Book Review, Fiction, thriller

Survive the Night by Riley Sager ~ Book Review

Morgan

Dutton Books
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: June 29, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

Riley Sager strikes again. Survive the Night is a deeply atmospheric thriller that takes place largely in a car as Josh Baxter takes Charlie on the hours-long ride to her home in Ohio. Charlie has decided to suddenly drop out of college after her roommate and friend becomes the latest victim of a lurking serial killer. She meets Josh at the ride board where he conveniently happens to be looking for someone to join him on his own drive to Ohio.

Being trapped in a car with these two made me feel truly trapped as well. Following the deaths of Charlie’s parents, she developed a peculiarity of seeing movies in her mind, and she finds it increasingly more and more difficult to separate them from reality. I love an untrustworthy narrator, and Charlie’s inability to discern reality from imagination made it incredibly hard to know what was real.

There’s a lot that happens in this book. The beginning, during the drive, is definitely slower, but the mounting tension made it impossible for me to put this one down. Toward the end there’s a lot of action and Josh and Charlie are joined by a few deeply disturbing characters who turn their journey entirely on its head. If you’re looking for a chilling and riveting thriller, this is it.

Buy Survive the Night at an indie bookstore near you
Survive the Night on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, mystery, Uncategorized

The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand ~ Book Review

Morgan

Little, Brown and Company
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: June 19, 2018
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

Picking up a book that’s over 400 pages is always a little daunting for me, but I could not stop reading The Perfect Couple. First of all, it’s an amazing choice for a summer read. The story centers around Celeste and Benji’s bougie Nantucket wedding, planned and paid for by the groom’s wealthy family. When a member of the wedding party shows up dead, all bets are off as to whose scandalous secrets are responsible for her death.

There’s so much I loved about this book. First of all, Celeste. Celeste works as a zoologist in New York City and her humble kindness came through with everything she said and did. She doesn’t come from money, and her approach to Benji and his family’s wealth seemed really realistic. Her closeness with her parents was so well written, especially the scenes with her mom, who’s battling cancer.

The scenes set in Nantucket really brought it to life, especially the nights Celeste has experiencing everything for the first time. I felt like I was right there on a balmy summer night drinking champagne with them. As always, Hilderbrand’s descriptions of food were impeccable.

There are a lot of moving parts to this story, but every character is detailed and well rounded enough that I never got confused, and they never felt one-dimensional. It’s clear that a lot of thought went into constructing this story. It’s told through the perspectives of quite a few characters, and I loved getting to see each of their perspectives as the details of the circumstances surrounding the unexpected death slowly came into focus.

If you’re looking for a beach read, a mystery, or a story with detailed, compelling characters, pick up The Perfect Couple.

Buy The Perfect Couple at an indie bookstore near you
The Perfect Couple on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

The Guncle by Steven Rowley ~ Book Review

Morgan

G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Genre: Fiction
Release Date: May 25, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

The Guncle is a quirky delightful narrative that follows GUP (Gay Uncle Patrick) as he temporarily takes in his niece and nephew, Maisie and Grant, after their mother dies. Patrick used to be a sitcom star, and Maisie and Grant find themselves in the midst of his lavish Hollywood lifestyle, hilariously having brunch explained to them and lounging in the pool.

Patrick has little experience with kids and it was so funny to watch him navigate how to approach and bond with his niece and nephew. He also does his best to help them understand and cope with their grief, adding a much more serious and deep undertone to this book. Having lost the love of his life in a tragic accident, Patrick is unfortunately well equipped to understand what the kids are feeling.

I listened to this book on audio and Steven Rowley, the author, narrates it wonderfully. The little kid voices (and Grant’s inability to pronounce s’s) were perfect, and GUP’s sass and exasperation added so much energy to the story.

Some of the drama surrounding the kid’s dad and their aunt seemed a little outlandish and extreme to me, and I think could’ve been dialed down a bit. Overall though, between grief, movie-star glamor, and little kid antics, there was a lot going on in this story which kept it lively and made me breeze through it.

