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Good and Joyful Things
Simone and Elliott Evans have it all; a comfortable life, a house on a quiet street, and two sweet daughters. But their marriage is far from happy, especially now. While Elliott spends all day at work, postpartum depression presses down hard on Simone’s shoulders. Baby Lizzy is colicky and often sick. Four-year-old Aster is a handful—not at all as good a “helper” as Simone had hoped. The more time Simone spends home alone with the girls, the more she’s convinced that Elliott’s interest in his family is waning. He’s pining for his ex, Leighton Prescott—a woman who mysteriously disappeared from their small New Hampshire town years before, leaving her and Elliott’s then newborn daughter, Aster, behind.
When Simone confronts Elliott in search of the truth, he reminds her that this isn’t the first time she’s accused him of being unfaithful, and it isn’t the first time her assumption has been wrong. But when Simone spots Leighton at the grocery store in their tiny hometown, she has her proof. Leighton Prescott is back, and despite what Elliott says, Simone knows Leighton will stop at nothing to destroy the life she’s built with Elliott, piece by precious piece.
Terrified of losing her family, Simone puts Elliott to the ultimate test. He’s left with one last chance to save the marriage he vowed to preserve. But rather than rekindling the love he and Simone once shared, he instead uncovers an unfathomable truth about the woman he calls his wife, a woman that, as it turns out, he doesn’t know at all.
With Good and Joyful Things, Ania Ahlborn tackles the subject of marriage, using her signature brand of brutality to write a psychological thriller that explores the terrifying secrets that can dwell in even the most intimate relationships.
When Simone confronts Elliott in search of the truth, he reminds her that this isn’t the first time she’s accused him of being unfaithful, and it isn’t the first time her assumption has been wrong. But when Simone spots Leighton at the grocery store in their tiny hometown, she has her proof. Leighton Prescott is back, and despite what Elliott says, Simone knows Leighton will stop at nothing to destroy the life she’s built with Elliott, piece by precious piece.
Terrified of losing her family, Simone puts Elliott to the ultimate test. He’s left with one last chance to save the marriage he vowed to preserve. But rather than rekindling the love he and Simone once shared, he instead uncovers an unfathomable truth about the woman he calls his wife, a woman that, as it turns out, he doesn’t know at all.
With Good and Joyful Things, Ania Ahlborn tackles the subject of marriage, using her signature brand of brutality to write a psychological thriller that explores the terrifying secrets that can dwell in even the most intimate relationships.
388 pages, Hardcover
Published August 6, 2024
286 people are currently reading
1215 people want to read
About the author
Ania Ahlborn
19 books7,343 followersBorn in Ciechanow Poland, Ania has always been drawn to the darker, mysterious, and sometimes morbid sides of life. Her earliest childhood memory is of crawling through a hole in the chain link fence that separated her family home from the large wooded cemetery next door. She’d spend hours among the headstones, breaking up bouquets of silk flowers so that everyone had their equal share.
Author of nine novels, Ania's books have been lauded by the likes of Publisher's Weekly, The New York Daily News, and The New York Times. Some titles have been optioned for film.
Hailing from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ania currently lives in Greenville, South Carolina.
For more from Ania, visit her site, or connect via social media on Facebook and Twitter.
Web: http://www.aniaahlborn.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aniaahlborn
Twitter: @aniaahlborn
Author of nine novels, Ania's books have been lauded by the likes of Publisher's Weekly, The New York Daily News, and The New York Times. Some titles have been optioned for film.
Hailing from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ania currently lives in Greenville, South Carolina.
For more from Ania, visit her site, or connect via social media on Facebook and Twitter.
Web: http://www.aniaahlborn.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aniaahlborn
Twitter: @aniaahlborn
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 118 reviews
May 13, 2025
I love a good psycho bitch but how am I supposed to live, laugh, love with all the grammar mistakes? 😔
February 6, 2025
A surprise release - domestic thriller available on KU. 3.75 stars
Video review: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT2rKkxy3/
Video review: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT2rKkxy3/
May 3, 2025
Simone needs medication and Ania needs an editor.
