✨ALC Review✨

I do love a good horror story and this satisfied that craving.

Calla is the eldest of three and at 25, she’s the guardian to her youngest brother, Jamie. The middle brother, Dre, had promised to help when it comes to parenting Jamie, but he’s tired. Parenting Jamie is a nonstop, annoying gig. Jamie doesn’t make it easy on any of them not even himself.

Calla has had essentially the same nightmare for years. Her brothers are in trouble and she can’t save them. They give her night terrors and the brothers scoff at her concern. They should’ve listened to her.

When Jamie attends a protest against police brutality, things go wildly awry when a little girl kills a policeman to save him. He and Dre talk about the weird stuff that’s happening to them and convince Calla to go on the run with them.

There is so much to unpack here that it would take me the length of the book to go into it, but here we have an eldest Black sister who took on the role of mother way too young. We have three children who were abandoned and/or neglected and/or abused by their parents. We have the striking and horrific reality of police brutality. We have three siblings who need and love each other and have to figure out how to show it all while some pretty insane and terrifying sh!t is happening all around them and to them.

There’s a refrain through the book about how hard it is to keep Black boys alive and it crushes your heart to know this is the truth.

Highly recommended if you can handle the horror elements of which there are many many many.

Final note: these narrators are incredible. We should all be seeking out their work. Thank you @iamericlockley @kristolynlloyd and @childish_gamzeno - they brought the humor, irritation, resentment, trauma bonds and love of family to life spectacularly.

#booksbooksbooks #horrorbooks #horrorfiction #Blackfiction #bipocbooks #booksrecs #bookreview #bookstagram #listentoyoursister #neenaviel

Twenty-five year old Calla Williams is struggling since becoming guardian to her brother, Jamie. Calla is overwhelmed and tired of being the one who makes sacrifices to keep the family together. Jamie, full of good-natured sixteen-year-old recklessness, is usually off fighting for what matters to him or getting into mischief, often at the same time. Dre, their brother, promised he would help raise Jamie–but now the ink is dry on the paperwork and in classic middle-child fashion, he’s off doing his own thing. And through it all, The Nightmare never stops haunting Calla: recurring images of her brothers dying that she is powerless to stop.

When Jamie’s actions at a protest spiral out of control, the siblings must go on the run. Taking refuge in a remote cabin that looks like it belongs on a slasher movie poster rather than an AirBNB, the siblings now face a new threat where their lives–and reality–hang in the balance. Their sister always warned them about her nightmares. They really should have listened.

As an older sister (oftentimes called bossy) I definitely related to Calla. This horror story is told from all the siblings POV. At times I thought I wouldnt be able to get into the story but my oh my, I am so glad I stuck with it. Horror is not usually my preferred genre but sometimes a snippet of a new horror book catches my attention and this happens to be THAT book this time. Calla is overwhelmed and her siblings don't appreciate the fact that she sacrificed for them. Especially at an age where she should be footloose and fancy free. But, like a lot of us big sisters, we have our breaking . This book exposes their upbringing in a dysfunctional home. Without giving away too much, I will say that each sibling’s journey will make you laugh and cringe. Underneath that there is the love they feel for each other. Calla's nightmare world, oh my goodness. That is all I will say. DOn't read too many reviews on this book as it is best to go in with very little knowledge of what's going on. I am shocked that this is a debut. It is well written and scared the crap out of me. 4.5 stars

It's hard to believe this is a debut novel. Calla, Jamie, and Dre are so fully realized, I wanted to give them all hugs, or drop-kick them into the sun, at different times in the book. The writer must have a younger brother, because her depiction of a teenage boy (Jamie) is painfully real.

The core of this book is family. Three siblings try to stay afloat while dealing with past trauma and hidden tragedy. Or not dealing with it.

Calla, the oldest sibling, is trying to take care of her youngest brother, Jamie, who is doing his best to get himself in trouble. Dre is too busy with his own life to give Calla much needed support. It all comes to a head when Jamie is involved in a protest that turned violent.

The cover of the book shows a creepy cabin in the woods, but the cabin is just the melting point for what happens to the family. Lies and secrets are revealed in the most surreal way possible. Let me be plain: the second half of this book is a roller-coaster ride. Weird things happen throughout the book, but end is wild! The reveals are surprising, and made me love Calla to bits.

The audiobook has three narrators and all of them did an excellent job.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. This book is a paranormal rollercoaster through family trauma. It deals with some tough subjects, abuse, neglect, assault, just to name a few, but also has some laugh out loud moments. It is not your typical horror, but very much worth the read.

