Author Archives: Bizarre Brunette

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

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Happy Halloween! It’s funny how one day has so much anticipation that builds, and then it’s over. I decided to post a book review of a dark academia thriller I read recently, The Maidens by Alex Michaelides. This book wasn’t featured on my spooky TBR post I published this month. Whenever I travel, I like to bring along my Kindle as I don’t like the idea of physical books taking up precious packing space. My spooky TBR was all the physical books I wanted to read, and The Maidens was a book I purchased for my Kindle. Therefore, I ended up reading The Maidens and putting aside my physical spooky TBR pile for now.

Mariana Andros is a skilled psychotherapist who is grieving the loss of her partner, Sebastian. Mariana is alerted to a murder at her niece’s college campus, which also happens to be Mariana’s alma mater, Cambridge. Zoe, Mariana’s niece, teams up with Mariana to help investigate the murder. Intertwined with the murder case is a college professor, Edward Fosca, who has a special group of students called The Maidens. Mariana is determined to find evidence that Fosca was the one who killed the girls. As Mariana digs deeper, she realizes there’s a lot more at stake than just the murders.

As mentioned, I liked the mention of various Greek tragedies and mythology. Fosca is a professor specializing in this area of study, so it made sense that various Greek mythology tragedies were mentioned. I thought Michaelides did a great job illustrating the book’s setting. I could imagine Mariana in a fashionable trench coat wandering around a gloomy campus and interacting with the students as she went. Speaking of Mariana, I liked her as the main protagonist. I was rooting for her, and I could empathize with her grief.

The story and the ultimate twist didn’t work for me. I won’t discuss spoilers, but if you’re curious, I wrote about the spoiler in my Goodreads review hidden under spoiler tags. The twist, in my opinion, felt a bit out there. As I read other reviews on Goodreads, I can now envision the instances in the book that led to this twist. The reason the twist didn’t work for me was because of how heavily it impacted Mariana. I loved Mariana as a character, and I thought the twist cheapened her story. Besides the twist, I found it extremely hard to believe that Mariana was the only one who noticed Fosca’s creepy behavior. If this were real life, everyone would think Fosca was a huge creep, yet Mariana spent the majority of the book convincing others of this.

Overall, I’m glad I spent the time reading The Maidens; however, it ended up being a letdown for me. I thought this would easily be one of my favorite books I read in 2021, but this wasn’t the case. I rated The Maidens three stars, rounded up on Goodreads.

My First Trip to Disney

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Image is a photo of characters from Disneyland. There's Donald with a pumpkin on his head, Minnie is made out of pumpkins and Pluto with his mouth open peering over the edge.

Last week, I was in California with my husband. While our full honeymoon trip will be to Europe sometime next year, we still wanted to take a trip to celebrate our marriage. As we were debating where to go, we decided on California because neither my husband nor I had ever been there. I plan on writing three posts for this trip: one for Disneyland, one for Los Angeles, and one for San Francisco. I decided to write about Disneyland first.

Growing up, my family never did a Disney trip. When my husband and I planned a trip to California, I made it clear that I wanted to go to Disneyland. My husband and I stayed in downtown LA, so we planned on taking the Amtrak train from LA to Anaheim. It was so slick. The Anaheim Union Station was only ten minutes from the park. We arrived at Disneyland around 8:15 AM to wait in line.

The first thing I noticed entering the park was the spooky decorations. I was in love with all the pumpkin Disney characters that lined the park. Any Halloween enthusiast like myself would love the park during this time. My husband and I ended up taking various selfies of the pumpkin characters as we didn’t want to wait in line for a professional photographer to take our picture. As we entered the park, we sprinted for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge as we wanted to do this first before it became busy.

Image is a photo of me posing in front of Kylo Ren's ship. There's a big ship on a pedestal and I'm standing in front of it with a hand on my hip.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was mesmerizing. Immediately upon entering the park, I ran to Kylo Ren’s TIE Echelon ship and forced my husband to take my picture. The ship looked like it came out of the movie and was on display at the park. After staring at Kylo’s ship, we meandered to the life-size Millennium Falcon. To no one’s surprise, I ran over to this ship and again politely asked my husband to take my picture. The Millennium Falcon ride was epic. We were with a family of four who fought over who got to pilot the ship, so my husband and I took the less coveted positions of engineer. It’s clear that a lot of thought went into making a realistic Star Wars theme park, and it shows.

