Loosely based on a true crime in the 1980s, 14-year-old Francesca "Frankie" Jubilee is sent to the small town of Litani, Minnesota to live with her estranged mother when her botanist father dies. Linda Jubilee is the workalholic county prosecutor and does not time for being a good caring parent to the grieving Frankie. The first day, Linda sends Frankie outside to play in the playground and warns her to avoid the nearby woods and to stay away from adults. Right away, Frankie gets beaten up by a gang of 10-year old girls who steal her Converse shoes. Luckily, Frankie is saved by an older teenaged boy named Crane who lives in a nearby trailer park.

It becomes clear pretty soon that strange things are happening in Litani. Frankie learns about "The Game" and rumours about a satanic cult preying on young children. Most of the adults in Litani are pretty creepy. To pass the time, Frankie continues the tradition she shared with her father to look for rare or interesting plants and make up plant personalities for the people she meets. Frankie also wants to learn more about her late father's childhood in Litani, the group of friends who all still live in town and the tragic drowning of his 7-year old brother one summer.

The tension rises when Linda alerts the media that a series of arrests in a sex trafficking ring are coming soon. But when the ringleader abducts Frankie from her bed, it's up to this feisty, scared girl to save herself and admit her own secrets. This was a poignant, dark and disturbing tale.

I received a digital ARC from Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer. I voluntarily read this book and provided this review.
#Litani

After the unexpected death of her father, 14-year-old Frankie leaves her home in California to go to the rural Midwest. Frankie joins her absentee, workaholic mother in her parents' strange and creepy hometown. Frankie struggles alone in this terrifying town and fights to keep bad things at bay.

"I knew monsters lived out in the open. They lived right inside our homes."

Litani is a heartbreaking story loosely inspired by a 1980s true crime. It tells the story of children forced to deal with terrifying circumstances that no child should ever have to face. Kids in this Minnesota small town must survive the best way they can. I found myself cheering for Frankie and her new friend, Crane, to make it through unscathed.

Two characters from Litani stood out for me. I loved Crane with his nuggets of wisdom and his willingness to be Frankie's protector. I wasn't as fond of Frankie's mom for obvious reasons. However, the depth of Frankie's mom's character gives you a lot to ponder.

Litani offers an intense, dark coming-of-age story with elements of mystery and suspense for readers comfortable with the content.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for an early digital copy of this book. This review reflects my honest, unbiased opinion.

What is the Game? Frankie, whose father has just died, is very much out of sorts after moving to Litani to live with her mother, who is the prosecutor. The two of them have never been close and that doesn't change. Told not to go into the woods, what does Frankie do? This is all about secrets and lies and people turning their heads away. The most frightening thing about it is that it's based on a true story. Frankie's a good character and Lourey has a good storytelling style. Thanks to Netgallry for the ARC. A page turner.

This is one of those stories that is so disturbing it makes you uncomfortable.⁣
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Underaged little girls, who smoke cigarettes and know a bit too much about “games” that revolve around sex in a small town in Minnesota, with monsters who are known for satanic worshipping and enjoy child’s blood. This is a tough one to stomach but thoughtfully, well done.⁣
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This was intense, dark and twisted and real life scary. It’s gripping from the beginning, and you can’t stop reading but not for the faintest of hearts.⁣
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Thank you @netgalley for an ARC for my honest review. ⁣
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#bookstagram #books #netgalley #litani @jesslourey #thriller

Litani by Jess Loury is an intense and creepy book. It deals with the horrible reality of child abuse. Main character Francesca, has just lost her father and moved to Litani, Minnesota to live with her mother. She arrives as the town is in the midst of not the first but the second child abuse scandal both with links to Satan worship.

Thankfully, Litani, is not graphic in detail and the book has several side mysteries that keep you invested in what's happening. I find Loury's books to be a bit on the quirky side and I always enjoy the references to whatever decade she is writing in. I especially loved the reference to Charlotte Rae, the house mother on The Facts of Life! Even with the dark subject matter, Loury writes in such a way that I was kept on the edge of my seat and never wanted to put the book down.

2.5⭐ rounded off to 3 ⭐
This book was an 'okay' read for me. It wasn't something spectacular or something terrible. Just something in the middle. I probably won't remember the story later 🤷

Let me just start by saying that the only thing I loved the most about this book was the author's dedication and research. She has written everything wonderfully and it's clear that she has spent a lot of time on it. I really appreciate the hard work! 👏

But the storyline was boring, it hardly held my attention and I was struggling to finish it. There were multiple plots combined into one and I couldn't register what was happening and why. It all felt very jumbled and confusing. The ending was also meh.

TW ⚠️ child abuse, rape, sexual abuse

PUBLICATION DATE IS OCTOBER 19.
Thank you @netgalley for the ARC!

