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There’s No Way I’d Die First by Lisa Springer

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There's No Way I'd Die First by Lisa Springer
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Horror movie buff and aspiring film critic Noelle Layne is certain that she would be the Final Girl in any slasher scenario but she never expected that her skills would be put to the test when the "pretend" killer clown at a Halloween party turns out to be the real deal. Now, it will take all of Noelle’s know-how to survive the night and hopefully keep her friends alive with her. Lisa Springer delivers a pulse-pounding thriller that readers will not be able to put down– but be warned, you should read this one in the daylight.

There’s No Way I’d Die First by Lisa Springer, (List Price: 18.99, Delacorte Press, 9780593643174, September 2023)

Reviewed by Charlie Williams, Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

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In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
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An old man and brilliant inventor finds a run down cottage in a forest and decides to live there, far away from the rest of the world. One day he is surprised when a distraught couple who seem to be on the run leave a young boy in his care and ask him to raise the child. Two decades later, the tender-hearted, shy, and brilliant boy finds a broken AI robot and decides to repair it. Shortly after, the world descends upon his family in their forest idyll, forcing the young man to leave on a quest to the world beyond. A place of great danger and risk; but he is accompanied by a small crew of fiercely loyal friends who are determined to help him find what they are looking for. This novel holds all the beautiful, tender sentimentality, found family dynamics, loving humor, and self-discovery that I’ve come to expect from TJ Klune. I absolutely fell in love with every character in this motley crew of creatures. I laughed out loud frequently at the antics of Nurse Ratched and Rambo. I cried when things got tough and painful. I feared for the sweet young man who is trying to find his way. It has all the best parts of a huggable book for me.

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune, (List Price: 28.99, Tor Books, 9781250217448, April 2023)

Reviewed by Elizabeth DeWandeler, A Novel Escape in Franklin, North Carolina

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