Madisoncanread | We Used to Live Here: A Novel
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We Used to Live Here: A Novel
Marcus Kliewer
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Get Out meets Parasite in this eerily haunting debut and Reddit hit—soon to be a Netflix original movie starring Blake Lively—about two homeowners whose lives are turned upside down when the house’s previous residents unexpectedly visit.
As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around.
People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in. As soon as the strangers enter their home, uncanny and inexplicable things start happening, including the family’s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can’t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over.
And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?
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Posts about this title from Madisoncanread
Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • Jun 27 2025
ICYMI - Horror Books I Will Never Stop Recommending
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Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • May 22 2025
The scariest books of all time? #madisoncanread #horrorbooks #horrorbookrec #scarybooks #booksthatgavemenightmares #horrorbooktok #Inverted
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Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • May 22 2025
If you like this, read this! #madisoncanread #horrorbooks #thrillerbooks #ifyoulikethisbookreadthisbook #ifyoulikethistrythat #Inverted
24 books
Posts about this book from across Bindery
Books Right Now\ \ Rashi Dembi\ \ • Jun 28
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[There's something very satisfying about spending the summer reading horror! Here are the books that I recommend for your Summerween reading list!\ \
- The Blood Year Daughter by G.G. Silverman - In G.G. Silverman’s debut fairytale-horror collection The Blood Year Daughter, a woman builds husbands out of gravel and slaughterhouse feathers, two sisters eat cinnamon-scented pieces of their mother, and a charming doctor’s murdered brides whisper warnings to his newest wife.\ \
- Kill Your Darlings by Yuvashri Harish - A fun, fast-paced YA horror about a teen girl facing the horrors of misogyny, racism, an evil witch, and her horde of monsters.\ \
- We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer - A haunting debut about two homeowners whose lives are turned upside down when the house’s previous residents unexpectedly visit.\ \
- Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica - Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans—though no one calls them that anymore.\ \
- What Feeds Below by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne - The darkness isn’t empty. It’s hungry. At the edge of the City of the Void, a massive chasm extends miles into the earth, its treacherous terrain overrun with vicious monsters and carnivorous plants. For orphaned best friends Petra and Jade, guiding treasure-seeking tourists down into the Void is the only way to earn enough to pull themselves up out of the slums for good.\ \
- Come Closer by Sara Gran - The new voice in Amanda's head, the one that tells her to steal things and talk to strange men in bars, is strange and frightening, and Amanda struggles to wrest back control of her life. Is she possessed by a demon, or is she simply insane?](https://booksrightnow.binderybooks.com/item/LHDngdmY0PUV7iLalxuQ/)
6 books
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Mother Psycho\ \ Chloe Cole\ \ • May 20
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Horror Books to Help You Cope with Real Life
Anyone else find it calming to listen to horror audiobooks on your commute to and from work?
4 books
ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Apr 17
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\ \ I'm bringing author interviews back on Bindery! Today I'm joined by the amazing Annie Neugebauer. Neugebauer is the author of several horror books that we will be talking about today!\ \ \ \ I have read both The Extra and The Other and loved them! I will definitely be checking out You Have To Let Them Bleed.\ \ Let's Dive into the interview!\ \ 1. I love to use this first question as an introduction. Feel free to tell us as much or as little as you want about yourself!\ \
Hi! Right now most people know me as the author of The Extra, a novella from Shortwave that has expanded into The Outsiders Sequence, a shared-universe sequence of novellas consisting of The Extra, The Other (this June), and The Spare (next March). I’m also the author of You Have to Let Them Bleed, a short story collection that’s out now. I’m also a poet, blogger, and novelist.\ \ 2.When did you first start writing? Was it always horror or did you write genres as well?\ \ I’ve always been writing, even as a young child, but I began pursuing it seriously when I graduated from college in 2007. I’ve written many novels, but I’ve built my way toward publication with poems and short stories. I love writing in many genres, but I’d say horror is my home base. I’ve been drawn to the dark side for as long as I can remember.