Thank you to Thomas and Mercer, Netgalley and Jess Lourey for letting me read Litani early. This one hits shelves on 10/19.

I really love Jess Lourey and how she takes true crime and spins it into a new narrative while still respecting the horrors that the victims went through. I haven’t read anything by her yet that I didn’t like. This one features Frankie who has just moved in with her mother, she’s 14, she’s in a new town and something strange is going on. This one felt a little like Stranger Things, a little like The Goonies but much much darker. I highly recommend this one but keep in mind the subject matter is very dark. This one left me cringing but somehow also full of hope at the same time.

1984, The Game, satanic rituals, long kept secrets, and the young girl who is trying to figure it all out. The local people talk about The Game and Frankie’s mother wants her to stay out of the woods and away from all the adults… Frankie isn’t the only one growing paranoid, the whole community is scared and confused as these dark secrets emerge.

I think the writing in <i>Litani</i> was very good, and the characters were very clear and fleshed-out. I liked the story too and this probably would have been a 4 star book if it hadn't <b>GIVEN THE ENTIRE STORY AWAY</b> in the Author's Note at the very beginning of the book. I knew this was based on a true story, but that's all that should have been written at the beginning. Leave the Author's Note about the story to the end. It really ruined the whole thing for me because I basically knew what was going to happen the whole time.

This was a difficult read. I really struggled to get into into this at the start, and really needed force myself to read it. However, once I had hit 25%, I was hooked. I wanted to know what happened in Litani, and what made it such a strange place. In spite of that, I felt that the story was disjointed & confusing, and I never really connected with any of the characters.

What a dark, difficult read! It was more a drama than a mystery. Not really for me... Just didn't enjoy the atmosphere.

I liked Unspeakable Things better, but I'm sure this book, also based on true events, will appeal to many readers. Lourey writes very well.

Triggers : a lot of talk about child abuse

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Litani takes place in the 1980s, which I loved. This was definitely a creepy, intense and sometimes hard to read thriller due to the subject matter. The whole fact that the book was from a 14 year old girls perspective, had me feeling like I was reading a YA novel, which I never read. Also, this is not for the faint of heart. Just a very dark read, and I like dark books, but this may have been a bit too much for me.

Litani is the title of the fictional town and latest book by Jess Lourey. The main character, Francesca (Frankie) we meet briefly at seven years old and then when she tells her story at fourteen. After living in California with her father Frankie is forced to move to her mother's house in Minnesota when he dies. Litani has a dark history and people aren't who they seem to be. I want to thank NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for an early copy to review.

Based on true events always makes a book more interesting.
Well written and creepy. Wasn't a book.that kept me enthralled to not put it down. Took a lot to get me to get through this book. The main character was just ok. And nothing totally drew me in.
This is my first book by this author but her writing is great I would like to read something else from her.

Thanks to the author the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book.

The first book I read of Jess Lourey’s was Unspeakable Things and it was excellent so when I saw this book I requested it immediately. This book is excellent. Her writing and storytelling is impeccable and her character development is subpar. I felt like I was watching a movie the whole time I was reading and once I got a few chapters in, I couldn’t stop reading. As with Unspeakable Things, the content matter can be hard to read at times because it deals with such a horrible, touchy subject but she approaches it in a way that is almost delicate while still being suspenseful and foreboding. I’m a fan of Jess Lourey for life now.

This was a very good book. Francesca (Frankie to her friends) was young when her mom and dad divorced and went to live with her dad in California. Her dad has recently passed away and she has moved back to Litani Minnesota to live with her mom, someone she has had little contact with over the years other than two cards a year. She had visited once when she was 7 and her mom removed a tooth that was bothering her with a pair of pliers, needless to say that left an impression! On Frankie's first day in Litani she's walking in some woods, her dad was a botanist and they had frequently explored forests looking for rare or interesting plants. You will learn a bit about various plants and their medicinal and fatal properties while reading. In the forest Frankie is accosted by three girls who beat her up and steal her shoes and are in the process of stealing her backpack when she's saved by an older boy who stops the assault. Crane, the boy who saved her, is someone who doesn't talk alot, though him and Frankie become friends of a sort. The girls had mentioned to Frankie that she should play 'the game' and when Frankie asks Crane about it, he walks away. Frankie's mom is a prosecutor and is investigating a sex trafficking ring that appears to be centered in Litani. The author does a very good job of tying the various lines of the story together and ends the story on a high note. I highly recommend. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is my first Jess Lourey book and I’m excited to read her earlier release, Bloodline, next.

