This is definitely Salem's Lot meets Rosemary's Baby and I LOVED it! The setting and atmosphere really enhanced the story and makes the reader feel like they know New York and is it's own character.

The characters in this story were so well fleshed out. I felt like you really cared about Ana, Reid, and their family. Even the side characters felt as though they were actual people that you might meet.

Honestly, this was so good and has so much to offer. Family drama, creepy scenes and a story that made me want to keep reading. This is perfect for a Halloween release and everything you want for a seasonal read!

Thank you Netgalley for the ALC copy in exchange for an honest review!

Nestlings Review!

Thank you so much Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for this gifted copy, in exchange for an honest review! The Nestlings is out now!

This is actually my first Cassidy book and now I’m in need of picking up Mary off my book cart finally! The Nestlings was a 4/5 ⭐️ for me. This is being advertised as a Rose Mary’s Baby and Salem’s Lot book and I will agree with that one! This setting was stunning. A giant old apartment with very creepy crawlies and neighbors. And set right next to Central Park, I loved every description! There was a lot of raw emotion in this one and it was a very serious horror, which isn’t usually the sub horror I read. I definitely recommend this one though!

I finished this just in time for Halloween! I think the description was very accurate, totally Rosemary's Baby but make it Stephen King. It takes a lot for me to get scared but this audiobook really gave me the creeps at times. Most memorably the descriptions of the physical therapy friend trying to escape down the dark hallway! I thought Neslings had layered in politics in a way that was realistic but not heavy handed. Also, the ending didn't go the way I expected which is always a treat. I must admit I assumed this was written by a woman because of the complex views on motherhood, so, thank you for challenging my biases I suppose? Listening to this audiobook made me want to look up the author's other book Mary: An Awakening of terror, hopefully my bookstore will stock it along with Nestlings when it coming out tomorrow.

This book had all the horror tropes that I enjoy. Unreliable narrators, a “lucky” break that has a dark side, something is in the basement… I also felt like it was unique. There was postpartum and disability rep. Overall, it was a good horror read.

Nat Cassidy can do wrong, friends. NESTLINGS was everything I hoped for and more. It definitely gave Rosemary’s Baby and ‘Salem’s Lot vibes, which happen to be two of my favorite books, so I was here for it. Ana was such a likeable character for me and I loved how the ending played out. I’m sick in the head, I realize this. I’m putting this one in my top 10 of the year and I hope you get the chance to read it. Nestlings will be published tomorrow. Thanks to Tor Nightfire for my advanced audiobook!

You guys this is one sucked me in!! The beautiful apartment after so much hardship was really what Ana and Reid need right now.
This place creeped me out from the start and the dread kept building! With already hard feelings after a complicated birth, when weird things start happening it’s easy to dismiss them. But as they get stranger and stranger what can you do? Who’s going to believe you? There are so many complicated feelings in this one and I love weighing through them along with Ana. The things in that happen here, I would be absolutely freaking out!! I loved

Thank you to Macmillian audio and Netgalley for my gifted copy

TW: Language, racism, covid mention, fertility, death of parent, anxiety, depression, postpartum depression, attempted death by suicide, sex, drug addiction, racism, sexism, drinking, alcoholism, anti-semitism, use of c-word, domestic abuse

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:
Ana and Reid needed a lucky break.

The horrifically complicated birth of their first child has left Ana paralyzed, bitter, and struggling: with mobility, with her relationship with Reid, with resentment for her baby. That's about to change with the words any New Yorker would love to hear―affordable housing lottery.

They've won an apartment in the Deptford, one of Manhattan's most revered buildings with beautiful vistas of Central Park and stunning architecture.