\ \ 3. @blankets_books from instagram/bindery would like to know What was your inspiration behind The Extra? Any books or media that helped influence the book?\ \ The Extra wasn’t directly influenced by any other media, believe it or not. I had not yet even seen The Thing, its most common comparison. (I have now; it’s stellar!) The idea of an extra person came to me organically, and the protagonist and situation were inspired by my husband’s former job.\ \ 4.Do you go camping and hiking? If so, what has been your favorite trail/campground?\ \ I love camping and hiking! I’m never happier than when I’m outside somewhere beautiful. Camping in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado is by far my favorite area to return to. I’ve also had beautiful experiences in Austria, Hawaii, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Minnesota. One of my most memorable hikes was the Glacier Gorge trail (9 miles) in the Rocky Mountain National Park.\ \ 5. You also have a short story collection called You Have to Let Them Bleed that released in March. Care to tell us a little more about that one? Do you have a favorite story from it?\ \ You Have to Let Them Bleed brings together some of my most successful short fiction from almost two decades of publishing stories. It’s framed by a “collector” who’s gathering shadowlings and sorting them by color. Probably the most well-known story is “So Sings the Siren.” I don’t have a favorite per say, but I’m really proud of and excited about the original in the collection, “The Baby.” It’s just wackadoo in the best way. Folks are loving it.\ \ 6. What can you tell us about The Spare (releasing 3/9/27), the third book in The Outsiders Sequence? \ \ The Spare takes place in the Texas Panhandle at a family camping reunion. As with each of these novellas, the less you know about it going in, the more enjoyable the actual read is. I will say that it, like The Other, is not a direct continuation of storyline and characters from the first two books, but it does bring in elements from each in a way that makes them all most satisfying when read in order. It shares the same tense vibes and unsettling concepts as the first two.\ \ 7. Do you have any writing routines or rituals that help you write?\ \ I wish! I prefer to write at home in a quiet setting, no music or background noise, with my computer setup that includes a special mouse that helps my wrists/shoulder. Other than that, I write when I can through the hecticness of parenting and working. Weekends, evenings, mini-trips, nap times, days off, whatever I can pack in.\ \ 8.What have been your top three 2026 horror releases? Movies?\ \ I don’t know that I’ve read any 2026 releases so far this year. I’m a backlist reader for sure. My most recent favorites are all at least from last year: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones, and Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker. Movies are the same way. Recent favorites were Sinners and Weapons.\ \ 9. What are a few of your favorite backlist horror books?\ \ Kind of working my way back from when I read them: Nestlings by Nat Cassidy, We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer, Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman, the whole Cal Hooper trilogy by Tana French, The Reformatory by Tananarive Due, Mister Magic by Kiersten White, and then I get so far back everyone probably knows them all. (At this phase in my life, the only time I’m on top of a trend is if I’m lucky enough to set one.)\ \ 10. Any upcoming horror books you're excited about? Movies?\ \ I love Paul Tremblay and hate A.I., so I’m really looking forward to Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep, and Rachel Harrison’s Kiss Slay Replay sounds super fun. I’m even further behind the curve on movies than I am on books, so I usually wait until something is so good that my close friends literally force me to watch it. (It’s not cool, but it’s a pretty effective screening process.) I’m cautiously optimistic about two of my favorite scary books being adapted for film: Josh Malerman's Incidents Around the House and Paul Tremblay's A Head Full of Ghosts. I have that book-lover’s fear of a movie not doing my mind’s vision of a beloved book justice.\ \ Use the space below to add in anything else you'd like to say! \ \ I have a couple of really big pieces of news coming any day now, so be sure to follow me online @AnnieNeugebauer and subscribe to my blog newsletter here https://annieneugebauer.com/subscribe/ to get the good stuff. :)\ \ Special thanks again to Annie Neugebauer for the opportunity to interview her! All books mentioned here can be found below. If you have not read any of Annie's works, be sure to pick up The Extra (out now) and pre-order The Other (June).\ \ Join for free or login](https://ashreadshorror.binderybooks.com/item/Gk3QQWupgqWgsqwYTC7E/)
Author Interview: Annie Neugebauer
15 books
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ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Apr 4
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Since you all wanted more liminal horror, here are even more horror books that feature a liminal set
Since you all wanted more liminal horror, here are even more horror books that feature a liminal setting!
What are some of your favorite liminal horror books?
