Keep Your Enemies Close

 

TITLE: Kill Creatures

AUTHOR: Rory Power

PUBLISHER: Scholastic

PUBLISHING DATE: June 5, 2025

PAGES: 281   

SOURCE: ARC

FROM GOODREADS: Last summer, Nan's three best friends disappeared into Saltcedar Canyon. 

She's spent the year since grieving their loss and avoiding questions about what happened that night. Now, on the anniversary, she's ready to say goodbye, and so are the girls' families, who have reconvened to hold a memorial. But their vigil is interrupted by the shocking return of one of the missing girls alive. Everybody is overjoyed. Everybody, that is, except Nan, who was pretty sure they were dead. 

After all, she's the one who killed them.

MY THOUGHTS: I read this book right before my vacation and it was the perfect shorter read needed to kick off what turned out to be a great reading vacation.

When the book opens, the main character Nan, is attending a memorial in her small town of Saltcedar Canyon.  A year ago, she and her three best friends snuck out for a night of fun, but she is the only one who returned.  Obviously still reeling from her grief, Nan doesn't know how she will make it through the ceremony.  After all, the bodies were never found so the girls' parents are trying to keep hope arrive.  However, everyone is in for a shock because in the middle of the memorial one of the girls surfaces and surprising to everyone, she is still alive.  This is especially surprising to Nan, because only she knows she killed all three on that fateful night.

I originally wanted to read Kill Creatures because it was marketed as a horror story.  I didn't really find it as such, but it was full of horrific events and even more horrific people.  In fact, I'm pretty sure there wasn't one person in the book I liked, but boy, I loved every minute I spent disliking them. Since so much is revealed up front, this book basically works with a dual timeframe.  While Nan and the town is trying to put together what happened to Luce, the girl who has returned, the reader is also seeing what events led up to that fateful night. Even though this is a YA book, I have to admit there were a few shocks I didn't see coming.

If you like unreliable narrators and don't mind deep topics (although there is a huge list if trigger warnings I ignored at the very beginning), this might be the book for you.  It's the first one I've read by this author even though I've had some others on my TBR for some time.

MY RATING: 4 PAWS

Book Haul - July 2025

 

 

So, it's been a while since I've done any kind of updates.  Sorry for the delay in sharing some wonderful books I've recently acquired.  I don't know if I plan on doing these monthly, get back into my Weekend Farm News and add them there but I will try to make a point to showcase them somewhere.  I am linking the book titles to their Goodreads page so you can get more details on them, but I will try to at least include a release date here.  

How to Talk to Your Dog About Murder: Emily Soderberg/10-21-25
Love is a Four-Legged Word: Melinda Metz/10-28-25
Dog Person: Camille Pagan/04-07-26
Poison & Pooches: Sandra Balzo/10-07-25

The Last Vampire: Romina Garber/12-02-25

A Heart So Haunted: Hollie Nelson/10-21-25

Crazy, Spooky Love: Josie Silver/09-02-25

Undead and Unwed: Sam Tschida/10-28-25

Asylum Hotel: Juliet Blackwell/07-09-25

The Sister's Curse: Nicola Solvinic/10-21-25

We Are All Guilty Here: Karin Slaughter/08-12-25

Frankenstein's Monster: J.S. Barnes/09-02-25

Strange Animals: Jarod K. Anderson/02-10-26

The Whistler: Nick Medina/09-16-25

The Bleeding Woods: Brittany Amara/10-14-25

The House of Quiet: Kiersten White/09-09-25

All I can say is that October is shaping up to be a killer book release month.  Do you plan on grabbing any of these? 

Feed Your TBR - Dog Person

 

Can't Wait Wednesday, which I have adapted to better suit my blog as "Feed Your TBR" is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings to spotlight highly anticipated books.  It is based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme which used to be hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

April 7, 2026

FROM GOODREADS: Harold may be an aging mutt—but Amelia May, the romance novelist who adopted him, taught him a thing or two about the human heart before she died. And she also left Harold with a final to help her partner, Miguel, find love again.

