Creepy or No? Reviewing Incidents Around the House | #BuddyReads Book Chat - Shelf Addiction Podcast

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Book lovers, Welcome back to shelf Addiction, the podcast where
we dive deep into the pages of thriller and fantasy reads.
I'm your host, Tamara, and today we are covering our
October thriller Buddy Read, a true traditional horror book. You're ready,
but first a quick heads up. If you crave the
full visual experience and want to ditch the ads, head

(00:21):
on over to our Patreon. You'll unlock ad free video episodes,
exclusive after shows, and other bonus content. If you prefer
audio only, Sprinker listeners, you too now have access after
shows and exclusives are there as well, plus new to Spotify.
If you are a supporter, you can watch our videos

(00:42):
on Spotify. So that's a fun thing. So go ahead
and join us and you can have access to all
of this stuff. If you want even more fookish banter,
join our community over on the book Clubs app. It's
free and we'd be happy to have you. Don't forget
to subscribe and leave us a review wherever you're listening.
Speaking of community, I'm thrilled to welcome back my fabulous
thriller mystery co host and friend Classy from the Bookish

(01:05):
Virtual Assistant welcome back girl.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Fabulous. Hey I had to flip my hair over that.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, I canra How you doing cold? How are you?

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah? It's sixty five here, but these nights have been chilly.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
See. I messed around and cracked the windows because you know,
I'd like to sleep cool. But I left up it
was a little too cool. I woke up in the
morning and it's the minute I pushed the covers away,
I was like, it's freezy.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
It was like a baby though.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
I did, but it was like fifty nine degrees in
my room. It was very cold, but bundled under the covers.
Mm hmmm. Yeah, I'm like time, it's time the windows. Yeah,
I'm not turning the heat on, but I'm closing now.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
I the other day just to not because it was
like forty something in the house. It was forty outside
and it was probably maybe like sixty two sixty three,
and I was like, just not the chill off. And
then I turned it back up.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, then I went I got a layer, put on
a yeah, some layers.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yes, put on some layers, grab some hot tea, put
on the fuzzy socks. Make it one more month.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yes, real, I'm still trying to get over that electric bill.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Can we get like a month of reprieve before we
have another high bill?

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Please? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, fun times in the Midwest.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yay, you'll be eighty next week? Who knows?

Speaker 1 (02:42):
No, Actually, I think it's gonna reach seventy in a
couple of days. See yeah, so m hm yeah that
sounds about right.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Okay, great.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Well. As always with book chats, we talked full spoilers here,
so spoiler alert you've been warned. Today we are discussing
the book Incidents Around the House, written by Josh Mallerman.
The audiobook is narrated by Delany Nicole Gill. It was
published on June twenty fifth, twenty twenty four, by Delray
and Random House Audio. The hardcover is three hundred and

(03:13):
sixty seven pages, and the unabridged audio comes in at
eight hours and twenty three minutes. Classy, would you kindly
share the synopsis?

Speaker 2 (03:21):
I will. I'm reading it from good read to a
chilling horror novel about a haunting told from the perspective
of a young girl whose troubled family is targeted by
an entity she calls other Mommy. This story is from
New York Times bestselling author of bird Box, to eight
year old Bella, her family is her world. There's Mommy,

(03:43):
Daddo and Grandma Ruth. But there is also Other Mommy,
an ell malevolent entity who asks her every day, can
I go inside your heart? I had to do it
like that. I heard it so many sign so I'm sorry. Okay,
back to the synopsis. When horrifying incidents around the house

(04:04):
signal that other Mommy is growing tired of asking Bella
the same question over and over, Bella understands that unless
she says yes, soon her family must pay. Other Mommy
is getting restless, stronger, and bolder. Only the bonds of
family can keep Bella safe, but other incidents show cracks

(04:24):
in her family's marriage. The safety Bella relies on is
on the brink of unraveling, but Other Mommy needs an answer.
Incidents around the house is a chili holy unique tale
of true horror told by the child Bella, a story
about a family as haunted as their home. Hmm, you know, okay, yeah? Hm?

(04:50):
Well I say hum because I don't know if you
read the synopsis before we read this, guy, I didn't.
I didn't either, But now that I'm reading the synopsis,
the story is kind of making even more sense to me,
and I'm kind of glad I didn't read the synopsis maybe,
but it's yeah, some things kind of clicked for me.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
Okay, yes, great. Well, before we get into our initial thoughts,
I did want to say I watched the bird Box movie,
but I never read the book. So this is my
first time reading Josh Mellerman and high level. I was
impressed with it. I liked it more than I thought

(05:34):
I would. To be honest, I was getting the Conjuring
vibes off of this book in a serious way. You know,
all they needed was the conjuring couple to come in
and clear the house.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
See, I have never even read is Conjuring a movie
or book? Yes, a movie series? I've never seen it?
And see I'm not a big horror Okay. So I
tried watching bird Box and got really bored and stopped.
Oh I liked it? Oh okay, I did. I got bored.
Just yeah. Yeah, there's Burdbacks one where everybody was silent. No,