#horrorbooks #horrorbookreels #horrorbooktok #liminalhorror
10 books
ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Jan 10
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\ \ It’s time for another DIRECTOR’S CUT REVIEW. Today I’m talking about The Caretaker!\ \ \ \ Book: The Caretaker\ \ Author: Marcus Kliewer\ \ Page Count: 320\ \ Genre: Horror\ \ Subgenre: Grief, Rituals, Anomalies, End of the world\ \ Series: No\ \ Setting: Michigan\ \ Other Works by This Author: We Used To Live Here\ \ Comps: Observation Duty (game) meets Lock Every Door\ \ My Rating: ✨✨✨✨✨\ \ Release Date: 4/21/26\ \ Quick Summary: A woman strapped for money takes a house sitting job that promises to pay well. However, the duties she must perform have a lot riding on them. If she does not follow the rites correctly, something sinister may be unleashed.\ \ My Thoughts: Kliewer does it again 🙌🏻 This author truly knows how suck a reader in and get them to stay until the very last page. The tension in this book had me on the edge of my seat. There were so many scenes where I wanted to jump in and make Macy focus on the task at hand.\ \ Speaking of Macy, let’s talk about her character. She’s had a hard time ever since her dad’s accident. She’s been taking care of her sister who has some issues but is a good kid overall. I really liked Macy. Don’t get me wrong, she drove me crazy sometimes. Like I needed her to finish the darn rites. But she had a very strong voice and I loved how much she cared for her sister.\ \ Just like We Used To Live Here, this book delivers on scares. There were several scenes that had me spooked. You can’t trust anyone in this book. I loved that this book reminded me of Observation Duty. It actually has a similar premise to a short story I’m writing for an anthology this year, and was a great inspiration! My story will also focus on a woman getting trapped in a dangerous job while caring for a loved one. But that’s where the similarities will end!\ \ If this one was not on your radar I highly recommend adding it! It relaxes 4/21/26. You all get an early access to my thoughts on this book! My goodreads and insta thoughts will come closer to the pub date per request of the publisher!\ \ Upgrade for $5 or login](https://ashreadshorror.binderybooks.com/item/98saUHeh7cv7WBY5DetA/)
DIRECTOR’S CUT REVIEW—The Caretaker
3 books
ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Jan 6
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\ \ I kicked off this year reading the fantastic Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature edited by Becky Siegel Spratford.\ \ You can find my review HERE, but I wanted to take this space to dive a little further on my own personal Horror journey.\ \ I'm often asked "What's the scariest book you've ever read?" And this is a very valid question. But it's also a loaded question as well, because what is scary to me may not be scary to you. This is because horror is subjective.\ \ What scares me? I think what gets under my skin the most is bleak horror. When there's no hope. One book that does this well is The Ruins by Scott Smith. It's a survival horror about four friends that take a vacation to Mexico and wind up getting stuck in some ancient ruins. One by one the characters are picked off, with hope dwindling with each life lost. While the characters annoyed me in this book, the hopelessness really got to me.\ \ Where did my love for Horror start? Let's take a journey into the past. As stated in my Instagram post, watching my dad play Resident Evil One really stuck with me as a kid. The scene with the giant snake truly traumatized little me. Looking back on it now, it makes me laugh. Everything was so cringy. The graphics weren't great and the dialogue was corny. But its a classic for a reason and I still love it dearly. "You were almost a Jill Sandwich!"\ \ Another instance was when I was flipping through the channels, looking for something to watch. Stephen King's IT was on television. My young, innocent mind believed that someone would truly make a movie involving kids playing Tag Your It...So you best believe I was in shock when I see a clown holding balloons, inviting children to float. Then blood spewing out of the sink all over Beverly's bathroom. You best believe I hit the guide button on that TV remote and figured out that it was rated R. I ran to my room in terror as my mom laughed at me. And yes Child's Play did the same thing to me too. Who knew a movie involving a doll was actually a slasher in disguise.\ \ So what made me stop being such a scaredy cat? Honestly, I think playing Resident Evil 4 made me start appreciating horror more. I slowly started building myself up, until I could handle movies like Sinister (WHICH PHEW terrified me a lot). Final Destination also terrified me. To think that near death experiences had become a death sentence had me on the edge of my seat. And death definitely gets creative when taking back what it's owed.