If you watch the news you may be aware that there was a massive windstorm that swept through flyover country this week. Said storm left us without power for two days and me with nothing but to do aside from attempt to ♬♫♬ leave my worries on the doorstep ♬♫♬ (while attempting not to freeze my ass off in a house with no heat – what happened to the 75 degree December we were having?!?!?!?!). Anywho, my pal Melissa’s review of this book had forewarned me I needed to be in the right frame of mind where I simply wanted to escape and, well, when you are dressed like it’s Antarctica and covered with allllllll the blankets you can fit on your couch, the one thing that sounds like a good idea is a beachy retreat. And also??? Anytime I see a cover like this containing a story about a fixer-upper type of boat with beautiful people on board my brain instantly goes to . . . . .
That right there kids ain’t a bad thing when you just want to kill a few hours in the pitch black of your cave.
So as I just said, this story jumps off with an attractive 20-something couple who have invested in a fixer-upper type of boat with plans of sailing the seven seas. In an attempt to make some quick cash the duo (Nico and Lux) agree to take Brittany and Amma on an excursion to Meroe – an island steeped in folklore involving missing sailors, cannibals, island madness and murder. Plans for a private getaway for a couple of weeks get derailed immediately when they arrive to find Jake, Eliza and their fabulous catamaran already anchored, but since the food and booze are top-notch at the neighbors’ they quickly make friends. Until a creep named Robbie also shows up out of nowhere and things start to go sideways.
And although suspension of disbelief is an absolute must, this wild vacay was just what the doctor ordered to turn my frown upside down (well, that and the electricity coming back on at 2:30 a.m. so I could start defrosting). If you need an escape lemme tell you . . . .
This new release has a fairly pitiful Goodreads rating, but I thought the page turnability was right up there. Please note “Ivy League Mary” was prettThis new release has a fairly pitiful Goodreads rating, but I thought the page turnability was right up there. Please note “Ivy League Mary” was pretty much a Grade-A Butthole, but since I’m not particularly fond of the “Average Joe becomes supersleuth murder solver” trope I was kind of alright with not liking her as well. An explanation regarding Mary’s buttholery was also provided at some point, so again I’m going to give it a pass. Just make a notation in your own brain that you might want to punch her in the throat. Also note that I request anything with a house on the cover without ever reading the blurb or looking at a rating so you might already be doing yourself a disservice by even reading this attempt at a review because this cover????
Well apparently cabin covers might even be better than house covers.
The story here is that Ivy League Mary has been booted out of Cornell her Senior year and forced to return home again. While living with her dad and working at the local Whole Foods knockoff one of Mary’s former classmates goes missing. And because she’s a pretty little white girl from a well established family errrrrrybody is looking for her. But no one bothered looking for DeMaria when she didn’t come home from work. She was simply labeled a runaway. Are the two girls connected? And if so, how?
As I said above, this debut kept me turning pages. I loved the acknowledgment of certain types of missing women getting the police/media/general population spotlight while others who aren’t from the perfect upper-middle-class upbringing simply go ignored for the most part. I also thought the ending was absolutely satisfactory. Aside from the moment where something like this happened . . . .
But again, as soon as I see some random person with zero qualifications being the one getting their nose all up in the missing persons cases I kind of expect a little Lifetime Stabby Stabs decision making to occur as well.
3.5 Stars for me. I would absolutely read this author again. ...more
In an attempt to avoid getting even further behind on posting reviews – or even worse forgetting what this one was about since I read so many mystery/In an attempt to avoid getting even further behind on posting reviews – or even worse forgetting what this one was about since I read so many mystery/thrillers – I’m going to keep it simple and do a bullet point type of pro and con here.
PROS:
• The title is an instant attention grabber – you either want to read it or not
• I’m a sucker for good cover art
• I had no flippin’ clue what was going on for the majority of the book
• Some tidbits were left unanswered, but they ended up being things the reader could assume for themselves and not necessary to wrapping up the “whodunit”
CONS:
• Sadly I didn’t care much for either of the two missing women
• Or the multiple narrators
• Or the wibbly wobbly timeline that went 11 years before and then back to the present
• Or the subplot regarding the doctor – don’t get me wrong he was a creep, but Meredith was pushy and awful too (and I’m real thankful not to be someone who dropped two grand on her services)
• The big twist before the big twist – those hardly ever work for me
Most of my friends liked this more than me. This was my second Kubica. I’ll definitely read more of her stuff. And as a sidenote: I used to love her covers because she had this trademark of a backward “R” in the title and using a face cover – and even though I don’t like face covers I did appreciate how recognizable her titles were. This cover is prettier, but I want that “R” back hahahahahaha. ...more
And you end up with this gem. I’ve read a handful of Laura Lippman books and they have all been winners for me. It’s safe to say she’s an auto-request at this point and the fact that this was available as a Read Now on NetGalley means no one even had to suffer the consequences of me being rejected an early copy . . . .
