Book Review, Fiction, thriller

Goodnight Beautiful by Aimee Molloy ~ Book Review

Morgan

Harper
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: October 13, 2020
My Rating:🍪🍪🍪

Hmm, I’m not quite sure how to review this one. I listened to the audiobook of Goodnight Beautiful (thanks to Libro.fm) and was instantly sucked in. I loved the flirty banter between Sam and his wife Annie to start. They like to roleplay out in public, and the first time Sam pretends to pick Annie up at a bar, it becomes clear that their little game will make it incredibly hard for the reader to tell exactly what’s really going on at all times in the book, which I loved.

The couple has recently moved out of New York City, and Sam opens up his own therapy practice. From upstairs, a vent in the wall allows anyone to overhear his sessions, which we readers are lucky enough to get to do. 

The twists in this book were shocking to the point of confusion for me. I think part of this was because I made assumptions and it was hard for me to readjust after I learned the truth. I had to rethink what I knew about a large chunk of the book. This is part of what I love about the thriller genre, it just took a bit of work for me on this on. I wouldn’t say that was a negative for this book, if anything, it indicates how seamlessly the opening was set up with the impending reveal of the twist.

The ending really let the book down a few notches for me. It felt cramped with reveal after reveal and it lost any believability factor it had had for me. The pacing and tone of the narrative completely changed from the rest of the book and was disappointing given how enthralled I was from the majority of the book. This is still a wild and intriguing thriller, and if you like thrillers that push the envelope on being believable, this one might be well suited for you.

Buy Goodnight  Beautiful at an indie bookstore near you
Goodnight Beautiful on Goodreads

Fiction, thriller, Uncategorized

When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole ~ Book Review

Morgan

William Morrow
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: September 1, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

There was a lot I appreciated about When No One is Watching. As an avid thriller reader, it was refreshing to get a totally new take on the genre. This book focuses on gentrification in America and Brooklyn specifically. The reality of the situation made it all the more scary. Sydney feels out of control as she watches her neighbors move out and her neighborhood completely change around her. She decides to create a walking tour that’s fully transparently representative of the history of the area.

Along with the help of a new neighbor, Theo, Sydney digs into the racism that’s permeated the area for decades. The narrative brought in systemic racism through shocking, sadly believable facts and evidence. It was interesting to see the difference in Sydney’s reaction to this information, and Theo’s, since he was wholly unfamiliar with much of it prior.

The action in this book felt very unevenly distributed. The beginning dragged for me. As Theo and Sydney visited different groups to learn about the history of the area, I was unsure why so many characters needed to be introduced. There were some times when Sydney felt uneasy about how quickly her surroundings were changing, but it didn’t feel like a thriller. The second half jumps full tilt into disturbing and twisted thriller mode. The premise from there on out was incredibly different from anything I’ve read before and there was no way I saw it coming. It was thought-provoking and terrifying. That being said, it felt like too much all at once for me. If everything was spaced out evenly through the book, I think it all could have worked, but as it was, I felt overloaded at the end and things didn’t feel fleshed out enough. If you’re looking for a thriller that doesn’t fit the stereotypes of the genre, and grapples with prevalent and timely issues surrounding systemic racism, I would recommend trying this one.

Buy When No One is Watching at an indie bookstore near you
When No One is Watching on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, thriller

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James ~ Book Review

Morgan

Berkley
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: February 18, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

I tend not to really get into paranormal ghost stories, despite my love of thrillers. I usually find them unrealistic to the point where I just can’t get into them. The Sun Down Motel was a game-changer for me. The setting is an old isolated motel at the edge of a highway that was built there to cater to an amusement park that never ended up being built. That in itself was haunting all on its own.

The story is a split narrative between Viv, and her niece, Carly, 30-ish years later. Both come to Fell, NY on their own and work as night clerks at the motel. While Viv’s arrival there is pure happenstance, Carly is investigating what happened to Viv, who disappeared at the time she was working there.

Fell has a noted history of murders, and the Sun Down Motel has seen several deaths on the premises itself. Carly and Viv learn this first hand, as the motel often comes to life at night, with unexplained opening doors and power outages.

As Viv begins to investigate the history of Fell’s murders, it was intoxicating to watch the parallels between her and Carly’s storylines. The more they each uncovered, the more sure I was that they were headed straight for trouble, and the more freaked out I got. I’ve read a lot of thrillers and they rarely scare me, but this one absolutely creeped me out.

The one slight problem I had was that it felt like the ultimate conclusion was figured out a little early on so I kept expecting there to be a twist, which I would have loved. That being said, this was still a phenomenal and atmospheric spooky-season read.

Buy The Sun Down Motel at an indie bookstore near you
The Sun Down Motel on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Historical Fiction

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner

Morgan

St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: May 26, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪

The Jane Austen Society was a slow-moving work of historical fiction set in Chawton England, the final resting place of Jane Austen. The setting was written in a way that made it feel picturesque, even through the audio version I had thanks to Libro.fm. It follows a set of characters in the small town right after World War II as well as a prominent movie star, who’s an avid Austen fan visiting.

