The Other Emily by Dean Koontz

 The Other Emily by Dean Koontz

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘

Genre - Thriller, Murder, Suspense, Psychological Thriller

Format - Paperback

Length - 365 pages

*Amazon Blurb*

A decade ago, Emily Carlino vanished after her car broke down on a California highway. She was presumed to be one of serial killer Ronny Lee Jessup’s victims whose remains were never found.

Writer David Thorne still hasn’t recovered from losing the love of his life, or from the guilt of not being there to save her. Since then, he’s sought closure any way he can. He even visits regularly with Jessup in prison, desperate for answers about Emily’s final hours so he may finally lay her body to rest. Then David meets Maddison Sutton, beguiling, playful, and keenly aware of all David has lost. But what really takes his breath away is that everything about Maddison, down to her kisses, is just like Emily. As the fantastic becomes credible, David’s obsession grows, Maddison’s mysterious past deepens—and terror escalates.

Is she Emily? Or an irresistible dead ringer? Either way, the ultimate question is the same: What game is she playing? Whatever the risk in finding out, David’s willing to take it for this precious second chance. It’s been ten years since he’s felt this inspired, this hopeful, this much in love…and he’s afraid.

*My Review*

I remember Dean Koontz was one of my favorite readers when I was younger. I know that there's a lot of people who enjoy his books. Unfortunately, it seems that the books I've read by him as I've gotten older I haven't cared for. This was one of them. 

Now don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the book.....right up until the end. There was a lot going on with Maddison and could she be Emily, but how and I felt cheated with the ending. It was almost like he just wanted to finished it and threw something together or had someone else write an ending to a book and he decided to use it for this one. Maybe it's just me and what my interests are, but I felt the ending was a totally different genere.

The Desolations of Devil's Acre (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children) by Ransom Riggs

The Desolations of Devil's Acre
(Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children)
by Ransom Riggs

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘

Genre - Children's Books, Teen & Young Adult, Fiction

Format - Paperback

Length - 512 pages

*Amazon Blurb*

The last thing Jacob Portman saw before the world went dark was a terrible, familiar face.
Suddenly, he and Noor are back in the place where everything began—his grandfather’s house. Jacob doesn’t know how they escaped from V’s loop to find themselves in Florida. But he does know one thing for certain: Caul has returned.
After a narrow getaway from a blood- thirsty hollow, Jacob and Noor reunite with Miss Peregrine and the peculiar children in Devil’s Acre. The Acre is being plagued by desolations—weather fronts of ash and blood and bone—a terrible portent of Caul’s amassing army.
Risen from the Library of Souls and more powerful than ever, Caul and his apocalyptic agenda seem unstoppable. Only one hope remains—deliver Noor to the meeting place of the seven prophesied ones. If they can decipher its secret location.

*My Review*

 

I have enjoyed this series more than I probably should have since it's more of a young teen book (in my opinion). I did feel like this one sort of dragged on a little bit longer than need be in some spots, but it was worth the read. As with all the previous books, the story picks up where the last one left off so you're not trying to remember what happened. I was sad that the series was ending. I have watched the movie for the first book in the series (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children) and really wish they made movies for the rest of them. Generally the book to movie adaptations really suck, but they were able to match the characters perfectly and stick to the storyline.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘

Genre - Time Travel, Literary Fiction

Format - Hardcover

Length - 304 pages

*Amazon Blurb* 

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better? 

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

*My Review*

I thoroughly enjoy reading this book. If you've ever mentioned "parallel universe" then you'll probably enjoy this book too. Nora basically gets to check out what her "other" life is like. Many people might think that it would be great to change something about their life, but what they don't tend to remember is that each action, each choice has a consequence and can alter everything in your life. Including the things you really love.

Thirteen Reason Why by Jay Asher

 

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘

Genre - Teen Fiction, Suicide, Family Issues

Format - Audio Book

Length - 6 hours 24 minutes

*Amazon Blurb*

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush, who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice explains that there are 13 reasons she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why. Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a first-hand witness to Hannah's pain, and learns the truth about himself - a truth he never wanted to face.

*My Review*

 This wasn't a book I'd normally read, but I was trying to find something to listen to while on the treadmill and got frustrated looking so I downloaded the first available one....this was it.

