Sorry, unable to access in kindle where I have to read books, can't in other applications. thanks though

4.5 Stars

Daisy doesn't have the easiest life. You wouldn't either if you had the ability to see ghosts. So when Daisy's mom inherits the Northern Ontario mansion she has talked about for years, it seems like a good chance to get away. But the house isn't what it seems, and no one is safe.

Ten years later, Brittney is a film student looking to make her own mark, and break away from her controlling mother. Her mother who claims her stay at "The Miracle Mansion" changed her every fiber and turned her into mother of the year. Brittney and her film partner decide the new season of their popular "Haunted" web series will tackle the mysterious mansion, and they set out to uncover the truth about what really happened to a young black girl ten years prior.

Woooo! What a story. I'm not sure where to begin. I guess the first thing to get out of the way is the trigger warnings. There are many, and the author explains them all in a note at the beginning. I recommend not skipping over that. It's thorough and also personal. I'm glad it was included.

This book is way more than a horror story. There was so much packed into these pages and I was not expecting that. It tackles topics such as race, toxic relationships, and social justice. And what I really loved was how it uses and ties the supernatural to real life horror.

The writing sets up a nice and spooky atmosphere, and the haunted mansion was its own character in the story. I do wish there was a little more back story on the house, just to see how it came to be. Oh, and be prepared for the body horror! So well done.

The author uses dual timelines that eventually meet to tell the tale. I feel there could have been a better timeline balance, but I enjoyed the use of them regardless.

I didn't fall in love with these characters, but I don't think that is the point. And really do we need to love characters to enjoy a book? I don't think so. These characters are flawed, struggle, and aren't that great of people. That felt real - in a maybe not so real setting, and I really liked that.

*Thank you to Simon & Schuster, NetGalley and the author for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

A ghost story is always more than just a haunting or discovery of the unknown after death. It’s a reveal of deeper, darker, and underlying issues. A wrong that was so terrible, that really there is no way to move on and let it just go away. In DELICIOUS MONSTERS Liselle Sambury does a wonderful job of creating this type of story. But what sets this book apart from other ghost stories is who the true monster really is, which isn’t who we always suspect. But what I like best about this story is it reveals how monsters make monsters.

The story begins with Daisy who can see ghosts and this mysterious cloud of questions that hangs over her head about her mother and herself. She is critical of herself and is struggling with her purpose in life. Sambury has you caring and rooting for Daisy within the first few pages. Next, you meet Brittany 10 years later, who is also in a similar situation with her mother and who's trying to regain her own identity separate from her mother’s. These two complex characters and their mothers take you on a roller coaster of emotion. And through all this, there is "The house" and the secrets within.

If you're a fan of The Haunting of Hill House, Sadie, and The Lovely Bones then you found your next great read! I couldn’t put down this book. I stayed up late with each page wondering where the author would lead me next. Excellent writing and themes of friendship, being a person of color, mental illness, complex mother-daughter relationships, overcoming abuse, and learning to forgive yourself.

Told in two separate timelines that are ten years apart. Daisy moves to a mansion property that her mother inherits from her deceased brother-in-law. Ten years later, Brittney cohosts a show with Jayden and they’re focusing on this same mansion property and the story of Daisy. Brittney’s mom gives credit to the mansion for helping her turn her life around and others attribute positive changes to it, dubbing it the Miracle Mansion. This mansion is also known because of its dark history shrouded in secrecy and quiet scandals. Daisy and Brittney have a lot in common in dealing with their seemingly selfish mothers. Jayden and Brittney get more than a documentary when they visit the mansion and conduct their interviews. Strange, eerie and twisted, 4 stars!

Likes/dislikes: I appreciate the content warning at the beginning of the book. Too many swear words even though some helped convey the message of abuse. The mystery kept spiraling and kept me interested. King is my favorite character because of his calmness and integrity.
Mature Content: PG-13 for underage drinking, implied sex, off page sex, being choked while having sex, mention of vaping, gay side character, implied sexual abuse of minors.
Language: R for 168 swears and 106 f-bombs.
Violence: PG-13 for goat being killed by getting throat slashed, mentioning of deaths in mansion.

Delicious Monsters is told in alternating timelines from the perspective of Daisy, a young girl who can see ghosts, and Brittney, a young woman trying to get out from underneath her abusive mother’s thumb.

Daisy’s point of view takes place ten years in the past, when she and her mother, Grace, move from Toronto to the small town of Timmins in northern Canada. Grace has just inherited a mansion from her brother-in-law, Peter, who recently passed; this is also the home where Grace spent many of her childhood summers. Although she has inherited the mansion, Grace has insisted that they live in the bunkie on the property and that they use the mansion as an Airbnb. She has just one rule: do not go inside the mansion unless absolutely necessary. Obviously, this rule only piques Daisy’s interest, especially when their psychic neighbors and her father also express the importance of her not stepping foot in the mansion.

