Title: Delicious Monsters
Author: Liselle Sambury
Publishes: February 28th, 2022
About the Book
The Haunting of Hill House meets Sadie in this evocative and mind-bending psychological thriller following two teen girls navigating the treacherous past of a mysterious mansion ten years apart.
Daisy sees dead people—something impossible to forget in bustling, ghost-packed Toronto. She usually manages to deal with her unwanted ability, but she’s completely unprepared to be dumped by her boyfriend. So when her mother inherits a secluded mansion in northern Ontario where she spent her childhood summers, Daisy jumps at the chance to escape. But the house is nothing like Daisy expects, and she begins to realize that her experience with the supernatural might be no match for her mother’s secrets, nor what lurks within these walls…
A decade later, Brittney is desperate to get out from under the thumb of her abusive mother, a bestselling author who claims her stay at “Miracle Mansion” allowed her to see the error of her ways. But Brittney knows that’s nothing but a sham. She decides the new season of her popular Haunted web series will uncover what happened to a young Black girl in the mansion ten years prior and finally expose her mother’s lies. But as she gets more wrapped up in the investigation, she’ll have to decide: if she can only bring one story to light, which one matters most—Daisy’s or her own?
As Brittney investigates the mansion in the present, Daisy’s story runs parallel in the past, both timelines propelling the girls to face the most dangerous monsters of all: those that hide in plain sight.
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About the Author
Liselle Sambury is the Trinidadian-Canadian author of the Governor General’s Literary Awards Finalist, Blood Like Magic. Her work spans multiple genres, from fantasy to sci-fi, horror, and more. In her free time, she shares helpful tips for upcoming writers and details of her publishing journey through a YouTube channel dedicated to demystifying the sometimes complicated business of being an author. She’s represented by Kristy Hunter at The Knight Agency.
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My Thoughts
Confession time. This book took me a hot minute to get into. I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening, and was confused when Daisy kept thinking of a man named Noah. But the more I read, the more I realized how thoughtfully planned that not knowing was. Because the more I read, the more I wanted to keep reading.
There were a few moments I wanted to chuck the book. The conversation about scabs or the ear picking comes to mind. I could have lived my entire life not having to read that. But, in the grand scheme of things, it’s central to the storyline and makes Daisy more real, not just a girl on a page you’re reading about. She’s prickly and doesn’t make friends, and there’s a big reason for that. She can’t relate to others, so she ends up pushing them away, which is convenient for her mother.
But then we have Brittany, who’s great at her job. She, too, has had a rough childhood, and she’s still at the end of the strings her mother has so carefully crafted. She wants to break free and hopes having more control over her show will allow her to do that.
Both of them will come together through the mansion, a place filled with so much pain and where untold secrets will come to light. I liked the alternating POVs and timelines with this. The story unfolds leisurely, but once secrets start coming to light, they keep coming. I appreciate the weighty topics and generational trauma, which were introduced in a way that isn’t stressful to the readers. With a bit of magic and a lot more, this book is an exciting read.
Favorite Quotes
“How was I supposed to ask someone to like me when I was only starting to like me?”
“You pretend that you don’t care about anything, but really I think you spend so much time caring about other people that you don’t have room for what you want.”
“It was for the best, I’d figured. Him noticing helped me notice.”
“This place was supposed to be an escape, but it was starting to feel like a trap.”
“I was bad at it. Living. I had always been.
And I was so fucking tired.”
My thanks to the publisher and Turn the Page Tours for this super fun read.
Rae's Reading Lounge 
This is why I rarely DNF a book. Sometimes the ones that have a slow start end up being really good books. Nice review, Rae.
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Thank you!
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