The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

For those of you unaware or who do not follow my BookTube channel, I am participating in Sbooktober. It's created by five different BookTubers and is brand new this year. This week, October 23-29, they are hosting a readathon. There are seven challenges for the readathon and this first book that I'm about to review is the first challenge. It's the group book that they picked for everyone to read and the other six challenges we were allowed to pick our own books. So, without further ado, here is my review of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House.

Series: Standalone

Publication: November 28th 2006 by Penguin Classics (first published in 1959)

Source: Library Book

Goodreads Summary: The classic supernatural thriller by an author who helped define the genre

First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.
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The Fall of Lord Drayson by Rachael Anderson

Series: Tanglewood #1

Publication: August 29th 2016 by HEA Publishing

Source: Received a free copy of this in exchange for an honest review from ebooksforreview.com. Thank you!

Goodreads Summary: When Colin Cavendish, the new earl of Drayson, informs Lucy Beresford that she and her mother need to vacate the house they've called home for the past two years, Lucy is fit to be tied. They have no money, no relations they can turn to for help, and nowhere to go. How dare the earl break the promise his father had made to the Beresfords without so much as a twinge of conscience?

Fate plays her hand when Lucy discovers the earl unconscious and injured in the middle of the road. When he awakens with no recollection of who he is, Lucy seizes the opportunity to teach the earl a much-needed lesson in humility and tells him that he is nothing more than a mere servant. Her servant, in fact.

And thus begins the charming tale of a pompous lord and an impetuous young woman, caught together in a web so tangled that it begs the question: Will they ever get out?
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Twin Flames by Tanja Kobasic

Series: Untapped #2

Publication: January 11th 2015 by Stone Series Publishing

Source: Received this for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Tanja!

Goodreads Summary: Conjoined sisters Scarlett and Jade Jennings have survived the perils of infancy, escaped a deplorable orphanage and have lived to tell their story. Now bestselling authors, the sisters have made Las Vegas their home, only to find themselves in the centre of a gathering storm. In the eye of that gathering storm is Sebastian Cole, Vegas’ staring illusionist, who possesses supernatural powers, making him the target of diabolical ambitions. Lucifer’s Chosen need control of his power, power that he absorbed from his twin brother while in utero. Temptation is at its highest, and Scarlett is Sebastian’s weakness and he must make some incredibly hard decisions concerning his future and regarding Scarlett, especially considering his aunt’s warning to “keep all that you love away from the darkness.”
As the lines between good and evil blur, Scarlett and Sebastian dive deeper in love, and the shadows that Jade has been feeding are swiftly closing in on them. As Jade and Scarlett’s sisterhood wanes, and Scarlett and Sebastian’s romance reaches a pinnacle, the three soon discover links between them that were established before they were born.
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Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding | Audible Audiobook

Series: Bridget Jones #3

Publication: October 15th 2013 by Random House Audio

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: Bridget Jones is back!

Great comic writers are as rare as hen's teeth. And Helen is one of a very select band who have created a character of whom the very thought makes you smile. Bridget Jones' Diary, charting the life of a 30-something singleton in London in the 1990s was a huge international bestseller, published in 40 countries and selling over 15 million copies worldwide. Its sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, published soon after was also a major international bestseller. Both were made into films starring Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth.

Set in the present, the new novel will explore a different phase in Bridget's life with an entirely new scenario. As Helen Fielding has said: "If people laugh as much reading it as I am while writing it then we'll all be very happy."
*I picked this summary as all others gave away a major plot point of the book* 
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Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

Series: Sookie Stackhouse #2

Publication: April 1st 2004 by Orbit

Source: Library Book

Goodreads Summary: Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is having a streak of bad luck. First her co-worker is killed, and no one seems to care. Then she comes face to-face with a beastly creature that gives her a painful and poisonous lashing. Enter the vampires, who graciously suck the poison from her veins (like they didn't enjoy it).

