Book Review, Fiction, thriller

The Fury by Alex Michaelides ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Thriller

The Fury is narrated by Elliot Chase who is very pointedly telling us a story. It’s the story of his time on an island with movie star Lana Farrar, her husband and son and her friend Kate, and an ensuing murder. The island is sooo moody and atmospheric and as a lover of a locked-room mystery I was hooked

I loved the way this was narrated. You are aware from the beginning that you’re getting Elliot’s perspective and it’s filtered through his relationships with the other characters. I won’t say much more about that, but it added a lot to the layers of the story as the tale went on.

I’ve seen a lot of reviews talking about how slow this book is and, as a thriller, it is on the slow side, but I didn’t have a problem with that. We get a lot of backstory on the characters, which isn’t always the case with this kind of mystery and I really appreciated getting to know the nuances of their lives. With so few characters in the book, there’s plenty of time to delve into each of their pasts.

This is a twisty thriller with a lot of drama (in the sense that they’re all actors, so they’re dramatic) and I was intrigued from start to finish.

*Thank you to Celadon for a free copy of this book in exchange for my opinion.
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Book Review, Fiction, thriller

The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪
Genre: Thriller

Oof, a tough read for sure. The Perfect Son is the story of the Cass family. It mostly focuses on Erika who’s son Liam has a history of disturbing behavior from the time he is very young. Now, he’s a teenager and Erika does everything in her power to protect the people in Liam’s life from him. When a girl from his class at school goes missing, Erika fears the worst.

This book was soooo repetitive. The descriptions of Erika worrying about how messed up Liam was really insisted upon themselves which for me made the twist incredibly obvious. There was no build up at all because I was expecting the ending and it felt like wading through a bunch of unnecessary worrying to get to it.

I always find McFadden’s writing style kind of addictive in that the pages fly by and she is really good at building suspense. I definitely needed there to be more to this book though. It felt like it lacked true substance, especially compared to some of her other thrillers.

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The Perfect Son on Goodreads
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Book Review, Fiction

Tin Man by Sarah Windman ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Fiction

What a heart-wrenchingly beautiful book. Tin Man has been sitting on my shelf for literal years and I’m so glad I finally picked it up. This little novel tells the story of Ellis and Michael, their brief romance and their lasting friendship, as well as their relationship with Annie who becomes Ellis’s wife. The story is split into different timelines and we know that something causes a rift between them.

I think it’s best to go into this book blind and it’s hard to talk about without giving anything away. This is such a beautiful depiction of the relationships between these three individuals and a powerful exploration of the layers to their lives that they may not even share with those closest to them.

The way that dialogue was written in this story was so simple and unassuming, yet packed such a punch and really underscored the way that characters were thinking and feeling. Prepare to feel all the emotions if you pick this one up, and to marvel at the beauty of the writing.

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Tin Man on Goodreads
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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Romance

When Emma is recruited to help rewrite a rom-com screenplay with her hero Charlie Yates she can’t believe her luck. That is, until she gets to L.A. and realizes Charlie has no interest in her being there. Emma was already hard-pressed to leave her dad, who needs full-time care and she’s determined not to let the opportunity go to waste, despite Charlie’s resistance.

I loved Charlie and Emma’s slow burn romance and his initial grumpiness and general lack of understanding as to what constitutes a ‘romance’ script. Allowing Emma to explain (and show him) how romances work was a really fun way for the tension between them to grow while staying aligned with the storyline of two writers.

Emma’s backstory was woven throughout the narrative and allowed you to understand her and all she had been through and to feel for her as a character. It added depth to the story that made it feel more rounded than a fluffy romance.

My big issue with this book was the ending which completely came out of left field and felt tacked on. It was super unnecessary and really let me down after such a wonderfully crafted 95% of the book.

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The Rom-Commers on Goodreads
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Book Review, Fiction

Sandwich by Catherine Newman ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Fiction

Sandwich follows Rocky and her family during their annual week in Cape Cod. Rocky is navigating menopause and the ensuing changing relationship with herself, while also navigating her changing relationships with her grown children. The way she narrates is really honest and quirky. I loved that I learned her personality through her unexpected descriptions of things happening around her.

We get a number of flashbacks, most notably focusing on Rocky’s miscarriages and her experiences as a young mother. This adds a pervasive heaviness to the book and paints a picture of a nuanced life.

I really appreciated reading about the shifting dynamics in the family and the way that things from the past informed present actions. The writing style was unusual in a wonderful way and the fact that everything was wrapped up in a summer week at the cape was such an interesting way to explore the family’s history.

This definitely isn’t a fun, light beach read, but it is a quick read and a compelling story (albeit a bit repetitive in Rocky’s internal monologue at times).

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Sandwich on Goodreads
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Book Review, Fiction, thriller

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Thriller

The Midnight Feast gave big White Lotus energy, focusing on an exclusive new resort and four people in its orbit: the founder, her husband, a guest, and someone who worked there. The four perspectives wove together the history of the resort and the land it was built on and the mysteries surrounding the area. Specifically, it touched on everyone’s experience with ‘The Birds,’ a mysterious group of people dressed as birds who seemed to wreak havoc on the area.

We know from early on that the resort has been burned down and at least one person has died. As the detectives in this future narrative piece together what happened, we learn the context from various perspectives. The parts of the story set in the past, many of which were communicated through journal entries, were really compelling and showed a lot about characters’ personalities and childhood experiences that informed who they became.

