Tag: baking

Book Review, mystery

The Maid by Nita Prose ~ Book Review

Morgan

Ballantine Books
Mystery
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

The Maid has one of the most interesting narrators I’ve ever encountered. Prose does an insanely good job at getting readers inside the head of Molly the maid, who has difficulty socializing and understanding the intentions and true meanings of other people’s words. The way she is written helps the reader to perfectly understand the way that Molly misinterprets things and really made me empathize with her.

When Molly finds one of the guests at the hotel she cleans dead, she is taken in for questioning by the police and quickly becomes a person of interest. Molly interacts with both colleagues and guests at the hotel, and filtered through the lens of Molly, the reader learns there’s something deeply sinister happening at the hotel.

This was definitely a slow burn with a focus on characters rather than action, but the settings and relationships were described in such intricate detail that the story never felt boring.

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

Book Review, thriller

Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney ~ Book Review

Morgan

Flatiron Books
Thriller
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

I saw so many glowing reviews of Rock Paper Scissors before I read it, but I was honestly pretty bored through most of it. Adam and Amelia are on a weekend getaway to Scotland, hopeful that it will help to rebuild their crumbling marriage. When they arrive though, sinister events slowly unfold, leaving them stranded together in increasingly suspicious circumstances.

This thriller was extremely atmospheric, primarily taking place in an old converted church in the middle of nowhere during a snowstorm. The setting alone introduced tension and heightened the rising concern Adam and Amelia felt toward the strange and inexplicable things going on around them. A lot of the creepy details thrown into the narrative were, however, never explained, which really bothered me. It left a lot of loose ends that needed to be wrapped into the conclusion in order for me to fully buy what was going on.

Adam suffers from face blindness which, to me, felt too much like a plot device and didn’t seem to be implemented realistically.

I was very intrigued to find out what was going on in this narrative, which also included somewhat strange anniversary letters to Adam. The format definitely helped me whip through this book, but given the random red herrings and plot device-y feel, I can’t say I would recommend it. 

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Rock Paper Scissors at an indie bookstore near you
Rock Paper Scissors on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance, Uncategorized

The Idea of You by Robinne Lee ~ Book Review

Morgan

St. Martin’s Griffin
Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

I literally could not put this book down. It felt like reading a gossipy tabloid, but in the best of ways. Solène Marchand takes her teenage daughter to see superstar boy band August Moon. She finds herself amused and flattered when one of the twenty-year old members, Hayes Campbell, hits on her, but the last thing she expects is for him to actually contact her. Despite her better judgment, Solène meets up with Hayes, ‘just for lunch,’ and a whirlwind romance ensues.

Okay first of all, the steam. If you don’t like reading sex scenes, this book is not for you. There are a lottt of them and they are detailed. That being said, the chemistry is insane. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book where I could so strongly feel the connection between the two main characters. Despite the age difference, Lee did an incredible job of showing the reader why Solène found Hayes so charming.

One aspect of this book that made it especially standout for me, was the way the couple had to navigate Hayes’s fame and decide when to tell people about them. This untraditional aspect of their relationship added a layer of depth and complexity that was especially interesting.

I will say that Solène seemed a bit selfish at times, especially regarding her friendships and coworkers.

The ending of this book absolutely broke me. I have never felt a book hangover more acutely than I am currently feeling. If you read this one, brace yourself.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy The Idea of You at an indie bookstore near you
The Idea of You on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune ~ Book Review

Morgan

Berkley
Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

It lives up to the hype! Every Summer After was exactly the summer read I was looking for. I grew up going to lakes during the summer and Carley Fortune perfectly captures the essence of hot days by the water, told through Persephone’s view. Persephone (Percy) is returning to the lake where she spent her summers growing up, after over a decade away. Going back means seeing Sam again, her former best friend and first love.

I was obsessed with Sam and Percy’s friendship. The timeline is split between past and present and seeing them bond as kids, share in each others hobbies and passions, and be their authentic selves was so heartwarming. They came across as completely realistic and quirky and I was holding my breath waiting for their friendship to become more.

The chemistry between the two in the present was palpable and I couldn’t get enough of their adult interactions. Throughout the book, the reader is left in the dark about what happened to pull the two apart, and the mystery combined with the breathtaking setting and the romance was the combination I didn’t know I needed.

