ARC Review Roundup: The Night Shift, The Club, and The Book of Cold Cases

 I received ARCs of these book from the publisher in exchange for honest reviews. This did not affect my opinion of the books or my reviews themselves.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

I was especially excited to get an ARC of this book, as I really enjoyed Finlay's Every Last Fear. The Night Shift features two small-town murders years apart, where teenagers are murdered at local businesses after hours. The survivors from both crimes find themselves linked together, as well as an FBI agent, and the brother of the original suspect. The original suspect has never been seen again since he made bail, and fear is gripping the town once again.

This is a great book full of complex characters, secrets from the past, and lots of twists and turns. I could not put it down, and finished it quickly. The ending was a complete shocker to me that worked so well.

This book was a bit of a disappointment to me. I was highly intrigued by the concept, a very high-end getaway for those on the A list, where people suddenly start disappearing and turning up dead. I pictured a celebrity And Then There Were None.

This was not a bad book by any means. It kept my attention, and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. But the story moved slowly, and there wasn't a real heightened sense of danger. No one really seemed to know what was going on while it was happening, and so there wasn't any of that tension and fear that really make a book like this exciting and gripping. 

I'm not against recommending this book, just know going in it's a lot tamer than you're probably hoping for.

I have really enjoyed every book of St. James I have read. She has a way of twining together mysteries that feel real world with elements of the supernatural and paranormal, making it all feel realistic and as if it could happen in any small town. 

In The Book of Cold Cases, Shea Collins runs her own true crime blog. Having thwarted her own almost-abduction, she lives in fear and uses her blog as her outlet. By chance at her day job, she meets Beth Greer, once suspected of being The Lady Killer, the most infamous murderer to hit Claire Lake.

This book is eerie, scary, suspenseful, and full of twists and turns. The characters are complex and highly complicated, blood runs from taps and footsteps sound where they shouldn't, and there's even a romance that made me giddy. St. James keeps the hits coming, and I already can't wait for her next book.

ARC Review Roundup: The Christie Affair, Honey Roasted, and This Might Hurt

 

While there have been many books, fiction and non-fiction, that have tackled Agatha Christie's eleven day disappearance, this novel's spin on it is one full of twists and turns and clever creativity.

Nan O'Dea is our narrator through much of the story, and is Christie's husband Archie's mistress. Agatha is devastated by the knowledge that the affair is a serious one, and Archie fears that it was his actions that sent Agatha spiraling into drastic action. 

But there is more going on than meets the eye, and de Gramont delivers every surprise with aplomb. While Agatha Christie is my favorite author, I honestly saw none of the twists coming. This is not only a fresh take on a famous unsolved mystery, but one that is so well-thought out and so well-written that I could not put it down.

This is a cozy mystery that includes bees, honey, coffee, heroic rescues, drugs, an engagement possibly on the rocks, stances on food production, and a poetry slam, and somehow Coyle makes it all work.

I've always enjoyed this cozy mystery series centered around a coffee shop, mainly for the reason described above. No matter what the mystery is about, no matter what other side plots are going on, you know it's all going to come together in a way that makes sense, with a resolution where the good guys win and the bad guys lose. You get some great romance as well. If you're looking for a fun, truly cozy read with short chapters that pack a lot in, I would definitely recommend this series.

This is not a book for the faint of heart, as made evident by the opening pages. 

It is a really well-written book, keeping you just on the edge of figuring things out until Wrobel is ready for the foreshadowing to come together brilliantly.

Wisewood promises participants that if they commit to a six month stay without technology, that they will teach them how to truly be fearless. But Natalie has received an email that fills her with fear-that someone on Wisewood, where her sister Kit is currently living, is going to tell Kit a secret about Natalie that will absolutely shatter them both. So Nat sets out to get into Wisewood, find her sister, and tell her herself. But nothing is what it seems, including Wisewood itself.

I have to admit, when I realized what was really going on within the story, I gasped out loud and actually clapped my hands, I was so pleased by Wrobel's cleverness. While there are definitely some parts that can be hard to read, this book is well worth that read.

ARC Review: The Accomplice

 

Publication Date: January 25th, 2022

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

This is a book that has left me unsure exactly how I feel about it.

 And that may be the point? That it makes me like the characters, who all seem to be left unsure how they feel about each other and their lives by the end. Lisa Lutz is a great author, so I could absolutely see her playing with her readers' emotions that way.

In The Accomplice, Owen and Luna have been extremely close since college. They've never dated, no one else is really sure why, but they've always been each other's person. They've been there for each other through two murders now (one? three? the book keeps this secret for the perfect amount of time), but both think they still have secrets from each other-and from the reader.