The whole “birds” thing seemed really random to me and honestly I never really understood it. I’m not sure why it was a necessary element in the story at all and the parts of the book talking about it didn’t move the story along for me. I would have liked it more if the book stuck to focusing on the intricate inter-character dynamics which I really enjoyed. Everyone was hiding something and it was intriguing to see everything come to light.

The setting was so well written and I could perfectly visualize the resort and the surroundings and came to understand the history behind the land. It was moody and atmospheric and made for such an unsettling backdrop for everything unfolding.

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The Midnight Feast on Goodreads
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Book Review, Fiction, Magical Realism, Romance

A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Magical Realism

When Elsy’s friends bail on their annual book club cabin trip, she decides to go by herself for some much needed “me time.” On her way, her car breaks down in a town that feels all too familiar: it’s the town from her favorite romance series, which was never finished due to the author’s death. Elsy knows the town by heart except for the bookstore owner, Anders. Convinced that the town must be trapped where the late author stopped writing, Elsy decides to see if she can move the story forward.

I loved the storybook setting and the way that classic romance tropes were played out. It really felt like a book within a book and I enjoyed getting to know the characters and the town of Eloraton, as well as seeing how much the series meant to Elsy. The way she used the books as escapism (and then literally escaped into them) was relatable and helped me understand her.

The setting itself was so cozy and Hallmark-y. The way it always rained at night, the same smells around the town, it was really cute and fun to read about. I also appreciated the growing attraction between Elsy and Anders and trying to figure out the mystery of who he was to the story.

The main qualm I had with this book was that the ending felt incredibly rushed and I had a bit of whiplash. The magical elements were also never explained, which I didn’t really care about, but some people might find frustrating.

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A Novel Love Story on Goodreads
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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5 
Genre: Romance

Justin and Emma both have a “curse” where everyone they dates goes on to find their soulmate right after they break up. When Emma learns about Justin’s predicament via a Reddit thread, she DMs him and they strike up a deal to date each other in the hopes that their curses will cancel out.

The couple’s banter, especially over DM at the beginning of the book was so fun and flirty and I was excited to see how they would ultimately come together. Once they do, however, things are much heavier than I initially anticipated from this book. Emma’s mom shows up, bringing with her the toxicity Emma has had to deal with throughout her life and introducing mental health struggles, which remain persistent through the book. Justin meanwhile has to take custody of his younger siblings. It was….a lot.

The romance took a back seat once all the other threads of the book were introduced, which is fine, but it did lose some of its sparkle and made me care less about whether the main characters ended up together.

Outside of the romance, the other parts of the story painted compelling images of different types of families and friendships. I really enjoyed the writing style and could picture every step of the way. Jimenez really knows how to make a setting come alive. I would recommend going into this one not thinking it as a romance so much as general contemporary fiction.

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Just for the Summer on Goodreads
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Book Review, Fiction, Historical Fiction

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: August 20, 2024 (Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC)

By Any Other Name is a split narrative told in both the present, following a playwright named Melina, and in the 1500’s, exploring the story of Emilia as she comes of age. Although the women live wildly different lives, they both exist in a patriarchy and their explorations of what it meant to live as a woman in each time period were powerful.

Initially, I was much more drawn into Melina’s storyline and her relationship with her best friend as they struggle to make it in the New York City theater industry. I loved their relationship and their banter and could sense how much Melina wanted her play to succeed and the desperation she felt to do whatever it took to make that happen.

Emilia’s story really grew on me. We follow her from a young age as she is sent to be the mistress of a much older man. Through his guidance and wealth, she is able to experience art and literature unavailable to most women at the time. Her life took many turns throughout the story and was often hard to read about. The abuse she experienced and her selflessness in the face of her circumstances made me care deeply for her.

I appreciated the way the two narratives were woven together and we come to see how Melina is actually bringing Emilia’s story to the world. It was such a creative and well executed to tie together the two women.

It’s clear that tremendous research went into writing this book and it was all the more captivating to find out how much truth there was in this fictional story. There was also an unexpected romance that I found heartfelt. I appreciated that it didn’t overwhelm the narrative, but allowed us to see additional sides to certain characters.

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By Any Other Name on Goodreads
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Book Review, Fiction

Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Romance

I love when Elin Hilderbrand’s books include a mystery and Swan Song did just that. Told in alternating storylines, it follows Coco who gets a job as a personal concierge or the wealthy Richardson couple who are new to Nantucket. In the past, she can’t believe her luck at landing the role until she realizes just how chained to the Richardsons she will have to be. In the future storyline, she has mysteriously disappeared.

As always with this series, I loved the character dynamics, the descriptions of the island in the summer, and the drama. Each character is so distinct and their interactions with each other feel real. I couldn’t wait to see how things would reach the inevitable tipping point that led to Coco’s disappearance. There were a lot of descriptions of lavish parties thrown by the Richardsons and honestly, they got kind of old. I understood that they were over the top try-hards, but didn’t need soooo many similar events to get the point across. They slowed the story down for me.

It seemed like Hilderbrand was maybe a bit nostalgic writing her last Nantucket book and included a lot of easter eggs and references to her other stories. This was fun to some extent but felt like it interfered a bit with the flow of the story at some point. Nonetheless, as an avid reader of her books, it was a fun way to say goodbye to these characters and this fictionalized Nantucket.

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Swan Song on Goodreads
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