Some more reviews from standout books from August and September!
A big thank you to Hailey for sharing this copy with me at Haunt the Readers in August!
SHE ISN’T HERSELF TONIGHT – Hailey Piper (Releasing October 27th, 2026)
Book Description:
When Rabbit was ten years old, she was abducted by aliens. Then, it happened again when she was twenty. Now thirty, she’s ready for their next visit. What she isn’t prepared for is her boyfriend callously ending their long-term relationship and ejecting her from their shared home.
As her birthday approaches, the aliens still haven’t arrived. Rabbit descends into a spiral of growing paranoia and bizarre bodily transformations, until soon it seems that even her reflection has a mind of its own. With her only refuge being the chaos of strangers who might not have her best interests at heart, Rabbit worries that her ex’s abandonment not only severed her from his life, but also from her own. Struggling to orient herself within a world growing more topsy-turvy by the day, Rabbit must regain control before her aliens at last return.
My Thoughts: 5/5 stars
August has been off to an incredible start. Reading about an online entity and challenge horrors to this emotional cosmic horror was perfection and truly illustrates the range in this genre. If you haven’t picked up anything by Hailey Piper, then you’re just depriving yourself of amazing books.
I think the alien abductions correlating with major transitional points in our lives, at ages 10, 20, and approaching 30, was incredible and a great way to illustrate finding yourself and learning things about who you think you are. Rabbit is going through it and her vulnerability and struggles made her so relatable, even with the cosmic horror looming.
The story and character development packed into 250 pages is mind blowing because not a single chapter is wasted in creating Rabbit’s world without feeling overloaded. Without risking spoilers, the body horror elements in this were expertly placed and something I won’t soon forget!
Do you like aliens? Cosmic horror mixed with some body horror? Characters who are unbelievably relatable, no matter the odd circumstances? Quick chapters that turn “one more” into nine more? This is the book.
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