As I walked around Disneyland, I was debating what I wanted to purchase as a souvenir. I had way too many t-shirts, and I wanted something that I could look at to reflect on my trip. I ended up settling on pins. At the Disneyland souvenir shops, they sell lanyards with collectible pins. Pin trading is a big deal where you can trade pins with people at the park. I liked the concept of this because I could hang my lanyard on the same hook as my other convention badges. I already had a special place in my head as to where this would go, so I knew this was what I wanted to purchase. I purchased pins that represented a movie or franchise that held a special place in my heart. This included pins from Hercules, Monsters Inc., Belle, Star Wars, and Inside Out. Since getting home from our trip, the lanyard is exactly where I wanted to place it. I can look upon it and reflect on my time at Disneyland.

Image is a photo of Avengers Campus. There's a building with the A on it. There are people waiting outside of the building.

Once 1:00 PM hit, we were able to park hop over to the Disneyland California Adventure park. This park features the brand new Avengers Campus. One of my husband’s biggest complaints was not being able to buy a beer. However, once we entered Disneyland California Adventure, we were able to purchase cocktails at Pym Test Kitchen. My husband was happy. Avengers Campus was fun! We didn’t ride any of the rides as the Guardians of the Galaxy ride was one of the drop rides, and I’m not a fan of heights. We did get to see a brief show of Spider-Man climbing the buildings. I think Avenger’s Campus has a lot of potential to grow into something bigger than it is right now.

This is a photo of me standing in front of the Avengers Campus park sign.

While Avengers Campus was neat, I did like Pixar Pier. Pixar Pier, as it sounds, is where most of the Pixar-themed rides are. The ride I see most often on social media is Toy Story Mania!, where you sit in carts and shoot things. This was one of the longer waits we had for a ride; however, it was worth it. Of course, my husband scored more points than me. I blame this on his experience playing first-person shooters. Once we hit Pixar Pier, my husband and I were exhausted, and soon after we ate, and left the park.

Disneyland was everything I hoped for it to be. It was seeing my childhood coming to life, along with reminiscing on various Disney or Pixar movies that meant a lot to me when I was younger. I’m fortunate that after this long pandemic, Disneyland was my first trip, and it was worth the wait.

How The Mercer Effect Has Impacted Me

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I started watching Critical Role in 2021 and quickly became enamored with the world Matthew Mercer built for his players. Although Critical Role wasn’t the first Dungeons & Dragons podcast I listened to. My first DnD podcast experience was NADDPOD, which I started listening to back in 2018. I realize that the Mercer-Effect impacted me when I started playing Dungeons & Dragons because I had such high expectations from my DM. I wanted to talk about this experience and share something I learned from it.

My friends and I started a Dungeons & Dragons group back in 2019. My friend wanted to try to DM and create his world. As mentioned, I had high expectations for what I was hoping for from the story. I wanted a high-intensity story with real-world implications. I realize that I set myself up for failure. I set this campaign on a high pedestal when in reality, Dungeons & Dragons allowed me and my friends to goof off and have a great time. I reflect on this campaign as a way that all my friends were able to get together regularly, even though we all live busy lives.

I think the biggest way around the Mercer-Effect is setting little to no expectations when playing Dungeons & Dragons. Playing through a campaign with an open mind can allow random events to happen during gameplay. Besides the expectations, I think it helps to have a gaming group that clicks with each other. I have played in campaigns that I grew bored with, but when I reflect on these sessions, I didn’t connect with the group I was playing with. In my most memorable and fun sessions, I think of all the random events and how much laughter was shared between friends.

Dungeons & Dragons is supposed to be a fun and interactive game. It’s also completely valid to be a fan of Critical Role, NADDPOD, or Ain’t Slayed Nobody and not want to play TTRPGs. Many fans of these podcasts like interactive storytelling, but don’t enjoy roleplaying. The Mercer-Effect can create a negative environment in a gaming group, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Roleplaying is one of my favorite hobbies, and thanks to Critical Role, it’s become more accessible.

Becoming a Bodmer – October 2nd 2021

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Image is a photo of me and my husband. He is lowering me into a dip with his hand on my lower back. I have my leg kicking out. My arms are wrapped around him. Behind us is a beautiful forest and leaves everywhere.

