Delicious Monsters

De: Liselle Sambury

Narrado por: Sandra Okuboyejo, Angel Pean

“A haunted house thriller packed with cryptic mystery, dark humor, and bone-chilling twists.” —Ryan Douglass, New York Times bestselling author of The Taking of Jake Livingston

The Haunting of Hill House meets Sadie in this “genuinely terrifying” (School Library Journal, starred review) 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.

©2023 Liselle Sambury. All rights reserved. (P)2023 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

I Wasn’t Prepared for How Good This Was

I got this on a daily special and started it that day. Since it wasn’t my usual genre, I intended to give it 15 minutes and then pass on it if I wasn’t interested, only my first listen turned into hours. This story was so well written, so beautiful and tragic. The performances were incredible as well. Well done Liselle. You are masterful.

Completely Amazing

This book had such a complex compelling story. The characters pulled at my heart even when they made me mad. I was biting my nails & completely engrossed the whole way through. The story wasn’t what I expected but was everything I needed it to be. A fantastic listen/read. And the voice actors did an amazing job keeping you in the story.

Why isn’t everyone freaking out about this!?

This book is brilliant. Narration was fantastic. The pacing and twists were engaging and the story was so original.

Just what you need to hear

Really enjoyed this read. Loved the narration. The story was easy to connect with all of the characters and you truly felt what it was like to be in their shoes. This book took me on a whirlwind of emotions. Moments I had goosebumps, edge of my seat, smiling, tearful, joyful, sadness, all with mystery, murder, ghosts and untold stories of the forgotten. I wasn’t able to predict the events of the story like most murder mystery books. This one definitely kept me in tune to find out what happens next. Worth it.

Made Me Tear Up. Narrator’s Voice is Perfect.

I greatly enjoyed this book. I was hooked from the very beginning. All of my curiosity and questions were answered as I kept reading. I’m sure many girls/women can relate to this book in some kind of way (unfortunately). Especially when it comes to mother-daughter dynamics. It made me shed a few tears towards the end.

Also, I wish the narrator for Daisy’s perspective of the story could read every book I’m interested in. Her voice has the perfect balance of beautiful softness and animation. She does a great job going from character to character. More of her, please!

Roller coaster ride for sure!!

This damn book had me a full on emotional roller coaster ride. My little fantasy loving heart were having the best kinds of palpitations. When I tell you you must get into it you must. You will not be disappointed. I really didn’t think Daisy was gonna pull thorough!!! Just run don’t walk RUN, and read this Delicious master piece!!!

Fast paced YA gothic horror-thriller for fans of Haunting of Hill House

WOW! As someone who doesn’t always love YA and someone who doesn’t always love the podcast-within-a-book set up I absolutely loved this. Part Haunting of Hill House and part A Head Full of Ghosts. Great narrators and fast paced gothic horror plot. I gobbled this up in almost one sitting.

Good story with mediocre performances

The story was great but both narrators could have really benefitted from tweaked performances. Daisy's narrator sounded the same between her voice and the mother's voice and pretty much almost all the female voices so it was difficult to tell who was talking, what was thought inside minds, etc. Brittany's narrator was very monotone, but at least they tried to change it up for different characters.

Haunting, grotesque, and beautiful.

An absolutely heart-wrenching, chilling five-star banger of a book. 👌

First of all, note that even though this book is categorized as YA, it deals with some extremely heavy topics and has an extensive list of trigger warnings that should be headed.

If you've ever given up on yourself, if you've ever felt like your voice didn't matter, this book will absolutely break you and then mend the pieces back together.

It was eerie and haunting and painful and somehow hopeful all at the same time. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who likes spooky stories but with heart and growth.

Exceptional storytelling as winding as the ivy grows

Liselle tells a story of Black girls that is as beautiful and magical as it is tragic. She took what could be any young Black girl’s childhood, wove in intriguing spooky mystery, the complicated relationships with mothers/family/friends and created a piece of work I was so invested in. Now I’m off in search of more from Liselle!