Reid dismisses disturbing events and Ana’s deep unease and paranoia as the price of living in New York―people are odd―but he can't explain the needle-like bite marks on the baby.
Release Date: October 31st, 2023
Genre: Horror
Pages: 304
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
1. Loved the friendship w/ Ana & Georgia
2. Writing style was addictive
3. Story flowed
4. Loved the afterward

What I Didn't Like:
1. The constant stopping of them almost mentioning the time with the knife
2. Some parts were so slow

Overall Thoughts:
Found it odd that Ana didn't know she couldn't walk until the next day. When you give birth the nurses make you walk around or to the bathroom so they know you are okay.

At first I really enjoyed the relationship between Ana and Reid but as we slowly kept reading you realize that Reid has nothing but hatred for Ana. He feels weighed down by having to take care of her. I didn't really get that Ana was bitter about her daughter. If it was there I guess I missed it. If anything she should be biter toward Reid because he is in and out of the house so much just leaving her to do the work, which is insane since she has a job. He constantly forgets about the things she needs but always remembers what he wants. He takes hour long lunches and even has time to browse a bookstore. I think the author nailed how a person can hate and blame someone they love for something that isn't their fault. They both wanted a child but Ana is paying that price.

The part where Reid tells Ana that she doesn't love their daughter like he doesn't but he's so quick to sign her offer to the vampires in exchange for home security and a job. Crazy. Total gaslighting. I liked how similar it was to Rosemary's Baby minus the devil.

Final Thoughts:
Honestly I was a little bored with the story for about half of the book and then it really picked up. I could see the Salems Lot meets Rosemary's Baby in this story. The story that makes the woman driven crazy while the man is so completely obvious to anything even happening. Even when shit goes down he only cares about what's going to happen to/for him.

I had a good time reading this book. I look forward to other titles by this author

Also wanted to say that the author's note was worth it to read. He put the work into the book. That's refreshing to see.

Oh my goodness. Oh. My. Goodness. I was not prepared for the horror that this book contained. But I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! I have not read anything by Nat Cassidy before, but I will be hunting down books now.

If you are looking for the horror book to scare you into sleeping with the lights on, you just found it. And you might rethink looking into that new apartment that you were considering moving into...

READ THIS ONE!

Creepy-Eerie-Sinister-Horror

Their luck had finally changed! They had actually won an affordable housing lottery to live in an apartment in the freaking Deptford! One of Manhattan's most revered buildings with beautiful views that overlook Central Park.

Reid and Ana had just been through so much...first she couldn't get pregnant, then when she finally did, the complicated birth left her paralyzed from the waist down, struggling with mobility, coming to terms with needing a wheelchair now, anger and depression issues, and she couldn't help having some resentment towards the baby. Reid had to take care of both her and baby girl Charlie at the same time.

At least now, with the new roomier apartment, maybe things might get a little easier for them. They really needed this and just good news too.

Except...something seemed...off. Ana couldn't put her finger on it though. Also, Charlie is fussy and cries all of the time. Tension starts to build and then the story starts to get creepier. At first, Reid dismisses some of the disturbing events, and Ana's unease and paranoia, but what about the odd behavior of the staff, what about Charlie's window that keeps getting found open 18 stories up? What about the bitemarks on the baby!!!?

When Ana meets the neighbor next door, instant panic attack! Things are all kinds of NOT right! She is not making any sense, looks a disheveled mess and claims it's not her baby 'anymore' and she hates it! Then she tries to jump over a banister to kill herself, but Ana grabs her and pulls her back. Just in time, this creepy weird staff guy shows up to usher the lady back to her room, locking her in. Then tells Ana all is well and she should go back and tend to her baby. He tells her that the lady has been having some issues lately and not to worry. The hand Ana used to pull the lady back with has a sticky weird slime on it that is very hard to wash off. Why was that lady so sticky?

As tension mounts and so much more creepy, scary, sinister, eerie, stuff happens in this horrific story you find that you cannot put it down. What will happen next? You want to find out more about what the heck is going on at the Deptford!

The narration was done very well by Cassandra Campbell and I highly recommend this audiobook. There is a wonderful afterthought at the end written and narrated by the author, Nat Cassidy that I am glad he added it on.

