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A genre-defying new novel, inspired by Mary Shelley’s masterpiece Frankenstein, which brilliantly explores the eerie mysteries of childhood and the evils perpetrated by the monsters among us.
1978: at her renowned treatment center in picturesque Vermont, the brilliant psychiatrist, Dr. Helen Hildreth, is acclaimed for her compassionate work with the mentally ill. But when she’s home with her cherished grandchildren, Vi and Eric, she’s just Gran—teaching them how to take care of their pets, preparing them home-cooked meals, providing them with care and attention and love.
Then one day Gran brings home a child to stay with the family. Iris—silent, hollow-eyed, skittish, and feral—does not behave like a normal girl.
Still, Violet is thrilled to have a new playmate. She and Eric invite Iris to join their Monster Club, where they catalogue all kinds of monsters and dream up ways to defeat them. Before long, Iris begins to come out of her shell. She and Vi and Eric do everything together: ride their bicycles, go to the drive-in, meet at their clubhouse in secret to hunt monsters. Because, as Vi explains, monsters are everywhere.
2019: Lizzy Shelley, the host of the popular podcast Monsters Among Us, is traveling to Vermont, where a young girl has been abducted, and a monster sighting has the town in an uproar. She’s determined to hunt it down, because Lizzy knows better than anyone that monsters are real—and one of them is her very own sister.
The Children on the Hill takes us on a breathless journey to face the primal fears that lurk within us all.
Quote
“The tragedies we endure shape our lives: we carry them like shadows,”
My Thoughts After I Read the Book
When I started this book, I soon realized the story is told by a young girl obsessed with monsters. Her favorite monster is Frankenstein. This realization took me back to my childhood and watching Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, the Mummy, and Dracula with my father. My dad loved those movies and wanted to share them with me, although I was very young, and they horrified me.
This story is told in two timelines. In 1978 Vi is the story’s young girl and our protagonist who loves monsters. She is being raised by Gran, a doctor in a Psychiatric facility. She has a brother Eric and a new member of the family, Iris, whom her Gran has brought home to be a part of the family. Questions are raised about what is going on at the Psychiatric Hospital and who this new girl Iris is.
Fast Forward to 2019, where you find Lizzie Shelly, a monster hunter and podcast star. She is searching for the missing girls and the monsters she believes have taken them. She is sure monsters are real and believes just perhaps her sister is one of them.
Book Trailer/Movie/Book Trailer
I could not find anything related to a book trailer or movie for this book.
The 5-star and 1-star reviews I found on Good Reads.
5-star review-“Menacing, heart-pounding suspense, and riveting!
THE CHILDREN ON THE HILL by JENNIFER McMAHON is an engrossing, disturbing, chilling, and highly entertaining story that immediately grabbed my attention, and hooked me from the very first page. I loved the creepy asylum atmosphere, and totally appreciated how the author paid homage to Mary Shelley’s classic Frankenstein in this story. It was thrilling and just about perfect.”
1-Star Review-I’ve never written a review, as I usually feel the star rating will suffice. But I felt compelled to say this was one of the worst books I’ve read in years. Just a complete waste of my time.
Me-I agree more with the 5-star review. This book is worth the read.
A high-altitude thriller that will take your breath away–Cecily Wong is on her most dangerous climb yet, miles above sea level. But the elements are nothing compared to one chilling truth: There’s a killer on the mountain.
Journalist Cecily Wong is in over her head. She’s come to Manaslu, the eighth-highest peak in the world, to interview internationally famous mountaineer Charles McVeigh on the last leg of a record-breaking series of summits. She’s given up everything for this story–her boyfriend, her life savings, the peace she’s made with her climbing failures in the past–but it’s a career-making opportunity. It could finally put her life back on track.
But when one climber dies in what everyone else assumes is a freak accident, she fears their expedition is in danger. And by the time a second climber dies, it’s too late to turn back. Stranded on a mountain in one of the most remote regions of the world, she’ll have to battle more than the elements in a harrowing fight for survival against a killer who is picking them off one by one.
Quote
I don’t have a favorite quote.
My Thoughts After Reading the Book
Cicely is new to the climbing world, and she is also a journalist. She is known for an article she wrote about a failed climbing experience of her own. Now she wants to change this. She will climb a very high mountain in exchange for an interview with a climber named Charles McVeigh. Charles is a gifted, nearly legendary climber.
Cicely is less than confident about this climb but willing to risk everything for this interview. There are always risks in climbing high mountains. You have the cold, the lack of oxygen, and the dangerous terrain. But these are not the only risks on this mountain because on this mountain trip, people are dying, and it may not be from natural causes.
Movie/Book Trailer
I could not find anything on a movie or book trailer for this book.
5-star and 1-star reviews I found on Goodreads.
5-Star Review-“A killer who stalks their victims in the Death Zone of Himalayan mountains? Written by a female mountaineer? How AMAZING is that concept! I was so excited about this one from the moment I heard about it. And I finished it in a day, as I just could not stop reading!”
1-Star Review-“DNF at 100 pages. I couldn’t force myself to trudge through any more of this. So boring. And too much technical mountain stuff that I really don’t care about. When you fall asleep after 10 pages 3 nights in a row you know there’s a problem lol”
Me-I must say I did not find it as exciting as the 5-star review, but I did enjoy it. I did finish the book, and there were times it did seem very slow but all in all, I enjoyed this book.
A college reunion turns dark and deadly in this chilling and propulsive suspense novel about six friends, one unsolved murder, and the dark secrets they’ve been hiding from each other—and themselves—for a decade.
Book Quote
I don’t have a favorite quote.