Fast forward ten years, and Brittney, a young woman working on a YouTube channel with her best friend Jayden, is starting a new web series centered around haunted homes. Brittney also happens to have a connection to the mansion — her mother visited the mansion and came back as a (supposedly) changed woman, dubbing it the “Miracle Mansion”. Brittney’s mother swears by this transformation, even going as far as to create a career out of her experience through her tell-all book about the mansion and her life afterward. A life that, Brittney knows, is a complete fabrication. However, her mother’s lies are not the only reason why Brittney wants to reveal the truth about this “Miracle Mansion”, Brittney is determined to find out the secrets the mansion holds, especially the story about the forgotten Black girl who died there ten years before.

I was initially drawn to Delicious Monsters because of its comparison to The Haunting of Hill House. I absolutely love the sapient house trope — meaning that the house is alive and has a mind of its own — and I think that was done very well in Delicious Monsters. The house having its own wants and desires really added to the eerie atmosphere. I kind of wish that we got to spend more time in the mansion because I really wanted to know more about the house itself and how it became the way it was.

As a plant lover myself, I loved all the plant symbolism and imagery throughout the book! I loved that Daisy’s love of plants and nature was part of her way to describe the things going on around her. I also loved that plant and gardening metaphors were used when Daisy and her mother would speak about the house as it further solidified the fact that the house was also a living and breathing thing.

My main issue with the book was its pacing. Delicious Monsters is around 500 pages, and I think that’s about 150-200 pages too long. While I understand that we needed backstory for both Daisy and Brittney, I do think it could’ve moved faster. Especially during some of the chapters from Daisy’s POV —- daily life at the mansion seemed just a little repetitive at times and I think some of the information could’ve been condensed. Additionally, I had issues with how the story was divided. I understand why this was told in dual timelines, but I think it would’ve been a much stronger book if there was more balance between the timelines. We’d get five or more chapters from Daisy’s POV, then one chapter from Brittney’s POV, and it was right back to Daisy’s. We spent so much time in Daisy’s POV that when we would switch back to Brittney’s I would sometimes forget what happened in her last chapter —- there were times when Brittney’s POV felt a bit like an afterthought.

Honestly, I think I would’ve found it more interesting if it was all told from one point of view —- either Daisy or Brittney’s. I think if it was told only from Brittney’s point of view, it would’ve been really interesting to see the truth unfold through the research and interviews that she and Jordan were doing for their YouTube series. At the very least, I think the book should’ve had a more even split between the points of view.

Truthfully, I didn’t really like either of our main characters, but I wasn’t completely mad about it? While I didn’t feel particularly connected to either of them, I found both of them to be very compelling and interesting characters and because of that I wanted to know what would happen to them. Both had chips on their shoulders, but I found their anger completely justified — and I always appreciate stories where women of color, but especially Black girls and women, are allowed to feel all of their feelings. I think it was so important that both of our protagonists were able to feel and process their trauma however they felt necessary.

If you’re looking for a dark and atmospheric read you should definitely check this one out!

Sooooo obsessed with this cover 😍😍😍

This book has some hits and misses for me. I think it would’ve been better if it was a lot less pages. It’s currently sitting at 502 pages. I could’ve done with 300. 350 tops. While my curiosity for what the mystery of this mansion was peeked about midway through and I wanted to know what happened, I did find myself almost skipping to the end several times because some parts really dragged. Spoiler (kind of) but towards the end really is the best part. Some twists I wasn’t expecting

What I do like is the depiction of mother daughter relationships. Particularly a generational history of daughters not feeling loved by their mothers. This is an important depiction as I feel our media is more heavily saturated with girls having “daddy issues”

The story goes back and forth between Daisy and Brittney’s POV. Brittney co hosts a haunted web series and she decides to look into the past of a mysterious mansion to figure out what happened to a young Black girl 10 years prior and expose her abusive mother who refers to the mansion as “Miracle Mansion” claiming it changed her by helping her to see the error of her ways

Daisy can see dead people and she has lived under the strict control of her mother. In an attempt to be free of her mother, she moves with her to a mansion left to her by her mom’s brother in law with the hopes that the mansion will generate money so she can go live her own life

Daisy’s mother is cold, selfish, and ruled by revenge. So much so that she’s willing to get revenge by any means necessary. Even by prioritizing it over her daughter Daisy

This story is definitely trippy and that mansion was crazy. When all the pieces were coming together, I was on the edge of my seat and I know I audibly said wooooooow several times

My heart truly hurt for Daisy. She fights until she doesn’t have it in her to fight anymore. But then…well read the story

Trigger warnings: abuse, sexual abuse

I both liked and didn’t like this book.