The point is: they saved her life. So when one of the bloodsuckers asks for a favor, she obliges - and soon Sookie's in Dallas, using her telepathic skills to search for a missing vampire. She's supposed to interview certain humans involved, but she makes one condition: the vampires must promise to behave and let the humans go unharmed. But that's easier said than done, and all it takes is one delicious blonde and one small mistake for things to turn deadly....
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Daughters of Jared by H.B. Moore

Series: Standalone

Publication: May 20th 2016 by Mirror Press

Source: Received a free copy of this in exchange for an honest review from ebooksforreview.com. Thank you!

Goodreads Summary: From the Book of Ether comes a haunting story of two royal sisters. The elder sister, Ash, will do anything to bring her father, King Jared II, back to the throne. The younger sister, Naiva, only wants to save her family from destruction. The bond of sisterhood becomes precariously fragile when one man . . . named Akish . . . falls in love with the younger sister, Naiva. Yet he chooses to marry the elder sister.

The sisters’ hearts are divided. And when Ash becomes queen, seduced by the promise of power and wealth, Naiva watches her world crumble away. She sees only one way out. But it will require forsaking all that she holds dear.
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Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Series: Sookie Stackhouse #1

Publication: January 2nd 2008 by Ace Books

Source: Library Book

Goodreads Summary: Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn't get out much. Not because she's not pretty. She is. It's just that, well, Sookie has this sort of "disability." She can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill. He's tall, dark, handsome--and Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. He's exactly the type of guy she's been waiting for all her life....

But Bill has a disability of his own: He's a vampire with a bad reputation. He hangs with a seriously creepy crowd, all suspected of--big surprise--murder. And when one of Sookie's coworkers is killed, she fears she's next....
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The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding | Audible Audiobook

Series: Bridget Jones #2

Publication: 2013 by Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: The Wilderness Years are over! But not for long. At the end of Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget hiccuped off into the sunset with man-of-her-dreams Mark Darcy. Now, in The Edge of Reason, she discovers what it is like when you have the man of your dreams actually in your flat and he hasn't done the washing-up, not just the whole of this week, but ever.

Lurching through a morass of self-help-book theories and mad advice from Jude and Shazzer, struggling with a boyfriend-stealing ex-friend with thighs like a baby giraffe, an 8ft hole in the living-room wall, a mother obsessed with boiled-egg peelers, and a builder obsessed with large reservoir fish, Bridget embarks on a spiritual epiphany, which takes her from the cappuccino queues of Notting Hill to the palm- and magic-mushroom-kissed shores of ...

Bridget is back. V.g.
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Dante's Gift by Aubrey Wynne

Series: A Chicago Christmas #1

Publication: October 6th 2015 by Plato Publishing

Source: Received a free copy of this in exchange for an honest review from ebooksforreview.com. Thank you!

Goodreads Summary: Seventy years ago, a collie mix brings two hearts together in war torn Italy. Will their story help their grandson find his own Christmas love?
**Winner of the Golden Quill award for best novella**
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The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins | Audible Audiobook

Series: Standalone

Publication: January 13th 2015 by Penguin Audio

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: debut psychological thriller about a woman who becomes emotionally entangled in a murder investigation because of something she witnesses on her daily commute.

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and every night. Every day she rattles over the same track junctions, flashes past the same stretch of cozy suburban homes. And every day she stops at the same signal and she sees the same couple, breakfasting on their roof deck, living the perfect life that Rachel craves for herself - a lifestyle she recently lost. She looks forward to observing this household every morning, even makes up names and narratives for its residents. Then one day Rachel sees someone new in their garden, and soon after, the woman who lived there disappears.

Unable to keep this information to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and in the process is drawn into the lives of the couple she thought of as Jason and Jess but whose names - she has learned from the news - are really Megan and Scott Hipwell.

But the police accuse Rachel of being unreliable, and it's true that her memories can't always be trusted. Plus there are the stories that her ex-husband's new wife has been spreading about her. By the time Megan's body is found, Rachel is in over her head, intricately entangled in the details of the investigation, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she put others in danger? Has she done more harm than good?

A compulsively readable, emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller that draws comparisons to Gone Girl, The Silent Wife, or Before I Go to Sleep, this is an electrifying debut embraced by listeners across markets and categories.

Listening Length: 10 hours and 59 minutes
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Twelve Days in December by Michele Paige Holmes

Series: Hearthfire Romance #3.5

Publication: December 9th 2015 by Mirror Press

Source: Received a free copy of this in exchange for an honest review from ebooksforreview.com. Thank you!

