Book Review: I Bought a Haunted Thanksgiving Table by Sam Whittaker
I Bought a Haunted Thanksgiving Table
Series: Strange Haunted Places #4
Author: Sam Whittaker
Published: October 14, 2025
Kindle: 184 pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: November 1-29, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 1 star
Book Description:
He’ll Be Thankful to Live Through the Holidays. Scott’s bubbly influencer wife aims for the perfect Thanksgiving content. And the centerpiece is their new antique table, which he isn’t crazy about. And who can blame him? It’s big, it’s heavy… and it holds dark secrets.
Soon, strange events surround his wife at all hours of the day and night. And who does she whisper to in the dark? If he can’t help his wife, they will have to worry about more than a dry bird or burnt pies. For a murderous ghost has awakened in their midst, bent on filling his plate with agony and bloodshed.
Can Scott find a way to stop the bloodthirsty specter before it claims his wife and their holiday dinner guests as the final course?
I Bought a Haunted Thanksgiving Table is an “advent-calendar” style read-along with 27 chapters for 27 days of the holiday season.
Dig into this feast of horror now before your plate gets cold.
Jessica’s Review:
I hate to do this, I really do…. I enjoyed previous Advent books I had read (I gave 25 Days by Per Jacobsen 5 stars and The 31st Trick or Treater by Ben Farthing 3.5 stars) and was looking forward to another enjoyable experience, but did not get that. Whittaker even references both of those books as his inspiration for Haunted Thanksgiving Table.
As Thanksgiving is not a set date, if you choose to read I Bought a Haunted Thanksgiving Table Advent style, you will have to count back the days to see when you should start it. This shorter book at 184 pages takes place over 27 days.
The chapters were short and the beginning had promise, but the novel fell flat after the first couple of chapters. For me, for an Advent book to deliver, once the chapter for the day has been read, you should be highly anticipating the next chapter to read the next day. This did not happen. I was not intrigued enough to pull this novel out each day, despite the short chapters. Even on days when I ran behind and tried to catch up by reading multiple chapters I was still not satisfied. I did not finish this book on Thanksgiving, but two days afterwards. And when I finished it, I was glad I did not finish it on Thanksgiving.
The book did pick up at around 76% in as I wrote a note to myself that it was starting to get good. But it was just missing something for me. And then the last couple of chapters came out of left field: All of a sudden everything was happening… and it got very gory.
Haunted Thanksgiving Table is part of a series, but there is no need to read the whole series. The idea of the fifth book in the series sounds intriguing: I Bought a Haunted Christmas Tree Farm, but after reading Haunted Thanksgiving Table, I very highly doubt I will read this one. And this one is also written Advent style.
I Bought a Haunted Thanksgiving Table was not for me; it was sadly a big disappointment.
Book Review and Movie Comparison of The Long Walk
The Long Walk
Author: Stephen King as Richard Bachman
Narrator: Kirby Heyborne
First Published: July 1979
Audiobook: 10 hours 44 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: October 2-7, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
Against the wishes of his mother, sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty is about to compete in the annual grueling match of stamina and wits known as The Long Walk. One hundred boys must keep a steady pace of four miles per hour without ever stopping… with the winner being awarded “The Prize”—anything he wants for the rest of his life. But, as part of this national tournament that sweeps through a dystopian America year after year, there are some harsh rules that Garraty and ninety-nine others must adhere to in order to beat out the rest. There is no finish line—the winner is the last man standing. Contestants cannot receive any outside aid whatsoever. Slow down under the speed limit and you’re given a warning. Three warnings and you’re out of the game—permanently…
Jessica’s Review:
The Long Walk is one of King’s earliest written novels, written in 1966-1967 at just 19 years old as a college freshman and was first published under his Richard Bachman pseudonym. I was intrigued by the movie trailer and wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. And I really enjoyed this book! What a great novel written at such a young age!
In a dystopian America, every year 100 boys willingly sign up for The Long Walk: They must keep a pace of walking four miles per hour. They have three warnings when they fall below the 4 mph. If they fall below again, they are shot dead. You also can not impede on another walker. If they walk an hour after a warning is given then it goes away. There is no end to The Long Walk until only one boy remains. What is the reward? Anything he wants for the rest of his life. Simple rules in a gritty yet realistic novel.