Poor Hannah has decided to end her life, but it wasn't just one incident that brought her to this decision - it was thirteen. She let things build up in sort of a snowball effect until she couldn't take it anymore. The fact that she made tapes to explain all the hurt she felt made me feel bad for her even though she wasn't nice in them. There were things that she should've told someone about, but decided to not say anything. It just goes to show that one person really can make a big difference in someone's life and that big difference just could be a life or death one. People should raise kids to be kind and to keep in mind that you never know what someone else is going thru. It's easy to ignore someone, but worth taking a few minutes to check in with them.

 

Before And After by Lisa Wingate and Judy Christie

 

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘

Genre - Adoption, Women in History

Format - Paperback

Length - 320 Pages

*Amazon Blurb*

From the 1920s to 1950, Georgia Tann ran a black-market baby business at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in Memphis. She offered up more than 5,000 orphans tailored to the wish lists of eager parents—hiding the fact that many weren’t orphans at all, but stolen sons and daughters of poor families, desperate single mothers, and women told in maternity wards that their babies had died.

The publication of Lisa Wingate’s novel Before We Were Yours brought new awareness of Tann’s lucrative career in child trafficking. Adoptees who knew little about their pasts gained insight into the startling facts behind their family histories. Encouraged by their contact with Wingate and award-winning journalist Judy Christie, who documented the stories of fifteen adoptees in this book, many determined Tann survivors set out to trace their roots and find their birth families.

Before and After includes moving and sometimes shocking accounts of the ways in which adoptees were separated from their first families. Often raised as only children, many have joyfully reunited with siblings in the final decades of their lives. Christie and Wingate tell of first meetings that are all the sweeter and more intense for time missed and of families from very different social backgrounds reaching out to embrace better-late-than-never brothers, sisters, and cousins. In a poignant culmination of art meeting life, many of the long-silent victims of the tragically corrupt system return to Memphis with the authors to reclaim their stories at a Tennessee Children’s Home Society reunion . . . with extraordinary results.

*My Review*

The emotions that I felt reading this book was not all that surprising to me. It was raw and real. Why? Because the stories in this book are the true stories of what children endured at the hands of a Ms. Georgia Tann, a real life monster. When I first heard of this book I knew right away that I need to read it after having already read Before We Were Yours, a book that will turn your world upside down. You can read my review on that here.

I was so glad for this book because it provided some closure to what happened to so many of the children Tennessee Children’s Home Society in Memphis. Unfortunlatey, not all of them got a happy ending, but so many of them did.

Black Rain: Book One by Eli Salas and Raven Mills

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Magical Realism
Format - Paperback
Length - 550 Pages

*Amazon Blurb*

An old woman named Amira recalls the beginnings of her journey when she is whisked away from her home in Cameroon to become a slave in Colonized America with her close friend Anikah. She is indoctrinated and forced to forget her old ways over the eight years of service on plantations. She learns to survive in a world that is not her own.
However, destiny calls when she is crosses paths with an Azteco Spirit Warrior named Rain, and his beaver friend, Schemer. Knowing the dangers, Amira finds liberation through magic and mystery and living among the Azteco people. She is forced to question her beliefs and confront her past as her life becomes intertwined with the gods who are vicariously puppeteering from their divine plane.

Ever since they fled the sword and iron fist of White Men, a surviving tribe of Aztecs has lived in peace for centuries. But when the young tribesman Rain becomes a man and earns the right to explore the forbidden forest beyond the tribal territory, what he finds will shake him to his core.
It’s a white man’s city with bustling boulevards and towering mansions; a whole separate world just through the wilds. Have the tribal elders known about this city all along? With his startling discovery, Rain is forced to question everything he thought he knew. In a tale that combines the historical with the fantastical, Amira will discover her power within to escape the death grip of slavery. Rain will realize just how easily generations of tribal peace can be broken. But thanks to spirit animals, which allow their human counterparts to communicate regardless of language, Rain still has a chance to save his people and unravel the dark mysteries of the city ruled by white men. Amira will find her warrior spirit once again. He might even succeed—or so it seems at first. The crossing of these two worlds brings about an ancient Aztec prophecy, one not seen since Rain’s ancestors were nearly wiped out. And a dire message from an ancient god can only mean one thing: the Azteco battle for survival has only just begun.