To be clear, though, I absolutely love this author and will read anything she publishes. This was a great (if not revolutionary) premise, but MAN the miscommunication trope was getting a lot of screen time here. Simone was absolutely fucking nuts, let’s not get it twisted, and she made for a can’t-look-away train wreck through the whole story, but the weird grammar and syntax errors throughout the book took me out of the narrative more than once.
To be clear, though, I absolutely love this author and will read anything she publishes. This was a great (if not revolutionary) premise, but MAN the miscommunication trope was getting a lot of screen time here. Simone was absolutely fucking nuts, let’s not get it twisted, and she made for a can’t-look-away train wreck through the whole story, but the weird grammar and syntax errors throughout the book took me out of the narrative more than once.
February 12, 2025
I was so excited for this new release but it actually put me in a slight reading slump. The first 200 pages are so slow, literally just covering relationship desire, and life with a newborn baby. The last 100 pages bumped it up to a 3.5 for me but was definitely closer to a 3 than a 4.
I love a good crazy plot but this one just ended quite abruptly.
Really hard to get into and a slow pace.
Overall I enjoyed the storyline, the authors style of writing and the chapter length. Would I recommend it? Hmmmm I’m not sure. There are plenty I would recommend over it.
3/5 from me.
I love a good crazy plot but this one just ended quite abruptly.
Really hard to get into and a slow pace.
Overall I enjoyed the storyline, the authors style of writing and the chapter length. Would I recommend it? Hmmmm I’m not sure. There are plenty I would recommend over it.
3/5 from me.
February 24, 2025
2.5 stars
I love Ania Ahlborn.
Brother is one of my favorite horror novels. Dark Across the Bay is a brutally effective riff on the home invasion genre. The Shuddering is a snow-swept creature feature that plays like one of the great lost grindhouse movies. If you don’t like bugs and value your sleep, stay away from her novella Palmetto or you’ll find slumber in short supply.
I love Ania Ahlborn.
I did not love Good and Joyful Things.
It’s always a little disconcerting when an author whose work we enjoy has a serious misfire, but I don’t know what else to call this one.
The bones of the plot are certainly compelling. Simone and Elliott have been married for five years. They have two kids – the younger, an infant, is Simone’s; the other comes from Elliott’s previous relationship with Leighton, a tempestuous woman who gave birth and disappeared shortly thereafter. Simone stepped into the breach to help Elliott heal and take care of the baby. But now Simone fears that Leighton has returned to steal Elliott away from her. What lengths will she go to in order to protect the idyllic life she’s built?
Pretty good, right? I could see an effective thriller sprouting from this soil.
But this book ain’t it.
I had a few problems with it, but I’ll focus on the two that bothered me the most.
Remember the old TV show Three’s Company? John Ritter starred as a man passing as gay in order to keep living with two women in an apartment complex during the far-more-intolerant ‘70s and ‘80s. Nearly every single episode hinged on a “hilarious” misunderstanding, where if everyone involved had just said the obvious thing, the episode would have been done before the first commercial break.
In order for the plot of Good and Joyful Things to be in any way believable, you have to be willing to buy into the kind of willful misunderstanding that the makers of Three’s Company would have rejected in the writer’s room as too preposterous.
It’s not an overstatement to claim that 300 pages could be shaved off Good and Joyful Things if Simone and Elliott had just, like, talked to each other.
“But Rob,” I hear you saying, “if book characters acted 100% like real people, there’d be no books.”
That’s true, to an extent. But I want the rules characters live by to be at least reality-adjacent. To believe that Simone and Elliott would act in the way Ahlborn has them acting requires readers to suspend their disbelief with an intricate system of ropes and pulleys that can be operated only by those possessing an advanced engineering degree.
In other words, the entire conflict is predicated on two people acting like no two people would ever act.
So there’s that.