Lippman is calling this her first work of horror and you know what? I think I’ll allow it. Most would probably label it a thriller since there are no things that go bump in the night or alien spider reveals, but it definitely had plenty of WTF??? and creep factor going for it that it could loosely fit into that genre.
The tale here is about an aging author who takes a tumble leaving himself bedridden and housebound on traction with two broken legs. It’s also about the women in his life – both past and present. And that’s all you’re gonna get. Lippman is a great storyteller. Just read it.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley! ...more
And then has Evie and Cyrus partnering up for future crime solving escapades despite her being completely unqualified and more than completely coo coo ca choo. . . .
Means it’s lucky I didn’t start subtracting Stars. Not to mention I didn’t really give a shit about the poor little figure skater who got whacked because I’m a freaking monster : (
Most of my friends really dug this one, though, so definitely keep it on your TBR if it's there and just chalk another fail up to the wrongread category for me.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
Historical fiction is not typically my wheelhouse, but when I heard that The Lost Girls Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
Historical fiction is not typically my wheelhouse, but when I heard that The Lost Girls of Paris was about a group of female spies in WWII, I was all in. It seems this plotline may be the new Gone Girl as I’ve seen several new releases regarding women in WWII all over my Goodreads’ feed, but I wanted it pretty much due to my one and only experience with this topic - Code Name Verity. The story here is about a woman named Grace who notices a suitcase in Grand Central Station that appears to have been left behind. In an attempt to track down the owner, Grace discovers it was a woman who ran a branch of the Special Operations Executive which used females as operatives a few years prior.
Although a 3 Star rating should never be considered bad by any stretch, since I appear to be on the low end of the spectrum amongst my friends I wanted to make it clear that I read this book in a matter of a few hours, so obviously the page turnability factor was 100% present. It most certainly kept my interest. With that being said, I did have some issues that I couldn’t ignore so let’s get .giffy with it. First of all . . . .
The timeline here was expedited. It seemed like it went from creation of the women’s division to the deployment of the trainees in about 3.2 seconds. And about those trainees. I have this to say about Marie (the one this book chose to focus on) . . . .
Seriously. Homegirl gets dropped in the middle of enemy territory and is basically like “hey guys I’m British pretending to be French. Can somebody help me find my secret hideaway and the radio they’re supposed to be dropping off in order for me to tell all your secrets????” You’re probably assuming I’m over exaggerating, but sadly it’s not by much. I would have preferred to read snippets of all dozen women's experiences (or at least Josie's) in order to counterbalance the "meh" which was Marie.
Which brings me to my biggest gripe of all. This book had so much potential to focus on . . . . .
[image]
This ended up being a pretty chicky option in the historical fiction genre. And the instalove between a supposed spy and the gristled lifer who ran in the entire operative in Paris?????
The Woman Inside is the latest in a long line of domestic thrillers. This one features a pill addicted wife and a philandering husband. I had a laundry list of issues with it.
To begin with, the blurb tells too much so I’m thankful I didn’t read it before starting. I would have been bummed that the first big “twist” was pretty much spoiled on the back cover.
Next, the timehops. The wibbly-wobbly is used quite frequently in mysteries/thrillers and works okay for me about 50% of the time. However, in this book the time goes from waaaaaay before to immediately before to waaaaaay after to immediately after and everywhere in between with no indication exactly where you are until you read a few paragraphs and figure it out . . . .
Third, too many POVs. It’s one thing to follow the husband and wife. It’s another to follow them annnnnd a mistress annnnnnnnd a couple of police detectives . . . . .
Fourth, now I’m a gal who likes an unreliable narrator as much, if not more, than the next guy. Buuuuuuuuuuut, there’s a big difference between . . . .