Buy The Guncle at an indie bookstore near you
The Guncle on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, mystery, Romance

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto ~ Book Review

Morgan

Berkley
Genre: Romance/mystery??
Release Date: April 27, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

I truly don’t know how to classify Dial A for Aunties. Part murder mystery and part romance, it is both utterly hilarious, and an informative exploration of Chinese-Indonesian culture. It tells the story of Meddelin Chan, her mom, and her aunties who all work for their wedding business. When they unintentionally end up with a corpse crashing the biggest wedding they’ve ever been booked for, things take a turn — and then another one when Meddy’s ex-boyfriend appears as the owner of the wedding venue.

The banter between Meddy and the aunties really made this book stand out for me, especially since I listened to it via audio. I really enjoyed the pop-culture and technology references and miscommunications and the way Meddy took everything in stride and tried to help her family understand the idiosyncrasies of being a modern young adult in America. I loved the way Sutanto seamlessly intertwined insight into Chinese-Indonesian customs and family values into the story. This added a lot of richness to the storyline and I felt like I learned a lot while at the same time being wildly amused.

Is this book realistic? Not in the slightest. Is it unexpectedly complex, funny, and fast-paced? Absolutely. That combined with the island resort setting made Dial A for Aunties a fast fun read.

Buy Dial A for Aunties at an indie bookstore near you

Dial A for Aunties on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Float Plan by Trish Doller ~ Book Review

Morgan

St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre: Romance
Release Date: March 2, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪

Float Plan has a really wonderful premise and a perfect summer setting. After Anna’s fiancé commits suicide, she decides to take his sailboat out on the trip that they never got to take. Still reeling from her loss, Anna seizes the opportunity to run away from her life and immerse herself in the surroundings of the boat her fiancé loved. It soon becomes clear that Anna’s going to need some sailing expertise and she hires Keane to help her on her journey.

Keane suffered a leg amputation, and struggles with how others now perceive him and react to his disability. This, along with Anna’s grief, make for a really deep backdrop of their stories, however it felt superficial to me. Unfortunately, these aspects came off like plot devices because they weren’t really explored in depth. I was frustrated that what could have made this book so powerful was not discussed beyond repeated passing surface-level comments.

That being said, it was interesting to learn about sailing along with Anna and I relished the ability to vicariously travel to new exotic locations with her.

The conflict between Anna and Keane toward the end felt really sudden and unbelievable and made it hard for me to root for them.

Buy Float Plan at an indie bookstore near you
Float Plan on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Heartbreak for Hire by Sonia Hartl ~ Book Review

Morgan

Gallery Books
Genre: Romance
Release Date: July 27, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

Brinkley works at Heartbreak for Hire, an agency that specializes in taking down men who have somehow wronged their female friends, coworkers, or lovers. She keeps her job secret from those around her, especially her mom, who’s still disappointed that Brinkley dropped out of grad school and didn’t follow in her academic footsteps.

I was sucked into Brinkley’s unorthodox world and loved seeing how she prepared for her work missions and carried them out. It made for a sexy, empowering narrative that immediately made me like Brinkley. Although she knows that there must be more to him than meets the eye, Brinkley finds herself undeniably attracted to one of her targets, and things get awkward when he shows up at her office a few days later.

The romance in this book was steamy and electric. There were a lot of other elements to this book, including Brinkley’s rocky relationship with her mom and former classmates, and the troubling control her boss seems to hold over her. I felt like these elements needed to either be fleshed out a little more, or omitted, because they seemed a little incomplete. The overall plot, however, was flirty and captivating.

Buy Heartbreak for Hire at an indie bookstore near you
Heartbreak for Hire on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, thriller

Too Good to Be True by Carola Lovering ~ Book Review

Morgan

St. Martin’s Press
Thriller
Release Date: March 2, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

Too Good to Be True is a classic split-narrative, unreliable narrator thriller. It introduces Skye as she accepts her boyfriend Burke’s proposal even though they’ve only been dating for a few months. Through letters to his therapist, we see that Burke is actually living a double life and has something besides a happily ever after in mind for Skye. The third viewpoint is teenaged Heather, who’s babysitting for a wealthy local woman and trying desperately to secure more for herself than anyone expects of her.

There was a lot going on in this narrative and it was sometimes a little difficult to draw all the connections, which kept me really engaged in trying to keep up. I didn’t particularly like any of these characters. Skye seemed very naïve and Burke wasn’t especially good at playing out his grand scheme. That being said, sometimes my favorite thrillers are the ones where I’m not rooting for anyone.