The other big issue I had with the book is trickier to talk about. I’ll tread lightly, because I don’t want it to seem as though I’m ascribing any ill intent to Ahlborn. I think it’s an issue of nuance, not of malice.
Simone is clearly mentally ill. The book cuts back and forth between present day – which I described earlier – and several years in the past, when we see her early interactions with Elliott and Leighton, when they were still a couple. We know from those flashbacks that Simone suffers from trauma in her past, that she has issues with boundaries and attachment, that she’s profoundly insecure and will go to great lengths to feel comforted (and comfortable). She is, to put it mildly, not well.
As a result, I felt a lot of empathy for Simone early on, even as she acted in ways I found implausible and unlikable. What Ahlborn seemed to be setting up was a narrative that explored the ripple effect of personal trauma, and she’s a talented enough author that I expected something that deftly explored that issue while also delivering some thrills. In fact, she does something similar in Brother.
Instead, Ahlborn careens past any thoughtful consideration of Simone’s circumstances and instead turns her into a cartoon villain straight out of Fatal Attraction or Basic Instinct. And this feels tremendously unfair to Simone as a character as well as to people who legitimately suffer from the same issues Simone suffers from. She becomes so thoroughly repellent a character that the subtext almost seems to be, “Deal with your shit or become a sadistic lunatic.”
It left a bad taste in my mouth that I haven’t fully been able to shake, even though I finished the book a few days ago.
Like I said above, I don’t in any way think this is how Ahlborn feels about the mentally ill. But by choosing to amplify the effects of Simone’s illness in the superficial pursuit of violent genre thrills, the unintended consequence is to trivialize the illness itself.*
If this seems like a long review for a book I didn’t like, it’s because I otherwise love Ahlborn’s work so much that I just couldn’t dismiss this one out of hand. Writing this much about it helped me clarify why I struggled. As always, your own mileage may vary. I’m just one reader, and I have no interest in being an arbiter of anyone’s next read. But as much as Ania Ahlborn has been one of my favorite horror writers of the last 5 or 6 years, I found Good and Joyful Things to be a huge miss.
*As a side note, I started writing a lengthy explanation as to why I thought this book doesn’t work but CJ Leede’s Maeve Fly does. Then I realized I was essentially writing a completely different essay, one not supported by the IG platform, and abandoned it. If you want to have that conversation, let me know. I’m happy to share.
I love Ania Ahlborn.
Brother is one of my favorite horror novels. Dark Across the Bay is a brutally effective riff on the home invasion genre. The Shuddering is a snow-swept creature feature that plays like one of the great lost grindhouse movies. If you don’t like bugs and value your sleep, stay away from her novella Palmetto or you’ll find slumber in short supply.
I love Ania Ahlborn.
I did not love Good and Joyful Things.
It’s always a little disconcerting when an author whose work we enjoy has a serious misfire, but I don’t know what else to call this one.
The bones of the plot are certainly compelling. Simone and Elliott have been married for five years. They have two kids – the younger, an infant, is Simone’s; the other comes from Elliott’s previous relationship with Leighton, a tempestuous woman who gave birth and disappeared shortly thereafter. Simone stepped into the breach to help Elliott heal and take care of the baby. But now Simone fears that Leighton has returned to steal Elliott away from her. What lengths will she go to in order to protect the idyllic life she’s built?
Pretty good, right? I could see an effective thriller sprouting from this soil.
But this book ain’t it.
I had a few problems with it, but I’ll focus on the two that bothered me the most.
Remember the old TV show Three’s Company? John Ritter starred as a man passing as gay in order to keep living with two women in an apartment complex during the far-more-intolerant ‘70s and ‘80s. Nearly every single episode hinged on a “hilarious” misunderstanding, where if everyone involved had just said the obvious thing, the episode would have been done before the first commercial break.
In order for the plot of Good and Joyful Things to be in any way believable, you have to be willing to buy into the kind of willful misunderstanding that the makers of Three’s Company would have rejected in the writer’s room as too preposterous.