The tie that bonds the eclectic group together is, of course, their love of Jane Austen. They decide to form a society dedicated to keeping Jane Austen’s belongings and legacy, much of which exists within the town, safe and preserved. Each character was distinct and had a well-defined past. Learning their histories was interesting, and it was clear that a lot of thought went into their unique construction.

The relationships between these characters was a little melodramatic for me. I understand that given the time period, relationships were likely to move more slowly, but I got a little bored waiting for more action.

I think this book would really appeal to readers who like character-driven stories, picturesque country settings, a small-town dynamic and, of course, Jane Austen.

Buy The Jane Austen Society at an indie bookstore near you
The Jane Austen Society on Goodreads

Book Review, Memoir, Nonfiction, Uncategorized

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah ~ Book Review

Morgan

Doubleday
Genre: Memoir
Release Date: November 15, 2016
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

Born a Crime is an eye-opening and insightful account of Trevor Noah’s experience growing up in South Africa during apartheid, as a mixed-race child. His writing is very straightforward, and I really appreciated how he wrote exactly from his own point of view. As a kid, he didn’t know anything different from his own experiences. Being mixed-race made his birth itself a crime, and he focuses a lot on how being half white privileged him throughout his childhood, and how he didn’t understand why.

I learned so much about the culture in South Africa during apartheid from this book, and many of the details were heartbreaking. It was easy to visualize each story or anecdote that Trevor detailed, and the whole book played out almost like a movie in my head. He crafted an incredibly comprehensive account of the different phases of his life he went through and the creativity and ingenuity he employed to enrich his life: from waiting in the lunch line for other students to get a cut of their lunch money, to selling CDs he mixed and burned himself.

One of my favorite parts of this book was Trevor’s descriptions of his relationships with various family members. The dialogue and interactions felt like they were taken directly from his memories. One thing I would have liked more of is Trevor’s later life, and how he got to his current career and notoriety, but it definitely wasn’t necessary to make the memoir feel complete.

Buy Born a Crime at an indie bookstore near you
Born a Crime on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

The Switch by Beth O’Leary ~ Book Review

Morgan

Romance
Flatiron Books
Release Date: August 18, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪.5

The premise of The Switch was very cute and unique. Leena Cotton, burnt out at her corporate job, is told to take two months off — she hasn’t taken any time off in years. Her grandmother, Eileen, has just begun her first foray into online dating, but she’s having trouble finding anyone eligible and her age in her small town. Leena suggests they switch places: Eileen live in her apartment in bustling London, surely surrounded by hundreds more men her age, and Leena slow the pace of her life to live in the country.

I liked that there were layers to this story beyond just the actual switch. Leena lost her sister to cancer several years earlier, and her relationship with her mother has been strained, at best, ever since. This was a really interesting addition that added to the everyday goings on in the story.

I’m a very plot-driven reader, and unfortunately the slow pace of this story was hard for me to get into. It mostly discusses the mundane events that Leena and Eileen take part in everyday as they try to adjust into the other woman’s lifestyle. It felt repetitive for me, and the romances didn’t feel very believable. I think they needed to have more depth and time spent focusing on them for me to really be rooting for anyone to get together. I finished The Switch because it was cute, but it never fully enthralled me.

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

Book Review, Fiction, thriller, Uncategorized

His & Hers by Alice Feeney ~ Book Review

Morgan

Flatiron Books
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: July 28, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

I listened to the audiobook of His & Hers (thanks to Libro.fm for my copy) and really loved the narration. There is, of course, a ‘his’ narrator and a ‘hers’ narrator, but there’s also a very creepy mystery third voice that sounded especially ominous because I listen to my audiobooks sped up. The ‘her’ in question is Anna Andrews, a BBC news presenter whose job is in jeopardy. The ‘him’ is Detective chief inspector Jack Harper who also happens to be Anna’s ex-husband.

When a murder is discovered in their town, Jack and Anna find themselves suddenly crossing paths again. The situation is made all the more tangled when it’s discovered that the murder victim is a woman they both knew. As more women show up dead, all with connections to the couple, it becomes clear that something very sinister is going on.

I liked that, rather than just a random serial killer, there was a connection between the murderer and Anna and Jack, that I got to try to parse through as the story went on. There were flashbacks to Anna’s childhood, when she was friends with the victims, and it was shocking to see how her past informed the present. The added element of Jack and Anna’s relationship was really interesting and unique as well.

I spent most of the book trying to figure out who the third narrator was. I feel like there were some red herrings along the way, and I suspected pretty much every character at one point or another. I liked that it kept me guessing, but I had some problems with the ultimate unveiling. First of all, it was done at the very end, without any time to really make me believe it. Looking back, I didn’t see hints that could have gotten me to the conclusion, and that always frustrates me with thrillers. The whole wrap-up left me unsatisfied even though I was enthralled throughout the rest of the story.

