This was such a unique book. It was a little bit domestic/family drama and a little bit spooky demonic possession or haunting. It's quite hard to label as just one thing which is one of the reasons it's such a good read.

Tamar has recently been placed in the position of having to take her mother into her home to care for her. It's supposed to be a temporary situation but none of the care homes are returning Tamar's calls and she's starting to feel desperate. It wouldn't be such a bad thing if Tamar and her mother had a good relationship but they have the opposite. They are dysfunctional with a capital "D."

Tamar ran away from home when she was younger and didn't look back until she returned a few years ago. That wasn't to be closer to her mother - - it was to be closer to her sister and her family. And as irony would have it, once Tamar moved back, her sister and her family moved away for her husband's job. Thus leaving Tamar in charge of her mother and all her issues.

This was a clever storyline. I liked how the author explored demonic possession from the viewpoint of the Jewish faith. It's so often done from the Catholic or Christian perspective and the point was made in one exchange that it would be different depending on your faith. It was a brilliant statement and really lent some heft to this plot in my opinion.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: I was also given an early copy of the audiobook for review. I found it to be quite enjoyable as the narration felt like it really fit the characters and kept me engrossed in the storyline. 4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for early copies of both the ebook and audiobook.

Tamar did everything right when it came to saving herself from an abusive household growing up and setting the needed boundaries as an adult. Well, almost. She burned a lot of bridges and her younger sister had to pick up the slack. Luckily, her little sister was the favorite and was never experienced the home Tamar left. Of course, even the most carefully laid plans can get derailed when the Insurance companies get involved.

This book is a slow burn. The suspense builds slowly, and we doubt the narrator the entire time. Is Tamar seeing things as they really are? Is she walking through a waking nightmare, or is she dreaming?

I don't want to spoil the story, so I'll just say it was so refreshing to have the Jewish perspective instead of the Christian one that is so pervasive in horror. We explore what it could really mean to be possessed, and what demons and holy relics mean if you take the New Testament out of it.

The collection of small cuts from a mother's criticism is expertly dealt with, and should not be overlooked. Living with a mother who maybe doesn't even like you can drive anyone out of their wits. It takes years to build, and even longer to escape... if escape is even possible.

Well done!

Bitter is the heart is categorized as a horror but I wouldn’t….its more a thriller.

I didn’t find it scary but it def does have some dark and creepy tunes to it.

It was a decent read but I found it to be pretty slow moving and found myself quite bored a few times.

Overall, 3/5 stars

Thank you to the publisher for my copy.

Thank you to NetGalley, Mina Hardy and Crooked Lane Books for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This had the chance to be a really creepy and spooky novel but it didn’t start ramping up until way too late in the novel in my opinion. I did enjoy the last quarter but the rest dragged for me.

Mina Hardy, you are my idol. The twisted web you weave had me clutching my throat and shrieking in delight.

Bitter Is the Heart

This is not a book for the faint of heart but was PERFECT for me. I absolutely loved every last word of it and I am begging for MORE!

Hardy is a genius when it comes to expertly crafting a thriller that will leave the most seasoned reader with a major book hangover .

I loved it

Check out this teaser :

Haunted by childhood abuse, a woman is forced to care for her cruel elderly mother in this electrifying horror novel exploring generational trauma, perfect for fans of Cassandra Khaw and T. Kingfisher.

Tamar Glass fled an abusive mother when she was eighteen, running away from home to find a better life elsewhere. She has lived in freedom from her mother, Ruth, for decades, until one night she wakes to find her now-elderly mother standing over her bed, disoriented and confused.

When Tamar reluctantly takes in her mother, strange events start happening inside her home: the house is oppressively hot, lights flicker, and cupboards open and shut on their own. Whispers filter beneath her bedroom door. Tamar learns that Ruth has been kicked out of her assisted living home, and other facilities refuse to house her and endanger their own residents. Tamar has spent years suppressing her childhood trauma, but it comes rushing back with each strange event in her home.

As Tamar copes with their disturbing past, which her mother stubbornly refuses to admit to, she can’t shake the feeling that there’s something worse than her mother lurking in the shadows. Perfect for fans of The Haunting of Hill House, this terrifying novel unravels one dark strand at a time.

pretty cool but a little inconsistent in its scares. felt like a khaw, but not the best sort of Khaw work. tysm for the arc.