It’s not an overstatement to claim that 300 pages could be shaved off Good and Joyful Things if Simone and Elliott had just, like, talked to each other.
“But Rob,” I hear you saying, “if book characters acted 100% like real people, there’d be no books.”
That’s true, to an extent. But I want the rules characters live by to be at least reality-adjacent. To believe that Simone and Elliott would act in the way Ahlborn has them acting requires readers to suspend their disbelief with an intricate system of ropes and pulleys that can be operated only by those possessing an advanced engineering degree.
In other words, the entire conflict is predicated on two people acting like no two people would ever act.
So there’s that.
The other big issue I had with the book is trickier to talk about. I’ll tread lightly, because I don’t want it to seem as though I’m ascribing any ill intent to Ahlborn. I think it’s an issue of nuance, not of malice.
Simone is clearly mentally ill. The book cuts back and forth between present day – which I described earlier – and several years in the past, when we see her early interactions with Elliott and Leighton, when they were still a couple. We know from those flashbacks that Simone suffers from trauma in her past, that she has issues with boundaries and attachment, that she’s profoundly insecure and will go to great lengths to feel comforted (and comfortable). She is, to put it mildly, not well.
As a result, I felt a lot of empathy for Simone early on, even as she acted in ways I found implausible and unlikable. What Ahlborn seemed to be setting up was a narrative that explored the ripple effect of personal trauma, and she’s a talented enough author that I expected something that deftly explored that issue while also delivering some thrills. In fact, she does something similar in Brother.
Instead, Ahlborn careens past any thoughtful consideration of Simone’s circumstances and instead turns her into a cartoon villain straight out of Fatal Attraction or Basic Instinct. And this feels tremendously unfair to Simone as a character as well as to people who legitimately suffer from the same issues Simone suffers from. She becomes so thoroughly repellent a character that the subtext almost seems to be, “Deal with your shit or become a sadistic lunatic.”
It left a bad taste in my mouth that I haven’t fully been able to shake, even though I finished the book a few days ago.
Like I said above, I don’t in any way think this is how Ahlborn feels about the mentally ill. But by choosing to amplify the effects of Simone’s illness in the superficial pursuit of violent genre thrills, the unintended consequence is to trivialize the illness itself.*
If this seems like a long review for a book I didn’t like, it’s because I otherwise love Ahlborn’s work so much that I just couldn’t dismiss this one out of hand. Writing this much about it helped me clarify why I struggled. As always, your own mileage may vary. I’m just one reader, and I have no interest in being an arbiter of anyone’s next read. But as much as Ania Ahlborn has been one of my favorite horror writers of the last 5 or 6 years, I found Good and Joyful Things to be a huge miss.
*As a side note, I started writing a lengthy explanation as to why I thought this book doesn’t work but CJ Leede’s Maeve Fly does. Then I realized I was essentially writing a completely different essay, one not supported by the IG platform, and abandoned it. If you want to have that conversation, let me know. I’m happy to share.
January 29, 2025
Ok. Whew.
This was very different than anything I have read by this author.
Ania is known for writing books that get underneath your skin and make you think twice about something that goes bump in the night. For me, her books leave long lasting impressions that I still think about for years after reading some of them (Brother and Seed being two contenders).
I will admit for the first quarter of the book I didn't quite know what to make of it. It felt so different and unexpected. When I hit a little more than the halfway point... oh boy (nervous laughter).
This time we are not reading a horror story of a paranormal nature. We are completely immersed in one of the most unsettling types of horror. Reality.
What happens to this couple when life takes several wrong turns and we face certain challenges ie. isolation, perception, trauma, mental illness (I could go on but I don't want to spoil anything).
This book felt so uncomfortable to read but also extremely compelling. It was a raw, unapologetic, in your face slap that left me absolutely stunned.
Will you be able to see the good and joyful things?
This was very different than anything I have read by this author.
Ania is known for writing books that get underneath your skin and make you think twice about something that goes bump in the night. For me, her books leave long lasting impressions that I still think about for years after reading some of them (Brother and Seed being two contenders).
