People Like Them)

I came across this little book randomly at Chapters a few months ago, and I was immediately hooked by some of the blurbs I read about it.

Such as…

“Icy and chilling . . . In sharply drawn sentences, Sedira summons the beauty of a small French village, and the shocking acts of the people inside it.” —Flynn Berry, Edgar Award-winning and bestselling author of Under the Harrow and Northern Spy

“Disturbing and powerful . . . I loved it.” —Leila Slimani, bestselling author of The Perfect Nanny

It’s a short book, less than 200 pages, and it’s so tiny it fits in your back pocket. I did NOT expect such an unassuming looking little book, to be so powerful/shocking.. and utterly unforgettable.

This story is about a small sleepy French village, and about a horrific crime that takes place there. It’s told in flashbacks, and in courtroom scenes. I loved how it was laid out, because it felt like you were watching a film. Everything unfolded with such precision, and it was just blow after blow of more and more shocks. I don’t want to spoil anything, and I think you should go in blind if you want to read this.

It’s a fascinating look into marriage, friendship, social classes, racial tension, and so many other important and vital things. This little book packs a punch!

I will attach the Indigo Plot Blurb as well here for you guys. 

(Anna and Constant Guillot live with their two daughters in the peaceful, remote mountain village of Carmac, largely deaf to the upheavals of the outside world. Everyone in Carmac knows each other, and most of its residents look alike—until Bakary and Sylvia Langlois arrive with their three children.

Wealthy and flashy, the family of five are outsiders in the small town, their impressive chalet and three expensive cars a stark contrast to the modesty of those of their neighbors. Despite their differences, the Langlois and the Guillots form an uneasy, ambiguous friendship. But when both families begin experiencing financial troubles, the underlying class and racial tensions of their relationship come to a breaking point, and the unthinkable happens.

With piercing psychological insight and gripping storytelling, People Like Them asks: How could a seemingly “normal” person commit an atrocious crime? How could that person”s loved ones ever come to terms with it afterward? And how well can you really know your own spouse?)

6.) “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo”

By, Taylor Jenkins Reid 

ROMANCE/ HISTORICAL FICTION/ OLD HOLLYWOOD

“Evelyn looks at me with purpose. “Do you understand what I’m telling you? When you’re given an opportunity to change your life, be ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen. The world doesn’t give things, you take things. If you learn one thing from me, it should probably be that.”- Taylor Jenkins Reid (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo)

This book has so much hype, I feel like I’m the latest person in the whole world to arrive at the party haha. I don’t read a ton of Romance, or books set in the 1950’s, but I figured I needed to see what all the fuss was about.

This is the story of an old Hollywood legend, named Evelyn Hugo. She approaches a local Journalist named Monique, and wants to get her to turn her life story into a book. It’s all very mysterious, and Monique has no idea why the hell Evelyn wants HER specifically. Nonetheless she agrees to do it, and then the book gets rolling. We get to hear from Evelyn about her entire life, as a young girl dreaming of being a star, to becoming one of the most famous Actresses in the world. Also we get all the dirt on all SEVEN husbands! This book was so cute, and so much fun. It has one of the most adorable love stories ever, but I won’t spoil with who 😉

I just found this book was the perfect escape from reality. You are immersed in Evelyn’s life in Old Hollywood, and it’s just delightful. I think this would make a fantastic Netflix Limited Series. I hope they do that! Judging by how popular this book is, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.

I will attach the Indigo Plot Blurb as well here for you guys. 

(Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.)

7.) “Don’t Call It A Cult: The Shocking Story of Keith Raniere & The Women of NXIVM”

By, Sarah Berman

True Crime/ Non-Fiction/ Investigative 

I have been so fascinated by the NXIVM cult scandal, and it’s ongoing trial.. ever since seeing the HBO Documentary series “The Vow”. I was horrified by everything I saw in that Documentary, and when  I saw this book online I knew I had to have it. I wanted to know absolutely everything about this whole thing. I find Cults fascinating, and the fact this particular one had a Vancouver branch is wild!

This book is the most readable Non-Fiction I’ve ever read. Sarah Berman manages to cover SO much information, but delivers it in such a great fast paced way. It felt like reading a thriller! I was so gripped I couldn’t put this one down. It was such a nuanced look into every facet of this whole organization, and covers literally anything and everything you could ever want to know about this case. Be warned it’s not an easy read, and it deals with some very upsetting descriptions of sexual and psychological abuse.

I will attach the Indigo Plot Blurb as well here for you guys.

(“Don”t Call It A Cult is the most detailed, well-reported, and nuanced look at NXIVM”s history, its supporters, and those left destroyed in its wake. If you want to understand NXIVM–and other groups like it–reading Sarah Berman”s account is essential.”
–Scaachi Koul, bestselling author of One Day We”ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter

They draw you in with the promise of empowerment, self-discovery, women helping women. The more secretive those connections are, the more exclusive you feel. Little did you know, you just joined a cult.