*My Review*
This book is not a genre that I generally agree to read, however it had been a while since I had someone request a review and this is why I accept them....to ready things I wouldn't normally read. Let me tell you I am glad I did! The book easily switches back and forth between the two main characters, Amira and Rain. At first, I wasn't didn't understand why the story kept switching back and forth between two people who had nothing in common. However, as I continued to read it became clear and also impossible to put down. The characters were developed wonderfully. The book did seem slow to start, but once I got started, I couldn't stop, and I can't wait for the next one the series to be released.

One of my favorite things about two authors collaborating on a book is when they both write different characters. It gives each of them a completely different feel that some authors really try to do but are not always able to.

The Perfect Family by Shalini Boland

 

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Psychological Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller
Format - Paperback
Length - 282 Pages

*Amazon Blurb*

‘Mummy, she’s gone…’ 

Gemma Ballantine is getting ready for work one morning when her eldest child comes running down the stairs, saying the words every mother dreads. 

 The front door is open. And her six-year-old daughter has disappeared. Frantic with fear, Gemma starts a nail-biting search for her little girl. 

After what feels like forever, her mother-in-law Diane finds Katie wandering lost a few streets away. Relieved to have her youngest child back in her arms, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair, Gemma thinks the nightmare is over. 

But then her perfect family starts to fall apart. And she realises it’s only just beginning…

 

*My Review* 

 

This book was twisting throughout the whole thing. Is Gemma really just having the worst luck or is someone out to get her.....and if so, who and WHY? There really is no such thing as the perfect family. I did NOT see the ending coming and those are the ones that I love the most.

I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll

 

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘
Genre - Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Murder Thriller, Mysteries
Format - Paperback
Length - 299 Pages

*Amazon Blurb*

What would it take to make you intervene?

When Ella Longfield overhears two attractive young men flirting with teenage girls on a train, she thinks nothing of it―until she realises they are fresh out of prison and her maternal instinct is put on high alert. But just as she’s decided to call for help, something stops her. The next day, she wakes up to the news that one of the girls―beautiful, green-eyed Anna Ballard―has disappeared.
A year later, Anna is still missing. Ella is wracked with guilt over what she failed to do, and she’s not the only one who can’t forget. Someone is sending her threatening letters―letters that make her fear for her life.
Then an anniversary appeal reveals that Anna’s friends and family might have something to hide. Anna’s best friend, Sarah, hasn’t been telling the whole truth about what really happened that night―and her parents have been keeping secrets of their own.
Someone knows where Anna is―and they’re not telling. But they are watching Ella.

 

*My Review* 

 

I did NOT see the ending coming!!! Although the book was slow and not all that suspenseful, I would've never guessed the ending. In a way it made me think in the beginning...would I have said anything? Honestly, I don't think I would have, or many other people. Mind your business is just how things are. I didn't really care for the main character, Ella. I mean bad things happen to good people all the time. Even if she had spoken up, teenagers will do what they want and I don't think it would've changed anything....except then there wouldn't have been a book.
Regardless, Ella becomes obsessed with the disappearance of Anna which makes her a bit creepy. The only reason I rated the book as high as I did is because of the ending.

The Friends We Keep by Susan Mallory

 

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘
Genre - Fiction, Women's Friendship, Women's Domestic Life
Format - Paperback
Length - 416 Pages

*Amazon Blurb*

After five years as a stay-at-home mom, Gabby Schaefer can't wait to return to work. Oh, to use the bathroom in peace! No twins clamoring at the door, no husband barging in, no stepdaughter throwing a tantrum. But when her plans are derailed by some shocking news and her husband's crushing expectations, Gabby must fight for the right to have a life of her own. 

Getting pregnant is easy for Hayley Batchelor. Staying pregnant is the hard part. Her husband is worried about the expensive fertility treatments and frantic about the threat to her health. But to Hayley, a woman who was born to be a mom should risk everything to fulfill her destiny—no matter how high the cost. 

Nicole Lord is still shell-shocked by a divorce that wasn't as painful as it should've been. Other than the son they share, her ex-husband left barely a ripple in her life. A great new guy tempts her to believe maybe the second time's the charm…but how can she trust herself to recognize true love? 

