Read with Carly

Review: The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

When Rowan is hired as the Elincourt’s new live-in nanny at the Heatherbrae House, she begins caring round the clock for a baby, two young children, and a teenager. Everything seems absolutely perfect at first: a technologically-advanced smart home, a generous salary, a luxury car to drive the children to and from school, and a beautiful, loving family to look after. But as we all know, nothing is ever as it seems.

It isn’t until her first night in her new room that she hears creaks from above (although her bedroom happens to be on the top floor of the house), begins losing sleep, and has trouble deciphering the differences between fantasy and reality. Over the course of Rowan’s time at Heatherbrae, the lights are switched on and off, music blares over the house-wide speaker system, and other software malfunctions begin to haunt her in the middle of the night. With a lack of sleep, answers, and patience for the children, Rowan is determined to find the underlying cause of the hauntings at Heatherbrae and who or what is behind the taunting behavior.

Written in a letter-format to her lawyer from prison, Rowan gets into the details of what really happened and her real motives for accepting the position….and neither are what you might suspect.

“The Turn of the Key” was the first Ruth Ware thriller I have read, and although I had no idea what to expect, she did not disappoint.

I do most of my reading at night, so it wasn’t unusual for me to be reading this as I laid in bed. However, this was the first book I’ve ever read that gave me chills and actually scared me. Her words had me looking into the shadows of the night and pause to make sure I didn’t hear any creaky footsteps of my own. Each of Ware’s twists were unpredictable (although I thought I was catching on…she had me fooled).

Read this if you are looking for a book that will keep you hooked through and through, but I do not recommend this if you spook easily.

XOXO,

Carly

Paying Homage Where Homage is Due

My love for poetry began way back when I was in second grade. This was when I did not even know about its artistic elements of meaning, sound, and rhythm. Journaling was a way to put my thoughts and feelings onto paper, and turning it into something artistic and poetic was a fun twist. I loved seeing how many rhyming words I could piece together (and still have it make some sort of sense). In third grade, my best friend and I wrote a collection of poems (mostly about the random objects and nature around us). We tied each piece of paper together with yarn and gave it to our teacher for the holidays.

Around the same time, I wrote my mom a poem for the first time and gave it to her as a gift. However, that is one of the only poems I have written that I’ve shared with my family.

I keep my writing close to my heart where it is protected and kept hidden. From what? I’m not sure. Maybe from judgment, maybe I do it so others don’t see what I think or feel in a given moment of time.

Either way, my love for poetry evolved in the heat of the Tumblr era (circa 2011-12), where I discovered Madisen Kuhn. She is also in her mid-twenties and is a master at pouring her heart out onto the pages of her three published books. In school, I had always learned about William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Frost, Henry David Thoreau, and Edgar Allen Poe. Although there is something to love about each of them (and several other famous poets), my heart lies with Mary Oliver and Sylvia Plath.

I am drawn to Mary’s ability to poignantly describe everyday life and the natural world, and I commend Sylvia for her evocative writing style and ability to share raw emotions surrounding mental illness, nature, love, hate, life, and death. Both writers have evocative collections of writing. I highly recommend exploring their libraries of work if you wish to delve into the wonderful world of poetry.

XOXO,

Carly

Bookish Girl Behind the Blog: Meet Me!

Greetings, fellow readers, writers, and book lovers! First of all, thank you so much for being here. Whether I know you from real life, from bookstagram, or if you stumbled upon just another girl with a book blog, your support means so much to me.

A LITTLE ABOUT ME

At my core: I truly believe words can change the world. Words matter, ideas matter, people matter. I am drawn to books because they are not only entertaining but also educational, offering differing perspectives and allowing all voices to be heard. Books are magic.

On the surface: I am in my mid-twenties still figuring it all out! I am a lover of many things, including nature, music (live concerts are my favorite), words, and coffee. I value my friendships, relationships, deep and meaningful conversations, being by the lake, and learning about what other people are passionate about.

On a bookish level: I am an avid reader who loves contemporary fiction, own voices, literary fiction, poetry, thrillers, and young adult romance. Most of my reads this year have been hybrid reads – whether that’s an audiobook + e-book, e-book + hard copy, etc., I’ll take it! Audiobooks are a gamechanger (so are kindle reads)! I’m more of a fiction kinda gal, but I am eager to dabble into the exciting world of nonfiction – give me all the recs!

Other things you should know: Reading and writing have always been two activities near and dear to my heart. I have always been drawn to both the fragility and power of words. They connect us with others, allow us to express ourselves, and invite us to create.

I began writing poetry when I was in second grade. I can’t say that it was necessarily good poetry, but I used it as an emotional outlet, letting the words flow when needed.

I continued to write throughout middle and high school, and in college, I became a Communication Studies & English Writing double major with minors in Journalism and Peace Studies.

Some of my fondest childhood memories include going to the library weekly, checking out a stack of books at a time, and reading them on my grandparents’ couch before and after family dinners.

I’ve realized that through the cycles of my life, I’ve flipped back and forth between intense phases of writing and intense phases of reading. Since 2020, I’ve gravitated towards reading the words of others instead of my own. I’m fortunate enough to have a hobby that allows me to curl up in a cozy corner (typically with a blanket sprawled on top of me and an iced coffee in hand) and indulge in a good book for a few hours at a time.

Sylvia Plath said it best: “I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life. And I am horribly limited.”

I know I will never be able to tackle all of the books on my TBR, review all the books I’ve read, or remember all of the details from books I’ve read years ago, but I am here to give it my best shot.

XOXO,

Carly