Top 5 Wednesday – Rewind

May is a rewind month on T5W. By this we mean, going back to topics you didn’t do or from before you joined the group.  I joined the group last summer, so I decided to go back in the Archive to 2016 and just picked a few topics that sounded good to me.  For my first topic I’m going with Rainy Day Reads from April 6, 2018. There is nothing I love better than curling up in my favorite chair with a good book on a rainy day.  And because I live in the Pacific Northwest there is a rainy day at least once a week!  Really though, it doesn’t rain here that much. To make this even more of a rewind topic all of my picks are from 2016 as well.

I had a few criteria for my picks.

• A standalone, so a book that would not leave me hanging for the next one
• A good rainy day atmosphere, either eery or spooky/supernatural or just downright disturbing
• Books I gave 4/5 stars on Goodreads

With this in mind I choose these 5 books as my top 5 rainy day reads of 2016.

My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier

 

This was probably one of the more disturbing reads from that year.  I still can picture creepy sister Rosa doing her creepy little plots.  Che, her brother was a very likable character, and he really did try to protect Rosa.  The story is told from his perspective, and you can see how difficult it is for him to protect her.

 

Just Kill Me by Adam Selzer

 

This one is a dark comedy, but also somewhat disturbing.  Megan works for one of those tour companies that does ghost/murder tours of Chicago.  In their twisted way they start creating ghosts by killing people in the haunted spots.  There are some pretty insane ideas in this book, and some much needed humor.  Megan was a great character, full of angst but with a good hear. 

 

As I Descended by Robin Tally

This was a Macbeth retelling, set in a boarding school in New England (I think?)  It rained a lot in this story and much of it took place at night in this creepy mansion/dorm.  It was very well done, and even included witches and other supernatural happenings as well as murders and suicides.  Very well done. And take a closer look at that cover.  Her profile has creepy trees superimposed over it.  Really sets the mood.

 

 

Down with the Shine by Kate Karyus Quinn

 

This is another darkish comedy.  It starts off pretty light hearted, but once the wishes start to come true, it gets disturbing pretty quickly.  The ending wasn’t quite as good as it could have been, but it was still a good story with a likable main character who quickly got in way over her head. 

 

 

The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

This was my favorite psychological thriller from that year.  The ending is especially quite disturbing, I can still remember how I felt by the end of this one.  I can’t say that about many of the books I read in 2016.  Tessa wasn’t the most likable character ever, but she certainly was the most sympathetic.  She really struggled to understand everything that had happened the night her friend’s cousin disappeared.  Callie was also not very likable, but I understood her demons and her need to forget.  A very haunting tale. 

 

That is my T5W Rewind for this week.  Next week we travel back in time to March 2016 and Time Travel books.  Don’t forget to check out the Goodreads group so that you can see what others have decided to talk about in the Rewind posts.