(06:12):
this was Bullock.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah yeah, yeah, that's it with Sandra Bullock and they.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Were quiet, like everybody had to be quiet.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
That I think. Okay, I feel like they had like
she had coverings over her eyes.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
That one, yeah, the one, okay, the quiet one was
with another woman and her husband, the guy who played
in the office, right, it's okay, Yeah, but yeah, I
got bored with both of those.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
I liked them both. See. I like a good creep factor,
and I think those provided that, even though they were
more like sci fi than like horror to me. I
guess it's a it's a subgenre of horror, but it
wasn't like the traditional ghostly, ooh scary horror. It was
kind of like, you know, horror of something extraterrestrial coming.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, like an entity, right, yeah, some kind of entity. Yeah. No, Yeah,
this story definitely creepy. I liked it more than I expected.
I mean, I came into it not expecting anything really
because I hadn't read anything about him. I was thoroughly
impressed by this narrator who really made the story even

(07:28):
more enjoyable. For me. It brought it to life. I
was a little confused with somethings, so I'm kind of
glad that I read it early so it can sit
with me, so I can kind of you know, like, now,
why because even with any story, you're going to get
your own interpretation, you know what I mean, Like the

(07:49):
author can say this is what he thought, but the
joy of reading is everybody has their own interpretation. But
I will say after sitting with it, I did begin
to understand or believe what I thought this story meant.
And UH began to see like, yeah, this is a

(08:13):
more traditional horror like story compared to the one we
read last year, which could be considered horbit it is,
They're just different sub yeah yeah, yeah, so so yeah
I did it. Uh. When I finished the book, I
was like, holy cow. But now I look at the

(08:38):
synopsis and this is what stuck out to me when
I was reading it, and I was like, oh, Bella
understands that unless she says yes soon, her family must pay.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yeah, and I didn't. Throughout the book, she kept she
kept like kind of like well other mommies something.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah, And I felt that too. But then like but
I was like, but you know, not understanding horror or
being a horror reader, I was like maybe maybe not,
But then reading this, I was like, oh, because it
was a trade off, you know, that was and then
so so yeah, so I'm like, okay, yay.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
I get it. Yeah, so at the end of the book,
I thought like, dang it, Like dang it, I knew it,
Like I knew she would give in eventually. It was
just how long could the little girl hold off? Yeah,
And I knew at the end that other mommy would win.
She got everything she wanted and everyone in that family lost. Everybody.

(09:47):
So I was like, I loved the ending because of
how it ended. That is true horror to me. You're
not gonna have a happy ending. The son not gonna
come out. And you know, even like even when you
think about like Freddy, right, Freddy Krueger, the son comes out,
they think they're happy, they're skipping off in their car,

(10:07):
and guess what, Freddie's in the fucking house.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
He's not gone.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
So this is like, you know, true horror, Like this
is a horrible ending for that family because they couldn't
get it together. They could not get it together. They
were in Deluluville dealing Yeah, they didn't want to acknowledge
what they were dealing with.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, yeah, and not just that entity where the Lulu
that they were dealing with. Their whole life, like their
life was the horror and they couldn't get it together.
You know, their marriage. The husband was definitely delulu, you know.

(10:50):
And I think it's because he loved Ursula so much
that he overlooked because he knew what he was getting
into when he married her.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
Look, he knew what she was when they was cheating again.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
Thank you. And that's what I saw too, is that
this family is just the family is just as haunted
as other mommy in this you know, the house. And
it seemed like every time something was revealed to Bella
about her family, other mommy showed up and she got stronger,

(11:26):
you know, like at the party. Yeah, you know, like
at first I didn't get it. But then for example,
like the first incident, we see her outside of the
house because other Mommy came back that night and she
smelled like somebody else. She took Bella to the park.
She's sitting on the bench talking to the other the

(11:46):
other mother, and here here comes other mommy showing up.
And then at the party when they had the party,
you know, they smoke weed, they drink, you do your
own thing. But anyway, but Ella sees Mommy with the
dude kissing or whatever. Are not kid, but they're close.
She could tell that, hey, this is just right. Yeah,

(12:09):
that this isn't just a friend from the party and
who shows up other Mommy. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
I think that other Mommy is this interesting duology of things.
So there's a lot of mental things going on with Bella,
and some of it you wonder, or at least I wonder,
is she like kind of forcing other Mommy to show
up because of her own things she's dealing with. But

(12:38):
on the flip side, which on one part makes you
want to feel like, other Mommy isn't real, but she
is real because other people outside that house have seen her,
So that entity of other Mommy is indeed real. But
did she conjure her up right?

Speaker 2 (12:52):
Did she manifest her? Yeah? Yeah, because at first it's like, Okay,
she's her imaginary friend. I hadn't imagine friend. And a
lot of times they will say children have imaginary friends
as like a protective mechanism, you know, so you know,
and they always say kids they don't know anything, or

(13:13):
you think you're protecting your children. But children can feel
and see things that we don't know that you know,
that that are unbeknownst to us that we think, and
that's I think that's one of the things Other Mommy is.
She's protecting Bella in a way. But I also feel
like Bella was holding in a lot of things that

(13:35):
she had seen and like you said, that's how other
Mommy came to be and to she conjured her up
with all those strong emotions.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
Yeah, because even if like we look at it it
the most like, let's look at it at face value.
So let's say that other Mommy was in that house
the whole time, like there was something there. But until
Bella gave the indication that hey, there's something here to exploit,

(14:08):
she probably would have never showed her face.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yeah, just like she gave her a license to come on. Yeah. Yeah,
And it was at first I didn't get those tales
that her parents were telling her at the bed.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
That is so real, responsible that is a child. Of
course the kid is listening to you.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah, But I had also heard from somebody, some reviews.
Somebody felt like that was other mommy feeding Bella the.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
Stories for the time as it could have been.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah, that that that was really other mommy feeding them
some of those stories that she had heard in the house.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
Well, I know, and I should have marked the scene,
but there was one distinct scene where it was other
Mommy acting like her mother, yes, and then the mother.
So that's when the mother first saw her. She was like,
oh my god, you know we gotta get hire.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
Yes, because Bella thought dad it was the dad coming
up the stairs while mommy is confessing she's kind that
she wants to like say, shut up, Mama, shut up.

Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, I can hear you, but right now, And it wasn't.
So we know at least one time the entity was
faking like her mother, maybe more than one, Yeah, because
it needed her to do what it wanted, so kind
of shoving her in that direction. And I think the

(15:34):
entity also did that at the end her grandmother. When
they came back to that house, the grandmother was already gone.
That was other Mommy the entire time.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, giving her that little spiel about your heart and
letting people come into your heart.

Speaker 1 (15:52):
And have fighting rooms in your house and all this stuff.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
I'm like, I was like, yeah, yeah, that was because
I was listening. I'm like, this is a heck of
a story. I'm like, for one, Bella just had to
hear a damn mom confess this huge ass story at
the beach about her not being Russ's child, and then

(16:18):
she comes home to her grandmama with this story. I know.
I'm like, you guys are giving a whole lot to
this eight year old.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
Well because they okay, so because of their friend or
Russ's friend, they thought they thought that it was all
about her innocence, and by breaking that innocence, it would
break the hole that other mommy had on her, like
she would not want her anymore, she wouldn't be as
attractive to her. So that's the reason why they did that.

(16:46):
They said, well, what's the biggest secret we got there
would crush a little kid's soul, and it's that yeah. Yeah,
And it did not work out because the little girl. Okay,
remember when we were texting trying to figure out how
old this little girl was.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yeah, and it was writing a damn synopsis.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
I thought that too, Yeah, but apparently I think we
were close.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yeah. We did say she had to be about eight,
no more than six. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
Yeah. But this little girl was very smart. She's very
intuitive because she knew what the goal of them telling
that her that story was. So she said, I don't
see her, It's fine, we're good like you, little liar
pants off.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, but you know what though, that's a child, Yeah,
a child one of the main goals for a child
is to protect their parents or please their parents. And
she realized that that, you know what, I can't win this.
I'm just gonna tell them. Yeah, And I know a
lot of people felt like you did, or wanted to

(17:55):
say she she did some stupid things and why would
she do she if I was I wouldn't known years old.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
You're like going into the third grade, or you're in
the third grade.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
Your brain isn't even fully No, there's people who aren't
even twenty five and makes good decisions because your front
the lobe isn't developed.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
As an adult. It was frustrating to watch. But none
of it seems, none of it because she's a child.
So I'm like, that is what a child would do.
But if only she could just tell, you know, but
a kid wouldn't especially Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
No, and you're right, a kid wouldn't. And like you said,
with that telling, this whole house was keeping secrets, you know.
And and that's another thing that I felt like other
mommy was doing, like here's all these secrets. But let
me tell you something. But you know what, your mama
is a cheater. I didn't cheat, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (18:51):
Like, I understand from the perspective of the adults too,
you don't tell an eight year old that. And Russ
said it like, yeah, it was a secret, but we
weren't trying to keep it from you. But you're too young.
When do you tell on the child that, yeah, you know,
when do you say that kind of thing to some kid?
I wouldn't even know, Like when did you write the

(19:14):
news right?

Speaker 2 (19:16):
Right? Because every child and maturity level is different. But
in this story, them not telling was fine, it was
totally understandable. But Bella still felt that something in this
marriage was not you know what I mean, that's that
thing where kids done. I don't want my parents to
get divorced, so you know, you could tell that the

(19:37):
love is not the same, which Bella often mentioned other mommy,
you know, like she would go to dad would go
to kiss mommy and Mommy would turn her head, or
Mommy used to say goodbye when they when she left
for work, or she used to come straight, you know
what I mean. So those little things that I really
enjoyed about Josh telling this story, and especially from a

(19:58):
child's point of view, that even though they kept this secret,
Bella still noticed the breaks in the family.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
As all do. Kids are always watching. They are always watching,
Like I remember being a kid seeing and hearing things.
I bet my parents didn't know I heard a song.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
So kids are always in the background overhearing what you're saying.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
Yeah, or they can they can tell a change has come.
And that's why I was saying too, like I felt
like whenever she felt these strong changes in the family,
that's when other mommy began to show up. And I
think him telling it first person from an eight year

(20:46):
old was genius.