I will admit for the first quarter of the book I didn't quite know what to make of it. It felt so different and unexpected. When I hit a little more than the halfway point... oh boy (nervous laughter).
This time we are not reading a horror story of a paranormal nature. We are completely immersed in one of the most unsettling types of horror. Reality.
What happens to this couple when life takes several wrong turns and we face certain challenges ie. isolation, perception, trauma, mental illness (I could go on but I don't want to spoil anything).
This book felt so uncomfortable to read but also extremely compelling. It was a raw, unapologetic, in your face slap that left me absolutely stunned.
Will you be able to see the good and joyful things?
February 12, 2025
The editing on this story is ROUGH, possibly non-existent. I caught and highlighted over 30 typos (there were more at the beginning that I hadn’t started tracking)!! The MC is just a nightmare person (not a sympathetic character to be found in this story); the things she does are CRIMES and absolutely reprehensible. Gaslighting and sexual assault are awful and wrong, regardless of gender, ffs.
Skip this one.
Skip this one.
February 27, 2025
I can't believe this is the same author who wrote DARK ACROSS THE BAY, and BROTHER.
Psychological horror, yes, but so very predictable at every turn. I didn't like the main characters at all (except Aster), the miscommunication was ridiculous, and I felt the "twists" were obvious from the beginning.
Additionally, the book is riddled with editing errors, making me wonder how this one passed an editor's desk at all.
Not one I would recommend, personally.
Psychological horror, yes, but so very predictable at every turn. I didn't like the main characters at all (except Aster), the miscommunication was ridiculous, and I felt the "twists" were obvious from the beginning.
Additionally, the book is riddled with editing errors, making me wonder how this one passed an editor's desk at all.
Not one I would recommend, personally.
January 30, 2025
3.5 rounded up to a 4. Let me first off say, I LOVE Ania. Let me second off say, I'm SO bored with domestic thrillers. So this rating is totally due to my preference.
The writing was good! But I went in expecting more classic Ania, and this just felt like another crazed woman thriller to me, which I'm pretty over.
Can't win them all!
The writing was good! But I went in expecting more classic Ania, and this just felt like another crazed woman thriller to me, which I'm pretty over.
Can't win them all!
November 30, 2025
This ended up being a pretty solid ride. Ahlborn leans hard into tension and unease. and while the pacing isn’t perfect, I was pulled along the whole way. The slow shift from ordinary domestic stress to full on madness was easily my favorite part. The reveal of just how far the main character’s mind has slipped was delivered expertly and made the earlier groundwork feel worth it.
If you like psychological unraveling and domestic horror with teeth, this is definitely worth a read.
If you like psychological unraveling and domestic horror with teeth, this is definitely worth a read.
July 9, 2025
Nothing good or joyful with this one. 🥴
August 11, 2025
Kakva glupost zali Boze vremena i truda🥲
June 5, 2025
This book ruled -- 50 stars! This chick is effing psycho, like Joe Goldberg on his period. My new fetish is reading books that make me feel like I'm trapped in a horrible marriage again.
March 11, 2025
Simone and Elliott have it all; but their marriage is far from happy. While Elliott spends all day at work, postpartum depression weighs heavily on Simone’s shoulders. Baby Lizzy is colicky, and Aster is a handful. The more time Simone spends at home alone with the girls, the more she is convinced that Elliott is pining for his ex, Leighton—a woman who mysteriously disappeared from their small town years before, leaving her and Elliott’s then-newborn daughter, Aster, behind. Terrified of losing her family, Simone puts Elliott to the ultimate test, which uncovers an unfathomable truth.
"Good and Joyful Things" offers a chilling portrayal of a wife's struggle with postpartum challenges and the lingering impact of past secrets that threaten to derail her life. Simone is a stay-at-home mother to her newborn daughter and stepdaughter. I immediately empathized with Simone, as my son was colicky, and I also experienced postpartum. However, my connection with Simone lessened as I began to uncover her true nature. There is a huge difference between postpartum and being a crazy psycho. Unfortunately, the husband's lack of contribution did not improve the situation. He was such a waste of space!