Goodreads Summary: A Christmas Novella from the bestselling Hearthfire Romance series by Michele Paige Holmes:

Five months isn’t enough time to grieve the death of her husband and marry again, but when the unexpected opportunity to take her sister’s place as the bride of wealthy New York businessman, William Vancer, presents itself, twenty-four year-old Charlotte Holbrook agrees. Their marriage of convenience will provide a secure future for her son, while William will be able to claim the inheritance he needs to expand his company westward.

To begin their perfect and perfectly safe arrangement, William allots the last twelve days in December to become acquainted with his new family—a task more easily accomplished than he had imagined. For in Charlotte he finds a tender heart and companion, while stepping into the role of father to her son, brings William a great measure of joy as well. Before the twelve days have passed, he finds himself wishing their marriage of convenience could be something much more.

For Charlotte, every day with William is one of overwhelming gratitude, as he anticipates and provides for her needs, as well as the fondest desires of her heart. More than material comforts, William offers friendship as well, and a loving concern that Charlotte has gone too long without. Guilt ridden, she struggles with her growing attraction and wonders how she can ever remain loyal to her first husband, while allowing herself to love William as he deserves.
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Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren

Series: Beautiful Bastard #1

Publication: February 12th 2013 by Gallery Books

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: An ambitious intern. A perfectionist executive. And a whole lot of name calling.

Whip-smart, hardworking, and on her way to an MBA, Chloe Mills has only one problem: her boss, Bennett Ryan. He's exacting, blunt, inconsiderate—and completely irresistible. A Beautiful Bastard.

Bennett has returned to Chicago from France to take a vital role in his family's massive media business. He never expected that the assistant who'd been helping him from abroad was the gorgeous, innocently provocative—completely infuriating—creature he now has to see every day. Despite the rumors, he's never been one for a workplace hookup. But Chloe's so tempting he's willing to bend the rules—or outright smash them—if it means he can have her. All over the office.

As their appetites for one another increase to a breaking point, Bennett and Chloe must decide exactly what they're willing to lose in order to win each other.

Originally only available online as The Office by tby789 and garnering over 2 million reads on fanfiction sites, Beautiful Bastard has been extensively updated for re-release.
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Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos | Audible Audiobook

Series: Standalone

Publication: January 27th 2016 by Audible Studios

Source: Free Grab from Audible

Goodreads Summary: From the sumptuous private drawing rooms of 18th-century Paris to the decadent estates and chateaus of the French countryside, La Marquise de Merteuil and Le Vicomte de Valmont hatch a long-distance plan of vengeance and seduction.

Valmont is determined to conquer the famously pious Madame de Tourvel, whose husband is abroad on business. However, Merteuil has other plans. She enlists his involvement in the seduction of a young convent girl, Cécile Volanges, the wife-to-be of the Marquise's former lover. But as they race toward the culmination of their plans, events start to spiral out of control, and they realise that they might not be as in control of their hearts as once they thought.

Starring:

Madame de Volanges: Adjoa Andoh
La Présidente de Tourvel: Elaine Cassidy
Cécile Volanges: Morfydd Clark
Le Chevalier: Danceny Edward
Holcroft, Marquise de Merteuil: Janet McTeer
Vicomte de Valmont: Dominic West
Madame de Rosemond: Una Stubbs.

With announcements by Simon Kane.
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Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell | Audible Audiobook

Series: Standalone

Publication: January 10th 2009 (audio version)

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: Margaret Mitchell's epic novel of love and war won the Pulitzer Prize and one of the most popular and celebrated movies of all time.

Many novels have been written about the Civil War and its aftermath. None take us into the burning fields and cities of the American South as Gone With the Wind does, creating haunting scenes and thrilling portraits of characters so vivid that we remember their words and feel their fear and hunger for the rest of our lives.