I liked Daisy, but she irritated me with her naïveté. I hated her mother with increasing intensity over the way that she treated Daisy. She treated her like a object for her own gain.

We go back and forth between Daisy’s chapters in the past and Britney’s in present day. The house itself felt like a character in the story, which I really enjoyed. I don’t feel like this book was in any way a mix of Sadie and The Haunting of Hill House, so maybe that was part of why I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I had anticipated. I was looking for something that I ultimately didn’t get.

Sadly, I am just indifferent about this book. The characters annoyed me with the way they did things, but I loved the writing and the horror aspects of 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.

Delicious Monsters is a young adult horror thriller by author Liselle Sambury, and I was fascinated by the story set up. First, I love the Haunting of Hill House, and I love a dual timeline in mystery/horror novels, so I was totally sold right away. This book was great. I really enjoyed the writing and the plot and I was engrossed in both of the girls stories.

In Delicious Monsters, we meet our two main characters Brittney and Daisy. Brittney and Daisy each have their own story about this haunted mansion. Brittney is there in present day in the book and Daisy was in the house ten years prior. Their story lines are presented in a parallel format, which worked really well for the book because it allowed for information to be revealed organically. I really enjoyed the dual story lines.

I really enjoyed how dark and creepy this story was. I have read some YA horror that is not really creepy at all, but Delicious Monsters really does deliver a dark, atmospheric and truly creepy story. Daisy can see the dead which really shaped her experiences in the house, and Brittney is at the house trying to make a show about Daisy and her time at the mansion. The author does a good job handling the horror elements of the story along with some of the darker horrors that people face on an every day basis. There is a lot of heavy themes and topics discussed in the book, so I would highly recommend checking out the content warnings prior to reading, because I went in fully informed on some of the topics that would come up and I will say there is some heavy stuff in this book, but it was well done in my opinion.

If you are a fan of dual timelines and you are looking for a mysterious horror novel about creepy haunted houses, with great characters then you need to check out Delicious Monsters. This book creeped me out in a good way. I really enjoyed it.

Note: check the trigger warnings before reading because there is quite a lot of childhood abuse/trauma in the book, among other TWs.

I love when a book lives up to the promise of its cover! Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury is both creepy and suspenseful.

Told with a dual timeline, Delicious Monsters is a YA contemporary horror with a teenage girl who can see ghosts, a mother with a mysterious past, and a house with a big appetite.

Sambury skillfully weaves together two stories, patiently delivering bits of information to build the suspense. The author’s eerie setting descriptions bring the book to life, maintaining an unsettling gothic atmosphere. I especially loved how the natural beauty of the mansion’s property puts Daisy on edge. Is she uncomfortable in the “bush” because she’s a city girl, or is there really something to fear?

There is much to love about this book beyond the paranormal. The two plotlines sensitively connect the lives of Daisy and Brittney through similar life experiences. Both have raised themselves, yet struggle to be truly independent. They have also experienced trauma that makes them unable to trust anyone to help or care for them. (Be sure to check out the author’s trigger warnings on her website.)

Strong character development provides emotional depth which anchors the story. Both Daisy and Brittney are young women that you want to succeed. It’s clear that a lot of care went into creating the secondary characters too. The endearing King, mysterious Ivy, and ambitious Jayden all have their own secrets and goals.

Finally, this isn’t just a paranormal horror story, but one that draws from real life headlines. Or rather a lack of headlines. It’s a commentary on the media and how victimized and missing Black girls are so often ignored and forgotten.

Thank you to Simon Teen, NetGalley, and Turn the Page Tours for providing this eARC for review.

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.

Thank you to Simon and Schuester and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Liselle is the best at creating incredible stories and Delicious Monsters was no different. If you've never read a Liselle book- why? The world, the characters, the plot- all of it is so dang good. From the minute I started this, I couldn't put it down. It's one of those books that I immediately wanted to start over again after finishing. I loved all of it.

I’m worried my review won’t do this book the justice it deserves. But alas, here goes…

There are so many layers to this story. It’s woven together beautifully, everything bleeds together in a perfect sort of sync.

This story can’t just be put into one box. It’s got so many working parts, so many important things happening that it’s such a combination of so many *things*. It’s lyrical and haunting, also while tackling tough conversations. (Which, the author mentions in her letter at the beginning of the book. I may have cried.)

