Book Review
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Good Girls Don’t Die by Christina Henry | Book Review
Good Girls Don't Die by Christina Henry
Published by Penguin Publishing Group on 14th November 2023
Genres: Fiction / Horror
Pages: 336
Format: eBook
A sharp-edged, supremely twisty thriller about three women who find themselves trapped inside stories they know aren’t their own, from the author of Alice and Near the Bone.
Celia wakes up in a house that’s supposed to be hers. There’s a little girl who claims to be her daughter and a man who claims to be her husband, but Celia knows this family—and this life—is not hers…
Allie is supposed to be on a fun weekend trip—but then her friend’s boyfriend unexpectedly invites the group to a remote cabin in the woods. No one else believes Allie, but she is sure that something about this trip is very, very wrong…
Maggie just wants to be home with her daughter, but she’s in a dangerous situation and she doesn’t know who put her there or why. She’ll have to fight with everything she has to survive…
Three women. Three stories. Only one way out. This captivating novel will keep readers guessing until the very end.
Good Girls Don’t Die was such a let down! I’ve read a book by Christina Henry before and I didn’t like that one either, but I thought I would get her work another go because the premise sounded so good and her books tend to get really good reviews. Unfortunately, I’m not keen on short stories, and this is what this book felt like even though it wasn’t necessarily supposed to. The stories all do come together in the end but by that point I just didn’t care because I found the switches jarring. I ended up getting very attached to the main character in the first story, so I was disappointed to leave her behind! This one wasn’t for me.
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The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett | Book Review
The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett
Published by Serpent's Tail on 26th October 2023
Genres: Fiction / Thrillers / Crime
Pages: 208
Format: Audiobook
One dead Santa. A town full of suspects. Will you discover the truth?
Christmas in Lower Lockwood, and the Fairway Players are busy rehearsing their festive pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, to raise money for the church roof appeal. But despite the season, goodwill is distinctly lacking amongst the amateur dramatics enthusiasts. Sarah-Jane is fending off threats to her new position as Chair, the fibreglass beanstalk might be full of asbestos, and a someone is intent on ruining the panto even before the curtain goes up.
Of course there's also the matter of the dead body. Who could possibly have had the victim on their naughty list? Join lawyers Femi and Charlotte as they read the round robins, examine the emails and pore over the police transcripts. Will the show go on?
I adored The Appeal so I was so happy to see that Janice Hallett was bringing out another story set in the same town. I ended up listening to this one on audio because I felt like it suited the tone of the novel better, and I was correct. While reading the print copy I struggled to get into the story, but on audio I had no problems at all and completely flew through it.
The Christmas Appeal is a lot of fun and I really enjoyed myself as I listened to the drama about the beanstalk, a panto, and a dead Father Christmas.
I found that certain characters were written very stereotypically, but it wasn’t bad enough to ruin my enjoyment.
My husband also listened in to some parts and was laughing out loud, so that’s a really good endorsement!
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The Last Word by Taylor Adams | Book Review
The Last Word by Taylor Adams
Published by HarperCollins on April 25, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological
Pages: 352
Format: eBook After posting a negative review of a horror novel, a woman staying at an isolated beach house begins to wonder if the author is a little touchy—or very, very dangerous—in this pulse-pounding novel of psychological suspense and terror from the critically acclaimed author of No Exit and Hairpin Bridge.
Emma Carpenter lives in isolation with her golden retriever Laika, house-sitting an old beachfront home on the rainy Washington coast. Her only human contact is her enigmatic old neighbor, Deek, and (via text) the house’s owner, Jules.
One day, she reads a poorly written—but gruesome—horror novel by the author H. G. Kane, and posts a one-star review that drags her into an online argument with none other than the author himself. Soon after, disturbing incidents start to occur at night. To Emma, this can’t just be a coincidence. It was strange enough for this author to bicker with her online about a lousy review; could he be stalking her, too?
As Emma digs into Kane’s life and work, she learns he has published sixteen other novels, all similarly sadistic tales of stalking and murder. But who is he? How did he find her? And what else is he capable of?
I really enjoyed The Last Word! I requested it initially because I have witnessed authors doing terrible things to reviewers in the past and I wanted to see how this author depicted it. The story wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, as the main character isn’t a book blogger or reviewer, she just left the odd review on Amazon instead and that was enough for the author to come after her.