Ray Garraty is the main focus of the novel. The reader finds themselves rooting for Garraty and a few other ‘favorite’ characters in the novel. But you know that at the end only one boy will be left. The Long Walk could have been a very slow-moving novel: All that’s going on is the boys walking, talking, thinking, and from time to time getting warnings and eventually shot. Through their conversations we get to know some of the other characters. As they walk through towns, we see the crowds that come to see these walkers. I never lost my interest in the novel and wanted to see who was going to be the eventual victor. The reader also sees the boys descend the further The Long Walk goes: The boys go from optimistic to far from that as they are stretched beyond their limits mentally and physically. The reader sees the boys realize what they actually signed up for.
Dystopian novels are another genre I enjoy reading and this dystopian met all my expectations! Despite being written so long ago, you can see possibly happening in a future world. Kirby Heyborne is the narrator and he really portrayed the novel well. He became Garraty for me.
If you enjoy King and/or dystopian novels, you should think about reading this one!
Movie Comparison
Movie Trailer
My Thoughts on the Movie Compared to the Book:
The Long Walk novel received 5 stars from me and I was looking forward to the novel. It keeps its premise with (of course) many changes: The movie drops the number of walkers from 100 to 50, the pace drops from a very brisk 4mph to a more realistic 3 mph. Characters from the book may be combined or not present and the ending is extremely different. I was disappointed that Abraham was not in the film.
This movie will not be for everyone as it is raw and gritty like the book is. Boys are walking and all but one will not make it to the end. We see these characters get shot, some more up close and personal than others. We see the characters change in a variety of ways over the course of the film.
Without giving spoilers, the ending is very different in several respects. I saw one difference coming but not the other change. The novel leaves an ambiguous ending, which we do not get in the film. Unlike in The Mist where the ending was also changed, for me the ending was much better, I am still not sure what to think about the film ending. There is so much to decompress from after watching this film.
There was so much more that could have been done with the film, but condensing a 320-page novel to a 1 hour 45-minute film, you definitely have limitations. Yes, it is a good film and worth the watch, but it was also very graphic and depressing. For me it is a one-time viewing.
Mark Hamill plays The Major and while he is a very minor character and not seen on screen much, he plays the roll extremely well!
If you enjoy dystopian films and feel you can handle the graphic nature of the film, go for it. If you also want to read the book, definitely watch the movie first. The book has so much more to it.
Purchase Links:
Book
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Movie:
Please note: The Long Walk is available on streaming now, you can buy it as physical media later this month in the USA. I did not see a release date for physical media in the UK
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Audiobook Review: The Vile Thing We Created by Robert P. Ottone
The Vile Thing We Created
Author: Robert P. Ottone
Narrators:
Patrick Donohue
Alicia Love
Published: April 18, 2023
Audiobook: 10 hours 13 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: September 21-24, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Lola and Ian had what they thought was the perfect relationship. Vacations. Fine dining. A healthy sex life. But when their childless lifestyle begins impacting their social lives, they decide to take the natural next step.
But what happens when that next step cracks the perfect foundation Lola and Ian have built? What happens when that next step is anything but natural?
Robert P. Ottone’s The Vile Thing We Created is a terrifying vision of parenthood in the tradition of Ira Levin and Thomas Tryon.
Jessica’s Review:
I have only ever seen the movie Rosemary’s Baby, but The Vile Thing We Created has some similarities to it. We have a bi-racial couple, Ian and Lola Sumner. This couple is not likable and very selfish. They have what they feel is a dream life: He is a teacher and she bakes from home. They have a lot of sex (which is detailed throughout the book), Lola smokes pot, and they feel they just have ‘The Life’. But then the couple start being excluded from events in their friend group: A belief that this is because they have no children and all of their friends do. So, Lola and Ian decide to just have a baby: A decision that they later regret.
There is a supernatural element in the novel, and it picks up the further you get in the story. It starts with Ian’s mother giving the couple baby gifts with a seven-point star on it. They are led to believe that it means “good luck”. Ian also grew up around that symbol.
We see Lola go through a very traumatic birth and then an array of emotions which includes not feeling love for her newborn. Her lack of feelings is not what she expected. We see a case of extreme postpartum depression.
The novel picks up at around 60% where the baby named Jonesy is now talking and he becomes quite the character. Patrick Donohue did a great job with his portrayal of Jonesy! In his narration. Jonesy is a unique child starting with his appearance: He has one blue eye and one brown eye.
The supernatural element picks up in this last 60%. Both narrators did a good job with their narrations. Yes, this is a horror novel, but more psychological horror than terror. This is a good novel to pick up and read in October! And lesson learned: If you don’t feel that need to have a child, then don’t cave to societal pressure and ‘just have one’: You never know what you just may give birth to!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
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