Audiobook Review: Pen Pal by J.T. Geissinger
Pen Pal
Author: J.T. Geissinger
Narrators:
Tara Langella
Troy Duran
Published: August 16, 2022
Audiobook: 8 hours 12 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: July 18-22, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 4.5 stars
Audiobook Description:
The first letter arrived the day my husband was buried. It was postmarked from the state penitentiary, and contained a single sentence:
I’ll wait forever if I have to.
It was signed by Dante, a man I didn’t know.
Out of simple curiosity, I wrote back to ask him what exactly he was waiting for. His reply?
You.
I told the mystery man he had the wrong girl. He said he didn’t. I said we’d never met, but he said I was wrong.
We went back and forth, exchanging letters every week that grew increasingly more intimate. Then one day, the letters stopped. When I found out why, it was already too late: Dante was at my doorstep.
And nothing on earth could have prepared me for what happened next.
Jessica’s Review:
I have to say that going in that this book is way outside of my genre of choice and I knew that going in. I have two friends who have read it and loved it (That’s you Suleika and April!) and I knew there is a huge twist that I was curious about. There are trigger warnings that a reader should to be prepared for with this book which are on the author’s website, and I will share here:
Explicit language
Graphic sex/Power Play dynamics
Detailed descriptions of death and grief
Miscarriage
Domestic Violence
Mental Illness
Another thing I want to share is that the book is extremely different from the provided book description. The letter writing is a tiny portion of the book, there is a love story that is the main focus.
As I have said in the past, I like ‘sweet romances’ and Pen Pal is extremely far from that. There is definitely graphic sex and power play dynamics here! Honestly, it became too much for me and I found myself skipping through the sex scenes. I really wanted to know what this ‘huge twist’ was. Was the read worth it in the end for me? YES! OMG, that twist! And then the Epilogue! If the sex hadn’t been that intense and the books description more on track to what the novel actually is, then this would have been a 5-star read for me! This is saying a lot from a non-smut reader!
Both narrators did a great job with their portrayals.
I would have never picked this one up on my own but it was free on my Audible, so I grabbed it. Will I read anymore books by Geissinger? No, as she is outside of my genre. If you are a smart reader and take head with the trigger warnings and are prepared for a different book than the impression of what the book descriptions says, you might just enjoy this one!
Book Review: The Night House by Jo Nesbø
The Night House
Author: Jo Nesbø
Published: October 3, 2023
245 Pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: September 18- October 18, 2023
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
In the wake of his parents’ tragic deaths in a house fire, fourteen-year-old Richard Elauved has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the remote, insular town of Ballantyne. Richard quickly earns a reputation as an outcast, and when a classmate named Tom goes missing, everyone suspects the new, angry boy is responsible for his disappearance. No one believes him when he says the telephone booth out by the edge of the woods sucked Tom into the receiver like something out of a horror movie. No one, that is, except Karen, a beguiling fellow outsider who encourages Richard to pursue clues the police refuse to investigate. He traces the number that Tom prank called from the phone booth to an abandoned house in the Black Mirror Wood. There he catches a glimpse of a terrifying face in the window. And then the voices begin to whisper in his ear . . .
You know who I am. She’s going to burn. The one you love is going to burn. There’s not a thing you can do about it.
When another classmate disappears, Richard must find a way to prove his innocence–and preserve his sanity–as he grapples with the dark magic that is possessing Ballantyne and pursuing his destruction.
Then again, Richard may not be the most reliable narrator of his own story . . .
Jessica’s Review:
I love the cover of this one, it’s just reminiscent of back in the old days and seems like it was going to be a good, old fashioned horror story. There are three parts to this novel and the first part was the horror I was looking for! Parts two and three didn’t really work for me. And Richard definitely was an unreliable narrator and we know that sometimes those work for me, sometimes they don’t. In the case of this novel, it just didn’t work for me for most of the book. Richard was just not relatable and unlikable, as he is a bully and it is seen from the beginning.
You do wonder what direction the story is going to go as you are reading. It did take me way too long to read this one: a whole month. My job is trying out us working 4 10-hour days, which means an extra day off during the week! Which I’m hoping will lead to more free reading time! I am hoping for that at least!
Overall, this book was not what I was expecting. I wanted a good scary horror story for the month of October, and most of the book was not that for me. This is also a foreign author and the book was translated, maybe the difference in the countries and story is what didn’t really work for me.
Many thanks to the publisher for granting me a copy to read and review. I just wish I could have enjoyed the novel more.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Audiobook Review: Who Haunts You by Mark Wheaton
Who Haunts You
Author: Mark Wheaton
Narrator: Annalee Scott
Published: September 2, 2023
Audiobook: 4 hours 30 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: September 24-26, 2023
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
High school senior Rebecca “Bex” Koeltl is just trying to make it to graduation. But when her fellow seniors begin dying in seemingly unrelated incidents, Bex uncovers disturbing connections between their deaths, including that the teens believed they were haunted by long-dead relatives their own family members swear never existed. After Bex is visited by a malevolent specter of her own, she realizes she has to get the bottom of this horror before she’s its next victim…
Jessica’s Review:
Who Haunts You is a short YA novella, at just 174 pages or just 4.5 hours long. It gets a lot in with such a quick story. We have high school students who start mysteriously dying and our female main character Bex just knows she is next. These deaths are not seemingly related, but Bex believes they are as each student claimed they saw relatives that didn’t actually exist.
Bex is also Autistic and I actually learned some about it. I did not know about Stimming and this book brings it up. I also learned after reading the book that the author himself is autistic and he brings autistic characters into his novels. Stimming is a self-stimulatory behavior and consists of repetitive or unusual body movement or noises. Stimming might include hand and finger mannerisms. It can consist of finger-flicking and hand-flapping which is what Bex does.
This novel lets the reader think: Can you believe what you are seeing?
Who Haunts You could be considered YA horror lite. It really is aimed for the YA listener, not the adult who enjoys YA. It could be a great start for the Halloween season for the actual YA reader. I listened to this one while driving and I think that was actually a detriment for me. In my case it was harder for me to follow what was going on with this book. This may be a book a reader needs to actually sit down and read.
Now the narrator Annalee Scott was fabulous! She brought certain characters to life in a very spooky way! She had wonderful voice work with this novel! I think she had fun with this narration.
Many thanks to the publisher for granting me a copy to listen to and review.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK