Sunday, March 3, 2024

All the Dangerous Things

 

I saw a Facebook reel that recommended some thriller books and I happened to like one they had listed so I figured I would give All the Dangerous Things a try. 


Isabelle is a sleep deprived mother who looses it all when her son disappears from his crib in the middle of the night. Unable to trust anyone around her Isabelle begins a mission to bring her son home and find out the truth even if it is not the truth she wants to learn. 


The first major issue I had with the story was the fluff, so much filler, I skipped whole paragraphs and pages as reading and still got the whole story. Way too many twisted and confusing thoughts Isabelle was having the did not move the plot forward at all. Really it makes no sense to me that authors feel like books have to be a certain number of pages when it does not add to the story, I am fine with books 150 to 200 pages. The next issue I had was I did not really like Isabelle or even feel sorry for her she just went on and on about how horrible her life was and most of it was her fault from the horrible choices she made. Beyond that the mystery was solid with a clear conclusion. 

Saturday, February 24, 2024

None of this is True

 

None of this is True is a trip all it's own and I almost quit after reading two chapters.


Josie is a middle aged woman enjoying her birthday at the local pub with her husband when she spies the glamorous Alix having a birthday celebration as well. Instead of being with just her husband several people are also at the table and Josie is curious how old Alix is turning and who all the people at her gathering are. Little did the two women know soon their destines would be intertwined as Josie makes it her personal mission to share her life story with Alix and learn Alix's life story at the same time.


The story was so ordinary and just mundane then suddenly wham it took off and I could not put it down. I read two thirds of it in one sitting. I just had to know more and more. The pace at which information was provided was perfect, small tidbits but enough to keep you wanting to read more. Some of the revelations I figured out and some I did not. The ending was perfect and I have my own conclusions, which are no doubt different from other readers, however I am not left wondering. To be able to write open ended and not leave the reader wondering is insanely talented. I look forward to more novels from Lisa Jewell. 


Sunday, February 18, 2024

One Step Too Far

 

I could not sleep last night so I looked for a book on my table and happened to find One Step Too Far which is the second book in the Frankie Elkin series. Instead of sleeping I read the whole book. 


Once again Frankie is on a mission to find the missing but this time she is diverting from her planned target to help find a man who went missing in the woods five years ago. Though she doubts he is alive she hopes she an bring comfort to his terminally ill mother with finding remains. Soon though Frankie is in over her head as she realizes something is terribly wrong with the woods and searching for the truth can be dangerous. 


The writing was the same but I found the plot line far more engaging. Most likely because I am horrified by the idea of a person just disappearing in the woods. Cities have answers and in the woods animals leave traces but for a person to just vanish while out in nature with no trace horrifies me. 


With that said I have several issues with the overall story. This next part will contain spoilers. The killer is a woodsman and his helper runs a diner, how on earth were they smart enough to encode their emails and make them impossible to trace? How did they get to the father of the missing campers house and sabotage his car and steal his gear? Also what was up with the screams in the woods that seemed to scare the experienced hunters in the group? What did Scott see? A hallucination due to guilt or the killer dressed up in the gear he stole from the victim? What happened to the night Scott left camp and was found near the river? Was he sleepwalking? Drunk? Taken and not aware? Who attacked Scott in the middle of the night was it the hunter or was it himself causing trauma to his chest? Why did the hunter leave the lean to intact and not destroy it? Was he playing a cruel joke on the missing campers father? What was up with the green Frankie saw at the top of the cliff? So many unanswered questions for side plot things but nothing that was a major question was left unanswered. 

Friday, February 16, 2024

Before She Disappeared

 

I had no clue Before She Disappeared was part of a series or I would not have started it. I tend to try to read series when they are complete or not read them at all. I cannot stand when a mystery ends on a cliffhanger and then you wait ages for the next book to either tie up the mystery or continue it.


Frankie is a woman on a mission, a mission to find the forgotten minorities who disappear, the ones who cases go cold, the ones who are only remembered by their family, and no matter she wont stop until the missing are found. 