In the two main characters, the white-shouldered, irresistible Scarlett and the flashy, contemptuous Rhett, Margaret Mitchell not only conveyed a timeless story of survival under the harshest of circumstances, she also created two of the most famous lovers in the English-speaking world since Romeo and Juliet.
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The Mariposa Hotel by Julie Wright, Melanie Jacobsen, and Heather B. Moore

Series: Tangerine Street Romance

Publication: November 9th 2015 by Mirror Press

Source: Received a free copy of this in exchange for an honest review from ebooksforreview.com. Thank you!

Goodreads Summary: Welcome to Tangerine Street

Tangerine Street is a must-see tourist stop with a colorful mix of one-of-a-kind boutiques, unique restaurants, eclectic museums, quaint bookstores, and exclusive bed-and-breakfasts. The Mariposa Hotel, a new resort, has revitalized Seashell Beach, bringing new life to the sleepy beach town. In the charming gardens of the hotel sits a three-hundred-year-old wishing well transported from Mexico. One toss of the coin, a sincere wish, and lives are changed forever…

Other books in the Tangerine Street Romance series:
The Fortune Café
The Boardwalk Antiques Shop
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Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding | Audible Audiobook

Series: Bridget Jones #1

Publication: October 13th 2013 by Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: Meet Bridget Jones—a 30-something Singleton who is certain she would have all the answers if she could:

a. lose 7 pounds
b. stop smoking
c. develop Inner Poise


"123 lbs. (how is it possible to put on 4 pounds in the middle of the night? Could flesh have somehow solidified becoming denser and heavier? Repulsive, horrifying notion), alcohol units 4 (excellent), cigarettes 21 (poor but will give up totally tomorrow), number of correct lottery numbers 2 (better, but nevertheless useless)..."

Bridget Jones's Diary is the devastatingly self-aware, laugh-out-loud daily chronicle of Bridget's permanent, doomed quest for self-improvement — a year in which she resolves to: reduce the circumference of each thigh by 1.5 inches, visit the gym three times a week not just to buy a sandwich, form a functional relationship with a responsible adult, and learn to program the VCR.
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Remembrance by Meg Cabot

Series: Mediator #7

Publication: February 2nd 2016 by William Morrow Paperbacks

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: Fifteen years after the release of the first Mediator novel, #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot returns with a deliciously sexy new entry to a fan-favorite series. Suze Simon—all grown up and engaged to her once-ghostly soulmate—faces a vengeful spirit and an old enemy bent on ending Suze's wedded bliss before it begins.

You can take the boy out of the darkness.

But you can’t take the darkness out of the boy.

All Susannah Simon wants is to make a good impression at her first job since graduating from college (and since becoming engaged to Dr. Jesse de Silva).

But when she’s hired as a guidance counselor at her alma mater, she stumbles across a decade-old murder, and soon ancient history isn’t all that’s coming back to haunt her. Old ghosts as well as new ones are coming out of the woodwork, some to test her, some to vex her, and it isn’t only because she’s a mediator, gifted with second sight.

From a sophomore haunted by the murderous specter of a child, to ghosts of a very different kind—including Paul Slater, Suze’s ex, who shows up to make a bargain Suze is certain must have come from the Devil himself—Suze isn’t sure she’ll make it through the semester, let alone to her wedding night.

Suze is used to striking first and asking questions later. But what happens when ghosts from her past—including one she found nearly impossible to resist—strike first?

What happens when old ghosts come back to haunt you?

If you’re a mediator, you might have to kick a little ass.
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Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Series: Standalone

Publication: April 22nd 2014 by Broadway Books

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? 
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Storm by Kate Palmer

Series: Western Hearts #2

Publication: October 12th 2015 by Designate Media

Source: Received a free copy of this in exchange for an honest review from ebooksforreview.com. Thank you!

Goodreads Summary: A woman rancher struggles to save her ranch, but it’s her heart she’s most in danger of losing.

Storm’s ranch is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy after cattle rustlers strike. When her part-time ranch hand dies under suspicious circumstances, two neighboring ranchers step in to help. In jeopardy of losing the only place that’s ever felt like home, who can she trust with her heart?
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Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Series: Standalone

Publication: March 27th 2012 by Plume

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: "Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you . . . " From the award-winning author of Eleanor & Park, Fangirl, and Landline comes a hilarious and heartfelt novel about love in the workplace.

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now- reading other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.

When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.

By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.

What would he say . . . ?
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