Trouble is, the grief-ridden recluse rarely goes out, not even to the bookstore he and Amelia owned together. Now it’s in danger of going under, and when a renowned author doesn’t show up for his event, it pushes the store’s already precarious finances into the red. In a final attempt to save the bookstore, Miguel and Harold set out to find the no-show and insist he fulfill his obligation. But instead, they’re greeted by Fiona, his sunny yet secretive sister.

Fiona is intent on protecting her brother’s privacy—and to Harold’s horror, she doesn’t like dogs. But her precocious eleven-year-old daughter, who's also named Amelia, immediately befriends Harold . . . who can’t help but wonder if his Amelia was right when she said there are no coincidences in life.

Harold’s quickly running out of time to accomplish his mission, but if he can just convince his infuriatingly stubborn person to let Fiona in, he’s certain Miguel will find something far more important than a missing his own happy ending.

Uplifting, smartly observed, and hilariously insightful, Dog Person is as undeniably charming as its beloved narrator, Harold, and offers a much-needed reminder that while not all love is unconditional, it is still always worthwhile.

WHY I CAN'T WAIT:  I love books told from the canine's POV. This one sounds heartbreaking and uplifting all in one.  

WHAT BOOK CAN'T YOU WAIT FOR THIS WEEK???

Summer of Horror - What Big Teeth You Have!

 

I am participating in an informal event created by my friend Tammy over at Books, Bones & Buffy and she is doing a book cover love feature. This week I took the concept of monsters with teeth and altered it just to include scary teeth on the cover. This wasn't as easy as I anticipated, but I still think I found some good ones.

Hunter Shea is one of my favorite authors but I can't recall reading this one.  I have managed to read Meg though.

Do you have any favorite books with teeth to share?

Talk About Relationship Red Flags

 

TITLE: My Ex, the Antichrist

AUTHOR: Craig DiLouie

PUBLISHER: Run For It

PUBLISHING DATE: June 1, 2025

PAGES: 416   

SOURCE: ARC

FROM GOODREADS: 

1998: A punk band is formed by Lily Lawlor and Drake Morgan. Drake inspires faith in some. Fear in others. Lily is a believer. 

1999: A Battle of the Bands ends in a shocking death, and a riot that claims the lives of three teenagers. 

2009: At the height of her stardom, Lily walks into a police station and confesses to murder. 

Now: The band has refused to talk to the press about the night of the riot, Lily’s confession, or anything else. It's been over a decade, but Lily has finally agreed to an interview. And the band is following her lead. 

What follows is a story of prophecy, death, and apocalypse. A story about love and love lost. A story about the antichrist. Maybe it’s all true. Maybe none if it is. 

Either way, this is their story. And they’re sticking to it.

MY THOUGHTS: This is the third book I've read by this author and although the first one, Episode Thirteen, wasn't a fave, Suffer the Children and now this one both sucked me in and wouldn't let go!

First of all, I have to not the formatting of My Ex, the Antichrist.  It is told completely in interview format.  This worked so well for me, and it was hard to believe I wasn't reading an actual factional account of a punk band called The Shivers.  Lily meets Drake around the time she is trying to escape from her parents' thumbs and create her own path.  Lily wants to be a musician and Drake, a magnetic and hypnotic guitarist and singer, does everything he can to encourage her dreams.  There's just one thing, Drake may have TOO much of a presence.  

The two find additional musicians and form The Shivers.  However, when the play public forums, the crowds break out in violence, sexual gratification and sometimes murder.  Lily starts to learn new things about Drake and when he finally quits the band, her involvement with his continues and her fears continue to grow.  What is exactly going on with Drake and could he actually be the Antichrist.

I can't say enough glowing things about this book and have already recommended it to several people.  There is quite a bit of religious horror, but I figure whoever decides to pick it up can tell that from the title.  DiLouie is quickly solidifying himself as an auto-read author for me.

