Book Review: Off Season by Jennifer Weiner

Author: Jennifer Weiner

Title: Off Season

Genre: Horror, Short Story, Paranormal

Format: Ebook

Pages: 26

Published: October 19, 2021

Where I Got It: Borrowed from library

Summary: 

Sarah Vernon has spent twenty years trying to make it as a novelist…and she’s never even come close. None of her novels has sold more than five thousand copies, and she’s never earned enough money to make fiction her full-time job. After her last disappointing publication, Sarah’s agent dumped her, and it seems like her dream is dead. Sarah vows that she’ll do anything for one last shot at the bestseller list.

Enter Will Presser. Nicknamed The Viper, Will is a literary agent whose career-making reputation precedes him. A business dinner ends with a nightcap at Will’s apartment—and a night Sarah can’t remember. When she wakes up the next morning, Will says he’s got a plan to make her new book a hit. He sends Sarah off to Elder Island, a summer playground for the rich and famous that empties out between September and May, for her own personal writer’s retreat. He’s left word that Sarah needs complete privacy in order to write, and Sarah’s too bewildered and flattered by Will’s attention to do anything but pack her bags and board the ferry.

Alone in an isolated mansion, Sarah’s writing has never come more easily. She spends hours each day lost in a trance, falling into the world of her story. She tries not to worry about the nightmares that plague her…or the mornings she wakes up with dirt on her feet and blood under her fingernails. ​

Everything Will Presser touches becomes a success, and, now, Will Presser has touched me , Sarah thinks.

But Elder Island isn’t the pretty summer playground it seems to be, and Sarah’s going to learn that success comes at a cost, and that, whenever you sign a deal, it’s always wise to read the fine print.

Review:

I have enjoyed some of this author's chick lits in the past. I randomly stumbled upon this while looking for a spooky Halloween read.....

Okay...so we have Sarah who is a writer. She teams up with Will Presser who is a literary agent that can turn anything into gold. Will have a plan for Sarah to make her next book a hit. He sends Sarah off to Elder Island to work on her next book in silence. This island is a summer playground for the rich and famous, but it is completely empty from September to May. While alone, Sarah's writing has never come more easily to her. She spends hours each day lost in a trance. However, she has these horrid nightmares that are plaguing her. There are some mornings she wakes up with dirt on her feet and blood under her nails. Sarah will learn that success comes at a cost. 

What

on

Earth

Did

I

Just

Read??????????????????????????????????????

I really and truly cannot wrap my mind around what I read. I finished this while in the waiting room for my therapy session. When I got home I re-read the last few pages and I am still at a loss. 

Me =  

This wasn't necessarily bad. But it was.....weird....and gross. THAT POOR DOG! *shakes fist* Ugh why????? But yes, trigger warning. Poor baby pup and kitten. 

I may stick with the chick lits going forward. This was wild.

I'll give this 2 stars. It would be 1, but the short did what it intended to do (I believe). Confuse you, give you chills, gross you out, and leave you feeling odd.