I was really into this book up until around the last quarter. I loved the reveals of the (many) secrets, and found myself completely shocked every time. I just felt like the last quarter didn't entirely work for me, but that feeling seems a lot like personal preference and not a commentary on the actual book. I wanted the characters to make different choices, but in the world of the book, I honestly don't think they could have. 

ARC Review: Reckless Girls

 

Publication Date: January 28th, 2022

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

This is a good book. It's a gripping read. I was a big fan of The Wife Upstairs by this same author.

But the way it was described made it sound way more like an Agatha Christie-type, killer among us on a deserted island vibe. And it really didn't come across that way for me.

Hawkins did a fantastic job on slowly building suspense, but not so slowly that I lost interest. I thought the flashbacks were really effective, and definitely hooked me on trying to deduce everyone's true backstory. Lux is a great narrator because she feels real, drifting around after a terrible loss and hoping that the man she is in love with will heal her. When another character's flashback starts, they read as a completely different person to Lux, and the way relationships form on the island as their found family crashes together is really compelling.

What I wasn't as in love with was that with so much suspense, the ending felt a little rushed, and almost a little pat. I did really enjoy the twists and turns, but I was hoping for more buildup Christie style.

ARC Review: My Sweet Girl

 

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

This is the definition of a haunting read.

Paloma was plucked from a Sri Lankan orphanage and taken to America, her new parents promising everything she and the other girls had always dreamed of. But now an adult Paloma is estranged from her supposed saviours, viewed as a disappointment by everyone who knows her, and threatened by the man subletting in her apartment, who has discovered her deepest most devestating secret.

But when that man is found dead by Paloma in her apartment, and then the body and blood disappear by the time the police arrive, Paloma feels the increasingly creeping dread that her past has come back to find her and this time it's not letting go.

What's especially eerie with this unreliable narrator is that sometimes even she isn't sure how unreliable she is. Is she really seeing the terrifying ghost of her childhood? Why doesn't she remember strange actions others swear they saw her do? Is it the drinking or something else? 

Then there are the things we readers know Paloma isn't telling us, in particular the overhanging life changing shattering secret that keeps being mentioned but never told. And I have to admit, when that secret was revealed, I was completely shaken. I never saw it coming, and everything that it meant just ripped everything that had come before out at the foundations. I'm honestly still thinking about those last few chapters and what they meant.

I would definitely recommend this book. It's eerie, it's an unreliable narrator who can't even trust herself, it's a giant secret from the past slowly brought into the light through tense flashbacks. It's a social commentary on what it means to be seen as a "brown person" an "Indian person" by those around you who don't try to know any better, it's seemingly small lies that shock when the truth behind them is finally revealed. It's women's faces in the windows in the pitch black night and the knowledge that maybe that ghost story from your childhood just might be real and looking straight back at you.

ARC Review: How to Kill Your Best Friend

 

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

In How to Kill Your Best Friend, a group of long-time friends, brought together by a passion for swimming, gathers to memoralize a murdered member of their group, Lissa. Staying at a failing island resort, quickly emptying of all other guests, Georgie and Bron become aware that something else beyond a funeral is going on, and that there might be more deaths before the trip is over.

The tension is high from the very beginning, when a main character shows up dressed the complete opposite of the funeral's requested dress code. Readers learn more about what has happened through the eyes of the deceased's best friend, Georgie, who was not present at the last group reunion, and so has a lot of questions she needs answers to. Georgie and another friend, Bron, take turns as the first person narrator and guide for readers, as they try to stay safe and determine what exactly is occurring and why.

It's a great premise, and there's definitely a lot of suspense. Elliott knows how to write well, that's for sure. But the main big twist just didn't completely work for me personally. It fell a little flat with all the build up that had come before. The second big twist however, which readers don't find out until the very end, was a huge surprise and brilliantly done.

ARC Review: The Dead and the Dark

 

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

Ashley Barton's boyfriend is missing, but she's seeing his ghost everywhere. Logan Ortiz-Woodley's dads are ghost hunters with a highly successful TV show. And Snakebite, Oregon is the small town full of darkness that brings them all together. 

This is a stunningly written, haunting, heartbreaking, hopeful read. Gould creates such a frightening eerie atmosphere hanging over every word, and her characters are so compelling and complex. There are so many different kinds of relationships explored within the story: the hope of the deep developing feelings between Ashley and Logan, the established deep love between Logan's dads, the undying but complicated bond between parents and their children, the ties to childhood friends and the love we so desperately try to make ourselves feel.

I absolutely recommend getting a copy of this book and diving straight in. While it would be a great spooky October read, it's well worth reading right now. I know I couldn't wait.