Speaker 1 (20:48):
It was.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
It ramped up the creep factor because I know a
lot of people hate stories told from a child's point
because it's always extra cute because it's a kid. I mean,
how many horror movies do we see from a kid's
point of view? But not just that, that voice, the
near reader's voice, just all of it. It was, it was,
it was, It was good. I enjoyed it. I really did.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
The author did a good job balancing Bella because obviously
she's a child and we need to remember that throughout
the story, but also she's kind of a mature eight
year old, so she was able to tell an adult
story as well. So it's an interesting thing that that

(21:36):
character was able to kind of straddle the line a
little bit, which made it interesting for us as adults
to read, because if he leaned too hard one way
or the other, we wouldn't have believed Bella because if
she was too child like, we'd been like, oh my god,
this so stupid, or if she was too adult like,
we'd be like, this is not how a child will act.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
I like that statement she just made that was Yeah,
that that's a good point. That is a very good point.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
Yeah, very very very well.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yeah, that chef's kiss on that one. Yeah, the only
and other than that, Like, since we bragged about all
the things that we did enjoy, I just wanted to
kind of go with something that I thought I wanted
more of from this story because we mentioned, I know

(22:33):
I mentioned it to you that Ursula got on my
damn nerve. She was mean, that she something was wrong.
Ursula had a backstory, and we didn't get it. I
felt like mommy and dad and dead oh were very
one dimensional. And I would have loved to know why

(22:56):
Ursula was so upset about things, because some of the
things that she was upset about, to me was just
so minute.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
But like what what do you mean?

Speaker 2 (23:10):
Like when Russ would say, we'll figure this out. Russ,
you always say that she always felt like he had
the rose colored glasses on, and it was like, what's
so wrong with the rose colored glasses? You know, especially
when in the face of a child who is going
through some things. I know, there's some things that you know,
like she she would just blow up. And for me,

(23:32):
for a woman to blow up like that over I
felt like some things that were really simple, there was
a backstory to it, you know, like when they got
to the neighbor's house and the way she acted at
the neighbor's house, I'm just like, bitch, this is this
is not.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
Not your house. Get the fuck out. This isn't I
don't owe you anything. What is this?

Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yes, but that's real something of you. And I'm like,
you'd very be glad you got over here for as
long as you did, because you're acting like you're on
drugs right now.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
After the wag ghost along with you, Yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
Mean, before they revealed that something was following them, she
act like she had been high as fuck, you know
what I mean. Like the neighbors are in and the
parents have a new baby, their fuck is scared, Like,
what in the hell did we just let into our house?
But she would just blow up about some of the
simplest things. Yeah, but like after we found out, you know,

(24:31):
maybe about the that she cheated all the time and
she wasn't happy in these type of things. But there's
still something else. I felt there was still an underlying
story to her.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
There was, but without getting another POV, we wouldn't have
gotten it. There's just no way unless the grandmother wanted
to talk about how her daughter was as a child,
which had never happened. But that's the only way we
would have gotten more insight to her because obviously.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
And alcohol at the bedside.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
Well she was an alcoholic for a while when she
was with her first husband, right, But for her to
be like that, what happened, what happened before?

Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah? What caused the alcoholism? What she abused? Was she
in an abusive marriage? You know all those type of things,
And like you said, her POV or if she was
bedside telling her little story, that was it. Yeah, Because
I was like, we knew she was a cheater, and
she was she was made to be the villain in

(25:33):
this story.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
Yes, And she is the kind of person that should
never have a child. Definitely, she had no business with
the child. Now she is the reason why just because
you can procreate doesn't mean you deep you need to
give birth. You should have given the child.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yeah, or this is a real reason when if somebody
wants to have an abortion, allot you know is you're
gonna raise it. You're gonna have a child that's gonna
you're gonna resent or not love fully.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
And she did. I think she loved her child, but
I do think she resented her because she wants to
have fun. She wants to live her life and not
be tied down to this child in her deadby or
well in her eyes. You know, her boring ass husband, Debbie,
he's boring. You know. She likes the adventure, she likes

(26:25):
to drink, she likes to have fun. She's a party
girl at in her heart.

Speaker 2 (26:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:29):
And I feel like she gave it the good old
college try, as they say.

Speaker 2 (26:33):
And I think she only gave it the good old
college try because she got pregnant. If she didn't get pregnant,
I don't think she would have ever married him.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
Right, And we don't know how long she's been cheating
on Russ. We don't know if this has been a
couple of years or a couple months of this.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
She mentioned it was the entire marriage.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
Oh, well, she's been cheating off and on with different
people the entire marriage.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
Yeah. I think she did say she had been cheating
for fine, no, whatever it was. Yeah, I think it
was a majority of the marriage. I'll just say so
that tells me.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
Obviously, Ursula had a lot of things she had not
dealt with. She had a lot of issues, and Russ,
just I guess, was the eternal optimist, like, whatever it is,
we'll deal with it, even if he didn't want to.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
And yeah, it created a very toxic relationship which the
child could feel she might not be able to understand
why it's that way. Yeah, And I don't know why.
You know, maybe somebody who feels so imperfect feels resentment
towards someone who acts so perfect all the time. Maybe

(27:46):
that's what she hates about Russ.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
Yeah, because I think she even mentioned that she did
some of the stuff hoping he would like pay attention.
And she's like, you knew about this, you even agreed
to it, And I'm like, he may have because y'all
you guys get hot, so you may have done or
said something under the influence.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if he's brushed other things,
especially if she has been cheating their entire marriage off
and all with different people, then I'm sure she's gotten
caught up once or twice and he chose to look
the other way for some reason.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah, right, cause even Bella cause I can't remember. Oh,
after one of the young ladies saw other mommy at
the party, she spent the night with that girl to
make sure she was okay, but she had told Bella
she was somewhere else. Remember when she told her, And

(28:44):
Bella was like, yeah, Mommy told daddo that she was,
you know, staying the night with whatever. The I'll just say,
Lois Anthony, I knew it wasn't her, but she didn't,
so you know what I mean, Like, this child is
catching on with all your actions.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
I don't know how Ursula is so sloppy with it,
Like if you're an old pro at cheating, get your
story right.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
Influence the drugs, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
Too much alcohol. I know that one night they were
drinking a lot.

Speaker 2 (29:20):
Yeah. Oh, when they were at.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
Their party night because they had to get a babysitter
to watch their kids so they could drink freely. And
then when they went to the mom's friend's house house,
they were drinking like no one's business, like they were
trying to be knocked. It's like they couldn't sleep without
knocking themselves out from outre Yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:41):
Yeah, they did not want to deal with what they
were going through.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
Okay, this is a great time to take a break
because I know there are more things to talk about,
but we're going to take a break by listening to
these commercials. You are supporting the podcast, and don't forget
to pick up a copy of the book Review General,
available right now on Amazon, and we'll be right back. Okay,
welcome back. I know there's a lot of other things

(30:06):
to talk about in this book that happened.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
It's there's lots of incidents around the house.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
There are lots of incidents around the house. I gotta say, though,
just like pulling back to look at a high level again,
I really loved that this was just exactly what I
asked for. What I asked for got delivered because I
wanted something creepy and for y'all that don't know me,

(30:35):
it takes a lot to creep me out, but ghost
are my soft spot for some reason. Like I could
see a slasher whatever, Freddy Krueger, whatever, serial killer whatever.
It takes a lot, but for some reason, the ghost
just gives me the chills. And this gave me the
chills when they would when the author would describe other

(30:57):
mommy coming out the closet. Hey, okay, if I come
up here.

Speaker 2 (31:00):
And she's a girl. When she when she did that
spider crawl on the beach, I was like, that is
not adult.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
No, And she's like got her eyes and stuff on
other parts of her face. She's looking kind of weird.
I'm like, how is Bella not scared of that entity
or goes? Why is she not scared of her? Like
the way she's looking, I'm very confused by her lack
of fear.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
And that was another reason why I felt like because
she said we were friends at one time, That's why
I feel like this was her imaginary friend at first. Yeah,
you know what I mean. But the more things got worse,
the scarier she got. Yeah, because that's I thought that

(31:48):
same thing. And I was like, so why would she
say I think we were friends at one time? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (31:53):
She wasn't sure though, but I think she wanted to
be friends with her at one point, and I think
so the first time.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
That's why I feel like she wasn't afraid because we
were friends at once, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
But in her in her opinion, because I don't think
they were up her friends. She just needed a friend.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Yes, and that's why she wasn't afraid. She kind of
looks scared, but she's getting bolder.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
Look.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
But that's why I.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
Feel like she smells bad.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
But you know what in horror movies, because I don't
watch a whole lot, but some that's like one of
those things like when it starts getting strong of the scent,
right the look. And that's why I think too that
this she didn't she originally wasn't this ugly creature. Yeah,
And to a child who befriend somebody at first, you

(32:43):
really got to change really bad for me not to
want to trust you, or you know, be a dot
afraid of you.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
Mm hm, Well, she looks scary to me. From me,
she seems scary to me. I'm like, the very first
time she asked her, can I come to see her hear,
I'm like, no, no answer is no, no, say no.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
And you know what, this is the funny thing. I
used to be totally afraid, Like I didn't like reading
scary books, watching scary movies. None of it scared me
like that. No, I love it was creepy, but I
wasn't to the point where I was.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
Like, oh, it needs to be out. I'm like, okay,
I was.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
This is me trying to picture her in my head,
like okay, your eyes are here. I should have tried
to draw. Yeah, And I was just like, have I
turned it to that person that can watch a horror
movie and it doesn't bother me.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
You'll know, watch some of the conjuring movies. You'll know
you can watch or watch the House on Haunted. Ye. Look,
though there were some points like when the ghosts came
up to the father and the kid, I'm like, oh
my god, their father's like don't. I watched all that

(34:01):
and I was just like, see the dos is what
gets me for some reason, creeps me the fuck out.
I don't know why, but dream yeah the Country and
I watched them because I think it's fun. I'm like, yeah,
I'm a little bit like on age, but it's fun.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
Now as a kid Freddy Krueger. Oh so you wonder
now if I can watch Freddy, I probably can watch
it now and eat maybe because it was the dream part.

Speaker 1 (34:30):
Yeah, but I remember the grossness of Freddy Krueger when
I was a kid. But me and Kevin actually started
a rewatch of the Freddy movies like back in the summer,
early summer, and I'm like, he's.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
So stupid, and I'm like, what funny? Now? Right?

Speaker 1 (34:45):
It looks bad. I'm like, what was I scared of?
What did I think? Because but that's.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
Crazy because it's evolved, that's all. I mean. If you
think about like Yellow Lagosti stuff, because I was my
grandmother was a big vampire, so I me and Bella
Lagosi ooho vampires, you know. So you know, so you
think about that, that was scary, and then we get
to Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers and all that, and

(35:13):
now to now what they do the CGI and all
the dramatics and makeup is so different. So but yeah, girl,
this I was just yeah. And Stephen King shit, So
I was like, I think I'm turning into that person
that can watch I mean, I will jump everyone, like
if you do a jump scare I will jump, but

(35:35):
I won't be to the point where I'm just like,
oh my god, I can't go to sleep.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
Good. Look, I know I told this story before, but
I'll tell it again for y'all that I knew when
I had when I was in my early twenties, I
was off, it was a Saturday or something. I decided
to watch Stephen King all fucking day. All day I
watched Stephen King. Stuff started in the morning with like

(36:00):
The Stand. I watched All the Stand you know that
mini series, and you know that wasn't that scary. I'm like,
it's fine. And then I watched The Rose Red you
know the Ghost. You know, Ghost is my saft spot.
I watched that whole thing. It was very good, but
I was like feeling a little creeped out. And by
the end of the night, so I watched literally like

(36:22):
eight or nine hours of this stuff. I was watching
maybe a little longer the boyfriend that I had at
the time. It was dark outside. Every single light in
that apartment was on, even the light in the closets.
So at some point I had just started getting up
and turning on every light, the bathroom lights, the closet lights,
every light was on. I'm like, oh, I must've went

(36:45):
passed the threshold. He came be like, why are all
the lights on?

Speaker 2 (36:49):
So you realize your head turned him along.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
Not until he said, why are all the lights on?
So I must have just been unconsciously doing it? Because
Rose Red is very creepy.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
That was it.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
That's what pushed me over the limit. I said, Okay,
see road Red.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Look, I'm going to write this down. Probably can't find
it on streaming for free, but oh my.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
God, that shit freaked me the fuck out. And now,
like every time I think about it, I'm like, I know,
that's what it was. I just consume too much of
it at once, and so as it started getting darker,
I'm just turning the lights on. But now I feel
like I can watch a lot of Stephen King stuff.
His stuff doesn't really bother me. I'm gonna watch the
It's thing when it comes out later this month, like
Back to Darry or whatever. Like clowns don't scare me.

(37:31):
I don't give a a f I don't give it.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
But that one coming out now that, yeah, he was
spooky and creepy as shit out of the drain. But yeah,
but yeah, now I'm like curious, like, it didn't. It
didn't bother me.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
So little Other mommy, I'm like, get the hell out
of here. Honestly, I would have put a chair against
that door or something. Don't come out here, it's the man.
She said, Can I come out?

Speaker 2 (37:55):
No?

Speaker 1 (37:56):
Go back in there, right, No, And so she's sus
She came out a little by little, and then the
next thing you know, she's like right next to her
bed like talking to her. I'm like, get back in
the closet.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
And again that's why I think other mommy Bella had
some control over her.

Speaker 1 (38:14):
Yeah, she had.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
Well, and there's not exactly because here's the thing. When
they were over to the neighbor's house, here's a prime
example because as soon as she said that, I'm like,
it came back to me and the dad was like, hey,
where's Ursula. Mm hm, she's outside. We think we just

(38:39):
saw her upstairs. Who let other mommy up there? Because
Bella knows she was on the phone with that dude.
Bella knew Other Mommy was out late with her lover,
and she didn't know lover. Guys, I'm using other terminology,
but she knew that that phone call was not a

(39:00):
little friendly call with her friend Marsha. She was on
the phone with Frank. I believe that's who the lover
is that died.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
The other mommy murdered.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
I look, she gave her a gift. Excuse you? So?

Speaker 1 (39:15):
Was that the gift? Is that what she was trying
to give me her? And then she started thinking, well
what else? What else could happen?

Speaker 2 (39:24):
Did I take care of that for you? Bella want
you want your family to be happy?

Speaker 1 (39:28):
Right?

Speaker 2 (39:29):
Yeah? Take care? Yeah. Other mommy won't have anybody to
sleep with anymore. I mean, well, anybody's gonna she's not
gonna cheat on your dad anymore.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
Well not with that guy, Yeah, exactly, Oh, child, Which
was crazy. You're gonna go around here just often people
it is I've never seen And that's what's new, I
guess in this story. Like an entity that can just
and I've seen situations where they say something can follow
someone and not be tied to a specific place, but

(39:59):
be t to somebody, And that's kind of what's happening here.
But now it's like operating on its own, killing people
that are not even in that house. Yeah, like this
thing can just jump closets. I don't know and just
come out wherever I know and then be to the
point where it could like physically hurt someone and not

(40:22):
just scare them.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
Yeah, and that would It was the weird part too,
Like I understood the manifestation of Bella manifesting her and
giving her more power, but like you were saying, the
part of her killing and reincarnating in other people because

(40:44):
they were just like, she's following Bella. Well, how did
she get Grandma? Yeah, ahead of time? So those were
just some things that I wasn't too sure about. But
the overall story and the premise it I got it,
and I liked it.

Speaker 1 (41:02):
Yeah, and I liked again. Like I sometimes I think
when it's all what is the word like mental and
it's all made up, I don't really like that. Like
if it had turned out that other Mommy wasn't real,
I think I wouldn't have liked it because I think
this two things can be true. Little Mommy could be
like being fueled by Bella, right, but she can also

(41:26):
be an entity in this world that is actually doing things.
And I like the fact that the author made it
clear that other people were seeing this. So yeah, because
of the story to life right, because if it was just
a whole ass hallucination, I'd been like, uh, I would
have right.

Speaker 2 (41:44):
And that was the thing too, that was that perfect
blend in this story that it started with an eight
year old, which at first is unbelievable because you know,
maybe we need to get her psychologically checked out, maybe
she has some mental things. Maybe and she may have.
But now because now that we're talking about this, god

(42:06):
dang it, not only did she manifest this entity, the
secrets of the parents helped probably field her two mm
because how did the people at the party see yeah,
or or even at the neighbor's house.

Speaker 1 (42:26):
Or remember when they were all trying to get other
mommy to go like her little circle of like people
and it actually talked to the one guy yep, like okay, yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
So it's almost as if like the secrets in this house,
regardless of you guys leaving that house, all of you
and your secrets have also manifest and made her stronger.
Because even even Okay, the more I'm talking this out,

(43:01):
the more I'm getting I'm getting and if I'm not
getting Josh's version, I'm getting how I'm feeling about this story.
So at the beach, when they tell her this story
and how you know, big of a lie and trying
to take Bella's innocence. Now they've just made other Mommy
even freaking stronger. And what does she do? She beats

(43:26):
them to the house.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
And kills Grandma And then okay, so do you think
Now this was kind of a little ambiguous, but did
she kill the parents too?

Speaker 2 (43:41):
I believe she did.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
I thought she did. I was like, are they dead?

Speaker 2 (43:44):
Yeah? They were face down, yeah, because nobody had been drinking.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
Because that's what I thought. But then I'm like, okay,
other Mommy, so you take over Bella's body, you won't
have an adult around.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
Rama is gone. Yeah, And like, did Bella go into
the closet? Now, Like, what the fuck? What's going on?

Speaker 1 (44:08):
I feel like Bella was going into wherever her ghosts go.
Maybe it was Limbo, maybe it was wherever.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
Yeah, but I mean, Bella's gonna have to be because
now she's reincarnated through Bella. So Bella's gonna have Yeah.
I wasn't quite sure, and I wanted to leave it
there because I was like that now you got me
thinking way past where I need to go. Josh, Okay,
she has taken over Bella's body the end, Yeah, I felt.

Speaker 1 (44:36):
I think she did take over her body, and sometimes
like it makes me think of I can't remember what
movie it was, but like where someone else kind of
took over their body, but they were like in the
back seat, like they could maybe I've read it in
a book or something. I've seen that theme before where
they weren't completely gone, but they could not like speak
or do anything.

Speaker 2 (44:56):
Just oh, I can't remember. But when you said that,
I do remember that. Yeah, I said, this story reminds
them of the book Coraline by Neil Gaiman, which I've
never read before, but they said it kind of reminds
them of that story. But but yeah, I do. I
wish I could remember the name of it.

Speaker 1 (45:17):
I thought of it serpented Duve that fantasy story there
was an entity that took over this girl's body and
like she could not like speak through it or get
through it, because it was like she was like not
in the driver's seat of her own body. And I
wonder if that's how it is for Bella, Like she
might be like in this open house, as they tried
to explain this house with many rooms, like maybe she's

(45:40):
kind of just wandering around in her own brain because
she can't be in the front seat anymore.

Speaker 2 (45:45):
It's very strange, and you wonder too, like Other Mommy,
was she another child prior to this and they just
keep reincarnating?

Speaker 1 (45:56):
Maybe? I don't know, because we never got her either.
It was her friends do. Yeah, that's what friends do,
not this friend.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
Hm.

Speaker 1 (46:07):
Well, I don't know because we never got an origin
of her because we could never They could never figure
it out. They were flailing around, and that's why I think.
Also it would have given me a little more satisfaction
to have some real ghost people, some real ghost hunters,
or some real spiritual people that were able to deal
with little Other Mommy, because then it would have helped
us figure out, well, what is she exactly?

Speaker 2 (46:29):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (46:30):
Is this something that keeps just doing this over and
over again? Is this a one off? What is it?

Speaker 2 (46:35):
Yeah? And the one Lois Anthony when she said, at
first I thought you were inmpath but not and I
can't And I should have wrote down what I felt
when she said that, because that was like a sign
that kind of showed that this was an evil spirit,
you know what I mean, because it impathed me. You know,
you can feel other emotions of other people, but when

(46:58):
Louis Anthony touched her, she got a totally different.

Speaker 1 (47:02):
She couldn't feel. I think she was anticipating that she
would be able to see ghosts in general, that she
would be that empathic, that she could just see ghosts,
and that's not what she found. She found she was
haunted basically, not the other way around.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
So mm hmm. And that's why she wanted to kind
of chit chat with her. And so yeah, there is
there's probably so many layers to this story.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
But.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
I'm okay with how it ended and and that's it,
Like you know how some you just I want to
know more. No, I'm good the little girl, Yeah, I
mean all the people passed away that were I don't
know why Grammar Ruth had to die, but AnyWho, but
I kind of do because Other Mommy, as a synopsis says,

(47:58):
Bella wasn't given Other mind what she wanted.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
And honestly, if yeah, people had to pay, but if
Grandma was around, she would know that's not her grandchild.
Once Other Mommy started talking and doing stuff like she
had her memories, but she was not gonna act like Bella.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Yeah, because Other Mommy. When they came, she immediately realized
your lights didn't go out? What's really going on? Like
she wanted to exercise, but you know, none would come
because they weren't Catholic. They you know, they so so
you're right, other Mommy would have I mean, Grandma Ruth
would have detected this. This other Mommy is still here,

(48:41):
this is not.