I had all these thoughts and theories in my head. Waiting to explode, or implode, one or the other. It’s like I couldn’t get this story out of my head. It *stuck* with me, like grains of sand on your skin. I couldn’t read fast enough, even though my heart was pounding. My mind was spinning, I just, loved the heck out of this book.

- As someone who has survived SA trauma, I appreciated the delicate, yet strong way Sambury exposed this topic. It was gentle, but necessary for the story, and I’ve never felt more seen.

A tremendous thank you to Simon & Schuster in partnership with for the advanced copy of Delicious Monsters. All opinions are my own, this review is being posted voluntarily.

Daisy -- who has the ability to see ghosts -- jumps at the chance to move away to her mother's recently-inherited mansion when her boyfriend unceremoniously dumps her. Daisy and her mom, Grace, arrive at the mansion, but Grace tells Daisy that she should NEVER enter the house. The house itself has a deadly, supernatural, violent past, one that Daisy is about to discover, along with her mother's own secrets.

A decade later, Brittney co-hosts Haunted, a popular web show, whose newest season will focus on the infamous "Miracle Mansion" that is operated by Grace as an Airbnb. Brittney decides the new season will uncover what happened to a young Black girl in the mansion ten years ago, as well as uncover her own abusive mother's lies and shams.

These two stories run parallel - one past, and one present - and both girls attempt to discover the truth and avoid the monsters that are hiding right in front of them.
_____________
Thank you so much to Netgalley for the ARC, and to Turn The Page Tours for allowing the opportunity to be on this book's tour. I was admittedly skeptical about this book because I am not a huge fan of this genre normally. But OH. MY. GOODNESS. I absolutely loved everything about it. I am so glad that I read it.

First, I loved the parallel storylines. I think the book would have been fine with Daisy's POV, but adding a present timeline with Brittney's POV made the book so much more dynamic and meaningful in my eyes. I loved the similarities between Brittney and Daisy - their situations with their mothers, their hunts for the truth, their friendships, their loyalty...and I loved that the story came full circle at the end (IN SO MANY WAYS). There were a ton of connections from the beginning of the book to the end - I loved that the novel started and ended with mentions of Daisy's name, and that "Forgotten Black Girls" made a reappearance at the end of the novel as well (which I was glad for. Get with it, Kevin).

Second - I loved that the house itself was a dynamic and multidimensional character. It spoke. It lied. It feasted. It was as much a character as Daisy, as Brittney. And it was terrifying. I think that's a sign of a good horror novel - one that makes you scared of things that normally aren't scary (houses.... birds... plants...).

Third - I loved that there was more to this novel than just "horror." There was just enough suspense, grossness, and spookiness, but the novel focused so much more on the characters than anything else, and I think that's why I loved it so much. Finding that balance is difficult (and I've read several that did not succeed in the way that this novel did).

All in all, I would recommend (and have recommended) this novel to all my friends who enjoy spooky, weird, unsettling, and extremely well-written novels. I can't wait to feature this one on my booksta!

Ooo.. how can I explain how amazing this book is? I’m literally at a lost for words.

This book is a giant ball of trauma, and ways to overcome it. This book is told from a couple different perspectives but the main two are Daisy and Brittney.

Daisy is traumatized by a past relationship, an overbearing yet neglectful mother, and seeing ghosts. Her story takes place after she moves onto the land her mother inherited. There’s a creepy old house on said land that she was warned very early on to never go into. One night however, Daisy and her friends decide to sneak into the mysterious house, but they come to regret that decision…

Brittney, whose timeline takes place 10 years later, is also a young girl trapped in a traumatizing situation. Her mother is not only manipulative and abusive, but she dates perpetually abusive men which escalates the abuse that is placed on Brittney. Brittney’s story follows her documentation of the Lost and Forgotten Black Girls, and ends up staying at the house, now converted into an Air BnB, that Daisy disappeared from. Will her experience be anything like Daisy’s?

This book is beautifully written and covers many topics that we consider to be taboo, ie. grooming, parental abuse, manipulation of your own child. These are the topics that we need to address to break the generational curses that are hovering over us as black people. The horror aspect was an added bonus to an already intense novel. Even though it was a bit on the long side, I couldn’t put it down. I was sucked it and it would not let go until I devoured every bit. I only wish I could reread it again for the first time.

This book follows the accounts of 2 different girls: Daisy in the past and Brittney in the present.
In the past, Daisy’s mother inherits the house and wants to use it as a BNB. In the present - Brittney is part of a podcast duo who is investigating some mysterious happenings in the past at the house, and she has a personal connection.
And while this book is very action packed and at some points kind of gross, it is inevitably a story about mothers and daughters and their relationship.