My Thoughts After Reading the Book
I listened to this book on Audible for an hour and thought it was awful. I found this book to be so superficial and petty. The main focus was a woman looking back on her college days and lamenting why she was not considered the prettiest. They even had a pretty list. It was all about popularity and looks. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I DNF’d
Book Trailer or Movie
I found a book trailer.
I could not find anything about a movie based on this book.
A Five and One Star Review as Found on Good Reads
Five Star Review–I can’t even express how much I loved this book! This my friends is a thriller…it checked all the thriller boxes for me! It is defiantly on my list of favorites for the year!
One Star Review-“The main character is a vain, bad-mouthing, beyond-hateful person who is constantly wallowed in self-pity because she’s not as good as her friend, and not everyone likes her the best.
She constantly compares herself to her ‘friends’ on the superficial aspects: looks, money, popularity. It’s quite painful to live in her head.”
David Oshinsky chronicles the history of America’s oldest hospital and in so doing also charts the rise of New York to the nation’s preeminent city, the path of American medicine from butchery and quackery to a professional and scientific endeavor, and the growth of a civic institution. From its origins in 1738 as an almshouse and pesthouse, Bellevue today is a revered public hospital bringing first-class care to anyone in need. With its diverse, ailing, and unprotesting patient population, the hospital was a natural laboratory for the nation’s first clinical research. It treated tens of thousands of Civil War soldiers, launched the first civilian ambulance corps and the first nursing school for women, pioneered medical photography and psychiatric treatment, and spurred New York City to establish the country’s first official Board of Health.
As medical technology advanced, “voluntary” hospitals began to seek out patients willing to pay for their care. For charity cases, it was left to Bellevue to fill the void. The latter decades of the twentieth century brought rampant crime, drug addiction, and homelessness to the nation’s struggling cities problems that called a public hospital’s very survival into question. It took the AIDS crisis to cement Bellevue’s enduring place as New York’s ultimate safety net, the iconic hospital of last resort.
A Quote
I don’t have a favorite quote.
My Thoughts After Reading the Book
I thoroughly enjoyed this Audible listen. Who has not heard of Bellevue? When I would hear the word Bellevue, I always thought of a psychiatric facility. After reading this book, I found it was and still is so much more. Bellevue was opened in the 1700s and is still open today. It has an amazing history which can be found in this book. The book talks about the history of the practice of medicine and treatment and the area’s history. Very informative and extremely interesting.
I found the story of George Washington to be interesting. George was having some throat issues. He was 67 at this time. His initial treatment was blood letting, and I mean a lot of blood letting. That was not working, so they called in another Dr. This Dr. did some more blood letting as well as the use of leeches. They also used various methods to “deplete” him, such as enemas and medications that induced vomiting. Just awful! He finally said no more, and he died soon after. I am inclined to think he died of blood and fluid loss.
Book Trailer/Movie
I could not find anything related to a book trailer or movie on this book but
I did find an interesting clip about Bellevue.
A Five Star and A-One Star Review as Found on GoodReads
The Five Star Review– “I found this book “Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America’s Most Storied Hospital” absolutely fascinating. Oshinsky not only tells the sweeping detailed history of Bellevue but also the history of American medicine, nursing, public health, environmental health, medical research/ education, and public hospitals.”
The One-Star Review-what a waste of time. to read this.
Me– I disagree entirely with the one-star review, and I agree with the 5-star review. If you are interested in history, especially the history of medicine, you will love this book.
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Book 5
“Fable”
(#1)
by Adrienne Young
Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance
4.08 out of 5 stars on Good Reads
I give this book 3/5
Click on the photo below to go to amazon.
Book Description found on GoodReads.
For seventeen-year-old Fable, the daughter of the most powerful trader in the Narrows, the sea is the only home she has ever known. It’s been four years since the night she watched her mother drown during an unforgiving storm. The next day her father abandoned her on a legendary island filled with thieves and little food. To survive she must keep to herself, learn to trust no one, and rely on the unique skills her mother taught her. The only thing that keeps her going is the goal of getting off the island, finding her father, and demanding her rightful place beside him and his crew. To do so Fable enlists the help of a young trader named West to get her off the island and across the Narrows to her father.
But her father’s rivalries and the dangers of his trading enterprise have only multiplied since she last saw him, and Fable soon finds that West isn’t who he seems. Together, they will have to survive more than the treacherous storms that haunt the Narrows if they’re going to stay alive.
Quote
“He looked at me with a hundred stories lit behind his eyes.”
My thoughts after reading the book
Be aware that you will be left hanging at the end if you read this book. It is a series that I did not realize in the beginning. I enjoy reading series books that conclude with an open door to the next book. This one leaves you hanging at the end with no actual conclusion.
Fable was raised on a ship with her mom and dad. Her father was a notorious trader, but I would call him a pirate. Fable’s mom dies during a horrible storm on the sea. Rather than caring for Fable, her father drops her on a dangerous island to fend for herself.
This is about Fable’s life on the island, the people she meets, the dangers she faces, and her fight to find her father. This is about her life in and under the sea plus a romance she never saw coming.
I enjoyed the story but was disappointed with the ending. If I had loved the book, I would continue the series. But I only liked it, so I probably will not continue.
Book Trailer
I could not find a book trailer or movie info on this book.
A Five and One Star Review as Found on Amazon
A Five-Star Review– I’m so glad I judged this book by its cover. It is a beauty inside and out. Absolutely loved every bit of this story! Highly recommend this one to adventure story lovers.
One-Star Review-I know I’m the only one who seems to have fallen off this particular band wagon, but I just don’t get why this has taken off as much as it has. Right from the start I felt like I was just pushing through a story filled with non-events, predictable solutions to short-lived problems and really REALLY flat characters.
Me– I do agree more with the 5-star review even though I rated it a 3/5. One thing I would give a 5 was the beautiful cover. The cover is what attracted me to the book, to begin with.
