Unfortunately, this was not for me. The first few chapters really drew me in but then I feel like it took a different route that left me disappointed. The horror aspects were a little cheesy which put another damper on the story for me.

This book was a marathon of scary things! If that’s your thing, you’ll love it I would’ve preferred some slower building spooky moments, but that’s just my preference! Solid writing and good character development.

Listen to Your Sister by Neena Viel is a nightmare about nightmares. I did not like this book, and sometimes I hide that fact to the end. But Listen to Your Sister never gelled with me. The back half of the book was way better than the first half. The premise of the book was very solid and a great idea. The premise is an older sister, 24, who is raising one of her younger brothers, 16, and has helped and given up a lot for the other brother who is 23. So she has sacrificed a lot. Every time she sacrifices a demon is born that rests in her head, but something happens in this book that releases them all. It has a great premise it was one of the reasons I picked the book. I ended up hating most of the characters, Jamie and Dre feel like caricatures rather than characters. At the midway point is when they start to get developed but it is way too long. I did like Calla the sister character and found her the only redeeming quality of the book. I had a hard time picturing the words and actions of the characters. Most of the book is a nightmare come to life. Dream logic is a very hard thing to get right and make sense. This book has no rules whatsoever. I almost feel like the author has ADHD because there were so many tangents. There's a scene at the end where a character is in water and drowning and I kept forgetting he was in water because there are flashbacks in the middle of a dream that is a real nightmare. The book is all about the trauma of an uninterrupted life and would Calla's life be better without her brothers. The themes of trauma are throughout but the writing lets down the themes. Listen to Your Sister was an ambitious debut for author Neena Viel. I wanted to like this book but did not connect. I received Listen to Your Sister from Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin. Listen to Your Sister was published on February 4, 2025.

Plot Summary: Jamie is in trouble at High School for smoking weed on the campus. Calla his guardian and sister has to attend a meeting to discuss his future. Jamie was found with a large bag of weed, the school was worried about him dealing. Jamie blames the school for being racist. Calla has to keep explaining that she is not the mother but the sister. Dre Calla's other brother comes into the meeting covered in flour from work, he cops on the weed being his to have the weed not go into custody. Jamie gets suspended which messes Calla's schedule up with work. Jamie doesn't care that he's ruining Calla's life. She asks him to return home a stay there and also asks Dre if he can help out which he brushes off. Jamie instead goes to a rally against the police. He is in charge of the van and giving weapons to people. Chaos happens at the rally where the van that had explosives blows up next to the police station. Jamie was out of the van investigating something strange. An officer chases him down and they start fighting the police officer has his gun on him. Before Jamie can act the officer is shot by a little girl. Jamie is freaked out and thinks no one will believe a little girl did this. Dre has a break in his place and is close to dying when a mysterious person enters the room and helps him. Dre can't remember what happened but is found in blood with a bloody baseball bat in his hands. Calla who was worried about Jamie being out tries to sleep and dreams of both instances like she was there. The brothers finally go to their sister and she gets an Airbnb cabin deep in the woods to lay low. But at the cabin, they learn they are not as safe as they thought as we learn more about Calla's dreams.

What I Liked: Calla was a great character. I liked all the layers that she had. I enjoyed her flashback scenes and how much she sacrificed for her brothers. I liked what the story was trying to say about trauma manifesting. The ending was focused and fixed some of the writing at the end. The book doesn't hold back, and the characters do go through hell with no one being safe. The premise of the story is great.

What I Disliked: The tangents are distracting. There are too many Sponge Bob references at odd times. This book loves its Sponge Bob and Anime references. When they worked it was lovely when something was randomly compared to Sponge Bob it did not work. Not enough explaining of what is going on there are instances where weird things happen that I would have to read a couple of times and sometimes still not know what was going on, and then a character would later explain what was going on and they would explain it where it made sense. The setting of a cabin in the woods did not make sense, since all the dreams take place in Florida. The mom of Calla, Dre, and Jamie is estranged but they could have gone back there, and it would have made the book better. Jamie was not written well, it takes so long for his personality to show that he felt like a cliche. I knew the author was black, but Jamie felt like a white person trying to write a black character, I hate to say. Jamie does get a personality eventually but way too late.

Recommendation: I did not enjoy this book at all. I still feel like the premise is very clever. I wanted this book to be good. Most debut authors over explain but this book did not explain enough and I was left lost on most of it. The writing style reminded me of Tamsyn Muir who will throw out random references but make them work. I will not recommend my followers to read this book. Where I did not like this book there are reviewers that I follow who do. I will say this book had the unfortunate honor of being the book that I read after James by Percival Everett. Which is one of the best books I have ever read.

Rating: Listen to Your Sister by Neena Viel I rated 1.9 out of 5.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book.