YMMV, but as a reader who picks up A LOT of thrillers, attempting to heave everything but the kitchen sink at me doesn't mean diddly. Nothing here was a surprise and I saw it all coming a mile and a half away. There's also a big difference between reading a book that owns how much it is over-the-top and is simply bringing the reader along for a crazy ride and one who tries to take itself seriously while being OTT.
I could have saved myself a lot of time and .gif hunting if curiosity would have got the better of me earlier and I had simply Googled these authors. An article about them in EW disclosed . . . .
Both authors are thriller junkies; they volleyed chapters back and forth, each taking on a POV. “Each chapter is in direct response to the one before, and throwing potential twists at each other. That really was fun,” Wands says. Adds Keenan: “The aim to shock and surprise with each chapter was very motivating. We got a little aggressive.”
Basically this was a game of trying to one-up the other. It didn’t work for me.
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review....more
Flare up like flame and make big shadows I can move in. Let everything happen to you: beautFind all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
Flare up like flame and make big shadows I can move in. Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final. Don’t let yourself lose me.
(^^^It doesn’t count as quoting the ARC if it was written by someone else over 100 years ago *wink*)
I had zero intention of ever picking up The Girls at 17 Swann Street until I started noticing the ratings my friends were passing out to it around mid to late January. I will fully admit that I was hoping for a vibe like . . . .
Only set in a home for young women with eating disorders rather than mental disorders. Amazingly, I got what I was looking for. While I fully admit I have no experience with anorexia or bulimia like the girls featured here, I will say that their struggles all came off as authentic. (And if anyone attempts to cry bullshit, I would like to remind them that no two people are alike so they might want to take a whiff of themselves.) This is not an easy read, by any stretch, both in form and substance. The former due to the fact that the author pulls no punches when it comes to delivering a wallop of emotion and the latter because it appears she also may be allergic to quotation marks and contractions.
4 Stars rather than 5 because (a) while hints were dropped regarding what made Anna feel so less than that she started starving herself, nothing was ever covered in her therapy sessions and yet somehow she eventually made grand steps towards recovery anyway, (b) choosing healing for a husband she had only been with a few years rather than for herself was a bit of a message I can’t be 100% on board with, and (c) the pacing was a little off – dragging in spots (especially the flashbacks), but then fast-forwarding to the ending.
Still highly recommended despite those minor issues for me.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!...more
Not quite, but her three cabin mates did go missing and were never seen again. Fast forward to the future where Emma is a successful artist, but only able to paint the same image over and over again – three girls lost in a wood. When offered a chance to return to Camp Rich Bitch Nightingale as an art instructor, Emma doesn’t take long to debate her answer. Mainly because she feels . . . .
“Some wrongs are so terrible that the people responsible must be held accountable. Call it justice. Call it revenge. Call it whatever. I don’t give a fuck. All I care about is this particular wrong. It can’t be ignored. It must be righted. And I’m the bitch that’s going to do it.”
I picked this one up . . . . well, basically because I’m a lemming and it kept popping up on Instagram and convinced me I needed it. Sad thing is I still have an unread ARC of Sager’s first book that I never bothered to get around to. As for this one? It’s not going to change your life, but I will say it is compulsively readable. In my comments below you’ll see I said the mystery wasn’t a super shocker. I won’t give anything away, but I will say the present day goings on weren’t a shocker due to a very clear moment that made me go . . . . .
However, due to what I like to call “kitchen sink syndrome” it appears Sager is not an author who takes a direct route to the ending which amounted instead to one that was sort of a mess because the puzzle pieces just didn’t fit together seamlessly. The “two truths and a lie” bit was also not an effortless addition and came off more as a gimmick so 3 Stars it shall be. (Also, is “Lies” the new “Gone Girl” because it’s kinda appearing errrrrrrywhere.) I do appreciate that Sager’s two titles have similar cover art – old ladies like me need anything we can get that will help ring a bell when it comes to making a choice at the bookstore/library (Mary Kubica - and/or her people - are also really good at this)....more
Yeeeesh. This one did not work for me AT. ALL. The story here is about three 40-Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
1.5 Stars
Yeeeesh. This one did not work for me AT. ALL. The story here is about three 40-somethings who take a girls’ trip in order to reconnect. There’s drama between two of them due to the fact that they hit the bigtime with their company “BloMe” (okay I’ll give credit where it’s due to that name) when they invented something every woman didn’t even know they needed until they saw it . . . .