“Nobody believes children who say they’ve seen a monster. Nobody believed adults, either.”

Here we go with the dark and horror filled books for Fall. Yessss I am here for it!

I love when creepy books involve mothers and daughters and that whole dynamic. It goes against every natural instinct a mother has so that alone ups the ante in terms of wow and creep factor.

“Garrett had always shouted at horror movie characters who’d stayed in the place where scary things were going on. He’d never understood how terrible, even terrifying things can become . . . normal. How you can get so used to being scared all the time that you can become almost numbed to it.” 😨

Thank you to Netgalley, Crooked Lane Books, and the author for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This book officially publishes on 9/17/24!

To me, this book would be a good beginner horror novel. Although there were definitely some horror elements, horror scenes were not consistent throughout. This book is told from one POV which had me questioning a possible unreliable narrator trope, but it was done well. Giving this one three stars because of the pacing; although the first chapter was shocking, it really fell off for me until the second half of the novel. That being said, the second half of the novel was action-packed. As a reader, I would have liked more of that fast-pacing throughout. That being said, the basis of the plot was interesting enough to keep me reading. I would recommend this book to anyone new in the horror genre, but please check any relevant trigger warnings before doing so.

This was a bit of a bummer for me. I love stories that focus on the difficult relationships between moms and their adult kids (especially if their troubles stem from childhood drama or abuse) because I find them weirdly cathartic, and while this started out pretty strong and horrifying at times, I found myself struggling to continue on past about 40%. I kept getting distracted, the story wasn't holding me anymore, and I ended up having to force myself to finish it over the course of several days. I'll definitely try the author again but unfortunately this one just wasn't up my alley, despite how much it seemed like it'd work for me.

This book started off super strong and creepy with the first chapter literally showcasing one of my worst fears - waking up in the middle of the night to a figure standing over your bed. Unfortunately, it didn’t hold the same momentum throughout and it became too long-winded for me. I felt that there were too many unnecessary details and the story doesn’t truly pick up until about 70% into it. It is a domestic horror as it focuses on Tamar looking after her mother who traumatised her as a child with her various addictions. I wanted to like this more but the story was just lacking a major WOW factor and dragged on at times.

Thank you to netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC!

Haunting and creepy!

I really enjoyed this suspenseful and dark tale of Tamar, whose complicated relationship with her mother is brought to a head when her mother shows up alarmingly in the middle of the night, having wandered out of her retirement home miles away and shown up standing over Tamar's bed inside her house when she didn't even know (Tamar thinks) where Tamar lived. We learn that Tamar may have grown up in a haunted house. And that her mother has dementia. Or is it something even more sinister than that? This book will be fun and frightful for anyone who has ever suspected one of their relatives is a demon (and really, haven't we all?). Very well-narrated and the kind of book you look forward to returning to all day when you are otherwise occupied. I also loved the way it focused on Judaism, which gave the story a cool historical and cultural backdrop and provided a neat twist on the haunting/possession theme. I would compare this to Sara Gran's Come Closer, which is one of my other favorite books in the horror-suspense genre. Very good sense of creepy dread throughout until the high octane conclusion. I would love to read more by this author!

I really enjoyed this one. Tamar is so complicated and real, and she’s really going through it. Her relationship with her elderly mom is rocky enough but now she’s stuck taking her in after her mom is kicked out of the old folks center.

Strange things are happening now that her mom is here, and she’s at her breaking point. Forced to look back at her childhood from a different point of view, Tamar comes to some difficult realizations and faces the ghosts of her past, and the demon haunting her present. I do wish there was an epilogue, I had a few questions at the very end but it wasn’t really a big deal.

If you enjoy possession stories and creepy old ladies, you’ll enjoy this one. I can’t wait to read more from Mina Hardy. I started this one on my kindle and switched over to audio and I thought that the narrator did an amazing job with this. Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and Dreamscape Media for my eARC and advanced audiobook. Bitter is the Heart published this week.

A haunting and suspenseful take on a tumultuous mother-daughter relationship. Tamar and Ruth were fantastic, distinctive characters with interesting behaviours and strong personalities. I enjoyed the creepy vibes, and the secondary characters/victims worked into the narrative to forward the plot in a way that made clear to readers that something foul was afoot. This is a great book for fans of horror and suspense.