First, I want to say that this book was well written. But, this book wasn’t for me. It started off slow and then became somewhat confusing keeping up with all the different versions on the main character. I did finish but was actually excited that it was over. I won’t say it was a bad book. It just wasn’t meant for me. I would try another book by this author.

Neena Viel's debut novel, "Listen To Your Sister," is a masterful blend of familial drama and supernatural horror that grabs readers from the first page.

The protagonist of the story, Calla Williams, is a determined young woman juggling personal struggles while fiercely protecting her two younger brothers—Dre, the unreliable dreamer, and Jamie, the reckless troublemaker. Their bond is tested as eerie and malevolent forces begin to haunt them, forcing the trio into a desperate flight for survival. Viel's portrayal of sibling dynamics adds depth and relatability, grounding the terrifying events in a deeply emotional core.

The novel’s pacing is relentless, pulling readers through a sequence of haunting, bloodcurdling encounters that blur the line between reality and the supernatural. Viel’s staccato prose and evocative atmosphere create an almost cinematic sense of dread, making every twist and revelation both gripping and unsettling. While the exact nature of the malevolent forces remains elusive, this ambiguity heightens the tension and leaves readers questioning what’s real.

"Listen To Your Sister" is set apart by its ability to balance visceral scares with profound themes of family, identity, and sacrifice. Viel weaves a tale that is as emotionally impactful as it is terrifying, culminating in a haunting exploration of familial love and the lengths we go to protect our own. This novel is a must-read for fans of psychological horror and suspenseful storytelling.

The narration of this was stellar. I loved listening to it. Listen to your sister is pretty heavy when it comes to language and violence. It's also more than what you read at the surface. It's actually very well written, social horror. There are a lot of deeper issues at work here.


If you're cool with weird fiction and enjoy books that are more than the obvious words on the page, then I definitely will recommend it!

I received a copy in exchange for an honest rebiew.

This book was a pleasant surprise.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, as it was a quick read and a good time.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"They'd lied to her. Betrayed her. Taken her cash and life and career, her heart shriveling with each blow, each Nightmare. Being their sister had made her small. Small enough to be someone they could nudge out the door, shove in a closet."


Listen to Your Sister was a wild ride! It started off slow for me, and then bam! Things got chaotic, and I couldn't move until I reached the very last page. In this, you will meet Calla. She is 25 years old and is guardian to her little brother Jamie. She's supposed to share the care with her other younger brother Dre, but that doesn't seem to ever happen. Long story short, the girl is stressed, and her brothers can be little shits.

We get to see things from each of their points of view and within four parts of this book. Sure, the first part I was mostly annoyed with them. Heck, Jamie annoyed me the most if I'm being honest here. He eventually redeemed himself, but I just wanted to slap them all equally.

Besides the family drama, things get creepy fast. In a way, we finally get to see the truth of what happened in their past, but it takes forever for them to truly face it. It also helped them get closer to one another and become a better family in the end. Sure, they need to take care of each other, but they also need to put themself first every now and then.

In the end, this was so freaking good, and I enjoyed taking my time with it.

Listen to Your Sister incorporated many things: race, politics, family bonds, and trust. I especially enjoyed the relationship between Calla and her brothers Jamie and Dre. Those two could be frustrating at times, especially with the way they treated Calla. 4 stars

I judged this book too soon. It was a bit of a slow start, but once they got to the cabin, I was HOOKED. Some humor, satire, definitely Peele and Cabin in the Woods vibes, while being a scary read! If you like movies like Get Out or Cabin in the Woods, pick this one up!

Listen to Your Sister follows a close trio of siblings led by the eldest, Calla, When her youngest brother, Jamie, was dangerously close to entering foster care, their brother, Dre, convinced her to take custody of the teenager, promising his support along the way. As the baby of the family, Jamie started getting into trouble that risked both his future and Calla's livelihood while Dre refused to step up and help his siblings. As if all this wasn't bad enough, there were the nightmares.

As Calla struggled to hold their family together while finding a way to pay bills and keep her job, her stress manifested in violent nightmares where Jamie was brutally murdered just out of her grasp. The dreams are so textured that Calla starts to almost feel like they are visions, but both Dre and Jamie are sure she's being overdramatic. When Jamie's hijinks balloon into very real danger, he and Dre are forced to fight their way through Calla's nightmares--with or without her help.

Like its protagonist, Listen to Your Sister stretches to be a lot of things. The siblings have a relationship that's electric from the start, and Viel makes them easy to care for as they unfold throughout the novel. There are plenty of goofy moments that endear the trio to the reader, and the horror elements are fresh and deployed with precision. The balance of the comedy and the horror unfortunately didn't work quite as well as I'd hoped. Instead of adding some levity to something truly grim, the tone ended up leaning more young adult than intended. Regardless, Listen to Your Sister successfully carved out a new premise with enough promise to make Viel one to watch.