As the story progressed, I felt the story occasionally lagged, becoming somewhat lengthy and wordy. While I understood that Simone's erratic behavior aligned with her diagnosis, I found her character tiring. The plot twist wasn't unexpected, and the conclusion felt rather ordinary. Although Ania's writing remained strong and gave a voice to the serious issue of postpartum depression, this novel didn't quite reach the heights of her previous works. Despite some aspects of "Good and Joyful Things," it held my attention throughout and was a worthwhile read due to its powerful message.
"Good and Joyful Things" offers a chilling portrayal of a wife's struggle with postpartum challenges and the lingering impact of past secrets that threaten to derail her life. Simone is a stay-at-home mother to her newborn daughter and stepdaughter. I immediately empathized with Simone, as my son was colicky, and I also experienced postpartum. However, my connection with Simone lessened as I began to uncover her true nature. There is a huge difference between postpartum and being a crazy psycho. Unfortunately, the husband's lack of contribution did not improve the situation. He was such a waste of space!
As the story progressed, I felt the story occasionally lagged, becoming somewhat lengthy and wordy. While I understood that Simone's erratic behavior aligned with her diagnosis, I found her character tiring. The plot twist wasn't unexpected, and the conclusion felt rather ordinary. Although Ania's writing remained strong and gave a voice to the serious issue of postpartum depression, this novel didn't quite reach the heights of her previous works. Despite some aspects of "Good and Joyful Things," it held my attention throughout and was a worthwhile read due to its powerful message.
January 29, 2025
I’ve read this plot line before— well, overall plot line, and still I found myself enjoying this. Ania managed to throw some lovely plot-twists in to this story that I didn’t see coming. My brain has a habit of picking up on upcoming twists and I am pleased to say Ania pulled some good ones. I didn’t get a sense of “thriller” in any form either. Nonetheless, I’d still recommend this book to others.
March 29, 2025
2.5 ⭐️ for me.
Wasn’t the best but wasn’t bad either. Psychological thriller from Ania Ahlborn. If you’re expecting a read like Brother, this doesn’t measure up. Still a very tense read that held my attention throughout and was a worthwhile read due to its powerful message.
Good and Joyful Things is a chilling portrayal of a husband and wife's marriage struggle. Simone and Elliott’s relationship hits a rough patch. As Simone, is terrified of losing her family. She puts Elliott to the ultimate test, which uncovers an unfathomable truth. Super tense read with a little mystery that keeps you reading through the end.
As the story progresses, the reading becomes too lengthy and wordy. The characters become extremely unlikable and overall the story lags until the ending. The ending itself wasn’t the best too. Overall, not Ania’s best work as this was somewhat of a departure from her horror work. Had some good moments but failed to actually captured my attention.
Wasn’t the best but wasn’t bad either. Psychological thriller from Ania Ahlborn. If you’re expecting a read like Brother, this doesn’t measure up. Still a very tense read that held my attention throughout and was a worthwhile read due to its powerful message.
Good and Joyful Things is a chilling portrayal of a husband and wife's marriage struggle. Simone and Elliott’s relationship hits a rough patch. As Simone, is terrified of losing her family. She puts Elliott to the ultimate test, which uncovers an unfathomable truth. Super tense read with a little mystery that keeps you reading through the end.
As the story progresses, the reading becomes too lengthy and wordy. The characters become extremely unlikable and overall the story lags until the ending. The ending itself wasn’t the best too. Overall, not Ania’s best work as this was somewhat of a departure from her horror work. Had some good moments but failed to actually captured my attention.
January 31, 2025
2.5 ⭐️
God this was so dull. Messy and not in a fun way. I was hoping for that intense Ahlborn magic but alas I was disappointed
God this was so dull. Messy and not in a fun way. I was hoping for that intense Ahlborn magic but alas I was disappointed
March 31, 2025
This book was a domestic thriller, maybe not necessarily a thriller because there wasn’t a lot that happened throughout the story. But the ending was quite explosive.