Frankie is clearly a well rounded character, she has flaws, she has feelings, she shows fear, and she has things that make me like her a lot. The whole story wrapped up as well, so well in fact I had to see if the book preview at the end of the story was the next in the series. It is and I am trying to decide it I want to continue the series or not. I do like the writing style, the main character, the process, and the overall plot line just not into reading mystery that is a series. 

Friday, February 2, 2024

Five Fortunes - Audio Book



I was provided a copy of Five Fortunes from Mrs. Venkatraman.* It is a young adult story that is stand alone.


Despite having five main characters and side characters each girl is presented with a clear personality that makes it easy to tell them apart. One of the best parts is that each chapter has a title, it has become so rare for author's to include that but really adds a lot to the story for the reader in my opinion. One hundred percent the story was driven by teenage antics and not by romance which I strongly approve of. More stories need to show that it is okay to enjoy being a teen and hanging out with friends. At times the girls did feel a bit stereotypical but that is alright since it makes it easier for girls this age in ways, I know at that age I had a category I considered myself to be in.

The only moment where I struggled a little bit was the very start, is felt a bit like the first couple pages were a sample of the writing of what was going to happen. It was not until I finished a couple chapters I realized the story went from the girls about to get their fortunes to skipping over that part and the girls having their fortunes.

Consistent writing with a lovely flow and words that are appropriate for a young teen. At parts I laughed out loud at the story and other parts wondered how all the fortunes would play out for each girl. Another major bonus is the chapters were consistent in length so it does not mess with the pace of reading.

All in all a delightful read that I see young teens enjoying and not being overly intimated by since it is shorter in length but in no way lacking in a nicely well rounded story.

Five Fortunes is the first audiobook I have ever listened to so I have nothing else to compare it to in any way. I enjoyed hearing the story aloud, Emily M Wilson did a concise job of narrating. Wilson was easy to understand, added her own personal flair, and was consistent. 



*being gifted the story in no way affects my review

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Five Survive

 

I have been trying to get back into some young adult and all the books I wanted to check out had a massive waiting list so I went back to mystery/thriller except young adult genre added in. 


The characters were not to my liking at all, they all seemed one dimensional even Red whose point of view the story was told from. None of them had my sympathy and none of them acted like real people except Oliver at times. Red seemed so detached from all that was going on it made me wonder if she was on the spectrum in some way. 


My other huge issue with the story was the ending, it felt rushed and incomplete. It was also odd to go from Red's point of view to other people's point of view and written letters. It seemed out of place and not a smooth transition at all. I did like the overall story though it had an interesting premise and I liked that part immensely. 




Tuesday, January 23, 2024

The Fourth Wing

 

Thanks to a friend lending me their copy of The Fourth Wing I could bypass the hundreds of people on the library waiting list. 

I will admit the warning almost made me not read any farther, I can handle some of the things listed but intense gore is not my style. Thankfully the story did not go deep into describing the injuries. 

With Violet having trained to be a scribe for her entire life I expected more reluctance to physical activity from her, she did complain about it but did not seem to shy away from it. I also expected her to excel at book learning which she did. It would have been nice if her illness was explained a bit more, it seemed to randomly disappear then suddenly reappear. My other thought was Violet's name, it does not fit in the world with the other names. I get that Xander wanted to nickname her Violence so it fits that but beyond that the rest of the names sound more magical and Violet's is just too ordinary. 

Dain was another character that was complicated but also annoying. Despite him being Violet's best friend I felt like they would never have been friends outside the academy. The two constantly butted heads and it is hard to see Dain having any fun in life even as a child since he is such a stickler for the rules. 

Xander is a confusing character, he is old enough to make his own decisions but also the age of hot headed young men. I found him unbelieve a lot of time and yet moments of being a hot headed young man showed up. 

The rest of the cast sort of felt like an after thought at times. I only learned a few thing about each of them and it was hard to get a good grasp on their personality. 

Even though the story was long I wanted more world building. More information on the things around them, more information on how the different species of dragons look, and even more on how the side character's dragons looked. 

Other then those few complains I thoroughly enjoyed The Fourth Wing. Several steamy scenes, bad language, and blood but it seemed to all fit into the story. The opening really drew me in and from the first couple of paragraphs I was hooked on the writing style. I hope that more of Violet's father is mentioned further in the series and why she trained as a scribe when her mother was dead set on her being a rider.