I wrote a post summarizing general life updates, which included marrying my husband earlier in October. I wanted to include everything wedding-related in this post, versus writing multiple posts. If you’re more of a fan of my geeky content, this might be the post to skip since it’s more of a life update. However, I was able to incorporate some geeky aspects into our wedding.

Saturday was a partly cloudy day with 70-degree weather. Our party arrived at Four Daughters’ Vineyard & Winery at 10 AM. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t on edge for most of the morning. Being a bride, I had gone through in my head what could go wrong. A vendor doesn’t show, a guest arrives who forgot to RSVP, or I forgot to bring something to Four Daughters. As the morning continued, I started to feel at ease. The hair and makeup artists I picked did a great job. I went with PrimpedMN, who specializes in on-site hair and makeup services. All my bridesmaids looked stunning. As we were getting ready, we played music in the getting-ready area while the hair and makeup team worked. The hair and makeup artist was dancing along and talking with us, which helped create the fun getting-ready environment.

Image is a photo of a wedding arch. There's a huge floral arrangement on the front. It has roses in orange, dark blue, and bright yellow. There are leaves and ferns sticking out of it as well. On either side of the arch is the vineyard.

Besides the hair and makeup team, our floral arrangements were fantastic. Fox and Fern Floral made all of our floral arrangements. All the flowers were locally grown. My husband and I aren’t huge flower people, so we didn’t have strong opinions as to what floral arrangements we wanted. There was a floral arrangement on our arch that was so beautiful and helped create the wedding I was dreaming of. All the wedding bouquets were beautifully arranged. My bouquet was huge! It got heavy carrying it after a while. Our florist did a great job.

As the morning ticked by, it was time to get ready for the ceremony! I put on my dress and it fit perfectly. Our ceremony began at 3 PM and because the weather was nice, we set up in the middle of the vineyard. As I reminisce on this part of the day, I think about how it was a blur. I remember lining up with my brother as he was the one to walk me down the aisle. We waited for our special song and then we started to walk.

Image is a photo of me and my husband walking down the aisle hand in hand after getting married.

Our ceremony was about fifteen minutes long. As my husband and I planned our script, we knew we didn’t want to stand in front of everyone for a long time. I have been a guest at weddings where the ceremony was thirty minutes or longer. I remember feeling impatient. I didn’t want my guests to feel this way, plus short and to the point can be just as special as a longer ceremony. There was a brief hiccup in the ceremony regarding poem readings, but once we got through that, everything was smooth. My husband and I kissed, signed the paperwork, and walked down the aisle hand in hand, ready to begin our lives together.

After the ceremony, we hosted a cocktail hour for our guests while we took pictures. It’s nice because Four Daughters has these garage doors that open out, which allowed us to set up yard games, and guests could wander the vineyard during cocktail hour. Once we finished the pictures, it was time for the grand entrance. My husband and I were adamant about doing the grand entrance. With some convincing, I was able to get my husband to agree to march into the dining hall with the Doctor Who theme song. When my husband and I first started dating, Doctor Who was the first show we watched together, so it has a special place in my heart. Once we sat down, dinner began.

Image is a photo of me and my husband having first bites of our cake. I'm holding a fork and he's taking a bite of cake.

The other highlight of our meal choices was the dessert! We went with Nothing Bundt Cakes. I wanted cupcakes versus a wedding cake because I thought they were small and cute. We had several flavors, including pumpkin, red velvet, vanilla, and chocolate. They were a hit. Everyone I talked to said the cupcakes were decadent. Cupcakes were the perfect choice in my book because we ordered enough that our guests could try multiple flavors. Plus, we had a few kids at our wedding who would probably eat more than one.

Dancing began at 7 – 7:30 PM-ish after my husband and I had our first dance. We danced to Everything I Need by Skylar Grey. My husband picked this song from the Aquaman movie with Jason Momoa, which I felt was fitting for us since we are big DC fans. The song was beautiful, and our DJ did a great job at setting the tone. We went with Ever After Entertainment for our wedding. Brent was our DJ, and he did a great job. Once our first dance was done, Brent continued the energy all night long. He made our night extra special and took us into account when picking songs.

Throughout the night, we had a photo booth for guests to take pictures. We even had late-night pizza prepared for the guests who stayed with us all night. Finally, the garage doors stayed open into the night, so guests could cool off in between dancing. Once midnight hit, it was time to pack up and end the night. I remember going to sleep at 1:30 AM and having the best night of sleep in a long time.

