‼️reminder that there WILL be spoilers. i read these books so you don’t have to. or maybe you’ll get so intrigued that you will!‼️

i need to go ahead and talk about this book because I have another little weird book that I almost immediately DNF’d this month, and I cannot contain my thoughts about it ANY LONGER.

but let’s get into Spread Me by Sarah Gailey…

number of pages: 191

summary

A strange specimen hiding deep in the desert, in search of a place to hide. It may have just found the perfect person.

Kinsey has her dream job as the team leader in a remote research outpost. She loves the isolation and the way the desert keeps temptations from the civilian world far out of reach.

When her crew discovers a mysterious specimen buried deep in the sand, Kinsey breaks quarantine and brings it inside. But the longer it’s there, the more her carefully controlled life begins to unravel. Temptation has found her after all, and it can’t be ignored any longer.

One by one, Kinsey’s team realizes the thing they’re studying is in search of a new host — and one of them is the perfect candidate…

initial thoughts

admittedly, this is one of the books that inspired the beginning of this “little weird book” blog series! it came into the library, I saw how small it was, what the title was, and I thought…what in the world is this book all about?

the title alone already suggests some, well, suggestive material, so that wasn’t surprising to read throughout the story. honestly, I was more upset about Kinsey’s selfish motivations in regards to bringing this weird specimen INTO the the research outpost. like, even her team was questioning it, but she just broke the rules, and justified it because she was the team lead. so, nothing would have happened if they’d just followed protocol.

when she starts crying about all her crew members being overcome by the virus, I honestly can’t feel bad for her because she knew once she saw the virus on that thing they brought inside, that something wasn’t right. but she kept silent about it anyway. and also had…feelings for it. UMM WHAT?

lonely…i have nobody…for my oooown, OOOOHHHH

the main theme of this book is loneliness. Kinsey feels alone because of her attraction to viruses (yes, you read that right), and not to other humans. her whole team has slept with each other, formed bonds and relationships, and she only desires to do that with a virus. her loneliness, I believe, is what draws the virus in the creature to her; plus it can read her desires, and it wants her too, because it needs a host to survive.

but it’s crazy because every time the virus overtakes one of the team members, it blends in. it becomes hard to tell if someone is infected, or not, and THE ONLY WAY you can tell is if that person starts flirting and coming onto Kinsey. because the virus wants her bad.

Kinsey definitely feels some contradicting feelings. on one hand, she hates that her team is being overcome by a virus, and she has not antidote for it, no control over it. but on the other hand, she’s curious, and desires for it to feed on her. she was the worst person for this job, honestly.

and then there was one.

you guessed it…the virus overtakes each team member until it’s just Kinsey left. there is one moment before she runs away from the camp where Domino, the first team member to get sick, is trapped in the airlock with Kinsey, and the virus within them is talking to her about how it tried to change itself to look like a human so she could accept it. what does Kinsey do? she tells the virus that she never asked it to change for her – that she would accept it just as it is.

then she runs out into the desert. girl hops into the Jeep, and drives away. at this point, I’m thinking she might redeem my opinion about her by actually escaping or trying to get help.

she doesn’t.

she drives into the middle of the desert, strips naked, and falls in the sand so the virus within the “cryptobiotic crust” layer of the desert can take her completely.

the end.

weird scale from 1-10?

i give this a 9, and only because of the suggestive parts, and the fact that they’re dealing with viruses. attraction to viruses. i never thought I’d read such a book, but here we are!

this was the other book for book club in February, and the other readers definitely agreed about the thoughts I wrote about. it’s also interesting because I looked up the author, and apparently, they’re releasing another book that goes into the theme of loneliness again. this might just be their era and genre right now, so they’re milking it for all it’s worth, and you know, I can respect that. utilize the feelings and emotions you have, and put it into your writing! i do it all the time.

i didn’t think the weirdness could get any worse than this…and then i wanted to read the next book i’ll discuss in the next blog post. or maybe i’ll give y’all a break from weird books, and FINALLY post another demon slayer blog (I KNOW, I KNOW, IT’S SO LATE, BUT IT’S IN THE DRAFTS, UNFINISHED, I PROMISE).

thank you for reading!

Mishy 🦋🦠