Audiobook Review: Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
Incidents Around the House
Author: Josh Malerman
Narrator: Delanie Nicole Gill
Published: June 25, 2024
Audiobook: 8 hours 23 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: February 24- March 1, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
A chilling horror novel about a haunting told from the perspective of a young girl whose troubled family is targeted by an entity she calls “Other Mommy,” from the New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box.
To eight-year-old Bela, her family is her world. There’s Mommy, Daddo, and Grandma Ruth. But there is also Other Mommy, a malevolent entity who asks her every day: “Can I go inside your heart?”
When horrifying incidents around the house signal that Other Mommy is growing tired of asking Bela the question over and over, Bela understands that unless she says yes, her family will soon pay.
Other Mommy is getting restless, stronger, bolder. Only the bonds of family can keep Bela safe, but other incidents show cracks in her parents’ marriage. The safety Bela relies on is about to unravel.
But Other Mommy needs an answer.
Incidents Around the House is a chilling, wholly unique tale of true horror about a family as haunted as their home.
Jessica’s Review:
This was one extremely creepy novel! Similar to the book Room by Emma Donoghue, Incidents is from the perspective of a child. In Incidents 8-year-old Bela is our narrator and also gives us our point of view.
Mommy was not very likable for me and I found Dado a strange name, though I did like him just a little more than Mommy. And “Other Mommy” was down right frightening. “Other Mommy” wants something and will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. Malerman did a great job giving us the perspective of a young girl with the variety of emotions Bela experiences over the course of the novel, especially in the last quarter of the book.
I had no idea what direction this novel was going to go in. There are several twists and turns that hit the reader in varying degrees. I would say save this book for October if you are looking for horror novels to read! Just be prepared you will be reading from a child’s perspective.
Now the narrator: Delanie Nicole Gill, this young lady was beyond superb! Incidents was her first audiobook and she definitely delivered! She made Bela real for me. If there is an award for narration, then she deserves it. She brought this book to life for me and it was hard to stop listening to it, but you know: I had to work! Normally I do speed up my audiobooks some, but was not able to in this case. It was due to the narration, but definitely not in a bad way!
Incidents Around the House is definitely recommended! And if you can, I say listen to the audiobook!
Book Review: The Final Wish of Murray McBride by Joe Siple
The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride
Series: The Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride #2
Author: Joe Siple
Published: January 21, 2021
Kindle: 239 pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: February 19- March 6, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Jason Cashman has reached the goal he spent the last twenty years seeking, but instead of feeling content, he feels empty. When he meets Alexandra Lopez, a ten-year-old America-loving girl facing deportation, he is inspired by his old friend, Murray McBride, to give her five wishes before she must leave.
They set out to check off as many wishes as possible, but when Jason’s transplanted heart begins to fail, he must choose between his obligations to the past and his hope for a future.
Jessica’s Review:
I adored The Five Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride, so I immediately bought The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride on kindle. Final picks up immediately after Five Wishes ended, so we get a continuing story, this time with grown up Jason Cashman giving out wishes to a little girl who faces deportation along with her father.
I was a little nervous that the book was going to get political, but it really doesn’t other than the fact that we have a pending deportation. The reader also needs to drop any possible believability as the novel progresses. There are several things that happen in this novel that would not happen in ‘real life’. I can’t really say what without giving spoilers, but reading this novel was worth it in the end! And I felt a variety of emotions reading this novel and I enjoyed Jason’s continuing story. I came close to tearing up at the end, but Siple didn’t quite get me this time, but he did get me to ugly cry with Five Wishes.
The village that Alexandra and her father are from in El Remate, Guatemala is a real location and Siple ended the book with an author’s note that gives a personal experience with that village and an organization assists with the people of the village as well: Project Ixcanaan.
There is a prequel coming out in just over a week called The First Wish of Mr. Murray McBride that I will definitely be reading: Murray is back with us and we get to learn about his love story with his wife. I predict that I might cry with this one.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Audiobook Review: The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald
The Night Olivia Fell
Author: Christina McDonald
Narrators:
Kelly Burke
Laurel Lefkow
Published: February 5, 2019
Audiobook: 10 hours 45 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: January 6-16, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
A search for the truth. A lifetime of lies.
In the small hours of the morning, Abi Knight is startled awake by the phone call no mother ever wants to get: Her teenage daughter, Olivia, has fallen off a bridge. Not only is Olivia brain-dead, she’s pregnant and must remain on life support to keep her baby alive. And then Abi sees the angry bruises circling Olivia’s wrists.
When the police unexpectedly rule Olivia’s fall an accident, Abi decides to find out what really happened that night. Heartbroken and grieving, she unravels the threads of her daughter’s life. Was Olivia’s fall an accident? Or something far more sinister?
Christina McDonald weaves a suspenseful and heart-wrenching tale of hidden relationships, devastating lies, and the power of a mother’s love. With flashbacks of Olivia’s own resolve to uncover family secrets, this taut and emotional novel asks: How well do you know your children? And how well do they know you?
Jessica’s Review:
This book showcases how strong the mother/child bond is: So much so that it won’t be for all readers who are triggered by severe injury to a teenage daughter. I’m not a parent but I could feel the emotion that Abi felt as she was determined to find out what happened to Olivia. This is because I have very close friends with children (younger and older) that I love and would be devastated if this happened to them.
Abi Knight get the call that no parent ever wants to receive: “Your daughter is in the hospital.” Then she later finds out her daughter is brain-dead… and pregnant. The doctors are required by state law to keep Olivia on life support until the baby arrives. And for Abi, this will be several months of anguish. Olivia did not tell Abi that she was pregnant.
This was a good novel! We have povs from both Oilvia and Abi and over the course of the novel find out who the baby’s father is, what happened to Olivia, and more. This is a mystery/ suspense with a bit of political intrigue added in to the mix.
The novel goes into the secrets that both Abi and Olivia are keeping. I did not figure it out but finding out who was responsible was a bit anticlimactic for me. I was expecting more than what happened. But Abi’s emotions and determination were the main focus for me. Towards the ending the book does get emotional, as the reader already knows the direction the story will go in. I can see some mothers ugly crying at the ending. And yes, it was emotional!
Both narrators did a great job. I am not sure which narrator voiced Abi and which voiced Olivia, but they were exceptional in their portrayals.
This was my first novel by McDonald and I will be reading/ listening to more by her!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
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