Now one wants to sell and the other doesn’t. Both because of reasons that come out that I didn’t give a rip about. The other friend is there . . . . because I guess the author thought she needed a third wheel/someone to exchange dialogue with about what a dumb bitch the one who goes missing is????
Anyway, as I just said one of these cardboard cutouts idiots goes missing and the book is about trying to find her.
Warning for anyone who might be interested in going on a trip with me – there’s a pretty simple code you should respect and it goes a lil’ summin’ like . . . . .
Ellie was only supposed to be going to the library. That was a decade ago, she’sFind all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
3.5 Stars
Ellie was only supposed to be going to the library. That was a decade ago, she’s never been seen since and her parents’ marriage suffered the collateral damage. The last thing Ellie’s mother Laurel is looking for at the local café is a new beau, but she can’t help but be charmed by Floyd. And when she meets his daughter Poppy? Well, it’s like a blast from the past.
If you are a lover of the Lifetime Whodunit Network, lemme tell you . . . .
It doesn’t matter that it’s not believable. It doesn’t matter if you can see some of the surprises coming. It doesn’t matter if the ending has too many twists and jumps the shark. It is 100% pure entertainment value. We’ve had a couple of dreary Fall(ish) days here and I can’t help think this is the perfect selection to cozy up with on a rainy Saturday with a bottomless cup of coffee. The pages practically flip themselves so you’ll be finished in no time. Don’t want to take my word for it? I don’t blame you. Allow my friends’ averages on this one to assist in making you a believer . . . .
“We’ve both been hiding things,” I pointed out. “We’re the same kind of awful.” “I donFind all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
“We’ve both been hiding things,” I pointed out. “We’re the same kind of awful.” “I don’t know,” she said, backing toward the stairs. “I think we’re different kinds of awful.”
The Drowning Girls is about Liz and Phil – average Joes who score some sweet digs when Phil gets hired as the “community relations specialist” for an extremely exclusive gated community. While Phil basks in the attention and settles into his new faux wealthy lifestyle, Liz struggles with fitting in. And when the neighbor’s teenage daughter goes from being focused on becoming besties with Liz and Phil’s daughter to Phil instead, the following is raised . . . .
A question: What’s the difference between a pedophile and an innocent person accused of pedophilia? What about a rapist and a person accused of rape?
Okay. How did I not know about this book for TWO YEARS?!?!?!?!?!
The Drowning Girls could very well be a winner. Think of me while you’re relaxing poolside and I’m suffering heat stroke at a baseball complex in the armpit of America . . . . .
This is one of those times where the blurb name dropping might be a curse. If readers go Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
This is one of those times where the blurb name dropping might be a curse. If readers go into this expecting something warped like Gillian Flynn, there will be a lot of disappointed faces on the intertubes (except for one scene that had Mitchell like awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww yeah!!!!). I also get the idea of the comparison to Donna Tartt because Tara Isabella Burton has a distinct writing style, but once again it’s not very accurate. Why all the bells and whistles? Why not only say exactly what this is and leave it at that? In case you don’t know what the “that” is let me scream it out for you: Social Creature is a A MODERNIZATION OF THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY - (but with 100% more vaginas).
Louise meets Lavinia and gets swept up into a lifestyle of champagne and endless parties. She becomes Lavinia’s “pet” of sorts – someone to groom, dress up, show how the other half lives. But Louise can’t afford Lavinia’s lavish lifestyle and even though Lavinia always means well and plans on picking up the tab, cab fare, etc., it doesn’t always work out that way. When Louise’s real life world starts falling apart and the shine wears off their new friendship revealing some truths, desperate measures are taken.
Social Creature is what would happen if this . . . .
Thomas Wolfe wrote you can’t go home again. Fitting that I wound up listening a book abouFind all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
Thomas Wolfe wrote you can’t go home again. Fitting that I wound up listening a book about a woman returning to her hometown during my 12-hour round-trip solo drive back to the place where I was born and raised for the first time in a decade. In The Flood Girls Rachel returns to a town full of trailer parks and alcoholics because she felt she needed to re-work Step 8. In case you aren’t familiar . . . .
I ended up in the local watering hole at some point during my brief stay, but I can’t say I took the same path Rachel did when I got back to my ol’ stomping grounds . . . .
However, I could relate to Rachel’s slice of Americana and had a great time learning all about the various Flood Girls as they tried to make it to the regional baseball tourney for the first time ever . . . .