I want to kindly thank Netgalley, Macmillan Audio production and Tor Nightfire for my audioARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ALC.
I am so impressed with Nestlings. First, Nat Cassidy so brilliantly captured the complexities and hardships of motherhood. As someone with that experienced PPD, I was so impressed with how he wrote Ana and her experiences as she struggled in the first year of motherhood. Second, he can write horror that is terrifying. I was so impressed with the originality of the storytelling here. I thought I had an idea of where this was going, and I was continually wrong - which I love when that happens. Third, I liked the look into caregiving and the character of Reid. Cassidy has such rich character depth that it was easy to become engrossed in Ana and Reids marriage and family. I rooted for, was frustrated by, and felt so deeply for them. I am just so impressed with this book, and I will be listening to MARY soon.
The narration was so well done. It was easy to keep all of the character straight and each sounded like their own distinct person - this was a fabulous performance!

If unsettling books are your jam, you need to check out Nat Cassidy’s writing.

It felt reminiscent of a classic Stephen King novel, where its horror has mysterious, thriller-esque vibes. Add in the discomfort of a book like School for Good Mothers, and that might come close to describing the feel and tone of this novel.

While it definitely falls into the horror genre, there are so many deep topics that are explored through the writing. Just some of them include the grief of sudden disability, the difficulties of being a caretaker, complicated ideas on motherhood, postpartum depression, generational trauma, economic inequality, modern Judaism and antisemitism, and the overwhelming desire to fit in. Because of this, the book is quite heavy even before the urban horror aspects start to come into play.

I loved the creeping dread the author was able to infuse throughout the book; even after the reader has an idea of what’s going on, the tension and paranoia practically drip off every page. The descriptions are vivid enough to imagine oneself right there with the characters, which only added to the atmospheric unease. Be sure to read/listen to the afterward from the author - it’s quite powerful.

I will say that, much like a Stephen King novel, it took me a while to get into the story. But once I was invested, there was no way I could put this book down! It was a perfect spooky season read, and now I need to go pick up something light and happy!

*Note: I was given the advanced audiobook edition of the book, and I felt that Cassandra Campbell’s narration gave the perfect voices to the characters and added to the dread and unease of the book.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy!

I did not finish. Not the book for me. I enjoyed the strange apartment/ Rosemary's Baby vibes, but I just didn’t find myself reaching for this.

This is my first book by this author and I am a full-on fan now. Such lush prose and descriptions that the story and narrator pull you into the setting fully. Nestlings was giving me Rosemary's Baby vibes on steroids because the plot points had their own original take and the characters were brutally honest and flawed. The sequencing was perfection! Planning to dig into this author's backlist immediately.

I received a review copy of this book from the author/publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

I think it’s best to go into this creepy novel with no idea of what’s coming, so I will keep my summary super short and spoiler free.

Ana, Reid, and their infant daughter move from a cheap rental home in Brooklyn into a luxury high rise apartment building in New York City, which they were selected to live in by the affordable housing lottery. Ana is paralyzed from the waist down due to an injury sustained while she was giving birth. The little family has been struggling and grieving, and they hope the move will be the start of a better future. Instead, all sorts of supernatural activities threaten them and soon they are fighting for their lives.

Nat Cassidy has a tremendous imagination and the supernatural creatures in his book are unique and unexpected. I really like how creative and original the plot of Nestlings is. I was excited to keep reading and see how the eerie events played out. Nothing was predictable and the plot twists kept coming and coming.

I didn’t find Ana to be a believable character. She wasn’t convincing to me as a woman and I could tell a man wrote her. The author didn’t have a sense of what it feels like to have a woman’s body or thoughts. As a result, Ana’s personality seems unrealistic and flat to me. Also, other than her disability, the author didn’t describe her appearance one bit. We don’t know her hair or eye color, hairstyle, height, body shape, skin tone, or what clothes the wears. I couldn’t picture her at all.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me the free audio arc for review consideration. I liked the narrator.

