A few weeks ago, my new friend Suzy, a blogger and voracious reader, told me that I must read Babyteeth by Zoje Stage. She said it was intense and unputdownable (is that a word?), so I made a point to get a copy at BookExpo. 

When I started reading it, these words kept running through my head. Holy cow, Holy cow. Holy cow. Okay, those weren’t really the words, but I’m trying to keep this blog clean. The premise of the book is that Hanna, an adorable seven-year-old is infatuated with her father and will anything it takes to get rid of her mother, Suzette. The story alternates between the voices of Suzette and Hanna and the author does incredible job creating two distinct voices. During Suzette’s chapters, I completely identified with her and felt so sorry for her. Her desperation and guilt worsened as the story progressed. Hanna’s voice sounded childlike and somehow demonic at the same time. Stage did an incredible job building the story and intensifying the situation with each scene. I couldn’t wait to see where the story would go, and whether Hanna would intimately get her way. I will stop here so you can experience the details of this deliciously deranged story for yourself.

This book will be released on July 17th. 

Because I am a glutton for punishment, I followed up that read with You, by Caroline Kepnes. I have heard amazing things about both this book and this author for years and when the audio recording of You became available from my library, I took it as a sign. The book did not disappoint. The premise is that Joe Goldberg, a lonely bookseller, meets a girl named Beck in his store and becomes obsessed with her. He will stop at nothing, including kidnapping, assault and even murder to win her heart. The story is written in first person with Joe addressing his thoughts directly to Beck. This is an ingenious structure because puts the reader in Beck’s shoes and makes Joe’s obsession so much more real and disturbing. Also, the audio performance by Santino Fontana (who played Greg on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and voiced Hans in the movie, Frozen) is fantastic. He does a wonderful job creating distinct voices for the characters and portraying Joe’s emotional highs and lows. This book may not be for everyone as it comes with many warnings for violence, sexual situations and language, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and I can’t wait to pick up Providence, her latest release. 

You was released in 2014 and Providence released June 19th, 2018.