Diving into this book, definitely check your trigger warnings. There is a forward by the author that explains them as well as many intense topics are contained in this book. While it had a lot of action sequences, it seemed to drag a bit as things that happen in the past chapters were re-discovered and rehashed in the present ones. But it is a super creepy book and quite twisty as well.

I've been looking forward to reading this book for ages, and it truly did not disappoint. Both of the point-of-view characters are so well- and deeply developed, and the plotting was amazing to watch unfold. I pretty much could not put this book down from beginning to end. It's very, VERY disturbing, but it also has moments of hope and love (and humor!), so it's by no means unremittingly bleak, even as the final twists unfurl and show the true horrors of the house.

Things go downhill for Daisy and her mother when they inherit a late uncle's house in northern Canada. Ten years later, a duo makes a documentary to uncover what really happened to Daisy.
Truly a spooky story that had me covered in goose bumps from the first page. Throwing together the horror found in the unseen with racism makes for an impactful, chilling realization for readers.

If you loved Blood Like Magic and want a 'Monster House' meets mystery-horror book, this is for you! TW: sexual abuse, gore involving birds and bugs

Delicious Monsters is a wonderful narrative whose characters shine through it all. Following Daisy and Brittany, two black girls facing difficult family relations and yearning to break through and be themselves. Daisy can see dead people, and when her mother comes into an inheritance with a house that's supposed to "save" them both, she sees her way out of the suffocating past and relationships she's struggling to surface from.
Brittany's mother has a connection with the story her and her partner are investigating for their series "Haunted". Struggling to make her life her own, with her mother's negative thoughts constantly driving through her head, Brittany's point of view drives parallel to Daisy's and their shared experiences compliment each other all the way up until the end.

Overall, I absolutely adored this book, with it's hard to touch subjects of trauma and abuse within these two black girls, and the forgotten one who just wants her pain acknowledged. Liselle Sambury is one of the best storytellers of the young adult genre, and seeing the story unfold with years apart between them is an addictive addition.

I am someone who loves faster paced books, and the middle of this one was a tad slower than I'm a fan of. Once I got past that it made it 100% better, but I was losing interest at that point in time.

Delicious Monsters is, at its core, a story about living with trauma and overcoming it. Daisy is traumatized by a past relationship with a much older guy who manipulated her and did things to her she realizes she did not want him to do. Initially she's just upset about the breakup, but comes to realize it wasn't a true equal partnership and she was taken advantage of. She's traumatized by her "gift" of seeing dead people - instead of speaking to them or acknowledging them, she blocks them out as much as she can. She's traumatized by her mom and how she feels like the adult a lot of the time, doing things to placate her mom and going along with her ever-changing plans.

Brittney, whose POV is 10 years after Daisy's, has trauma that links her with Daisy. Daisy's mom inherits a huge spooky house that she turns into an AirBNB, and continues to run it even as a few tragedies befall it. Brittney's mom, who has a history of dating abusive men, goes to the AirBNB, and comes back ~delivered from evil~... and continues to emotionally abuse her daughter instead. She writes a book about her experience and life change, and becomes sorta famous, and Brittney is left being financially controlled and emotionally manipulated by her even into her adulthood.

Daisy's story follows her through the months after she moves to the land her mother inherited, even though her mother implores her to never go into the house. The two of them live in a smaller house on the land, fully avoiding the main house. Daisy meets some friends, maybe gets a little sneaky and goes into the house against her mom's warnings, and maybeee comes to regret it...

Brittney's story follows her through her filming of a webseries where she wants to investigate lost and forgotten Black girls, because the lack of attention they get as compared to basically any other kind of missing kid. The company she's working with may want a spookier, more drama-filled story, but she knows why she's investigating what happened while Daisy lived on that property. She finds people from Daisy's life and interviews them, and even spends a night in the really creepy house. I keep talking about how creepy this house is but it's like.... bad vibes for sure lol

I really liked the way the stories wrapped up and came together, and I just feel like the subject matter is really impactful but presented in a pretty seamless way. It's a pretty long book, but it's worth the read if you're into horror, especially if you are searching for diversity in the genre.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

My only issue was that it took awhile for the pacing to go a little faster but the buildup was worth it. I like the dual POVs, I liked the mother daughter dynamic, I like how the author talked about the forgotten black girls and how we, as a society, tend to ignore them when they are missing or murdered. I liked how the author wove in the topics of abuse and trauma. I also loved the horror aspect, although it was more just creepy and the maggots gave me the ick. Wonderful book!