This novel takes place in 1984 Minnesota and follows fourteen year old Frankie Jubilee. After her father’s death, Frankie goes to live with her mother, a tough county prosecutor, in small town Litani. Frankie soon learns that Litani isn’t the quaint small town it seems to be when she hears whisperings of a satanic cult preying on young children.

The story is told from Frankie’s POV which I think was an interesting (and a well done) choice by the author. The horrific things happening in the town are seen through a teenager’s eyes which made the plot all the more disturbing. Not only is Frankie struggling with the loss of her beloved father, but her mother won’t give her the time of day. Hoping to connect with someone, Frankie soon finds a friend in a boy named Crane who may or may not have ties to the mysterious “Game”.

I enjoyed this book overall, it was a page turner but it did feel repetitive at times with the botany and plant descriptions. I also wanted more explanation about Frankie’s father’s past.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Based on true events that happened in the 1980's in a small town called Litani in Minnesota...and having read Bloodline by Jess Lourey, I was excited that I got this ARC.

Francesca Jubilee known as Frankie moves to Litani when she was fourteen years old, after living in California with her father for six years with her father dying recently. She is sort of having a strained relationship with her workaholic mother. Frankie was visiting Litani after a very long time--the last time she visited Litani, she was seven years old and things didn't go well with her mother. As she adjusts to the life in the small town, she meets some girls, who bullied her and asks her to play the Game with them. She meets a standoffish boy named Crane. And as she gets slowly adjusts to the life in Litani, she finds some secrets that have been buried, from the time when her parents were teenagers.

The story is told mainly in Frankie's point of view. This kind of had a creepy sense in it, like I felt like I was watching a horror movie. People living in the town of Litani believe in a cult which is Satanic and Frankie's mother is determined to save the little girls who went missing. As a result, I actually enjoyed the plot--the plot was interesting and intriguing that I was hooked into the book from the beginning to the end. Since it is based on a true story, it piqued my interest more. Frankie is somewhat a likable character and I like how her relationship with her mother seemed to improve towards the end of the book. Though the ending was OK, the story was a bit emotional.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for granting me the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Litani by Jess Lourey was a dark and disturbing read. I loved it! The setting is a small town in Minnesota called Litani in 1984. Frankie is 15 and has been sent there to live with her estranged Mom because her dad has passed away. She really doesn’t know her mom or like her much at all. Her mom also happens to be the prosecutor for Litani.
Frankie gets off to a bad start her first day. She gets beat up by a gang of 10 year old girls and they steal her shoes. She gets saved by a teenaged boy named Crane, who lives in a nearhy trailer park. He warns Frankie to stay away from the girls and the residents of the trailer park.
It seems there is something odd going on in Litani involving a thing the kids call The Game. Frankie decides to investigate and gets in all kinds of messes. Her mom is also investigating some crimes against children that may be connected.
This book totally captured the feel of 1984 as I remember it. The character of Frankie was so well done and so relatable. The town of Litani was such a creepy town and so well described. However, readers sensitive to crimes and violence against children may want to skip this one. Make sure to check this book out if you like dark thrillers. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Litani by Jess Lourey
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Frankie is only 14 when her dad dies. She has to move to Litani, Minnesota to live with her estranged mother. But something isn’t quite right about Litani. There are rumors about Satan worshipers, and “The Game”, along with secrets everywhere. Frankie is determined to unravel these secrets.
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What I liked:
-Jess Lourey is the queen of setting up atmosphere in her books. From the very start of each of her books that I’ve read, there is this feeling that something in these towns is not quite right. Each chapter just heightens the suspense and creepy vibes.
-While I took my time reading this book, it was quite binge-able. If a person had the day off (and no kids to take care of 😅😅😅) I would imagine it would be super easy to binge this story in a day!
-Even though Frankie was only 14, I felt so much for her. Also, I loved Crane and Dawn.
-There is a stunning cast of suspicious characters in this book! I didn’t trust anyone. 😅🙈
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4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I thought this was well written and Jess remains an auto-read author for me.
TW: child abuse
Thanks Netgalley for this digital copy.

After reading and loving the heck out of Bloodline I knew I needed to read Litani and could not wait! Thank you to @netgalley for my advance copy !

Set in the rural Midwest in 1984, Litani is inspired by a true crime. First a warning-this book is extremely dark. It has child abuse/ and sexual abuse content that may make you feel uncomfortable and remember how I said it was based on a true crime-YIKES! I am drawn to books about cults and satanic rituals so I knew that this would be to my likely and I was right. Our main character Frankie is so loveable and easy to relate to. Her feels of loss and grief broke my heart. While riveting and atmospheric this story is also fast paced and a bit of a mystery until the end.

I don’t want to give anything away, I just know that @jesslourey is now an auto buy author for me and if you do pick this up (which you should) you will be missing sleep because you will not be able to put it down!