Buy His & Hers at an indie bookstore near you
His & Hers on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, thriller

Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell ~ Book Review

Morgan

Atria Books
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: October 13, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

Invisible Girl is a riveting thriller following an eclectic group of unique and detailed characters. Owen is an odd loaner in his thirties who finds himself unemployed after several female students accuse him of inappropriate conduct. Cate and Roan live across the street with their two children. Their marriage is rocky and the lack of trust between them is evident in their every interaction. Saffyre is a teenager who wants nothing more than to be invisible following a traumatic and life-altering encounter when she was ten.

Each character’s perspective is so vivid and descriptive that I was completely enthralled while reading. It’s really obvious how well Jewell knew each of their characters and was able to speak through their voice and their thoughts in a distinct and often disturbing manner. Each of their thought processes had veins that were distinctly unnerving and left me questioning if they could be trusted.

Although each person initially appears to be only loosely connected to the other characters, the story slowly explores their past interactions and how they had informed the present. They are each aware of a series of attacks that have been becoming more frequent in the neighborhood, and increasingly seem to be tying them all together.

This was a five-star read for me until the end. The build up was so rich and intricate and had me completely flabbergasted as to where the story was going. Unfortunately, the big exciting twist I was anticipating never came. Looking back, the ultimate conclusion surrounding the attacks didn’t seem like enough to have pulled the whole story and all the characters together and made the story really fall flat for me. This was definitely a very distinctive and intriguing thriller and for the most part I was glued to the pages, but the wrap-up of the plot didn’t do the rest of the writing justice.

Buy Invisible Girl at an indie bookstore near you
Invisible Girl on Goodreads

Book Review, Nonfiction

American Cheese by Joe Berkowitz ~ Book Review

Morgan

Harper Perennial
Genre: Nonfiction
Release Date: October 6, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

As a stereotypically cheese-loving millennial, I was thrilled to receive a gifted copy of American Cheese from the publisher. I thought I knew a medium amount about cheese before I read this book, but it turns out I know very, very little in the grand scheme of cheese. Joe Berkowitz came to a similar realization himself, but his became the catalyst for a years-long adventure into gourmet cheese tastings, farm visits, and cheese-making observations.

American Cheese follows Joe as he learns the intricacies of cheese making, cheese classifications, cheese competitions, and the truly bizarre ways that people describe cheese flavor and smell. I honestly couldn’t keep track of the different cheeses he described because there were so many of them. Throughout it all, the theme of ‘American cheese’ was woven through, and the book explores how America came to be a player in the artisan cheese space, despite being scoffed at for years by consumers and manufacturers in other countries.

Joe’s writing is hilarious. He has a joke in just about every other sentence, but it doesn’t feel forced. You can tell he’s a naturally funny person, and his humor is an extension of his writing style. I found myself smiling and repeating lines to my roommate many times throughout this read. The phrasing Joe uses to describe different cheeses by sight, smell, and taste were incredibly unique and weird, but they worked perfectly. The humor never felt like too much, and it kept the energy up through some very similar and repetitive sequences of farm visits and cheese tastings.

The repetitive nature of this book did get to me after a while. There are a lot of similar events featuring slightly different cheeses, and I didn’t feel like I needed so much detail about each competition, consortium, etc. I may have done some skimming. The depth of the ‘technical cheese’ information was also a little more than I personally needed, but I could see how hardcore cheese people might appreciate it. 

American Cheese is a very informative look into the cheese industry, past and present, through the lens of one man’s journey to become an informed cheese connoisseur. I learned a lot, laughed a lot, and craved cheese a lot.

Buy American Cheese at an indie bookstore near you
American Cheese on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid ~ Book Review

Morgan

Washington Square Press
Genre: Romance
Release Date: June 7, 2016
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

I’m slowly making my way through all of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books and loving every minute of it. Reid has an incredible ability to fill her prose with interesting, world-building details that make each story come to life and feel fully dimensional. One True Loves is no exception as it spins a bifurcated love story centering around Emma Blair.

Emma works for her family’s bookstore throughout high school. Her parents hope she’ll stay on to run the business but Emma wants to travel the world. Luckily, Jesse is on the same page. Their romance carries them from Massachusetts to college in California, and from there they each take on careers that allow them to travel. On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse’s helicopter crashes and he is presumed dead. 

Shocked and mourning, Emma moves back to the town where she grew up, and runs into Sam, an old friend from her past. Friendship slowly blossoms into love and Emma has a new engagement ring on her finger when she gets the call that after three years, Jesse has been found.

Reid’s depiction of Emma’s two love stories was beautiful and believable. The little details about each romance had me falling in love with Emma’s story over and over again. This was such an interesting depiction of coming to terms with how much people change over time, and how grief affects what people value most. As Emma and Sam’s relationship grows, she finds comfort in reading and in being close to her family. The shifting of her priorities comes as a shock to Jesse when he reappears in her life, and seeing them both grapple with these changes was heart-wrenching.

I loved the presentation of Emma’s family. Her strained relationship with her sister is explored at depth, and I appreciated the way Reid illustrated it changing over time as they grew to better understand one another. One True Loves is an emotional, vibrant, overwhelming love story that felt fresh and different than anything I’ve read before.

Buy One True Loves at an indie bookstore near you
One True Loves on Goodreads