 As their bonds of friendship deepen against the beautiful backdrop of Mischief Bay, Gabby, Hayley and Nicole will rely on good food, good wine and especially each other to navigate life's toughest changes.

 

*My Review* 

 

No matter your group of friends, I'm sure you will find a Gabby, Hayley and Nicole in it. I
couldn't believe how connected I felt to one f the characters. It was almost like Susan was writing about me and not some fictional character.
The book bounces back and forth between each friend and their situation. It is very easy to follow and it helps see that, though your friends (even best friends) may seem fine on the outside, there could be things going on that you're not aware of.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘
Genre - Fiction, Holocaust, Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Foster Home
Format - Paperback
Length - 608 Pages

*Amazon Blurb*

When Death has a story to tell, you listen.
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.
Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

 

*My Review* 

 

Another book club book and also another one that was hard to get thru. Not only was this book extremely long, but in my opinion it was extremely boring too. I felt like it wasn't going anywhere at all. There was no suspense, no excitement.....nothing. The only thing that I wanted to know is what happened to the Jewish man.

I also decided to force my poor husband to watch the movie with me. I generally don't watch movies of the books I've read because, let's face it, books are better. I had heard from a couple different people that the movie was better than the book in this case. I agree and disagree at the same time. I feel that the movie gave the book a bit more desire to finish, but it also missed some parts that I feel were very necessary in understanding things.

The Orphan Collector by Ellen Marie Wiseman

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Fiction, World War, Historical Fiction, Coming of Age
Format - Paperback
Length - 304 Pages

*Amazon Blurb*

In the fall of 1918, thirteen-year-old German immigrant Pia Lange longs to be far from Philadelphia’s overcrowded slums and the anti-immigrant sentiment that compelled her father to enlist in the U.S. Army. But as her city celebrates the end of war, an even more urgent threat arrives: the Spanish flu. Funeral crepe and quarantine signs appear on doors as victims drop dead in the streets and desperate survivors wear white masks to ward off illness. When food runs out in the cramped tenement she calls home, Pia must venture alone into the quarantined city in search of supplies, leaving her baby brothers behind. 

Bernice Groves has become lost in grief and bitterness since her baby died from the Spanish flu. Watching Pia leave her brothers alone, Bernice makes a shocking, life-altering decision. It becomes her sinister mission to tear families apart when they’re at their most vulnerable, planning to transform the city’s orphans and immigrant children into what she feels are “true Americans.” 

Waking in a makeshift hospital days after collapsing in the street, Pia is frantic to return home. Instead, she is taken to St. Vincent’s Orphan Asylum – the first step in a long and arduous journey. As Bernice plots to keep the truth hidden at any cost in the months and years that follow, Pia must confront her own shame and fear, risking everything to see justice – and love – triumph at last. Powerful, harrowing, and ultimately exultant, The Orphan Collector is a story of love, resilience, and the lengths we will go to protect those who need us most.

 

*My Review* 

 

Another book that was read for my book club and finally a book that I can get excited about reviewing!

I think it's hard to write reviews when you get stuck in a rut and read a lot of books you don't enjoy. Ellen Marie Wiseman was the author who got my love of reading started as an adult with her book What She Left Behind.

The name of the book, The Orphan Collector, gave me a different view of what I thought the book would be about. I'm not saying it was bad at all, since I really enjoyed this one. I was simply thinking of it in a different light I guess you could say. I can't imagine being anyone who lived during a war. The unimaginable things that they witness or are a part of is just too much to think about. I feel so helpless for them. It's no different for me reading a boo even though it's fiction. A great book makes you feel for the characters and I couldn't have felt more sympathetic for poor Pia. Imagine your whole family being taken from you and no one will listen and help you!!

Of course a good book has to have it's villain, right? Bernice couldn't have fit this position any better. Reading from her point of view made me want to reach into the book and beat her. The things she did are beyond horrible.

The President Is Missing by James Patterson and Bill Clinton

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘
Genre - Fiction, Political Fiction, International Mystery, Mystery
Format - Audio book
Length - 12 hours 55 minutes

*Amazon Blurb*

The White House is the home of the president of the United States, the most guarded, monitored, closely watched person in the world. So how could a US president vanish without a trace? And why would he choose to do so?
An unprecedented collaboration between President Bill Clinton and the world's best-selling novelist, James Patterson, The President Is Missing is a breathtaking story from the pinnacle of power. Full of what it truly feels like to be the person in the Oval Office - the mind-boggling pressure, the heartbreaking decisions, the exhilarating opportunities, the soul-wrenching power - this is the thriller of the decade, confronting the darkest threats that face the world today, with the highest stakes conceivable.

