We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough -> Starting May 20th, 2025

[Alaina]

After an accident that nearly kills her, Emily and her husband, Freddie, move from London to a beautiful Dartmoor country house called Larkin Lodge. The house is gorgeous, striking—and to Emily, something about it feels deeply wrong. Old boards creak at night; fires extinguish; and books fall from the shelves—all of it stemming from the terrible presence she feels in the third-floor room.

But these things happen only when Emily is alone, so are they happening at all? She is still medically fragile. Her post-sepsis condition can cause hallucinatory side effects, which means she cannot fully trust her senses. Freddie does not notice anything odd and is happy with their chance at a fresh start. She, however, starts to believe the house is haunted by someone who had been murdered in it even though she can find no evidence of a wrongful death. As bizarre events pile up and her marriage starts to crumble, Emily becomes obsessed with discovering the truth about Larkin Lodge. But just as the house has secrets so do Emily and her husband.

[Trisha]

so I pre-ordered this one - and my small little indie book store got me the sprayed edges copy!!! OMG It's so so so pretty!

[megs_bookrack ((struggling to catch up))]

Trisha wrote: "so I pre-ordered this one - and my small little indie book store got me the sprayed edges copy!!! OMG It's so so so pretty!"

Oh my gosh, I love that!!!! I'm sure it is gorgeous! I have the audio which I am going to start on my way to the gym after work. So excited to dive into it!

[Trisha]

ugh, I bet the audio is going to be so good!! I'm starting after I get someone on a book club pick! 😊😊

[megs_bookrack ((struggling to catch up))]

Trisha wrote: "ugh, I bet the audio is going to be so good!! I'm starting after I get someone on a book club pick! 😊😊"

Dual narration, so that is a plus!!

[megs_bookrack ((struggling to catch up))]

To Ch 21: Sooooo, not a (view spoiler)[happy couple then? I like the atmosphere so far. It's feeling quite gothic so far with the manor house set near the Moors, the crows, the mysterious history of the house. Loved the Ouija session with friends. I always love a little amateur dabbling with the occult. Can't believe Freddie threw her board in the fire! If my partner ever deigned to do that, he'd find himself in the fire shortly thereafter 😝 (hide spoiler)]

[megs_bookrack ((struggling to catch up))]

To Ch 30: 😳
(view spoiler)[That gave me full body chills! I knew there had to be something about those books, but my God. My bags would be soooo packed! (hide spoiler)]

[megs_bookrack ((struggling to catch up))]

To Ch 47: What is (view spoiler)[he hiding? Is it as simple as an affair, or possibly something more sinister!? (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

EEE!! Starting now! So excited!!

[megs_bookrack ((struggling to catch up))]

To Ch 59: So, is the house (view spoiler)[starting to spoil their minds like in The Amityville Horror , or have they always been this terrible? I've never like Frankie, but Emily blackmailing a friend? They need to get out of this house before one of them kills the other... (hide spoiler)]

[megs_bookrack ((struggling to catch up))]

Trisha wrote: "EEE!! Starting now! So excited!!"

Yayeeeeee! Excited to see your thoughts 👀💕

[megs_bookrack ((struggling to catch up))]

To Ch 68: omg, (view spoiler)[Sally is trapped there! He killed her so he could be a philanderer and she would be fine with it! That SOB 😡 (hide spoiler)]

[megs_bookrack ((struggling to catch up))]

To Ch 77: Dang. Well, this could be the (view spoiler)[end for ole' Joe. Sally's back and she's not gonna be meek and mild anymore. Perhaps Emily should have killed her best friend's husband when she caught him having sex with another woman in the house... (hide spoiler)]

[megs_bookrack ((struggling to catch up))]

To Ch 80: Uh-oh 😳 Freddie, I think I keep calling him Frankie... Freddie (view spoiler)[is on the rampage! Look out, Emily!!! (hide spoiler)]

[megs_bookrack ((struggling to catch up))]

To Ch 82: OMG 😲 (view spoiler)[noooooo, poor Emily and the baby! I know she made mistakes but she was trying to make things right. Now she'll just be a shell of herself and Freddie will still get to be an asshole. Unless maybe she can kill him too. Then maybe they could live happily ever after as the best versions of themselves! 😝😂 (hide spoiler)]

[megs_bookrack ((struggling to catch up))]

Done! Ha! That was so good. I loved it. Wickedly entertaining. I know it won't be for everyone, say people who want to take it too seriously, but for me, it was so much fun. Very trope heavy, but all things I tend to enjoy, so that worked in my favor. The audiobook, with the dual narration, was fantastic. Loved the end!