Sex trafficking. Self-help coaching. Forced labour. Mentorship. Multi-level marketing. Gaslighting. Investigative journalist Sarah Berman explores the shocking practices of NXIVM, an organization run by Keith Raniere and his high-profile enablers (Seagram heir Clare Bronfman; Smallville actor Allison Mack; Battlestar Galactica actor Nicki Clyne). In her deeply researched account, Berman unravels how young women seeking creative coaching and networking opportunities found themselves blackmailed, literally branded, near-starved, and enslaved. With the help of the Bronfman fortune Raniere built a wall of silence around these abuses, leveraging the legal system to go after enemies and whistleblowers.

Don”t Call It a Cult shows that these abuses looked very different from the inside, where young women initially received mentorship and protection. Don”t Call It a Cult is a riveting account of NXIVM”s rise to power, its ability to evade prosecution for decades, and the investigation that finally revealed its dark secrets to the world. It explores why so many were drawn to its message of empowerment yet could not recognize its manipulative and harmful leader for what he was–a criminal.)

8.) “The Last House on Needless Street”

By, Catriona Ward

Horror/ Psychological Thriller

“I had always felt that there was something wrong with me. I was like one of the tracings I did on her baking paper, a bad one, where the comic book underneath slipped; the lines slewed across the page, and the picture became a monstrous version of itself.”- Catriona Ward (The Last House on Needless Street)

Wow. Wow. Wow. This book is a masterpiece. It’s a horror novel, it’s a psychological study, a murder mystery, a family story, a dreamscape of horror… and so much more. I had no idea what this book was going to be about, or what the tone of it would be in the slightest.

I am hesitant to say anything at all about this book, because it’s one of those stories that starts as one thing, and rapidly descends into another. It flips back and forth in tone, and genre… it’s wild. There were some parts where I said out loud “what the fuck am I READING?!”. I felt very confused in parts, and just completely shocked. It all came together in the end, so that’s one thing I will say. If you are reading this and are thinking “What the fuck am I reading”, like myself.. I promise you just hang in there. This is really at it’s heart a very sad story, but it’s also terrifying.

I will attach the Indigo Plot Blurb as well here for you guys.

(“The buzz…is real. I”ve read it and was blown away. It”s a true nerve-shredder that keeps its mind-blowing secrets to the very end.” -Stephen King

Catriona Ward”s The Last House on Needless Street is a shocking and immersive read perfect for fans of Gone Girl and The Haunting of Hill House.

“The new face of literary dark fiction.” -Sarah Pinborough, New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes

In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three.

A teenage girl who isn”t allowed outside, not after last time.
A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory.
And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible.

An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all.)

9.) “Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke”

By, Eric LaRocca

HORROR

“At the end of each day, he used to ask me, “what have you done today to deserve your eyes?”- Eric LaRocca (Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke)

This was probably the most fucked up thing I’ve ever read. Ever.

This book is short, I read it in under an hour. Only 102 pages!

I read it as an e-book, because it was really hard to find to buy the hardcopy.  I HAVE to  hunt it down now, because it’s a new Horror classic in my mind.

This entire book is told all through Instant Messenger chat. It’s as if you are reading someone’s DM’s back and forth with one person.

It all begins when one woman reaches out to inquire about buying an apple peeler, the other woman is selling online. What follows is them becoming friends online, and it then goes completely off the rails. It’s SO SO SO disturbing, and sick. Huge trigger warning for intense gore, body horror, and just everything you could possibly imagine. It’s shocking honestly. I still feel sick thinking about some of the scenes.

I just LOVED it. I didn’t expect to have such an intense experience reading this short little book. It’s basically like you are reading these girls instant messages to each other, and watching them fall into the most depraved situation ever. Readers beware!

I will attach the Indigo Plot Blurb as well here for you guys.

(Sadomasochism. Obsession. Death.

A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat room in the early 2000s — a darkness that threatens to forever transform them once they finally succumb to their most horrific desires.

What have you done today to deserve your eyes?)

10.) “We Need To Do Something”

By, Max Booth III

Horror

This is another little Horror short story that I got my mitts on. I won’t lie this one is almost if not MORE disturbing that the one I just talked about above! I don’t know if maybe I just have a weak stomach, and don’t read enough Horror.. but these two little books were both HORRIFYING. I’m never going to be able to have a normal sleep again haha. I just found out this little book was made into a movie, so I need to watch this immediately.

The set-up for this story is relatively simple. A family of four take shelter in their bathroom, during a Tornado warning. Then all hell breaks loose. The things that happen to this family while they are trapped in this bathroom… ahhh I’ll never be able to forget. Very similar warning for this book as the one before, tons of gore, lots of sick stuff. But hey.. if you are a Horror fan, you will devour this.

I will attach the GoodReads Plot Blurb as well here for you guys.

(A family on the verge of self-destruction finds themselves isolated in their bathroom during a tornado warning.)

Thank you guys SO much for reading,

See you all very soon with some Fall Content & Photos from my Banff & Tofino trips!

xo,

Carly