*My Review* 

 

Not trying to spoil the book, but I will say that it wasn't nearly as thrilling as I thought it was going to be. It definitely was not what I was expecting at all. The president doesn't just up and vanish without a trace....not really anyways. 

 

There were a ton of characters, which I never enjoy because it's too hard to keep them all straight. This one not only has multiple "good guys", but also multiple "bad guys". Just all too much for me. 

Frightfully Ever After by Nick DeWolf

 

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘
Genre - Format - E-book

*Amazon Blurb*

"Do you know what the difference is between a fairy godmother and a witch?"
"What?"
"Not a goddamn thing."
Fairies and dragons are real, and live alongside giants, goblins and trolls. Fairy godmothers exist. The woodsman, that one from the story books? Yeah, he’s real too. They’re all out there, living in the world, right under your nose.
But they’re not alone. There’s another side to the coin. Witches are real. Monsters are real. Things that slither through shadows and bite at your skin are real.
The big bad wolf is very real.
And poor Anastasia – she was born with magical royal blood. She should have been a princess, but grew up under the thumb of a vicious crime boss. She’s lived a life of pain, fear, and violence. In a desperate attempt to get away, she will find herself surrounded by all those things she thought never existed.
Good, bad, and evil.
FRIGHTFULLY EVER AFTER is a slow burn urban fantasy with guns, horror, sex, and monsters. People get hurt. People get killed. People get eaten. And only the toughest get to live Happily Ever After.

*My Review* 

 

Nick DeWolf is an author I never would have normally picked up to read as I tend to stay within my suspense genre. However, that's the good thing about being a blogger and having a Facebook group. You get to meet authors you normally wouldn't have. I previously read one of Nick's books, Villains Never Die and enjoyed it so I figured why not read another one by him. I'll admit this book took me foooorever to read. It was an ebook and they always take much longer to read that a physical book which is why I always ask for a psychical copy for requested reviews.

This book is like a typical fairy tale, if fairy tales weren't all princess, sparkles and happy endings. I'm not saying this one didn't have a happy ending, but I'm not saying it does either. As much as I enjoyed the book I did find the conversations between Gayle and Mary a bit annoying sometimes. They seemed to make a lot sounds that actual words in certain parts. I think Ana is probably my favorite "princess" ever. There's no crown, frilly dresses, castle or any of that other dreamy princess stuff you normally have in books. 

A 4 book rating is pretty good since, like I have said before, I don't normally read fantasy. If you do (or even if you don't), you should definitely check this out.

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

 

 

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Fiction,
Format - Audio book
Length - 10 hours 41 minutes

*Amazon Blurb*

“Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.” 

After her mother's suicide, fifteen year-old Lane Roanoke came to live with her grandparents and fireball cousin, Allegra, on their vast estate in rural Kansas. Lane knew little of her mother's mysterious family, but she quickly embraced life as one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls. But when she discovered the dark truth at the heart of the family, she ran…fast and far away. 

Eleven years later, Lane is adrift in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls to tell her Allegra has gone missing. Did she run too? Or something worse? Unable to resist his pleas, Lane returns to help search, and to ease her guilt at having left Allegra behind. Her homecoming may mean a second chance with the boyfriend whose heart she broke that long ago summer. But it also means facing the devastating secret that made her flee, one she may not be strong enough to run from again. 

As it weaves between Lane’s first Roanoke summer and her return, The Roanoke Girls shocks and tantalizes, twisting its way through revelation after mesmerizing revelation, exploring the secrets families keep and the fierce and terrible love that both binds them together and rips them apart.

*My Review* 

 

If you like crazy, messed up families with huge secrets, then this books is perfect for you. I did get annoyed a times with the characters, but isn't that part of what makes a good book good? Lane  is the center of most of my frustration. Pull yourself together and act your age.

I can't really say much of what happened (the Amazon blub does a good job at that), but I remember the ending of the book made me sit there and ask...."seriously" what did I just listen to.