My wedding was everything I wanted it to be. It was special for us, and I’m glad our most important guests were able to attend. My husband and I have been together for seven years, and now we have started to celebrate our forever. I became a Bodmer on October 2nd, 2021, and I’m so glad I did.

My Spooky TBR

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It’s Spooky Season! This is my favorite time of the year, and now that I’m done with wedding planning, I can dive into the season. I went to my local bookstore, Cream & Amber, to pick up a few books to read. I wanted to share what’s on my Spooky TBR!

Image is a stack of four books and the picture shows the vertical spines of the books. From top to bottom they are - The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling, The Guest List by Lucy Foley, and The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner.

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Patricia Campbell is a nurse turned housewife to her husband and two kids. In her free time, she and the other moms are a part of a true-crime book club, which allows them to discuss how evil some people can truly be. Patricia decides to welcome a stranger to their book club. As much as Patricia is captivated by the newcomer, she becomes suspicious as children are mysteriously disappearing from the next town over. Patricia realizes that this stranger may be the next Ted Bundy or maybe something a bit more.

This is the first book I started reading, and it’s really good! I find myself wanting to read this anytime I have free time. I went into this thinking it would be a typical vampire moves next door book; however, there’s a lot more horror involved. I just read a part about rats that still makes my skin crawl.

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling

Vivienne Jones went through an awful breakup. She drank, she cried, and she decided to cast a curse on her ex because why not? Being a witch has its perks. Although Vivienne’s ex moves back to their hometown and Vivienne realizes her curse may have brought some unintended consequences.

This will be a nice break from horror, as I plan on reading this right after The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

A wedding party arrives in Ireland to begin the festivities. Champagne is popped, conversations are had, and someone turns up dead. Who is the culprit, and what secrets are revealed in the process?

I’m a sucker for a good thriller. I can’t help it; they draw me in as I want to know how everything unfolds. I think thrillers can fit into Spooky Season because human beings are capable of awful deeds.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

An apothecary waits as women visit from across the globe. They purchase poisons to help free themselves of the men who have wronged them. Two women are bound together in different parts of history as they seek the apothecary.

I partially bought this book for the cover. The cover shows a mystical potion bottle surrounded by neon flowers. I figured I could fit this into my TBR because of the alchemy and magic associated with this book.

I can’t wait to read all these books! I have enough variety in my TBR to cover different genres. Once November and December hit, I like to read non-fiction, romance, or more thrillers. If you have any of these books, let me know what you think in the comments below, or feel free to suggest other Spooky books worth reading, too.

Insomniac Games – Wolverine + Spider-Man 2

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The only reason I bought my PS4 was because of Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man game. This game was so good. I played through Miles Morales earlier this year, which allowed me to reminisce about playing through Marvel’s Spider-Man. I have been a big fan of Insomniac ever since, and when I saw they announced Marvel’s Spider-Man #2 plus a whole new game about Wolverine, I was ecstatic. I wanted to summarize my thoughts on both games.

After watching the Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 trailer, my first reaction was how much of a presence Venom will have in this game. Venom is one of the most well-known Spider-Man villains. If there’s any villain to incorporate into a game to generate buzz, Venom is it. There was an after-credit scene in the first Marvel Spider-Man game, which leads into who Venom could be. I won’t discuss this here because it’s a major spoiler. This trailer provided just enough without feeling like it’s giving away the entire game.

Marvel’s Wolverine

This trailer was quite short. It shows a blood-stained Wolverine in a bar after he’s fought many men. His knuckles are bloodied, as he’s sitting having a bourbon or a whiskey. It’s been a day. I’m surprised it’s taken this long for Wolverine to have his own game. I imagine this game will be more violent and gritty if Insomniac is staying true to the character. I think there’s a lot of potential in turning this into the ultimate Wolverine game.

I’m still utilizing my PS4 as I haven’t upgraded to the PS5 yet. Both games are slated to be released in 2023, which is probably when I will buy a PS5. For now, I will continue to extend the life of my beloved PS4 as I try to wait patiently for both games to be released.

Married + Visiting Disneyland! Life Updates

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It’s been a hot minute since I last wrote a post. I’m glad to be back, as I don’t foresee any barriers to writing regularly again. I enjoyed my break and not feeling bound to pre-writing posts every week. I wanted to share a couple of life updates now that I have had time to unwind.