I really struggled with this one. I love horror, but mayhe it just had too much family drama for me to enjoy it? It started getting confusing too when I wasn’t sure what was real or not. But man did I want to bang the two boys’ heads together and tell them to listen to their sister 😂

Family bonds can be messy. Heartbreaking. Exhausting. But stepping up for one another is also necessary. Calla and her brothers have a tumultuous life. Navigating society in a time that many things are a fight, the group finds themselves on the run and in a whole new nightmare. Full of WTF moments and emotional rollercoasters, I enjoyed the thrill ride!

The audiobook narrated by Eric Lockley, Kristolyn Lloyd, and Zeno Robinson is an excellent way to consume this story. The voices are all talented in their own bringing life to all the characters. They are also easily understood at faster speeds.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, St Martin’s Press, and author Neena Viel for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was hoping to love this, but the beginning felt like a slog. I found myself not wanting to read because I just wasn’t into it. I heard the second half was better, however it didn’t feel like the payoff would be worth it to keep going with it. Ended up sadly deciding to DNF @ 20%.

I loved the characters in this book. The dynamic between the siblings was the heart of this story. Their dialogue was written so naturally, and the messiness of these sibling relationships was so real, even in the setting of an unbelievable nightmare. The pacing was mostly quick enough to keep me reading, and there were definitely some well-written creepy moments. This author is truly gifted at blending the humor and heart with horror.

3.5 stars. The publisher nailed it by calling Listen to Your Sister a book that will appeal to fans of Jordan Peele’s films. The book explores issues of race and family through a speculative/social horror lens in an unforgettable reading experience full of humor and heart.

Calla Williams is in her mid-twenties when she becomes her 16-year-old brother Jamie’s guardian, and she’s struggling. She’s not getting much help from her other brother, middle child Dre, and she’s tired of being the responsible one who has to hold everything together. She is overwhelmed and anxious, which manifests in recurring dreams about her brothers dying in horrific ways. When Jamie attends a protest that gets out of hand, the siblings must go on the run, fleeing to a remote cabin Calla found on AirBNB. Deep in the woods, the siblings will be forced to confront their conflicts, and must fight to save their family against unexpected forces.

Listen to Your Sister had me sitting up and paying attention in the first chapter, when Calla has a tense confrontation with administrators at Jamie’s school. It’s immediately engaging, with spot-on dialogue and sly humor, introducing us to the characters in a way that made me want to learn more about them. Neena Viel’s character work is outstanding; the Williams siblings are conveyed with rawness and authenticity, and they’re relatable and sympathetic. The first several chapters are a family drama focused on being Black in the present-day U.S., written from the alternating points-of-view of all three siblings, and they’re intimate, powerful, and thoughtful. I felt like I really got to know all three siblings deeply before Viel placed them in mortal peril, which made me all the more invested in their fates.

When the siblings head to the woods, the horror aspects of the plot start to ramp up, and this was where I felt myself coming disengaged. The book becomes a fever dream of violence and terror, unfolding in surreal and complicated ways as the Williams siblings fight against the forces threatening their family. Viel’s writing is descriptive and lush, with a tone that strikes a perfect balance between somberness and levity throughout the narrative, and in the moments I wasn’t confused, I was reveling in the creativity and execution of her ideas – a supernatural manifestation of sisterly love and the bonds of family. I listened to the book on audio, and while I did love all three of the narrators, I wonder if I would have “gotten it” more if I’d read the physical words on the page.

Or maybe I just wasn’t supposed to “get it,” and that’s fine too. Listen to Your Sister is an impressive debut either way, and Neena Viel is an author to watch. Thank you to Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press for the complimentary reading opportunity.

Listen to Your Sister by Neena Viel is an engaging debut novel that skillfully blends elements of horror, dark comedy, and family drama, and it's saying something that I could stick this one out because I am usually unable to complete books with elements of horror, but I put aside my fear factor because this one was so well balanced.

I appreciated the multiple perspectives offered and thought the sibling dynamics between Calia, Dre, and Jamie were particularly strong.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

This seemed to be a solid debut, I think I was just not really the right audience. I didn’t really feel a connection to the characters and sometimes the story felt a bit forced.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

3.5

If Jordan Peele took on the Evil Dead franchise!
This was really good, haunting horror, with a lot of dark humor. I really enjoyed my time with this book!
I will say there was a pacing issue starting after about the 70-75 percent mark and I was left a little confused about what exactly was happening and then it wrapped up by the end (which it was a well done ending!) Overall, I really enjoyed it and will definitely pick up another book by Neena Viel!

A gripping mix of speculative horror and heartfelt family drama. Calla Williams, is haunted by nightmares of her brothers’ deaths while struggling to raise her reckless brother. When a protest goes wrong, the siblings flee to a remote cabin, where they face a terrifying new reality tied to Calla’s dreams. The eerie atmosphere is balanced with dark humor, making the horror more engaging. While the pacing is generally strong, there are moments where the plot lags.