The Immortals Series by Alyson Noel

 

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘
Genre - Young Adult, Paranormal Romance, Science Fiction

*Amazon Blurb* (from the 1st book)

After a horrible accident claimed the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever Bloom can see people's auras, hear their thoughts, and know someone's entire life story by touching them. Going out of her way to avoid human contact and suppress her abilities, she has been branded a freak at her new high school―but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste.

Damen is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy. He's the only one who can silence the noise and random energy in her head―wielding a magic so intense, it's as though he can peer straight into her soul. As Ever is drawn deeper into his enticing world of secrets and mystery, she's left with more questions than answers. And she has no idea just who he really is―or what he is. The only thing she knows to be true is that she's falling deeply and helplessly in love with him.

*My Review* 

 

I normally wouldn't review a whole series at once, but I feel that it's the only proper way to do this series. I will also start off with a major SPOILER ALERT disclaimer because reviewing more than one book obviously will give away things in earlier books.

SPOILER ALERT

 (continue at your own risk)

Ok, so I had the first 3 in this series sitting around for a while and decided I wanted to some easy reading and generally young adult is perfect for that. Book 1 Evermore: The Immortals did not disappoint. It was an extremely fast read and I found myself diving into book 2 (Blue Moon) as soon as I was finished. My book 3 (Shadowland), however I was getting over the whole story-line already. I mean the girl names were a bit of a struggle to get over to begin with....Ever, Haven, Honor.... just weird for me. Then of course there's Damen the other main character of the story. He who is thousands of years old, but can't wait until Ever has finished high school to "turn" her. And no this isn't a vampire book. I will actually leave that one for your to find out on your own. Regardless, you now have one of these Twilight types of situations where the characters will forever be a teenager. I would never want to live forever as a teenager, no thank you.

 

Back to the story.... many things do happen during books 4-6 (Dark Flame, Night Star and Everlasting), but it all really boils down to just one thing.....sex! Yup, that's all it's about. Right from the beginning Ever and Damon are kept from "hooking up" due to a spell that is put upon them. Um hello, she's just 16 (in this life) and they have eternity to live, but all that Ever is worried about is them being together. Seriously? I really thought there would be more going on in the other books, besides that one main situation, but there really wasn't. 

 

I don't think I'd have read past book 2 if my OCD to finish any series I start hadn't been so overwhelming. I simply read as fast and as often I could to finish them. Maybe I'd have enjoyed them better if I were a young adult, but I'm not and so we'll never know.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘
Genre - Women Sleuth Mystery, Psychological Thriller
Format - Audio-book
Length - 9 hours an 34 minutes


*Amazon Blurb*

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.

*My Review* 

 

It seems more often than not, the main character in a book irritate me. Camille's mother made me get so angry at Camille for not speaking up to her mom. She is a horrible woman and treats her daughter awful. I wasn't able to figure out the "who done it" as quickly in this book as some I've read. I thought I had it, then something would happen to make me second guess myself. 

Camille was also not very likeable especially when it comes to her old boyfriend. I can't tell you how many times I did an eye roll at her.

Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘
Genre - Kidnapping Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Murder Thriller
Format - Paperback
Length - 432 pages


*Amazon Blurb*

The danger isn’t all in your head . . . 

Growing up, Kate Priddy was always a bit neurotic, experiencing momentary bouts of anxiety that exploded into full blown panic attacks after an ex-boyfriend kidnapped her and nearly ended her life. When Corbin Dell, a distant cousin in Boston, suggests the two temporarily swap apartments, Kate, an art student in London, agrees, hoping that time away in a new place will help her overcome the recent wreckage of her life. 

But soon after her arrival at Corbin’s grand apartment on Beacon Hill, Kate makes a shocking discovery: his next-door neighbor, a young woman named Audrey Marshall, has been murdered. When the police question her about Corbin, a shaken Kate has few answers, and many questions of her own—curiosity that intensifies when she meets Alan Cherney, a handsome, quiet tenant who lives across the courtyard, in the apartment facing Audrey’s. Alan saw Corbin surreptitiously come and go from Audrey’s place, yet he’s denied knowing her. Then, Kate runs into a tearful man claiming to be the dead woman’s old boyfriend, who insists Corbin did the deed the night that he left for London. 