[Trisha]

ooh, sorry. I ended up not feeling very good yesterday and didn't get much reading done! picking it back up now! SO excited to get through it!

[Trisha]

20 chapters

oooh the secrets (view spoiler)[

so she cheated with her ex boss
and he's cheating - is he cheating with her friend? best friend? it all seems so sketchy and gross.

Freddie seems to mildly hate her. did he bank on her dying and now he's made he's stuck with her? they seem to want different things and he seems to be equal parts ready to take care of her and resent her for her presence. Is the house feeding on that?

and the house! I agree, the vibe in the story is so good! It feels very haunted or at least unsettling - and the crow chapters are confusing but intriguing. What could they mean?? hmmmm. . . (hide spoiler)]

really liking it so far! and I love the short chapters!

[Trisha]

through part 1 : Me
29 chapters

(view spoiler)[ okay, so the previous owner found something?
(finditfinditfindit) but she didn't use it.
I wonder what it could be.

and now the house is warning her that she'll die there. How creepy

the town is definitely adding to the creepy vibe! lol

and yeah, burning the Ouija board was super crappy. don't burn/destroy things that aren't yours. Ugh, he really does seem to hate her.

ha! but I don't think I'd leave yet. So far it's like she can explain away almost everything so I think I'd probably ignore these signs too (lol to probably both of our detriments! eek!) (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

through Part 2 : You
48 chapters

(view spoiler)[ awe, once he mentioned equity and pushing a bill on to her - I wondered if he'd gambled it all away
so sad, that would break my heart. but his rage and feeling like she's being to hard on him - wow, the house is really messing with them interesting that it's making them feel so many weird feelings. Was it also affecting the birds, the pull to anger is so strong?

But we didn't learn anything new about the house - just about them. I'm curious to see when we'll learn more about the house and what could possibly be going on (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

through Ch 67

OMG (view spoiler)[ wow, Joe did. He trapped the part of her that would be okay with him sleeping with all those women. WOW. I wonder if that's also why she gets headaches. Yikes.

but . . .I mean, is she going to kill Freddie and leave a part of him in this house? She is, right, while he's in the midst of trying to get her to seem off-kilter so he can - what? - kill her for the life insurance?

OMG I can't even imagine being with someone who thought about my death in terms of how much money he'd get from it!! But it's like the house brings out the worst parts of people and then gets them to cut that out from the person and leave it in the house. It's like a broken record, over and over (hide spoiler)]

ha! (view spoiler)[ I love that this is the house. I thought it was haunted but it's so much more twisted than that! (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

and I'm done too!

ha! I loved this one too!

(view spoiler)[ the house, keeping the secrets - I agree with stuck-Emily - that the house really did attract and try to rope in couples with secrets and issues.

I love that Emily killed him too. Interesting that she chose to leave part of her personality behind but they definitely weren't going to make it if either of them had that anger carry over. They weren't really good for each other in the current state they were - almost like they had hurt each other too much to stay together (hide spoiler)]

ha! this one was so fun!

[megs_bookrack ((struggling to catch up))]

Trisha wrote: "and I'm done too!

ha! I loved this one tool..."

Right!? I loved all your comments, it was so clever. At the end, (view spoiler)[ the scene featuring the parts of them trapped in the house and they're in that 3rd floor room watching the new people moving in and about, hahahha, that reminded me of the couple in Beetlejuice -- LOL -- do you know what I'm talking about? Also, wasn't the inclusion of the crows so interesting?

All I could think was it was just showing how, like birds are acting solely on animal instincts and modes of behavior and the house was feeding on them, or having and affect on them as well, so it was like sort of clear that it was the house actually causing some of the behaviors, the most angry/violent behaviors, and not a character flaw of the human individuals involved, if that makes sense. I don't know if that's true, but it was just sort of how I came to look at it. Also, crows bond for life right, so it was like two marriages of a sort equally destroyed by the evils of the house.

I thought it was so clever. Loved all the messy business with the friends and the neighbors as well. Some of the scenes gave me chills, e.g. when she figured out what the book titles were telling her and when she figured out that the writing in the steam on the mirror was supposed to be Freeman...overall, such a fun read! (hide spoiler)]