This was a winner for me. Many thanks to Melki for her 5 Star review. She’s kind of greedy with the Starzzzzzz just like me so when she hands them out, I tend to pay attention. My library system also deserves a kudo for nearly always having whatever my heart desires, in whatever format my heart desires . . . .
And now I’m back at work. I was trying to plug in and listen to porn until 5:00 while I did whatever tasks came to me, but instead I was just informed me that my taking three days off (which I informed everyone about in advance and made sure to not be either a Monday or a Friday) to attend a funeral was an inconvenience . . . .
For me it was I just couldn’t make sense of the thing. I mean you have a woman in the present whose sister was murdered 20 years ago. The person our MC always thought was the guilty party was not only accused, but also convicted and has been behind bars all this time. And yet the sister is still obsessed with “solving” the case due to a snafu in the presented timeline. Then there’s a story 50 years in the past about a girl who went missing from the local boarding school. And also a potential ghost . . . . .
I have to say that this was compulsively readable. Despite there not being a whole lot of action, I never wanted to put it aside. I’m giving The Broken Girls a middle-of-the-road rating (but rounding up for the readability factor) because I think if I recommended this to my friends many of them would come back to me saying . . . .
Normally I don’t have a problem suspending disbelief. I’m the first to accept the average housewife morphing into a supersleuth and solving crimes the Feds can’t figure out. Maybe it was because this was written so well that I couldn’t get over that niggling feeling of “this WOULD NEVER happen.” Not to mention the back-and-forth timeline is a gimmick that doesn’t always work for me to begin with and this one really lacked cohesion in the two storylines. Or three, I guess, if you count Mary Hand’s . . . .
EDIT 2/7/19: Because YES I've seen the New Yorker and Guardian articles. I don't know whyFind all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
EDIT 2/7/19: Because YES I've seen the New Yorker and Guardian articles. I don't know why authors (especially talented ones) choose to shoot their own feet off. Best guess? Undiagnosed or untreated mental issues. That being said, I read this book nearly a dang YEAR ago and as a Hitchcock superfan it knocked my socks off. The upcoming Agatha-Christie-inspired follow up was sure to be an auto request. Hell, who am I kidding, it probably still is - assuming dudebrah doesn't lose his book deal and I can get it from the library in order to not pad his pockets. I won't be removing my rating or review, but definitely won't be shouting his praises from the rooftops either.
“Cat and mouse, cat and mouse, but which is the cat and which is the mouse?”
In an effort to prove I read everything wrong – even the stuff I like – I’m giving The Woman in the Window the full monty of Stars while the majority of my friends experienced “meh” . . . .
Credit goes to debra and Trudi and Melissa and Liz and Deanna and Diane S whose mediocre ratings helped lower my expectations. (Now that I’m done I can go read all of your reviews.) Credit to myself for putting my name on the looooooooong wait list and then nearly forgetting all about this one until it was due to be returned. Braintrust. I is one.
Here’s what I knew before starting: The Woman in the Window was going to be about . . . . you guessed it, a woman in the window. Said woman was housebound for some reason and also liked more than her fair share of the drinky drinky. Same woman would see “something” from her window – or maybe not. And almost everyone thought it was too long and slow-going for their liking.
Now that I’m finished and have read the blurb, I’m actually quite surprised to see it not being compared to The Girl on the Train because really? Not only was this kinda like The Girl on the Train, but it was EXACTLY what I was hoping The Girl on the Train would be like. I am quite pleased, however, to see proper credit given to A.J. Finn’s inspiration . . . . .
I think that is why this one worked so well for me. I am a Hitchcock superfan. Please don’t get that twisted to think I wrote some thesis analyzing his works or know the answer to every trivia question about him. I appreciate Hitchcock the same as I appreciate a book – for the entertainment value it provides me. As a kid I was raised on Hitchcock classics (as an adult I’ve discovered some of the books/stories his films were based on) and they are my go-to films of choice even if I’ve seen them a thousand times. The Woman in the Window succeeds in bringing little snippets of so many of Hitchcock’s films together seamlessly. From the obvious selection . . . . .
Which is brilliantly the one mentioned the least by our leading lady, Anna. To the selection that is applicable in so many cases of an “unreliable narrator” . . . .
A reader who isn’t a fan of Hitchcock might easily miss out on some “inside info.” Or they might just think it’s slow because it’s definitely not a roller coaster full of twists and turns. For me, though, it was the perfect mystery. Not only due to the Hitchcockian shout-outs, but also because Anna was a phenomenal unreliable narrator. Bonus was she even had a sense of humor about how fucked up she was . . . .