Simone and Elliott are married with a 5 year old named Aster and a newborn baby Lizzy.
Aster is the child of Elliott and his first love Leighton who left Elliott with the baby and split town. Simone swooped in to help Elliott and they fell in love and married and now she is the only mom Aster knows.
Simone is struggling with postpartum depression and baby Lizzy is colicky and screams non stop. She begins to start thinking that Elliott is cheating on her because he works long hours and is never home. One day she sees Leighton in the grocery store and knows Elliott and her are having an affair.
The entire book is basically Simone’s psychosis and you quickly learn that she has major mental issues. The story goes from when her and Elliott first met and got together to present time.
I felt so bad for the kids in the story. They aren’t physically abused but there is definitely neglect and at one point she gives them medicine to make them sleep which is scary and sad.
I thought the book was cleverly written and woven together. I did not really care for the story as I felt bored for 75% of the book. And switching from bored to sad as I saw what Simone was doing to those girls and telling them. The ending got really good as everything is revealed which I had mostly guessed what was happening. And there were a couple of really good, edge of your seat scenes. But the ending was awful and not a feel good end.
Simone and Elliott are married with a 5 year old named Aster and a newborn baby Lizzy.
Aster is the child of Elliott and his first love Leighton who left Elliott with the baby and split town. Simone swooped in to help Elliott and they fell in love and married and now she is the only mom Aster knows.
Simone is struggling with postpartum depression and baby Lizzy is colicky and screams non stop. She begins to start thinking that Elliott is cheating on her because he works long hours and is never home. One day she sees Leighton in the grocery store and knows Elliott and her are having an affair.
The entire book is basically Simone’s psychosis and you quickly learn that she has major mental issues. The story goes from when her and Elliott first met and got together to present time.
I felt so bad for the kids in the story. They aren’t physically abused but there is definitely neglect and at one point she gives them medicine to make them sleep which is scary and sad.
I thought the book was cleverly written and woven together. I did not really care for the story as I felt bored for 75% of the book. And switching from bored to sad as I saw what Simone was doing to those girls and telling them. The ending got really good as everything is revealed which I had mostly guessed what was happening. And there were a couple of really good, edge of your seat scenes. But the ending was awful and not a feel good end.
June 10, 2025
Read Completed 6/10/25 | 3.5 stars | Book #87 of 2025
I'm a little torn on my feelings for this book! I picked this up totally on a whim and really liked the description so I wanted to take a chance. I really, really liked the story and the overall plot. I loved how it was pieced together and how the author slowly unraveled that web, letting the reader really see how everything was unfolding.
I didn't quite love the flashbacks. For some reason, things just got a little confusing (maybe they were supposed to be?) with the way it was written. I don't think I was supposed to be too intentionally confused, but some of the switching back and forth felt a little jarring, like it wasn't switching at a natural stopping point so I had a harder time as an audiobook listener adjusting to the switch.
I actually really, really enjoyed the beginning and I thought I was going to be very pleasantly surprised by this book! But little by little, I found my interest waning and I started getting a little bored. I think it came from the writing style. I felt like there was a lot of tell, tell, tell after the initial beginning and some of the the writing just got a little repetitive and sluggish.
The ending was a great amount of unhinged and helped pull me back in after I was getting a little bogged down in the middle. It was a solid finish and part of what helped me bring it back up to 3.5 stars!
I'm a little torn on my feelings for this book! I picked this up totally on a whim and really liked the description so I wanted to take a chance. I really, really liked the story and the overall plot. I loved how it was pieced together and how the author slowly unraveled that web, letting the reader really see how everything was unfolding.
I didn't quite love the flashbacks. For some reason, things just got a little confusing (maybe they were supposed to be?) with the way it was written. I don't think I was supposed to be too intentionally confused, but some of the switching back and forth felt a little jarring, like it wasn't switching at a natural stopping point so I had a harder time as an audiobook listener adjusting to the switch.