When she reaches out to her cousin, he proclaims his innocence and calms her nerves . . . until she comes across disturbing objects hidden in the apartment—and accidently learns that Corbin is not where he says he is. Could Corbin be a killer? And what about Alan? Kate finds herself drawn to this appealing man who seems so sincere, yet she isn’t sure. Jetlagged and emotionally unstable, her imagination full of dark images caused by the terror of her past, Kate can barely trust herself . . . So how could she take the chance on a stranger she’s just met?
Yet the danger Kate imagines isn’t nearly as twisted and deadly as what’s about to happen. When her every fear becomes very real. 

And much, much closer than she thinks.

*My Review* 

 

I was really too into this one. I know that Kate is supposed to be neurotic, but she really just kind of annoyed me with how involved she got with things and then seemed to take everything into her own hands. For me there wasn't much suspense as I felt I was able to figure things out quite quickly.

The Widow by Fiona Barton

 

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Kidnapping Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Murder Thriller
Format - Paperback
Length - 432 pages


*Amazon Blurb*

There’s a lot Jean hasn’t said over the years about the crime her husband was suspected of committing. She was too busy being the perfect wife, standing by her man while living with the accusing glares and the anonymous harassment. 

Now her husband is dead, and there’s no reason to stay quiet. There are people who want to hear her story. They want to know what it was like living with that man. She can tell them that there were secrets. There always are in a marriage. 

The truth—that’s all anyone wants. But the one lesson Jean has learned in the last few years is that she can make people believe anything...

*My Review* 

 

How faithful would you be to a man that's dead. Do you tell the story you've always told, do you tell the people what you want them to hear or do you tell them the truth? As much as I enjoyed this book, I found Jean another character that really annoyed me (seems to be almost every book lately, so maybe it's me). She seems to just go along with whatever any tells her. First her husband, then the reporter and even the police. 

If her husband is innocent of the crime everyone thinks he committed then why not move and start somewhere fresh where you don't have people practically living on your doorstep for the story? If he's guilty, then why hide it? He's dead and not going to hurt you if you tell.

Someone We Know by Shari Lapena

 

 Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘
Genre - Domestic Thriller, Psychological Thriller
Format - Audio-book
Length - 7 hours and 50 minutes


*Amazon Blurb*

Maybe you don't know your neighbors as well as you thought you did . . . 

"This is a very difficult letter to write. I hope you will not hate us too much. . . My son broke into your home recently while you were out." In a quiet, leafy suburb in upstate New York, a teenager has been sneaking into houses--and into the owners' computers as well--learning their secrets, and maybe sharing some of them, too. Who is he, and what might he have uncovered? After two anonymous letters are received, whispers start to circulate, and suspicion mounts. And when a woman down the street is found murdered, the tension reaches the breaking point. Who killed her? Who knows more than they're telling? And how far will all these very nice people go to protect their own secrets? In this neighborhood, it's not just the husbands and wives who play games. Here, everyone in the family has something to hide . . . 

You never really know what people are capable of.

*My Review* 

 

The starts out with a woman being murdered, but not sure who the killer is. Ok, I like suspense. Unfortunatley the book seems to then veer off course and it becomes more about a boy breaking into peoples houses. I mean it still went on about trying to figure out who the murderer was and giving all sort of suspects and possibilities, but for me the boy and his mother seemed to take over.

I couldn't really get into this. The mom writes a letter to apologize for her son breaking into people houses. I get why she feels bad, but her character annoyed the crap out of me. She kept doing things that made the situation worse...was that part of the story or was she just annoying?

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

 

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘
Genre - Magical Realism, Historical Fantasy, Holiday Romance
Format - Paperback
Length - 516 pages


*Amazon Blurb*

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.

*My Review* 

 

I was super excited to start this book. I loved the cover and had seen lots of 5 star reviews on Instagram. At first it just seemed to go slow. I figured it just needed some time to pick up speed. At almost 1/2 way threw I contemplated making it my second DNF (did not finish), but I don't like to think of myself as a quitter when it comes to reading. I thought if I keep going I've got to be able to figure it out. Finally I did, but the whole book make no sense to me and when I thought it should have ended....it kept going with even more nonsense. 

This is one I will not recommend at all (sorry to those who enjoyed it).