I definitely didn’t guess all the ulterior motives and double crossings going on, which I love from a thriller. Overall, this was a good read and a solid thriller, but I wasn’t particularly blown away.

Buy Too Good to Be True at an indie bookstore near you
Too Good to Be True on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Historical Fiction, YA

Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee ~ Book Review

Morgan

G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Genre: YA Historical Fiction
Release Date: May 4, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

Luck of the Titanic tells the story of Valora Luck as she attempts to board the Titanic and is turned away because she’s Chinese. Her voyage has two goals: to find her twin brother Jamie, who she believes is working on board, and to impress the traveling circus owner and get him to let her perform in his shows.

There were so many layers to this book. Valora and Jamie are orphans and the grief and conflicting emotions they feel about their parents’ deaths was brought up subtly throughout the narrative, but in a way that cuts you to the core. The racism experienced by Valora and Jamie and his fellow crew-mates was also heartbreaking, but Valora faced it all with such poise and perseverance. She was an incredibly strong protagonist who didn’t let anything or anyone stand in the way of her.

The setting was also fantastic. I’ve always found the Titanic fascinating, and Lee’s descriptions of the maze of a ship brought it to life and made for such an interesting place for the story to unfold.

Valora meets a diverse set of characters on her journey, and each of them was so wonderfully unique. From the fashionable first-class women, to Jamie’s quirky group of friends, each of them made an impression.

I usually have trouble getting into YA books, but this story was so immersive and beautifully written that I had no such problem.

Thank you to Once Upon A Book Club for sending me a box with this book!

Buy Luck of the Titanic at an indie bookstore near you
Luck of the Titanic on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction

Layla by Colleen Hoover ~ Book Review

Morgan

Montlake
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: December 8, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

When I heard the term ‘paranormal romance’ being thrown around about Layla, I was instantly skeptical, but the paranormal aspects of this book actually totally worked for me! Layla follows Leeds and Layla’s love story, from a meet-cute at a wedding to a horrible tragedy, and then through the recovery process.

First of all, their meeting was so stinking cute. Leeds is in the band at Layla’s sister’s wedding and the two of them convene afterwards at the venue pool. Layla is so quirky and unique that I bought every ounce of their conversation and understood why Leeds felt such an instant attraction to her.

When the couple returns to the bed-and-breakfast where they first met, which has since been sold, things have changed for them dramatically. Layla seems completely different after the accident and Leeds feels like he’s lost sight of the woman he loves. Feeling lost, he begins to investigate a seemingly paranormal presence at the B&B and finds himself using Layla as a conduit for spending more time with whoever else is there.

I thought this was going to be a full on ghost story and that would leave me unsatisfied in the ending, but Hoover came up with a very interesting concept that was able to wrap up the story well and gave me mystery vibes as Leeds searched for answers. Overall, this was such a fascinating concept and I was fully invested.

Buy Layla at an indie bookstore near you
Layla on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon ~ Book Review

Morgan

Berkley
Genre: Romance
Release Date: January 26, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

When Shay Goldstein finds out that the radio station she works for is in danger of going under, she suggests a new show hosted by two exes. What she doesn’t expect is that her boss will choose her and her cocky new colleague Dominic Yun to co-host the show as fake exes. The two already don’t seem to get along, so pretending to have beef with each other starts out easy. It gets harder when Shay quickly realizes she’s falling for Dominic.

I liked that the concept behind this story opened up the door for us to learn about the character’s values and their struggles over whether or not lying on the show was ethical. It allowed for easy depth of character development. We also learned about their families, which made them feel like rounded out people. I loved that Shay was Jewish, I haven’t come across a lot of this kind of representation in popular contemporary romances.

The gradual build up of Shay and Dominic’s romance kept me on my toes and I could feel the chemistry. The big reveal and subsequent final chapters of the book felt really rushed and unrealistic to me and unfortunately threw off my feelings somewhat about the story as a whole. If the ending unfolded in a more natural and evenly paced manner, I would have been a lot more satisfied with the book.


Buy The Ex Talk at an indie bookstore near you
The Ex Talk on Goodreads