Schizanthus Nerd

Cover image of The Poorly Made and Other Things by Sam Rebelein with a background image of twisted branches

Book review 💙📚😱

The body horror is absolutely delicious, the twists and turns are positively deadly and my need to spend even more time in Renfield County is growing. Some might say it’s spreading like a stain…

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2025/02/08/t...

Mine! All mine! 😊🧅

Reading slump is over!!!! 😊

💙📚

Is it still a reading slump if you’re enjoying the book but your brain won’t let you concentrate for more than a few sentences at a time?

#booksky 💙📚

Cover image of Stay in the Light by A.M. Shine with a background of light and darkness

Book review 💙📚😱

While the unknown generated its own fear in the first book, having an understanding of what the Watchers were capable of added a layer of dread and anticipation to this one.

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/10/27/s...

Cover image of The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science by Kate McKinnon with a yellow background

Book review 💙📚

I loved seeing outcasts being true to themselves, refusing to be squished into boxes that conform to society’s expectations.

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/10/27/t...

Cover image of We Kept Her in the Cellar by W. R. Gorman with a green textured glass background

Book review 💙📚😱

This Cinderella story has teeth. She’s actually kinda bitey so you might want to maintain a safe distance. Beware of loopholes and be especially careful after midnight.

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/10/27/w...

Cover image of The Ballerina of Auschwitz by Edith Eger with a pale tan background

Book review 💙📚

Edie’s resilience in the aftermath of experiences that render trauma too small a word inspires me. The choices she has made to turn unimaginable evil into a life that is a beacon of light gives me hope. If Edie can do it, we can too.

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/10/08/t...

Cover image of The Hotel Balzaar by Kate DiCamillo, with illustrations by Júlia Sardà. The background is dark gold.

Book review 💙📚

Every day is the same. Stairs. Cat. Mouse. Wing. Norman. Until it’s not.

Checking into Room 314 is a countess and Blitzkoff, her green parrot. The countess sees the girl who is not supposed to be seen.

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/10/05/t...

Cover image of Manga Biographies: Charles M. Schulz by Yuzuru Kuki with a gold background

Book review 💙📚

I absolutely loved finding connections between Charles’ life and his characters.

Fun fact: Snoopy’s birthday is 10 August.

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/10/04/m...

Cover image of Coup de Grâce by Sofia Ajram. The background is Relativity by M.C. Escher.

Book review 💙📚😱

Reading this book is what I imagine a hallucination feels like. It takes you inside the mind of someone with suicidal ideation but then twists it into something Escheresque.

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/10/01/c...

Cover image of Ornithography by Jessica Roux with a light brown feather background

Book review 💙📚

It wasn’t until I read this book that I thought about how integral birds are to our folklore, mythology and history.

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/09/15/o...

Cover image of Midwestern Gothic by Scott Thomas with a sand coloured background

Book review 💙📚😱

Welcome back to Blantonville, Kansas.

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/09/15/m...

Friday the 13th artwork found at https://www.redbubble.com/i/poster/jason-voorhees-horror-by-simaanarcelap/129162557.LVTDI

Happy Friday the 13th! 💙📚😱

Book reviews: schizanthusnerd.com/tag/friday-t...

Photo of an abandoned shopping trolley in a residential area. Attached to it is a white sign with red hearts and words in black lettering saying ‘Lonely. Seeking same. Loves outdoors, long walks, holding hands’. The background is black with red hearts.

I’m not usually one for matchmaking but I have to admit I’m pretty invested in seeing this lonely soul find their forever trolley…

(I didn’t make the sign, just took the photo)

Book cover of Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune with a cerulean background because it couldn’t have been any other colour

Happy book birt to Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune 💙📚

Book hug! It’s hope and love and refusing to diminish ourselves when people with loud voices and narrow minds demand it. This found family is everything!

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/09/10/s...

Cover image of Graveyards by Alastair Horne with a pale yellow background

Book review 💙📚

Fun fact: A partly ruined ninth-century building at Mizdarkhan in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan is known as the Apocalypse Clock. It is believed that “when the final brick falls, it will herald the end of the world.”

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/09/09/g...

Cover image of Repeat After Me by Jessica Warman with a hot pink background

Book review 💙📚

A senior trip to a tropical island, a sentient, immortal octopus, feats of flexibility and a time loop. What could go wrong?! This was so much fun!

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/09/08/r...

I don’t know why it took me so long to get to. I definitely need to reread it as well.

I loved it so much! The sequel is amazing! I finished it yesterday. Just need to get my thoughts together for a review. Hope you love it too. 😊

Cover image of The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune with a cerulean background

Book review 💙📚

This is the best book hug I’ve had in a long time. If you need a breath of fresh air or some colour in your life, this is the book for you. This is what hope looks like.

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/09/08/t...

Cover image of Fears, edited by Ellen Datlow, with a pale pink flesh coloured background

Book review 💙📚😱

Humans are the real horror story.

My favourite stories were by Josh Malerman, Margo Lanagan, Sharon Gosling and Stephen Graham Jones.

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/09/08/f...

Cover image of Guillotine by Delilah S. Dawson with a pink background

Book review 💙📚😱

It’s revenge fantasy in all its glory. It’s levelling the playing field between the haves and the have-nots. It’s the victimised resisting those who have oppressed and abused them in spectacular form.

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/09/08/g...

Cover image of Before Dementia by Dr Kate Gregorevic with a gradient yellow and blue background

Book review 💙📚

I’ve read a bunch of books about dementia but this is the first one I’ve wanted to talk about.

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/09/07/b...

Cover image of The Graveyard Gift by Fern Forgettable as told by Piper CJ with a pink background

Today’s book mail is The Graveyard Gift by Fern Forgettable as told by Piper CJ 💙📚

Why I need to read this book: This made it to my TBR pile as soon as I saw the cover. The blurb confirmed I’d made the right decision.

www.walkerbooks.com.au/book/9781760...

Cover image of Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune with a gradient yellow and orange background

Today’s book mail is Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune from Pan Macmillan Australia 💙📚

Why I need to read this book: It’s magical children, found family, the past intruding on the present and an excuse to binge TJ Klune books all-in-one!

panmacmillan.com.au/9781035009381/

Cover image of A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher with a blue and brown background

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher 💙📚

This book is about the insidious nature of abuse but it’s also about the seen and unseen ways that people who experience abuse resist. It’s about courage and resilience and hope.

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/08/16/a...

Cover image of Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan with a purple background

Book review 💙📚

When you’re given the opportunity to turn your impending The End into To be continued…, you take it.

Full review: schizanthusnerd.com/2024/08/16/l...

Francine Pascal, creator of Sweet Valley High book series, dies at 92 Francine Pascal, mastermind of the long-running, best-selling, and much-beloved 'Sweet Valley High' series of young-adult books, died on Sunday in Manhattan at the age of 92.

Reading SVH books at the beach was what summer looked like for me in the late 80’s. Nerdy me adored Elizabeth. Wannabe rebel me wished they were more like Jessica. Kid me is really sad today.

#SweetValleyHigh #FrancinePascal 💙📚

ew.com/francine-pas...

I saw that announcement too. I’m so happy for him. 😊