It's Not Her

 

It's Not Her sounded so intriguing but I almost did not give it a chance since I have read two other novels by Mrs. Kubica and did not enjoy them. 

Reese is a typical teenager with boy issues, friend issues, and parent issues. I like that she is the typical teenager who does not want to spend two weeks in a small cabin in the middle of no where with her family.

Courtney is the typical wife who is happily married and enjoys raising her daughter. Two weeks with her family and relatives in the next cabin over sounds like a fun vacation. 

All changes though when Emily and Noland are found dead in the cabin by their 10 year old daughter. 

I love the book, started off with a bang, then going back to the present and slowly building up to the crime then the reveal of what actually happened. It was executed perfectly. Everything fit, made sense, and it all came together in a brilliant conclusion. The story, characters, and over all mystery are enough I would give Mrs. Kubica another try despite not liking previous works of hers I have read. 

Too Old For This

 

A friend recommended Too Old For This and I finally got it from the library. 

Lottie is an interesting character, she has deep thoughts but careful actions. Despite being in her golden years Lottie remains sharp of mind and determined not to let any sort of ailments slow her down. All around Lottie is fascinating, a serial killer who got away with it for years. Her methods and memories were vivid and real feeling. Everything fit together and made sense.

I am not sure if Samantha Downing has written any other mysteries but I will be looking into that. Mrs. Dowing's writing is clear, crisp, and flows easily. 

Dear Debbie

 

Dear Debbie is the newest book by Freida McFadden. I was late getting on the library list so I had to wait a bit for it. If I was rating Dear Debbie compared to other work by Mrs. McFadden I would give it two stars but if I was rating it compared to other thrillers I have read it would be three stars.

I kept waiting for the thrilling part of the story to start. It had small hints of a thriller throughout but no big moments of wow until the very end. Overall the story was slow paced and took a long time to get me really interested. The end pulled it all together and the most thrilling part was the last thirty pages or so. 

The Poet Empress

 

I saw The Poet Empress in a book quarterly magazine the local library gives out. I will admit the lovely cover and unique name made read the synopsis then put a hold on it at the library. 

I am struggling to review The Poet Empress and it is not because I disliked it. For any novel let alone a debut novel it is gorgeous. The writing is lovely, elegant, almost like poetry itself even when the story is violent, horrendous, and terrifying. Wei is a complex character who clearly evolves from the simple village girl with big dreams of helping people. Even though the story is told totally from Wei's point of view I feel like I ended up knowing all the characters who played a part in the world. 

If a bit of the fluff had been taken out shortening the book about fifty to sixty pages I would have given it five stars. A few chapters while gorgeous to read really did not add much to moving the story forward. 

Mistress of All Evil

 

I checked out Mistress of All Evil twice on my tablet and just had to push through to finish it. I was hoping the Villains series would get better. I was wrong it got worse. At first I did not go into the series realizing how much of a fanfiction it was. Book three the story line started to deviate from being about well known Disney villains to more fanfiction characters. By the time I finished book four I would say at least sixty percent of it was fanfiction characters. 

Sadly the fanfiction is not done well. Lots of characters, lots of jumping around, thoughts have finished then on to the next character, I don't care about the fate of any of the characters, and while the writing is fine it is not engaging enough to hold my attention so I am stopping the series here. 

Anatomy of an Alibi

 

Even though I was not the biggest fan of First Lie Wins I decided to give Mrs. Elston another try. Anatomy of an Alibi was in a book magazine I got from the library and sounded interesting so I put a hold on it. 

I struggled with the story at the start, lots of characters, lots of information dumping, and jumping around. Despite finding a dead body early on the story drug, lots of fluffy parts in my opinion. I did not care about any of the characters, all of them were lying in some way, and even though I did not figure out the twist it did not seem possible to figure out until the very last 30 pages or so. 

While the writing was okay I do not see myself reading any more of Mrs. Elston's work her style is just not for me. 

Best Offer Wins

 

After seeing several videos on reels about Best Offer Wins I put in a request at the library and a few months later it was my turn. Thankfully it was not as horrible as other books I have seen on reels. 

The main character Margo was flat out annoying. The lengths of her obsession to get a house was beyond crazy. Until the end I kept waiting for a "mystery" or "thriller" part to start. I can see how the author tried to pull the reader in but it was not working for me. 

I am giving it three stars because the story was at least believable even if cringeworthy in parts.