I actually really, really enjoyed the beginning and I thought I was going to be very pleasantly surprised by this book! But little by little, I found my interest waning and I started getting a little bored. I think it came from the writing style. I felt like there was a lot of tell, tell, tell after the initial beginning and some of the the writing just got a little repetitive and sluggish.
The ending was a great amount of unhinged and helped pull me back in after I was getting a little bogged down in the middle. It was a solid finish and part of what helped me bring it back up to 3.5 stars!
August 18, 2025
This was such a frustrating read. It was excruciating spending time with these characters. Simone was a nightmare, Elliot was literally far from meeting the bare minimum of fatherhood, and Etta was a goddamn instigator. This book was predictable and I had to pause and rant so many times about this damn story to my husband. I love Ania Ahlborn but this wasn’t a favorite by any means. I just simply did not enjoy the time I spent listening to this book.
July 11, 2025
A Disappointment
In addition to a bevy of typos and grammatical errors, the second to last chapter is setup in a way as to imply an action is about to be taken. It sets up plot movement and then the last chapter just…ends. I see what she was trying to do but it fell extremely flat and felt unfinished, instead of evoking a sense of dread.
In addition to a bevy of typos and grammatical errors, the second to last chapter is setup in a way as to imply an action is about to be taken. It sets up plot movement and then the last chapter just…ends. I see what she was trying to do but it fell extremely flat and felt unfinished, instead of evoking a sense of dread.
August 30, 2025
This was a rough one for me. I'm not a fan of miscommunication and this whole story relies so heavily on it. The tone was creepy and that I did enjoy. Overall though, I felt so bad for the kids and truly uncomfortable with a lot of what happened with them. Just a fair warning, there are no redeemable characters in this at all.
The audio itself I did enjoy. Mia Barron does an amazing job really giving you that creepy feeling.
Thank you to the author and publisher for the gifted copy!
The audio itself I did enjoy. Mia Barron does an amazing job really giving you that creepy feeling.
Thank you to the author and publisher for the gifted copy!
February 6, 2025
I wish I liked it more but I’m extremely over miscommunication tropes at the moment and everyyyyy interaction with Simone and Elliot was some form of not communicating well. This book does do a good job of making you uncomfortable the entire time and I would definitely check trigger warnings.
August 6, 2025
This really drew me in from page one. Simone is one crazy b@&$h!
August 13, 2025
My first by Queen Ania that I didn't absolutely love 😭 I knew this day would come..
Hard to read one by her that isn't spooky / scary / creepy as all fuck..
Don't get me wrong.. Simone was
U N H I N G E D.
*but*
honestly could have shaved off 100 pages.. and the ending was a big fat 'meh.. ok then.' They all can't be bangers! 💔
Hard to read one by her that isn't spooky / scary / creepy as all fuck..
Don't get me wrong.. Simone was
U N H I N G E D.
*but*
honestly could have shaved off 100 pages.. and the ending was a big fat 'meh.. ok then.' They all can't be bangers! 💔
February 20, 2025
Simone is insufferable throughout this entire book along with just about everyone else.
Also, lots of typos - was it not edited?
Also, lots of typos - was it not edited?
February 28, 2025
Good book but next time hire an editor. How many grammatical mistakes can exist in a single book. Weird ones too like words added twice, an unfixed revision that was obviously forgotten about etc. could’ve been five stars but everytime I got into it an error would mess with any flow the story would have had. Normally I don’t point this stuff out but this was really really bad.
March 20, 2025
I’ve devoured anything written by Ania, up until this book. It was tough to get through - super slow pace, and the editing was probably the worst I’ve ever seen in a book, seemed like there were typos every few pages. I think Ania was trying to hard to break into the thriller space and it just didn’t land.
March 1, 2025
I generally love Ahlborn. This book was a struggle though. Very slow and repetitive. None of the characters were likeable. The story was just ok. I was able to ignore most of the grammatical errors. I wanted to love it but I just couldn't.
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