This felt like a campy horror/slasher in an isolated setting, which was very enjoyable and made for a fun, fast paced read. I spent most of the book worrying about the dog because I didn’t care too much about the main character and whether she lived or died, but I was definitely having a good time!
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The Villa by Rachel Hawkins | Book Review
The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
Published by St. Martin's Publishing Group on January 3, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Gothic
Pages: 288
Format: eBook
As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.
Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album––and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder.
As Emily digs into the villa’s complicated history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful summer in 1974. That perhaps Pierce’s murder wasn’t just a tale of sex, drugs, and rock & roll gone wrong, but that something more sinister might have occurred––and that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind.
Yet the closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more tension she feels developing between her and Chess. As secrets from the past come to light, equally dangerous betrayals from the present also emerge––and it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.
Inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders, and the infamous summer Percy and Mary Shelley spent with Lord Byron at a Lake Geneva castle––the birthplace of Frankenstein––The Villa welcomes you into its deadly legacy.
I’m not sure what happened here but I feel like the author was off her game with this one. I’ve really enjoyed most of Hawkins’ books in the past. I was a massive fan of her YA Hex Hall series back in the day, and was thrilled (ha) to see she was going to tackle the thriller genre next. I liked her previous thrillers. This one… not so much. It didn’t feel like a thriller at all, more of a domestic suspense, perhaps? I’m really struggling to categorise it.
I found the whole thing to be very boring, and not only did it have flashbacks scenes that I just didn’t care about, it also had the dreaded “novel within a novel”, which I HATE. I’m disappointed in this one!
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The Second Chance Year by Melissa Weisner | Book Review
The Second Chance Year by Melissa Wiesner
Published by Hachette UK on December 5, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Romance / General
Pages: 336
Format: eBook
In one fell swoop, Sadie Thatcher managed to lose her job, her apartment, and her boyfriend. So when a fortune teller offers her one wish, Sadie longs to redo her awful year. More than a little sceptical, she makes her wish, opens her eyes, and . . . nothing has changed. And then, in perhaps her worst move yet, she kisses her brother's best friend, Jacob.
When Sadie wakes up the next morning, she's in her former apartment with her former boyfriend, and her former boss is expecting her at work. She realises it's January 1 . . . of last year.
As Sadie navigates her second-chance year, she begins to see the red flags she missed in both her relationship and her career. Plus, she keeps running into Jacob, and she can't stop thinking about their kiss . . . the one he has no idea ever happened. Suddenly, Sadie begins to wonder if her only mistake was wishing for a second chance.
Okay, this was super cute. I always really enjoy time travel or parallel universe or time loop stories, especially holiday themed ones, which is why I picked up The Second Chance Year. The plot of this one was super fun, and I enjoyed following the main character as she realised her Very Bad Year may not have been the worst thing for her after all. I loved the romance between her and her brother’s best friend, especially because he had been in love with her for years and years. I love that trope.
I do think I will mostly have forgotten about this book by this time next year, as it doesn’t seem to be very memorable to me, but it was a good while to read while I was in the mood for it.
I did have a slight issue with the main character’s best friend trying to pressure her into calling out an abusive boss, the main character telling her best friend that she wasn’t comfortable, the best friend doing it anyway, and then getting annoyed with the main character for not backing her up. You absolutely cannot force women into that, and don’t put the blame on them when the abuser then retaliates – it’s entirely on him!
Apart from that, this was a lovely read and perfect for the holidays.
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The Changing Man by Tomi Oyemakinde | Book Review
The Changing Man by Tomi Oyemakinde
Published by Pan Macmillan on September 7, 2023
Genres: Young Adult Fiction / Horror
Pages: 400
Format: eBook A teenage girl is pulled into investigating the truth behind her new boarding school’s decades-old legend, in this debut speculative mystery by Tomi Oyemakinde.
Just because they let you in . . . it doesn't mean they'll let you out.
When Ife joins Nithercott School through its prestigious Urban Achievers Program, she knows immediately that she doesn't fit. Wandering its echoing halls, she must fend off cruel taunts from the students and condescending attitudes from the teachers. When she finds herself thrown into detention for the foreseeable future, she strikes up an unlikely alliance with Ben, a troublemaker with an annoyingly cute smile. They've both got reasons to want to get out of Nithercott - Ben's brother is missing, and no one seems to be bothering to find him.