Speaker 1 (48:42):
Then that makes me wonder though, once she's reincarnated in
Bella's body, is she powerless? Like you're a human now
are you powerless? Can you not do the things you
were doing before? You're no longer able to haunt and
kill because you're just a silly et girl now.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
Yeah, And maybe Bella's going to be other mim me
to somebody.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
Maybe I don't know, well, or whatever they need, whatever
name they need. I feel like she ended up naming
herself other Mommy because Bella needed a mommy mommy.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
Yeah. I did feel that. I definitely felt that with
that name. Yeah mm hmmm mmm, yeah, Okay, Josh, I
get you. I get you. And like I said, it
was it was creepy, It wasn't really scared. I enjoyed
the story, the layers, the different interpretations that people can

(49:36):
get from that. I believe this is probably gonna be
a really great book club discussion because I can't wait
to hear everyone's interpretation of what they felt other mommy
was and who died and who didn't. I can't wait.
Mm hmm.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
Yeah, I think it's gonna definitely I agree with you
with the conversation. I think people going to have really
interesting thoughts on this. And guess what, it's not too
late for you to join us over on the book
clubs apps. So if you've read this book and you
want to discuss with some other people, come on over,
come on over, join.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
Right away, right right.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
Yes, you cannot come into our hearts though we will
not allow, but you can come into the group.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
Some things it's just not gonna happen.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
It's not we're friends, but those friends.

Speaker 2 (50:28):
Nope.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
But yeah, I think it'd be a fun conversation because
I know I had a good time talking about it,
and I know there's lots probably that I haven't even
contemplated yet.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
Yeah. Yeah, you know again, that's why book club is
so good, you know, fun, because somebody will say, like
you even during this conversation and you said something and
it's just something click like you know, but you're right,
I really like that that commentary or yeah, so I
can't wait with more than just us. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
I think that this was a strong pick and I
definitely will read more by Josh Mellerman. I think if
he has something new come out, I think I'll give
it a try. I'll give it another try. I'm not
gonna go back and read bird Box because I know
that story, but going forward, i'd definitely give them another go.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
What about you too, if I've watched a movie, I'm
not going back.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
I think I will.

Speaker 2 (51:21):
I think I will because now I got I get
his you know, like I understand his writing. I believe
I understand. And then like with Birdbox, and I said
I was bored with the movie. Maybe if I had
read the book first, maybe I would have gotten But still,
movies and books are always different. But I think after

(51:42):
reading this, I think I could delve into another one
yea of his books.

Speaker 1 (51:49):
Okay, well it's time let's write incidents around the house.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
Give it a four.

Speaker 1 (51:56):
Same, it's a strong for. It's a strong for. I
wouldn't even yeah, no need, Perhaps it's a four. I
would recommend it if you want something a little bit
creepy but not like overkill, you won't be like I
can't sleep, but it will definitely give you a little
bit of the creeps.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
Yeah, and please do it on that if you like audio,
and if you don't, still please do it on the audio.
This young narrator, she's seventeen, but she sounds just like
she's eight, an eight year old. Phenomenal.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
She sound you could tell, like when the timidness coming
out in her voice at times, unsurreeness. She's very like,
you know, you can tell what she was upset.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
I hope she got an award for something, because this
young lady is awesome.

Speaker 1 (52:47):
Yeah, and then you could tell when the mother was
talking to her, the father was.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
Exactly so Yeah, it was very good, very trained her voice.
I went and looked her up on Audible to see
she does mostly children's books. I was like, let's see
if she reads or you know, maybe she conar rates
with somebody else. But I didn't do a full look
at her my catalog. But gosh, if you can, please

(53:17):
do the audio, Yeah, I recommend as well.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
Very good.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
Okay, So on the after show, we are gonna talk
about some fun stuff. We've got some fall slash mood
TV shows and movies to talk about, so if you're
curious about that, you'll need to join us on Patreon
or one of the other premium options and head on
over and give us a listen. So I think that's

(53:42):
it for today. It was a great conversation. We appreciate
you for listening to the entire episode, and we'll catch
you in the next one. Okay, take care of yourselves. Bye, guys.
Did you enjoy today's episode? If so, please head over

(54:03):
to Apple Podcast or Spotify and leave a positive, five
star review. It's a simple action that makes a big difference.
You can also like this episode on your favorite podcast
player or share it with your fellow bookworm friends on
social media. Joining the shelf Addiction Patreon family is another
way to support us. For as little as two dollars

(54:23):
a month, you can help our team create even more
amazing bookish content. If Patreon isn't your thing, consider becoming
a supporter on the s Breaker app for just five
dollars a month and gain access to exclusive audio only content.
You can find me everywhere, including Instagram, x and TikTok
under the handle shelf Addiction. Join our book club of

(54:44):
the same name on the book club's website and app,
where we discuss all things bookish and more in a
safe space. The shelf Addiction podcast is a part of
the Nerdy Maven Network. Thanks for tuning in.

All Episodes

Creepy or No? Reviewing Incidents Around the House | #BuddyReads Book Chat

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

Stuff You Should Know

The Bobby Bones Show

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Creepy or No? Reviewing Incidents Around the House | #BuddyReads Book Chat