Wedding Bliss

Image is a photo of me and my husband on our wedding day. We are both smiling at the camera. He's wearing a dark suit with a burgundy tie. I'm wearing a white dress with a v-neck.

On Saturday, October 2nd, 2021, I married the love of my life at Four Daughters Winery in Spring Valley, MN. My now husband proposed on May 4th, 2019, which was both Star Wars Day & Free Comic Book Day. During the wedding planning process, we decided to get married in 2021, which allowed us to be stress-free during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I couldn’t have asked for a better wedding. It was partly cloudy, Fall colors were showing, and we were able to get married outside in the middle of the vineyard. My husband is my life partner, and I’m thrilled to make it official.

Visiting Disneyland

My husband and I are planning a huge honeymoon trip to Europe next year. We wanted to wait to ensure that we wouldn’t have to quarantine for two weeks. I still wanted to go on a trip to celebrate our marriage. We planned to fly into LA, stay a few days in San Francisco, and I wanted to spend at least one day in Disneyland. This will be my first trip to Disneyland; however, my husband has been to Disney World before. I’m planning to spend extra time at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, along with visiting the newly opened Avengers Campus. I have also heard Disneyland during Halloween is all decked out with pumpkins this time of year. As someone who is a big fan of Halloween, I’m looking forward to seeing a Spooky version of Disneyland.

Back to Reality

I’m relieved to be done with wedding planning. Both my husband and I have spent long hours crafting the perfect wedding, so it’s a nice feeling to be done. I have been spending my time catching up on Critical Role, reading spooky books, and playing video games. I’m looking forward to Critical Role‘s third campaign premiering towards the end of October, although I’m not halfway through their first campaign. I’m currently reading The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, and I’m into it. It’s been nice to focus on my interests and happiness versus the wedding.

I’m excited to be back writing regular posts again! I have missed spending the time writing posts, and I look forward to catching up on what I have missed.

Gatekeeping Opinions That Suck

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches, Gaming, Reading/Books by

I was reading comments on a random Facebook post. This post was about audiobooks and how this particular person found joy in listening to an audiobook during their work commute. I’m not an audiobook fan myself, as I prefer podcasts; however, I can see why audiobooks have gotten popular. One comment on this post was from a person who stated that audiobooks don’t count as reading. I felt myself getting irritated once I read this. It inspired me to turn this into a full-blown post of gatekeeping opinions that suck.

Audiobooks Don’t Count as Reading

I completely disagree. Reading has evolved from reading physical books to Kindle, and audiobooks are making a huge comeback. This is a gatekeeping opinion because it’s dictating what counts as reading. I’m a huge reader, and I don’t want people to be criticized because they read differently. This opinion also discriminates against disabled people. If someone is visually impaired, leading them to listen to audiobooks, are they less of a reader due to a disability? Nope.

All Fans are Valid and Equal – (i.e, reading the books or watching the movies only)

I see this a lot, specifically in the Game of Thrones fan community. I do not have the bandwidth to read all the Game of Thrones books. Would I be less of a fan if I only watch the show? Not at all. Reading is time-consuming, and watching a show or a film is a lot easier.

Playing Video Games on an Easier Difficulty

When I was younger, I had the time to play Halo Reach on Legendary difficulty. Now, I barely have time to play a game for an hour. I don’t want to sit and struggle in my gaming free time. Therefore, I usually play on either an easier difficulty or whatever counts as medium. It’s completely valid to be a gamer who plays on an easier difficulty setting.

Taking Six Months to Watch a Show vs. Binge-Watching

I’m a slow TV watcher. I don’t usually finish a show within a few days or a week. I have some friends who can binge-watch a show, and that’s cool. It doesn’t matter how much time it takes to watch a show; as long as you’re a fan of the show, you’re a fan! A good example of this is Schitt’s Creek. I love Schitt’s Creek, but I’m still on the second season, and it’s been at least four or five months since I watched. Planning a wedding doesn’t help with this, as that has sucked up most of my free time. I’m still a fan of Schitt’s Creek, even if it takes me the rest of this year to complete every season.

Those were all the gatekeeping opinions I have personally witnessed recently. Let me know in the comments if there were any I missed!