For Ife, it's just another strange element of this school that doesn't care about its students. But as more and more people start going missing, including one of Ife's only friends, she starts to feel haunted.
Who is the figure she's started seeing in the shadowy halls, who looks mysteriously like herself? And is there any truth in to the strange urban legend that travels the school like mist . . . the legend of the Changing Man?
I mostly wanted to get my hands on The Changing Man because of the UK cover. I mean, look at that thing! It’s so creepy. I wanted a good creepy read for Halloween, and was super intrigued by this synopsis. Unfortunately I found that the book was too slow. The beginning focused too much on the private school drama and didn’t spend enough time on building the spooky atmosphere. This book would have benefitted from a change in pace to keep the reader interested after the strong start with a teenage boy disappearing.
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People to Follow by Olivia Worley | Book Review
People to Follow by Olivia Worley
Published by St. Martin's Publishing Group on October 31, 2023
Genres: Young Adult Fiction / Thrillers & Suspense / Psychological
Pages: 352
Format: eBook
In Olivia Worley's pitch-perfect debut, People to Follow, ten teen influencers come to a remote island to star in a reality show, but when one of them winds up dead, they realize that this time, the price of getting “cancelled” could be their lives.
A reality show on a remote Caribbean island. Ten teen influencers. One dead body.
Welcome to “In Real Life,” the hot new reality show that forces social media’s reigning kings and queens to unplug for three weeks and “go live” without any filters. IRL is supposed to be the opportunity of a lifetime, watched closely by legions of loyal followers. But for these rising stars--including Elody, an Instagram model with an impulsive streak; Kira, a child star turned fitness influencer; Logan, a disgraced TikTok celeb with a secret; and Max, a YouTuber famous for exposés on his fellow creators--it’s about to turn into a nightmare.
When the production crew fails to show up and one of their own meets a violent end, these social media moguls find themselves stranded with a dead body and no way to reach the outside world. When they start receiving messages from a mysterious Sponsor threatening to expose their darkest secrets, they realize that they’ve been lured into a deadly game...and one of them might be pulling the strings.
With the body count rising and cameras tracking their every move, the creators must figure out who is trying to get them canceled--like, literally--before their #1 follower strikes again.
People to Follow is a fun, fast paced thriller in which influencers are dropping dead left and right on a remote island. I had so much fun trying to figure out who was behind the murders, and this reminded me a lot of the vibe of Bodies Bodies Bodies (although less sarcastic and on the nose) with young people running around a mansion on a private island.
There are multiple points of view in this book, which I feel was the only downside. I would have preferred to have focused on just one or two characters, but there were four POVs in total and it all got a bit much because they all sounded the same. I don’t think thrillers generally need more than two POVs.
I read this book in pretty much one sitting and that’s how you can tell it’s a decent thriller book! I’ll be adding this one to my list of recommendations.
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Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister | Book Review
Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister
Published by HarperCollins Publishers on August 1, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Thrillers / Crime
Pages: 496 Twenty-two-year-old Olivia has been missing for one day...and counting. She was last seen on CCTV, entering a dead-end alley. And not coming back out again.
Julia, the detective heading up the search for Olivia, thinks she knows what to expect. A desperate family, a ticking clock, and long hours away from her husband and daughter. But she has no idea just how close to home this case is going to get.
Because the criminal at the heart of the disappearance has something she never expected. His weapon isn't a gun, or a knife: it's a secret. Her worst one. And her family's safety depends on one thing: Julia must NOT find out what happened to Olivia - and must frame somebody else for her murder.
If you find her, you will lose everything. What would you do?
This clever and endlessly surprising thriller is laced with a clever look at family and motherhood, and cements Gillian McAllister as a major talent in the world of suspense and a master of creating ethical dilemmas that show just how murky the distinction between right and wrong can be.
I read and loved this author’s previous book, Wrong Place Wrong Time, and so I jumped at the chance to request Just Another Missing Person when it was put up on Netgalley. Gillian McAllister clearly has a talent for plotting and introducing mind bending twists. Because I didn’t bother to read the synopsis for this one before jumping into it (out of excitement!), I didn’t really know what to expect. I wasn’t sure if it would have similar speculative elements to Wrong Place Wrong Time or if it would just be a flat out thriller. Just Another Missing Person is the latter, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book.