“I’m running on fumes. Grape fumes.”
It also didn’t bother me one bit to know what was coming. Some things were foreseeable because they were events that followed their movie inspirations and some were just things that an avid mystery-thriller reader is going to pick up on. For those of you who think I’m full of shit when I say I tend to be able to guess what’s going on when it comes to mystery/thrillers here are some REAL SPOILERS SO PLEASE DON’T CLICK THEM IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED:
When Alice was just a little girl she was attacked by twins who were trying to please “MiFind all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
When Alice was just a little girl she was attacked by twins who were trying to please “Mister Tender.” While Mister Tender’s Girl flat out states in the blurb that it was inspired by the true events surrounding a brutal stabbing of a young girl by two classmates who claim they did it in the name of the “Slender Man” – the character of Mister Tender reminded me less of this . . . .
As Mister Tender was a comic book …. errr excuse me graphic novel creation of Alice’s (the stabbing victim) father in the form of a friendly neighborhood bartender who could give you anything your heart desired – as long as you performed whatever task he requested of you in return.
Years have passed, Alice is now grown and moved across the pond to the States, owner of a coffeehouse as well as her own home and has done everything possible to escape her personal history – until a package arrives that won’t allow her to keep ignoring it.
I will attempt to avoid spoiling things here, but you do need to be forewarned that this sucker goes off the rails pretty darn quickly into unbelievable territory. And Alice????
If you can check reality at the door you might find this to be a pretty stabby fun time. 3.5 Stars for me, but rounded down because apparently even some things are too ridiculous for me to accept.
ARC received about 114 years ago from NetGalley that I just now got around to reading since I suck. Thanks NetGalley! ...more
“You know your family’s fucked up, right?” he asked. “Like, seriously screwed.”
If you want to sit at the lunch table with Mitchell and me you probably need to buy this. (Also, we wear pink on Wednesdays.) I’ve only read about 40 books so far this year, so declaring this to be “My Favorite Read of 2017” is a bit lackluster at this point. I will say that I bet any of you a dollar it ends up as at least a Top 5 by January 31, if that helps prove my point. I’ve also been forcing this on everyone I know – even though it wasn’t even available for them to buy/check out from the library. I mean, I’ve been telling anyone who would listen, and if no one was around to hear me???? Easy peezy lemon squeezy . . . .
Here’s the part where I tell you I “can’t really tell you much” because spoilers and blah blah and getting there is all the fun, and although that is so cliché it’s totally true . . . .
“Let me tell you a story. It starts out nice, but it ends . . . badly.”
The story here is about Lane, who goes to live with her never-before-met grandparents after her mother commits suicide. Over the course of a summer she becomes almost a sister to her cousin Allegra who also lives at the Roanoke estate and finds out the history of all of the beautiful Roanoke girls who came before her. Fast forward to the present where Lane is summoned back to the family home in order to track down a missing Allegra.
I notice The Roanoke Girls is being shelved/marketed as a “mystery,” but if you’re a frequent mystery reader you’ll know the outcome pretty much before things even get started. You’ll also most likely pick up on the trail of breadcrumbs that is left almost from the start, but if you’re anything like Mitchell or myself it won’t deplete your reading experience in the least . . . .
“The first time I saw Roanoke was in a dream.”
“Did you wake up screaming?”
“Huh?”
“Was it a nightmare?”
“No.”
“Then it was nothing like that.”
^^^^ That was on page one and right there I was like . . . .
Or book. You get the idea. Also, if your tastes run fairly vanilla when it comes to “mysterious chick litty” types of reads you might end up wishing you had some heroin after you finish this one.
EVERY. SINGLE. STAR. I’ll even go steal some from other books if I have to. Shitty books like The Shack.
I thought I couldn’t get any more excited, but then this happened . . . .
And Crown Publishing wasn’t even aware that I was going to be creaming my jeans about it before they sent it to me! Apologies for the worst hair day in the history of the world, but we legit had effing tornados last night and curly hair sho ‘nuff don’t care today. Also, I’ve been working on a janky ass broken phone with no selfie camera for about eternity and I’m super excited to annoy all of you with my old mug : )
In case you couldn’t figure it out from the swoony awkwardness above, an advanced copy was provided to me by Crown Publishing in exchange for an honest review. And now it’s . . . .