Go Pack Go – Touring Lambeau Field

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Image is a photo of Lambeau Field. This photo is taken from the field and looking up the stands. The bleechers are silver and the aisles are painted bright yellow. There's someone on the field pushing what appears to be a mini tractor or lawn mower.

Last weekend, my fiancé and I drove to Green Bay, WI, for a wedding. Green Bay is in the Northeast part of Wisconsin, and it’s somewhere I had never been to before. With my fiancé’s family living in Wisconsin, they are all big Green Bay Packers fans. The Green Bay Packers play at Lambeau Field, which is a pretty historic Football stadium. My fiancé and I decided to schedule a tour of Lambeau before attending the wedding. For someone who isn’t a major Football fan, the tour was pretty interesting.

The stadium was HUGE. Our tour guide said Lambeau was the fifth-largest Football field. Before stepping on the field, there were several pieces of artwork displayed. This included a piece of art depicting the “Ice Bowl.” The Ice Bowl was a Packers game in which the wind chill was low, and players were freezing as they watched the game. Lambeau is an outdoor field that has its benefits and drawbacks, including the potential for snow. Another piece of artwork featured bicycle wheels. It’s a tradition that Packer players, when starting training camp, ride on children’s bicycles. This has been a famous tradition due to kids biking to see the Packer players train during the off-season. There’s a lot of history tied to the Packers that I wasn’t aware of. It made touring Lambeau feel more like a museum than a sports stadium.

During the tour, we could walk around the field to at least see what it looks like from the player’s perspective. I think this was my favorite part of the tour. My fiancé and I lucked out because we had great weather on the day we toured. It led to some cute pictures of us that the tour guide took.

I wouldn’t classify myself as a Football fan, yet I thoroughly enjoyed the Lambeau Field tour. It was something fun to do while we waited for the wedding to start, and it was great exercise walking around the stadium. I may never be a fully devoted Packers fan, but I can at least respect the history of the team.

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

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I was first introduced to Riley Sager after I read Final Girls last year. Final Girls was my favorite book I read in 2020, partly because it felt like I was reading a slasher movie. Riley Sager seems to have found his niche in writing psychological thrillers with some horror or supernatural elements thrown in. Lock Every Door was on my TBR for a long time, as I was saving it for Fall. Lock Every Door was another captivating and eerie read.

Jules Larsen is down on her luck. She’s lost her job, found out her boyfriend was cheating on her, and she’s homeless. Jules finds an ad in the paper about an apartment sitter at a notorious New York ritzy apartment building called The Bartholomew. Jules is interviewed by the luxurious Leslie Evelyn, who decides Jules is the perfect choice as the new apartment sitter. As Jules moves in, she starts to notice strange occurrences at the mansion. After one of the other tenants moves out, Jules decides to launch her investigation, which leads her down a dark path.

This book took some sharp turns where I wasn’t sure what Jule’s fate would be. Jules was a protagonist I was genuinely rooting for. She has been through so much trauma at a young age and knows what it’s like to be close to giving up. I read some negative reviews of Lock Every Door, and they stated that Jules is naive and a bit reckless for moving into an apartment building she doesn’t know anything about. However, I think it’s made clear that Jules needs the money. She is living paycheck to paycheck, and she needs money fast.

Lock Every Door wasn’t a supernatural thriller like I had originally anticipated. It shows how evil humanity can be and how some in society view others as less than due to their income. Each villain in this story was someone I hated, so kudos to Riley Sager for making me hate everyone who had a hand in hurting Jules. While reading Lock Every Door, I kept thinking this reminded me of American Horror Story: Hotel. All I pictured was the rich aura of the Hotel in American Horror Story and how Leslie Evelyn reminded me of Lady Gaga.

I have now read two of Sager’s books, and I’m starting to notice a pattern. Earlier in this post, I mentioned how Riley Sager has a niche. Each book centers around a female protagonist who has been hit with some kind of personal tragedy or trauma. She is put in danger and has to fight her way out using her trauma to provide fuel to fight back. I have liked Riley Sager’s books; however, I can understand why some readers don’t. I find it’s worth mentioning because while I liked this book, I find that once you read one Riley Sager book, you have the formula for the rest.

Lock Every Door was such an engrossing read. I’m a bit skeptical about reading more Riley Sager books, as I’m finding they are becoming a bit formulaic. I rated Lock Every Door five stars on Goodreads.