Just Another Missing Person has a very slow start. It took me about 50% of the book to start caring about any of the characters because it just dragged. Admittedly, once the twists start happening the novel picks up and heads in several different directions, and so I flew through the last half of the book. It’s just such a shame that it took me forever to get into it in the first place, because I was so excited for it!
I think reading Just Another Missing Person will be a whole new experience upon a reread. There are definitely things that you can pick out from the first 50% that lead up to the twists in the latter half of the book, and I think it would be very interesting to go back and reread now that I know the twists. I’m going to have to wait for the paperback release for that!
I always seem to enjoy the way McAllister tackles family relationships, particularly marriage and mother-child relationships. I was a bit shocked when I read the acknowledgements and found that she doesn’t have children herself yet, because the way she handles these relationships seems to speak to her own experiences. Maybe she’s just very empathetic!
Overall, I really enjoyed Just Another Missing Person. Particularly the last half and all the juicy plot twists and drama. It’s not as strong of a plot as Wrong Place Wrong Time but I found this one to be very clever and I was in awe of the twists in some places.
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Finding Bear by Hannah Gold | Book Review
Finding Bear by Hannah Gold
Published by HarperCollins UK on September 28, 2023
Genres: Middle Grade / Contemporary
Pages: 352
Format: eBook The unmissable follow-up to the phenomenal bestselling and award-winning The Last Bear. Beautifully illustrated by Levi Pinfold and perfect for readers 8+
April Wood has returned home from her adventure on Bear Island. But, over a year later, she can’t stop thinking about Bear.
When April hears that a polar bear has been shot and injured in Svalbard, she’s convinced it’s her friend and persuades her dad to travel with her to the northernmost reaches of the Arctic. So begins an unforgettable journey across frozen tundra and icy glaciers.
But along the way, she discovers much more than she bargained for – a tiny polar bear cub, desperately in need of her help. In freezing temperatures, April must navigate the dangerous Arctic terrain and face her deepest fears if she’s to save him.
Beautifully illustrated by Levi Pinfold, Finding Bear is a stunning story of survival and a heartwarming tale of love that shows us how hope is born from the smallest of beginnings.
‘A beautifully written and illustrated story of determination, courage and hope’ The Sun
‘Magically inspiring’ Daily Mail
I wasn’t expecting The Last Bear to get a sequel, but look what’s here! Finding Bear is the follow up to April’s first journey to the arctic. In this book, she follows Bear’s call and has to help save his cub.
As always with Hannah Gold’s books, this one was full of heart and bravery, and I loved it a lot. I didn’t enjoy it as much as The Last Bear, admittedly, but I had the best time following April around the arctic again.
I got super emotional at some points, especially when April was talking about climate change and how we can try to help the wildlife being impacted by human mistakes. It’s a topic that I’m very passionate about, and I always love when books include it in the narrative.
Overall, Finding Bear is a lovely follow up to an already great story. You won’t regret picking it up!
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Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood | Book Review
Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
Release Date: 13th June 2023
Genre: Adult, Romance
Source: Publisher, NetGalley
Rating: ★★★.5The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.
Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, right between Elsie and her dream job.
Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?
You know what, I was really struggling with this book in the beginning and I was even contemplating putting it down for a bit and possibly not returning. Fortunately, I persevered, and I ended up really enjoying Love, Theoretically! It’s definitely not Hazelwood’s strongest book. I think a lot of readers will struggle at the start because the romance takes so long to get going. But if you are already a fan of her works, like I am, and have faith that it will get better then I would recommend continuing on through the somewhat difficult first few chapters.
It took about 100 pages for me to really get into this book and start liking the romance. While we’re introduced to the main character and her love interest and their dynamic quite early, it took a long time for me to connect with and understand their energy. But I loved it once I got used to it!
Of course, there are the usual tropes of the guy being Just So Big and the female main character being super tiny. I was expecting this from Hazelwood at this point, and I had a good laugh with my spouse about the “oh I’m so tiny” comments because we may or may not know some real people who come out with that in real life.
Also, I’m pleased to say that I think Hazelwood has improved in the sex scene department! After THAT scene in The Love Hypothesis, I kind of lost hope, and I can’t remember really being into the love scenes in her sophomore book. Thankfully, I ended up quite enjoying the scene in this one. It’s still slightly cringey and not really my thing, but it wasn’t as bad as the scene in her first book.
All that to say, I really enjoyed this because it was a fun, light read while also tackling slightly deeper topics, but not so much that it’s going to ruin your evening.