The protagonist, Calla, is 25, Black, and a single mom to her teenage baby brother, Jamie. Jamie is a good kid but very politically active, and their middle brother, Dre, promised to back Calla up with Jamie. Dre isn't keeping his word, and Calla is overwhelmed when Jamie gets into trouble at a protest. Because of the fallout from the protest, all 3 Williams siblings go on the run together into hiding. It's in hiding at an AirBnB that the horror begins to take shape.

Calla has been plagued by a dark recurring nightmare that has roots in what's happening at the AirBnB hideout. This aspect of the story was both frightening and confusing. There were a few awkward pacing issues, and some of the actions were confusing. None the less I quite enjoyed this. I would definitely read another novel by this author.

This audiobook had a dedicated narrator for each sibling. The story was told in rotating pov chapters, which is my favorite format for this style of story. The narrators for the characters are: Eric Lockley, Kristolyn Lloyd, and Zeno Robinson. The narrators really understood their respective characters, and this had the feeling slightly of a radio play. The narration is very well done.

Thank you to Neena Viel, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

This one was quite original and for a debut I think it was pretty good. The story itself was incredibly interesting and I liked all of our main characters for different reasons, they felt so real. The beginning was a bit slow for me and I found myself so lost at times. Once I wrapped my brain around everything, it started to make sense, but I definitely spent a good bit of time confused in like the last 2/3 of the book. 😅 That’s on me though. While I couldn’t relate to much of the siblings’ issues, I could definitely feel sympathy for them. I did enjoy the ending and will read more from Neena Viel. It’s dark, and depressing and while it’s so unnatural, it’s also real in the sense that it touches on some of the racial injustices Black people face in our society today.

I listened to this on audio and ended up switching over to the ebook because one of the narrators just didn’t match the character in my head and that bothered me - I’m kind of OCD so don’t let that deter you. Thanks to St.Martins Press for my eARC and advanced audiobook!

If you are interested in some weird ass horror. Look no further. This wild ride is a blend of horror and family drama with a big fever dream vibe.

Calla took custody of her little brother, Jamie, when their father died and their mom peaced out. Ever since Calla has taken responsibility for her brothers she gets dreams where she will know if they are in danger. As Jamie has gotten older and started getting into activism the dreams are more frequent and more terrifying. When Jamie’s choices at a protest cause them to go on the run, they face a new threat that will have them fighting for their lives and their reality. Perhaps they ought to have heeded Callas warnings.

This was wild. I have scary dreams pretty regularly but thankfully nothing like Calla’s.
Unsettling
Nail biter
Fast paced.
Also this is a debut novel and I am excited to see what this author puts out in the future.

This came out today
thanks to netgalley and st martins press for an eARC

I enjoyed this book. I liked the twists and turns and really enjoyed the characters. I felt empathy for Calla, frustration with Dre and annoyance with Jamie. But when you hear their backstory, you realize all they have been through and why they have felt with things like they have. I did find myself wanting to know where Jamie ends up in a few years and if he gets his life together.

What a great debut novel this is! Viel has created a unique and terrifying family drama like no other. Siblings Calla, Dre and Jamie are mourning the loss of their father and struggling just to get by, basically raising themselves as their mother is unable to care for them. Calla is the oldest and takes on more than her fair share, which inflicts her with awful anxiety including bizarre night terrors, that start off as creepy and confusing but soon become dark unexplainable premonitions. The paranormal-fever-dream-horror that this family endures is nothing short of cray-cray!!

The three narrator’s are what made this such a fun experience for me. Not only is the humour between the siblings laugh-out-loud funny, the eerie bits are made 10x as good because of the effort of the narrators.

I will say that it had a YA feel to it, even though it’s clearly an adult novel. I’m already looking forward to seeing more from Neena Viel.

This book was not for me unfortunately. I can see the potential, so I still recommend people give it a shot. I felt very confused as to what was real and what was a dream. That sounds like it can be a good thing but not in this case. I found it very difficult to follow and it just left me confused, like I was missing pieces of the story. The audiobook itself was done very well. The narrators did a great job!

I DNF'd this one around 20%. That might be premature, but I wanted to be able to offer some positives and I felt the longer that I listened, the less I would have. I won't be posting this review anywhere else as I do not want to deter anyone from reading this, as I think there is an audience for it - it's just not me.

While I understand the comparison to Jordan Peele...this is a very poor comparison. Jordan's commentary is either so subtle that you feel as though you imagined it OR so in your face that it almost appears as satire. The commentary in this one basically just left me feeling like I was being yelled at. I've had this criticism with other books that have come out in a post-BLM world and while I understand the anger and the need for books that call to this cause...it needs to be handled more delicately than this. People read to escape, and I personally love when I can escape but also find bits of commentary that make me feel 'OHHHH' and connect it to the real world, but this was just overkill and not executed well.

I also found the FMC's comments about her brothers' appearances odd and uncomfortable...and (probably) irrelevant to the rest of the story. Some of the fixations with things struck me as odd too (the bra?).