3.5 stars and only because I was so creeped out I just wanted this book to end. Ana and Reid have won a housing lottery at the Deptford, a swanky New York City apartment building. They were due some luck; Ana has become paralyzed from nerve damage during child birth and Reid has become so heavily relied on that he's about to break. Ana is left with complicated feelings about their daughter and Reid is just so excited to live at the Deptford, he doesn't understand Ana's anxiety. But right away, Ana starts noticing strange occurrences and even Reid cannot dismiss the bite marks on their baby, Charleigh.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio e-arc.*

I am just so amazed at how well Nat Cassidy can write a female MC and not make me cringe and eye roll. Loved the way this was not a stereotypical ‘use Christianity to fight the monsters’ type of story. Made it so fresh and tackled the issue of how often Christianity seems to be the only religion or option acknowledged (everywhere but especially in horror).

Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for the ARC

I knew I was going to enjoy this book since I enjoyed Nat Cassidy's first work. I will say I didn't connect with this book as much as I did his first book but that is 100% a me thing. I never fully connect to media that involves kids or motherhood as I simply don't get the desire for children.
I loved the horror in this. The darkness and feeling of dread are prevalent throughout the whole book. This was a solid horror all around. I would definitely recommend.

“Know Your Home; Know You’re Home.” 🤔

If Rosemary’s Baby and Salem’s Lot got together, they’d give birth to Nestlings. Finally, THIS is how HORROR is done. 👏🏽🙌🏽

Ana and Reid win a NYC apartment lottery for the luxurious Deptford. It’s a gorgeous property rich in Gothic Architecture, with stunning views of Central Park. They can’t believe their luck considering lately, they haven’t had any. Ana is now paralyzed and wheelchair-bound after the traumatic birth of their daughter. Reid is taking on more of the burden along with his stressful job. They’re hoping the Deptford will be their fresh start. Not long after moving in, they start to notice strange things with their neighbors and the building itself. When their daughter is discovered with bite marks and becomes inconsolable, they know something is definitely WRONG.

This story is so suspenseful and unsettling with the sinister backdrop of the Deptford apartments; it’s a character in itself. Cassidy packs horrific scenery and seamlessly represents so many topics: family/marriage drama, parenthood, physical disability, postpartum depression, antisemitism and ableism. The looming sense of dread is palpable throughout and makes this a STANDOUT read. Character development is impeccable. The execution is a delightful nightmare!

The audiobook narration makes this an excellent, unstoppable listen! I did NOT want to stop.
*Don’t miss the author's note at the end.*

Read if you loved:

•Delicate Condition
•Lock Every Door

This book was absolutely AMAZING! It was about mental illness, disabilities, grief, change, and so much more…make sure you read the trigger’s before reading this book. This is probably one of the best horror books I read and when the author talked about this book came to be, it all came together. It was truly a masterpiece! Stephen King was mentioned in this book more than once and I HOPE that he is able to read it and some point of time can give his own review on it and be in awe of the author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for the privilege of arc reading this. In no way was I paid for this review. This is my honest opinion.

All though this book may not be for everyone horror readers will LOVE this book! I will definitely be seeing if I can get a signed copy of this book as well as highly recommending to my horror lover friends. Amazing book!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Wow! What a read! I really enjoyed this book! It was such a well written horror. This book has some of my favorite elements: paranormal, thriller vibes, creepy/gothic buildings. I felt that the characters were well developed and it was easy to find yourself relating to them. I loved Ana as the main character.

I think this book handled some really heavy topics including ableism, post-partum depression, racism, etc. really well and really made me think about those topics and how they related to the characters. It was very approachable in the way that it was written.

If you read this book please read the note from the author at the end - for me this added so much and made the beautifully written story that much more relatable. I loved how he took his own personal struggles and wrote this story about them. .

I've had Mary on my TBR for so long - I can't wait to read that and any future works from this author.