I'm taking a mini-vacay, but came on to post this real quick (then I'll see y'all on Tuesday). Today it was 75 degrees and sunny. In flyover country. In the middle of February. I sat outside and got melanoma read this sucker from cover to cover. I don't generally post place-holder types of reviews (especially since the feed changed and I get tired of seeing my own shit up there over and over, let alone everyone else's), but this doesn't come out until next month and there's a tiny chance it's still available over on NetGalley for request. If your idea of a "beachy read" is dark like Mitchell's heart, this might be the winner for you. It gets every single star and people need to get on their library waiting lists pronto before it blows the roof off the joint on release date....more
And when Ron Howard buys the rights to your novel before it even gets published you don’t even have to pussyfoot around. This one gets compared in the blurb to both Gone GirlandThe Girl On The Train. (Two stories which have absolutely nothing in common, but who gives a shit right? Those name drops sell themselves!)
Per usual when it comes to these “if you loved ______________, you’ll really love this” comparisons, I found this one to be just aiiiight and absolutely not at all like its predecessors.
The Girl Before is told in the “Now” and in the “Then.” The “Then” focuses on Emma and the “Now” features Jane. Both women had some sort of superbadawful they were trying to get over when an opportunity to reside at One Folgate Street presented itself. While each woman’s first instinct was to be wary of a landlord who made them answer an invasive questionnaire and would still probably turn them down, they each opted to do so for personal reasons – which eventually had them answering the question . . . .
I deal with that shizz errrry day and it’s boring as hell. Luckily this story wasn’t as boring as my job. One Folgate Street was a home designed to take care of all of your creature comforts via a smart program known as “Housekeeper” . . . .
But it was also a house with some skeletons in the closet . . . or at the bottom of the staircase/buried in the backyard, if you will. The Girl Before definitely isn’t anything that’s going to change your life, but it was an o-kay mystery thriller with some fairly decent twists and turns and it reminded me a bit of a blast from my past . . . .
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(A book I’m terrified to read because everyone seems to hate it even more than they do the film.)
In fact, things were going along swimmingly until the point where this happened . . . .
So enough about the book, let’s talk about the movie for a second. Dear Ron Howard, even though the leading ladies in this story are described as Audrey Hepburn-esque brunettes, do me a solid and use the fact that these two women are interchangeable to your advantage . . . .
EverythingGIRL You Want Me To Be (name change courtesy of Ron 2.0 because really this is one of those times where it actually might be “the next Gone Girl” or Girl on the Train or some such GIRL story) already has people talking. And for good reason.
Have you ever read a Megan Abbott or some similar author/story about an awful teenage girl and think to yourself “man, I wish someone would just kill that little be-atch?” If so, this is the book for you because the MC gets offed in the second chapter! That made Mitchell and me look a lil’ like this . . . .
In this case maybe more of an accidental Humbert Humbert. You see, Hattie’s virtual flame becomes a red hot inferno of reality once Hattie puts two-and-two together and realizes she’s been making the sext with her English teacher. Good ol’ teach attempts to put the kibosh on things (mainly so his wife doesn’t catch wind of what he’s really been “working” on in his home office every night), but Hattie isn’t on board with that plan . . .
I know what you’re thinking. You already know who did it and what’s the point in reading this and it’s another stupid ass thriller that won’t thrill you at all and wordswordswordswords. Normally I’d agree with you because I bat about .300 when it comes to finding thrillers that meet my standards. And this one isn’t perfect. Without spoiling things I’ll tell you the book had a very clear ending point for me and I was all . . . . .
It was the ending that made the most sense/the one you would declare you saw coming, but it was done in an absolutely delicious manner. But then there were more pages. Shelby (who gets credit for strong-arming me into all of my recent NetGalley requests – especially this one because Atria is well aware of the fact that I read everything wrong and never approves me so I wasn’t even going to waste the effort of clicking the button), Jan and Michelle all flipped their wigs over this one and gave it the full monty of Stars. Y’all know I’m horrible so I’m sticking at 4 rather than 5 due to the (in my opinion unnecessary) additional twists and turns. But we’re talking a solid 4 Stars. Mindy Mejia did an excellent job of writing three very distinct narrators. And Hattie??????
“I’m good at being what people want me to be. Watch me . . . You’ll see.”
She was indeed everything girl I wanted her to be.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley! ...more
Kelly (and the Book Boar)
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