I wish I could comment on the actual horror/social horror aspect of it, but I wasn't even able to get that far.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the multiple narrators. I did not like the book’s format with different timelines and realities. I found myself getting lost and this wasn’t the book for me.

A mix between thriller and horror - Neena Veil does a great job of developing her characters but for some reason I just couldn't get into it. No particular reason other than personal taste - I would still recommend to others who enjoy this genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the opportunity to read this aurdio ARC. (Publication date: February 4, 2025)

This book wasn't my favorite if I'm being honest. The multiple points of view were hard to follow and it felt like it skipped back and forth a lot.

LISTEN TO YOUR SISTER is a book that feels like it should be over when you're only halfway through. The upsides were the characters. As a main character, Calla is incredibly relatable. If you've ever been the oldest sibling ... you know. I loved how much she cared for and fought for her brothers.

Jordan Peele, Stranger Things , The Other Black Girl, laugh out loud - with a summary like that, how can you not want to read this book? I was skeptical but most of the low/negative reviews weren’t deal breakers and wasn’t things that bother me.

I love how the book used horror to explain trauma - parentification, neglect, ect. That’s where the Jordan Peele reference comes from. The story does kind of go off the rails in the later half that kind of got confusing at time. But it helps bring in the sci-fi/horror elements.

This was an unexpected but interesting read! This debut novel is character driven, and hits on some very heavy topics including childhood trauma, abandonment, racism, protests, murder, guns, drugs and alcohol with a side of supernatural activity.

Calla, the FMC, is a 25 year old guardian of her rebellious 16 year old brother and is frustrated with the lack of help from her adult brother. She does everything she can to keep her brothers safe and out of trouble, but they don’t make it easy for her. Calla has very vivid, terrifying, recurring nightmares watching her brothers die…like a premonition. Calla fears that her nightmares are coming to life and decides to take her brothers and hide out in an isolated creepy rundown cabin to keep them all safe. From there, buckle up because the plot takes a crazy turn and becomes a wild ride. I found the unexpected humor to be a great addition to this horrific family drama. I thought this was going to be more ‘scary cabin in the woods’ type of story but it definitely wasn’t that. I am still not 100% sure what I read, but not necessarily bad, just crazy! However, the pacing and execution of the story were a little off…I found myself rereading thinking I had missed something but I hadn't, which was a little confusing. I also didn’t think that the synopsis matched the story but it turned out to be quite an eye opening experience. You may think you can run from the monsters of the world, but sometimes those monsters may live inside of you and those are the most terrifying.

The audiobook narration was incredible! The narrators were energetic, with great inflection and dialect. They gave each character their own voice voice really helped me envision each character and the setting, bringing the story to life…at times, maybe too much to life. I honestly think I would have DNFed this book if it hadn’t been for the audiobook.

I wanted to love this book, and I think I could have. I loved the setting and plot and the theme of sibling love abandonment, racism, trauma and I think this is a very important book to read. I loved how odd it was, it takes place in a cabin in the woods but the whole story feels like you're trapped in a nightmare with Calla and her brothers. It's dreamy, but a very gory, bloody dream, where you wanna wake up but you can't.

I would have devoured it if I was reading it rather than listening to it, even though the the cast was excellent, there was just something stopping me from paying attention and there were scenes I where I found myself thinking about other things and missing a huge chunks of the story. I wish I had been able to read it instead because I could tell I would've really liked the authors writing style.

Thank you to NetGally for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was not the book for me. Very hard to follow, jumping back and forth between dream and reality, and timelines and characters. Tried really hard to get into it, and I could not. :(

A questionable, somewhat disjointed start turned into a redemptive romp through childhood trauma and a discovery of self.

This book opens with a lighthearted and humorous tone. Our main protagonist is forced to deal school administrators due to her 15 year old brother’s shenanigans… and she is NOT happy. Her situation seems mostly funny, but with a slight undercurrent of tragedy. It doesn’t take long for the story to take a turn towards the bizarre. Once our protagonist’s two younger brothers enter the story, things go from bizarre to downright gruesome, but with no understanding as to why. The reader is led down this hideous yet murky path for almost half of the book. This is body horror, extreme fear, dismemberment and death, but with no clear cause or purpose.

Keep reading and second half of the book offers answers and expands to explore the effects of childhood trauma, the dangers of saving everyone at the expense one’s own wellbeing, the futility of living with and nursing resentment. It highlights the freedom that can come from facing your past and reconnecting with your truest self. Please do not be mistaken, the second half of this book offers just as must mayhem and gore as the first half.

If you are a fan of shows like Prime’s THEM, or movies like Jordan Peele’s US; I encourage you to give this book a chance.