Our main character Tamar ran away from home as a teenager after experiencing abuse at the hand of her alcoholic mother and questioning whether or not her childhood home was haunted. Now as a fully grown adult, she is forced to take care of her elderly mother after her mother was evicted from a senior living facility. Tensions rise as Tamar questions again whether or not she is being haunted by more than the memories of her past trauma.

I understand that the book was going for hauntings/possessions as a metaphor for generational trauma. I just don't think it was done well and missed the mark entirely. This was partly due to a lack of tension and partly due to poor plotting/pacing. To me, the various scenes seemed randomly tacked together without any true story structure or cohesive plot. At times, I was wondering if the chapters were placed in the wrong order as it seemed like we were almost jumping around in the progression of the story in a way that didn't make sense. The story would have benefited from more flashback sequences to Tamar's childhood in order to contrast her relationship with her mother then to what it is in the present day.

Again, there was absolutely no tension and at no point was I worried about what would happen to Tamar or if she was going insane. In order for this to really hit hard, we should have been left questioning whether or not Tamar was being haunted or if she was just committing elderly abuse against her mother. Without any stakes or horror, I just didn't care about the relationship between Tamar and her mother.

Several characters served no real purpose in terms of advancing the plot or character development and I was left wondering why they were even included. And that ending was God awful. It needed more of literally anything in order to satisfactorily conclude the story. Instead it just cuts off right at the end of a (lackluster) climax.

Reviews will go live on Goodreads, Storygraph and Fable on 9/18 and on Tiktok on 9/19.

Tamar escaped her abusive mother at the age of 18 but is absolutely shocked when she wakes up to find her unwell mother hovering over her bed. How did she find her? Why is she there?

This book was so creepy! I was hooked from the beginning wondering what on earth her mother was doing there and empathizing with Tamar for having to have contact with someone she was trying to heal from. There were some truly disgusting parts in this book and I loved it. I did find the ending to be a little boring but I enjoyed the entire journey it took to get there. This was definitely a solid creepy read!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Mina Hardy, and Crooked Lane Books for providing this free ARC. This is my honest review. This publishes today September 17th.

I have posted my review on Goodreads, my Facebook book club, and will make a TikTok to post before the pub date raving about this book!

Bitter is the Heart by Mina Hardy is a dark and chilling exploration of generational trauma and the complex relationship between a mother and daughter. Tamar, the protagonist, is forced to care for her abusive elderly mother, leading to unsettling events in her home that blur the line between psychological and supernatural horror. The novel builds tension with every chapter, offering disturbing revelations about the past. Hardy masterfully explores themes of family trauma and suppressed emotions. It's an eerie, unsettling read for fans of atmospheric horror.

Bitter Is the Heart by Mina Hardy was a great horror story.
This was an intense read that kept me interested till the end.
I would recommend this tense and well-crafted work – I haven’t stayed up all night reading a book in some time, but I just couldn’t put this down.

I Will be reviewing this book as an audiobook instead of an ebook, thank you for the approvals in both formats of media!! I am about 30% into the audiobook and absolutely hooked so far. <3

This book is beyond creepy and while it was weird it was an entertaining wild ride. I’m still sitting here wondering exactly what the heck I just read, and I think this is one I will continue to have on my mind for a while. I started with the audiobook for this one but switched to kindle after about 25 percent, I thought the narrator was doing a good job, but I had the kindle and I’m not a patient person. Tamar moved back home to be closer to her sister and her her nieces and nephews but after her sister’s husband got an a job offer he couldn’t refuse and now Tamar is alone having to deal with her estranged mother. Tamar and her mother always had a difficult relationship and while she takes responsibility to care for her mother she doesn’t do it out of love. But strange things are happening that make Tamar question what really happened at her childhood home before she ran away at 18. This book is definitely pure horror and I really enjoyed the tie ins with Jewish mythology which isn’t something you see often.

What an incredibly creepy and disturbing read!!! I loved it!! I thought the Judaism aspect of this book was very interesting and unique!! I was hooked from the get-go with this one!! 🙌

Highly recommend to lovers of creepy vibes and the paranormal/supernatural! 👏

TW: abuse, addiction, suicide

Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and Mina Hardy for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for my honest review! ❤️