MY RATING: 5 PAWS

Feed Your TBR - Strange Animals

 

Can't Wait Wednesday, which I have adapted to better suit my blog as "Feed Your TBR" is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings to spotlight highly anticipated books.  It is based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme which used to be hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

February 10, 2026

FROM GOODREADS: After a series of inexplicable encounters upends his life, Green finds himself alone and terrified in the Appalachian mountains, full of questions about the transformation he’s undergoing and the impossible creatures he’s starting to see.

When he meets a hermit named Valentina, he realizes that something more than chance has brought him to her door. For she has devoted centuries to researching the hidden world of cryptids that Green is only now beginning to perceive.  

As Green begins his studies beneath her watchful eye, he comes face to face with time-stopping giant moths, cyclops squirrels, and doorways to elsewhere. Along the way come clues about his own nature and the powerful beings who led him here—and, most wondrous of all, a sense of fulfillment like nothing he’s felt before.

But Green’s new happiness promises to be short-lived, because alongside these marvels lurks a deadly threat to this place he’s already come to love.

Featuring incredible creatures and an unforgettable cast of characters, Strange Animals is a charming, addictive fantasy about the magic all around us.

WHY I CAN'T WAIT:  I can't wait to see what cryptids Green and Valentina find and let's admit it, that cover is gorgeous.

WHAT BOOK CAN'T YOU WAIT FOR THIS WEEK????

Jaws Is Everywhere (Except in This Book)

 

TITLE: Blood in the Water

AUTHOR: Tiffany D. Jackson

PUBLISHER: Scholastic Press

PUBLISHING DATE: July 1, 2025

PAGES: 272   

SOURCE: ARC

FROM GOODREADS: This summer, there's blood in the water...watch out for sharks! 

Kaylani is a born-and-bred Brooklyn girl. She expects to feel like a fish out of water spending the hot and sticky summer on Martha's Vineyard with family friends, the Watsons. But her mother insists, especially since Kaylani still spends long hours on the phone with her imprisoned father. 

The Watsons live in the town of Oak Bluffs, a place with a rich Black history that fascinates Kaylani. Though the Watsons' daughter, London, is snobby and unfriendly, Kaylani ends up connecting with some other kids in the town, who show her around. The beach IS really nice, and there's good ice cream to be had. Maybe there's something to Martha's Vineyard... 

But then a shocking murder--or was it a drowning? A shark attack?--rocks the community to its core. 

Kaylani is determined to solve the mystery but in order to do so, she will come face-to-face with sinister truths and shocking secrets that promise to forever change her life as she knows it.

MY THOUGHTS: I've enjoyed everything I've read by Tiffany D. Jackson so when I saw she was venturing into MG, AND saw the word "shark," I knew I wanted to give this one a go.  I'm really glad I did but will say do not expect many sharks to pop up on this reading journey.

Kaylani's father has been recently incarcerated for a white-collar crime she knows he didn't commit.  Family friends have offered to have Kaylani visit Martha's Vineyard for a few weeks while their grandchildren are visiting as they all used to be friends.  However, London, who is Kaylani's age, has clearly adopted the Vineyard lifestyle and attitude and doesn't want to entertain her old friend for the summer.  Soon after Kaylani's arrival, there is a mysterious death on the island. Chad used to date London's sister Cassie last summer.  Initially they believe Chad was a victim of a shark attack but soon everyone learns that isn't the case.  Kaylani and Chad's brother start investigating, but will they regret their actions and will one of them be the next victim?

I'm clearly not the target audience for this MG book but I have to admit, that didn't keep me from enjoying this thriller and experiencing a few "aha" moments while reading it.  I loved Kaylani and how committed she is to prove her dad's innocence and even though London was an extremely annoying character, managed to show some character-growth as the novel progressed.  For a MG book, the ending was kind of shocking, and my only real complaint is there wasn't enough sharks.  However, sharks are referenced quite a bit and there are several mentions of the movie Jaws being filmed there so it was fitting for release this July.  

If you enjoy MG thrillers or the author in general, I don't think you will go wrong by giving Blood in the Water a try. It's an extremely quick read and one I found quite enjoyable for my summer vacation.

MY RATING: 4 PAWS