\ \ I love chasing that rush I feel when watching something scary. I love looking in the background for something subtly creepy (i.e. Haunting of Hill House ghosts in the background). I feeling my heart race as I wait for the jump-scare to pop up on the screen, or the fake out to cue the scare when I least expect it.\ \ So what books got me into reading horror?\ \ Well of course Stephen King kick started me. Now you may think I'm going to mention The Shining. While that is a FANTASTIC book of his and an all time favorite, Misery was one of my first and favorite works.\ \ When I joined bookstagram, my world was opened to all kinds of horror novels. I never knew so many horror books/authors existed.\ \ Some of the wonderful books I've discovered and will forever recommend are as follows:\ \ Come Closer by Sara Gran\ \ The Reformatory by Tananarive Due\ \ Below by Laurel Hightower\ \ I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid\ \ Mary by Nat Cassidy\ \ Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven\ \ Bat Eater and Other Names by Cora Zeng\ \ Night Film by Marisha Pessl\ \ We Used To Live Here by Marcus Kliewer\ \ Slewfoot by Brom\ \ The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher\ \ Eynhallow by Tim McGregor\ \ ...and so many more books!\ \ I love that Horror has a little bit of something for everyone.\ \ Love Romance? How about a gothic horror with a dash of romance on the side?\ \ Love Thrillers? So many horror books toe the line of thrillers.\ \ Love History? There are so many historical horrors out there to try out.\ \ Your favorite genre has a place in horror. There is a horror book out there for everyone! Want a rec to get you kickstarted? As for a rec on my profile page.\ \ Thanks for coming to my TED talk lol.\ \ Join for free or login](https://ashreadshorror.binderybooks.com/item/eSRBVSlLmBBDQSFv3TEq/)
15 books
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Read Rant Review\ \ Kaylee\ \ • Nov 28 2025
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7 books
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Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • Jun 27 2025
ICYMI - Horror Books I Will Never Stop Recommending
All Books Linked
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Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • May 22 2025
The scariest books of all time? #madisoncanread #horrorbooks #horrorbookrec #scarybooks #booksthatgavemenightmares #horrorbooktok #Inverted
19 books
Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • May 22 2025
If you like this, read this! #madisoncanread #horrorbooks #thrillerbooks #ifyoulikethisbookreadthisbook #ifyoulikethistrythat #Inverted
24 books
Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • Aug 18 2024
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Notes From The Mixed Up Desk, Sunday August 18
quick weekly update, giveaway update, future events
13 books
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Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • Aug 15 2024
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[Come and hang out this eve for some reading with book friends.\ \ 30 minutes reading. 30 minutes chatting.\ \ I am currently reading:\ \ Pretty by KB Brookins, a memoir about a black trans man in Texas and We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kilewer which is a horror book and the audio is SO CREEPY. I'm really enjoying both of these and hope to finish them both before this weekend.\ \ Work has been super crazy for me so I am looking to relax this weekend, make up some content (prepare for some Indigenous Bingo book videos as I go over each line to help people figure out where they want to start) and I want to try to read 3 books this weekend:\ \ an Indigenous book\ \ a horror book\ \ a romance\ \ Will you be joining us this evening at 5pm?\ \ What will you be reading?\ \ What are your weekend reading goals?\ \ Let me know down below!\ \ Naomi Darling is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.\ \ \ \ Topic: Quiet Time Reading Club\ \ Time: Aug 15, 2024 05:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)\ \ \ \ Join Zoom Meeting\ \ https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85164277849?pwd=Z08zM6gtAJfnvZ9SB0vBLJsEFnbqd1.1\\ \ \ \ Meeting ID: 851 6427 7849\ \ Passcode: 295186\ \ \ \
- *\ \ \ \ One tap mobile\ \ +16699006833,,85164277849#,,,,*295186# US (San Jose)\ \ +14086380968,,85164277849#,,,,*295186# US (San Jose)\ \ \ \
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TONIGHT: 5PM PST Quiet Time Reading Club on Zoom
Here is the link for the Zoom tonight. 30 minutes of quiet reading, 30 minutes chatting about the books we are reading. Come hang and make new book friends.
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