Summerween 2023 TBR!

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Hi hello and welcome to my Summerween 2023 TBR! If you don't know what Summerween is, it's a readathon created by gabbyreads and oliviareadsalatte where the goal is to bring the spooky season to Summer! As a horror lover, I'm always looking for a reason to read more in the genre, so this readathon is always super fun to take part in. This round of Summerween is from the 7th to 13th of July and there's a fun list of prompts to help you pick out your TBR that you can find on either Gabby or Olivia's videos, or on the official Summerween Instagram page. I'll be sharing the prompts in my post today and talking about what books I hope to read during the readathon. Let's get spooky!
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For the prompt read a book in the dark (or at night), I was honestly just going to count the other books on my TBR since I tend to read in the dark before bed. But then I realized I wanted to have more options on my TBR because I really wanted to read these and they didn't seem to fit any of the other prompts. So, I've added You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron and The Lake House by Sarah Beth Durst! Whether I'll finish both of them, I don't know, but I really wanted the ability to read more just in case I was able to finish the other books on my initial TBR. These seem like the perfect creepy reads and I'm so excited for both of them!
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Riley March and her friends are headed to ritzy, remote Palm Key Island for one last blow-out party weekend before college. It's the vacation of a beautiful beaches, epic nightlife, and hot guys like Riley's crush--superstar soccer player Sebastian Ramos. There's just one catch. Everyone on this trip is hiding something. Riley is hiding her past in order to fit in. Sebastian is hiding his feelings for Riley. And someone is hiding what really happened to Jordyn Chang, a classmate that mysteriously died last summer. Things take a dark turn after one of their friends goes missing, and a hurricane cuts the group off from civilization. Trapped inside their rental house, a killer stalks them one by one. No one is safe. Everyone's a suspect. As the body count rises, Riley and her friends will have to confront the secrets they've been keeping if they want to stay alive.
For the prompt read a thriller, I chose Summer Rental by Rektok Ross! This is pitched as Mean Girls meets Scream and seems like it's right up my alley. Plus, the cover looks super cool and it got my attention immediately. I saw this in a horror book group that I'm in and I actually flew to Kindle Unlimited to download it. I'm not much into YA anymore, but I'm willing to give this one a chance!
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While driving through the mountains of West Virginia during a late-night snowstorm, a recently divorced woman experiences bizarre electrical problems, leaving her with little choice but to place her trust with a charismatic truck driver. But when an unexplainable creature with haunting red eyes gets between them, she is forced to make one of the toughest decisions of her life. Will she abandon the stranger who kept her safe—or will she climb down below, where reality has shapeshifted into a living nightmare?


Okay, so the synopsis mentions a snowstorm which makes me think this is set in the Winter, but I found this on a list of books set in the Fall so I'm going for it. For the prompt read a book set in the Fall, I chose Below by Laurel Hightower . Below has been on my TBR for a while and I am in the mood for some Mothman. Well, when am I not, honestly. But this feels like the perfect pick and I'm so excited to finally read this!
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Clifford Island. When Willow Stone finds these words written on the floor of her deceased son's bedroom, she's perplexed. She's never heard of it before, but soon learns it's a tiny island off of Wisconsin's Door County peninsula, 200 miles from Willow's home. Why would her son write this on his floor? Determined to find answers, Willow sets out for the island. After a few days on Clifford, Willow realizes: this place is not normal. Everyone seems to be stuck in a particular day in 1994: they wear outdated clothing, avoid modern technology, and, perhaps most mystifyingly, watch the OJ Simpson car chase every evening. When she asks questions, people are evasive, but she learns one thing: close your curtains at night. High schooler Lily Becker has lived on Clifford her entire life, and she is sick of the island's twisted mythology and adhering to the rules. She's been to the mainland, and everyone is normal there, so why is Clifford so weird? Lily is determined to prove that the islanders' beliefs are a sham. But are they? Five weeks after Willow arrives on the island, she disappears. Willow's brother Harper comes to Clifford searching for his sister, and when he learns the truth--that this island is far more sinister than anyone could have imagined--he is determined to blow the whole thing open. If he can get out alive.

For the prompt read a book with orange or black on the cover, I chose Dead Eleven by Jimmy Juliano. This was not originally on my TBR, but after seeing Gabby's video, it absolutely had to be. Not only am I obsessed with this cover, the synopsis sounds so weird and right up my alley that I could not resist. A town stuck in the 90's? Give me all of the nostalgia!
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You may think you know how the fairytale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now, her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes. On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood, and the three 'saints' who control them. The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruellest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.
For the prompt read a manga, graphic novel, or novella, I chose The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw. This is another book that has been on my TBR for ages and I'm kind of in the mood for a water horror book, so this felt like a really good choice for this prompt. It's about creepy mermaids but it also seems like so much more than that, and with a cover as stunningly creepy as this, there's no way that this isn't going to be a fantastic novella.
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And that does it for my Summerween 2023 TBR! I'm so excited for this readathon and I'm even more excited to knock out some of these books that I've been waiting for the perfect time to read. Are you participating in Summerween this year? Did you get introduced to Summerween through my post? What books are on your TBR if you are? I'd love to know so please feel free to share in the comments below so we can chat! Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you in the next chapter!

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Thank you so much for checking out my post! I'd love to chat, so please feel free to leave a comment :D