Welcome to Charlie's: Parasitic Persuasion

Welcome to Charlie's #2

by Ashley Watson

When he isn’t dealing with undead Karens and eldritch horrors destroying the store, Jared still has a lot on his plate, like choosing between his witch girlfriend or his vampire boss.

Just as Jared is beginning to understand the strangeness of Charlie’s, a new challenge has appeared on the a change of ownership. With that comes mandatory uniforms, unveiled secrets, and an omnipresent janitor with no eyes. As the new owners take the reins, what will happen to the already turbulent ecosystem of their beloved department store?

After an apocalyptic beginning, the wild world of “Welcome to Charlie’s” is back with its second installment of the series. Will Jared and the other employees survive this round?

223 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 14, 2025

Reviews

[Karen Mahtin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too short -- whole sections of the text were presumably "left for later" and never developed. Jared and Lacie had been pushed apart, but their talking about getting back together was basically skipped over. The very end of the book is weird -- including this other narrator who's sort of in a different place and time. One character was mentioned during the battle (around 85 to 90% through the book), and I guess she was a coworker who hadn't been mentioned in the book until then. Who are those other people who work in the store? I had been wondering how so few people did so many tasks...

There are so many typos that it seems like the book was not read by anyone before it was published. Not even by the author!

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than part 1

I enjoyed this more than the first book despite all the typos and incorrect words. Lots of pop culture references even from the 70s had me giggling like a kid because I caught them. The characters with all their quirky 'personalities' are endearing. Now I need book three ?

[Ann Keeran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rock And Roll

Welcome to another amazing adventure at Charlie's. Ashley Watson is in charge of filling the store with every available entity.

[Jenice Wirth · Rating 5 out of 5]

So creative! The characters were fun, some a little snarky, and just an enjoyable book. Very unique also!.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[ScarlettAnomalyReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could not wait for this to come out, I pre-ordered it, I was that excited, and it did not disappoint.

Poor Jared, he THOUGHT he was figuring out Charlie’s, but this is retail horror, heavy on the retail, YOU never have it figured out.

I cannot get enough of this absolutely unhinged store and the stuff that goes out, its funny but its not, its horrifying, but really, are Janitors with no eyes, but that seem to see everything, really anymore scary than that “Karen” barreling down aisle 11 screaming that there shouldn’t be a 2 item limit on creamed corn this week ??

Check this out if you have this crazy obsession with retail horror, no sleep, and everything else you could think of that happens inside good old Charlie’s.


Please give me more !!