Book Review, mystery, thriller

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins ~ Book Review

Morgan

St. Martin’s Press
Thriller
Release Date: January 4, 2022
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

Lux and her boyfriend Nico are living in Hawaii trying to save up enough money to repair his boat, The Susannah. When Brittany and Amma offer Nico a generous sum to take them to remote Meroe island, Lux is excited to join their adventure. When the group arrives, they find that there’s a couple already there, the glamorous and friendly Jake and Eliza. Meroe island has a dark history and although the group of strangers hits it off initially, the sudden appearance of another visitor throws things off balance.

Lux followed Nico to Hawaii after only knowing each other for a short time, and more she begins to question the motives of everyone around her, the less she realizes she really knows about him.

The flashbacks we receive about Amma and Brittany’s history makes it clear that there is more to their friendship than meets the eye, and more to their trip to Meroe than they are letting on.

I truly trusted no one in this story, and the setting of an empty tropical island was the perfect mix of picturesque paradise and isolated nightmare. I couldn’t read fast enough through most of this book, waiting for all the pieces to come together.

This was a five star book for me until the end. There was a plot twist that seemed to leave a huge gaping hole in the plot that I could not find a way to see past. Ultimately, the way everything was explained seemed unbelievable to me and the ending left me deeply unsatisfied.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Reckless Girls at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction, mystery, thriller

The Shadow House by Anna Downes ~ Book Review

Morgan

Minotaur Books
Mystery
Release Date: April 5, 2022 (Thank you to NetGalley for my copy!)
My Rating: 🍪🍪

The Shadow House follows Alex as she and her two children move into a new community called Pine Ridge. It’s clear that Alex is running from something as she tries to placate her teenage son about the necessity of another move.

Upon their arrival, Alex finds a box on their doorstep with a dead bird in it. Several days later, a similar box with a disturbing doll arrives. As Alex learns more about the land the community was built on, she begins to worry that there may be something sinister afoot.

I was expecting so much more out of this book. All along, I was waiting for a big reveal about Alex’s traumatic past and a big reveal about what was happening at Pine Ridge. I got neither. There was so much build up and suspense and it fell totally flat for me. There were random side plots of Alex getting to know the other residents, which I expected to all tie together, but they seemed to just be tangents that were ultimately hard to keep track of.

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Buy The Shadow House at an indie bookstore near you
The Shadow House on Goodreads

Book Review, Fantasy, Fiction

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas ~ Book Review

Morgan

Bloomsbury Publishing
Fantasy
Release Date: May 5, 2015
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

The hype is so real!! For some reason I was convinced that I wasn’t much of a fantasy person (despite loving Harry Potter), but A Court of Thorns and Roses proved that very wrong. When Feyre accidentally kills a faerie disguised as a wolf, she is forced to live out the rest of her days in the faerie world, or lose her life.

I got major Beauty and the Beast vibes as Feyre begins to get to know her captor, Tamlin and explores his grounds and her new world. The world-building wasn’t too overwhelming, and I was able to get sucked into the story fairly quickly.

The romance in this book was so unexpected and well done. It was a pretty main theme throughout the story as Feyre learns more about Tamlin and his past. I loved the setting of Tamlin’s estate and the atmosphere it set (I got a Bridgerton feel).

The action picks up a lot in the last quarter of the book and the pacing change kept me completely invested until the end. I will absolutely be picking up book two.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy A Court of Thorns and Roses at an indie bookstore near you
A Court of Thorns and Roses on Goodreads

Book Review, Nonfiction, Uncategorized

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green ~ Book Review

Morgan

Dutton
Nonfiction
Release Date: May 18, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

I struggle with short stories and essay collections, so take my review with a grain of salt. In The Anthropocene Reviewed, John Green takes the standard 5-star review concept and turns it on his head, rating a manner of everyday occurrences from the current geological age. He really ran the gamut of types of things he reviewed and kept me on my toes.

Some of these essays were light and humorous, while others discusses the pandemic at length and how it has impacted loneliness and society. I appreciated that this randomness highlighted the enormous scope of objects, experiences, etc. that exist, but I wished for a little more cohesiveness. I felt that I couldn’t get truly invested in one essay before we switched to an entirely different topic and it made it difficult for me to stay engaged.

Buy The Anthropocene Reviewed at an indie bookstore near you
The Anthropocene Reviewed on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, mystery, thriller

I’ll Be You by Janelle Brown ~ Book Review

Morgan

Random House
Thriller
Release Date: April 26, 2022
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

Janelle Brown has a unique skill for creating characters with detailed backstories and layers that make them believable and deeply intriguing. Sam and Elli, the twin main characters of  I’ll Be You are no exception. Once childhood actresses, Sam is single and now struggles with addiction while Elli is married with her own floral business. That is, until one day when she mysteriously disappears to a retreat and stops responding to all communication. As Sam begins to worry about her sister, whom she’s been estranged from for years, she realizes that Elli’s happy life may be a mere façade.

Brown shows the progression of the sisters and their bond as they are discovered, become famous, and first learn to switch places. These flashbacks add such a richness to their present-day story and helped me understand their motivations.

I didn’t expect the cult aspect of this book going into it, but I found it especially fascinating, particularly the introspection into the members and how they ended up where they did.

This wasn’t a thriller in the traditional sense, and definitely was a little slower moving, but it kept me glued to the pages trying to guess how everything fit together and how the sisters would end up at the end of it all.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.Your.Shelf
Buy I’ll Be You at an indie bookstore near you
I’ll Be You on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

Wahala by Nikki May ~ Book Review

Morgan

Custom House
Fiction
Release Date: January 11, 2022
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

Wahala is the story of Ronke, Boo, and Simi, longtime friends living in London. Simi introduces the others to her friend Isobel, who ricochets into their lives. At first, Isobel seems like a harmless bundle of energy, but as she begins to worm her way into the other ladies’ lives, they begin to find themselves turning against each other.

Each of the main characters has a detailed and believable life, relationships, and backstory. Each woman had a very different personality and way of thinking about life, and they were each dealing with different struggles. Their friendship was believable and I enjoyed learning about Nigerian culture through them.

Some of the choices these characters made, and the way they were so easily influenced and manipulated by Isobel really rubbed me the wrong way. It would seem that after so many years of being friends, they would have had a little more allegiance to the other girls and wouldn’t be so quick to turn on them. Also, the way the drama ramped up and got very dark toward the end was a lot – I wished the book hadn’t been so backloaded.

Buy Wahala at an indie bookstore near you
Wahala on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover ~ Book Review

Morgan

Custom House
Romance
Release Date: January 18, 2022
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

I could not look away from this book. The emotional rollercoaster Colleen Hoover took me on was truly impressive.

When Kenna is released after five years in prison, she’s desperate to find her four-year-old daughter who was taken away as soon as she was born. Finding her means returning to the town where the accident took place that landed Kenna in jail.

Soon after her return, Kenna meets Ledger, a local bartender, who turns out to be an unlikely link to Kenna’s daughter. The more time the two spend together, the more they put both of their relationships with Kenn’s daughter at risk.

The romance was so well crafted in this book. The pacing and slow build up of chemistry was palpable and there was a perfect level of steam. The forbidden nature of the romance didn’t hurt either.

I found Kenna to be an extremely compelling character. She was clearly and understandably haunted by her past, but the work she put in to try not to let it define her was so admirable.

I already can’t wait to reread this book (once I’ve emotionally recovered).

My Bookstagram: @Treat.Your.Shelf
Buy Reminders of Him at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction, thriller

Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica ~ Book Review

Morgan

Park Row
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: May 18, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

Local Woman Missing starts off with a bang, first introducing Shelby just before she goes missing, and then opening up a second storyline told by a girl being held captive in a basement. Her narrative was horrifying but impossible to look away from. I expected that these two points of view would carry on through the book, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, we learn that Meredith, another woman from the neighborhood, has gone missing with her daughter Delilah.

I loved how this story bounced between past and present, slowly revealing more and more details about the missing women and their relationships. Meredith’s job as a doula and the way that her professional life was mixed in was especially interesting. This thriller was definitely fast-paced.

The motivations behind what actually happened were…very unbelievable. I’m always pumped for a jarring, shocking twist in a thriller like this, and unfortunately I did not get this at all. Instead I got a flop that left me frustrated and confused about character motivations. Also, the way the police played into the ending had me rolling my eyes.

Although the vast majority of this book was really well done, there were key pieces that did not deliver.

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Local Woman Missing on Goodreads
Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf

Book Review, Memoir, Nonfiction

Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci ~ Book Review

Morgan

Gallery Books
Genre: Memoir
Release Date: October 5, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

If you’re planning to read Taste, I highly recommend listening to the audiobook. Having Stanley Tucci himself narrate his life to me made the listening experience all the more enjoyable. The book focuses, obviously, on the influential food that Tucci has cooked, eaten, and experienced throughout his life. The narrative is peppered (pun intended) with humor and excessive self-aware name-dropping that make it colloquial and amusing.

It was really interesting to learn more about Tucci’s life, from growing up in an Italian American family all the way to cooking during pandemic quarantine. He also details his recent battle with cancer and how that affected his relationship with food. This memoir is much less about Tucci’s professional life, and more so about the personal.

There are a lottt of descriptions of food, and recipes in this book, and sometimes it overwhelmed the narrative a bit (especially since listening to a recipe read out on audiobook isn’t the most thrilling). I greatly enjoyed the insight in between and left every listening session hungry.

Taste: My Life Through Food on Goodreads
Buy Taste at an indie bookstore near you

Book Review, Fiction, thriller

The Girl in the Mirror by Rose Carlyle ~ Book Review

Morgan

William Morrow
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: October 20, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

Iris and Summer, identical twins, are in a race against time to produce an heir in order to inherit millions of dollars left by their father. Iris constantly thinks about the money, particularly after her divorce when she sees her hopes slipping away. Summer, however, is in no rush. She chose to marry for love and seems dedicated to doing things on her own timeline.

When Summer calls on Iris to help her with a family emergency in Thailand, Iris finds herself romanticizing her sister’s life and what might happen if she slipped into her place.

The premise of this thriller was fantastic. With the two girls trapped alone on a yacht together for much of the story, I had no idea how it would progress. After this section of the narrative though, the story got pretty slow for me. I felt like there was the most gradual leadup to the ending that had trouble holding my interest.

I really liked seeing the truth behind Summer’s character slowly get uncovered and the final reveal definitely surprised me. That being said, I wish there had been some sort of clues before the very end that would have possibly allowed me to guess what had happened.

Buy The Girl in the Mirror at an indie bookstore near you
The Girl in the Mirror on Goodreads