Prepare for your heart to hurt with this one and for yourself to suddenly long for sunscreen-coated summer days by the water.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Every Summer After on Goodreads
Buy Every Summer After at an indie bookstore near you

Book Review, Nonfiction

We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates ~ Book Review

Morgan

One World
Nonfiction: Essays
Release Date: October 3, 2017

We Were Eight Years in Power is a collection of essays first published in The Atlantic, along with original introductions to each one. The book speaks broadly about the presidency of Barack Obama, and how Coates’s views and expectations of him changed over the course of his eight years as the president. It also speaks powerfully about pervasive racism in America and different programs and policies that kept and keep it in place.

Coates’s insights and research painted a stark and powerful image of the country and tied America’s history to both Barack Obama’s ascendance to the White House, and Donald Trump’s.

I found the essays incredibly compelling and thought provoking, although their introductions were a bit less so for me. His views of America, and the research and data he used to backup his perspectives, were valuable and continue to resonate with me.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy We Were Eight Years in Power at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, thriller

Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier ~ Book Review

Morgan

Minotaur Books
Thriller
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

This book!! I could not stop reading. Jennifer Hillier knows how to suck a reader in. Things We Do in the Dark starts off with Paris Peralta, who finds herself arrested for the murder of her much older celebrity husband. As her arrest begins to blow up online, she becomes increasingly concerned that the unwanted publicity will unearth a past life she has worked for years to bury.

I was surprised when a second point of view was introduced, that of true-crime podcast host Drew Malcolm. Drew has decided to dedicate an episode to the Ice Queen, who was convicted of murder when he was a teenager. She also happened to be the mother of the one who got away for Drew, Joey Reyes, who has since died.

At first, I found the jump disruptive, but I soon got sucked into Drew’s life too and I was intrigued to see how his story and his singular focus on the Ice Queen would eventually tie into Paris’s life.

Paris’s life was constructed incredibly richly. She had detailed interests, backstory, and friendships and I felt like her character came to life so much. This kind of character development felt rare coming from a thriller, and it made me especially invested in the plot.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC!

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Things We Do in the Dark at an indie bookstore near you
Things We Do in the Dark on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

Cover Story by Susan Rigetti ~ Book Review

Morgan

William Morrow
Fiction
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

Cover Story follows Lora Ricci as she embarks on a summer internship with ELLE magazine. It’s your classic naïve-girl-in-the-big-city storyline, which isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy the premise, it just wasn’t terribly original. The narrative was broken up by emails and diary entries which was a fun format that made the story fly by.

Lora is taken under the wing of Cat Wolff, a contribution editor who lives at the Plaza Hotel. I’m a sucker for a story set in NYC, and I enjoyed reading about the opulence of Cat’s life, especially through the eyes of Lora. Lora agrees to act as Cat’s ghostwriter, anticipating that this might be her big break.

What bumped this story up to three stars for me was the plot twist at the very end, which had me rethinking the entire book. I love it when stories do that, and certainly wasn’t expecting it from this kind of narrative. That being said, the rest of it felt a little too much like a wannabe knockoff of Anna Delvey.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Cover Story at an indie bookstore near you
Cover Story on Goodreads

Book Review, Romance, YA

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston ~ Book Review

Morgan

St. Martin’s Press
YA Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Thanks to Libro.fm for my audiobook!

What a strange concept for a book. When Shara Wheeler goes missing weeks before high school graduation, Smith, Rory, and Chloe all find themselves banding together to look for her. The three have nothing in common until they realize that leading up to her disappearance, Shara kissed all of them. They soon discover that she has also left cryptic notes for them.

I liked that the notes led them to locations and disclosed information that made them realize they did not know everything about Shara. It was a fun and unexpected way to slowly peel back the layers of a character who largely wasn’t actually in the book.

I found the whole premise of this book confusing. It seemed like Shara and Chloe had very little contact before Shara disappeared besides being competitors for valedictorian. Why then was Chloe suddenly obsessed with finding Shara, to the point of completely neglecting her own best friend? Was Shara truly ‘missing?’ If so, why did no one else in the whole town except these three random high schoolers seem invested in finding her? The lack of clarity around the main plot was hard for me to overlook.

The characters were well developed and the high school environment and surrounding locations were detailed, fun, and interesting, but I struggled to get fully invested in the randomness of the narrative arc.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy I Kissed Shara Wheeler at an indie bookstore near you
I Kissed Shara Wheeler on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, thriller

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose ~ Book Review

Morgan

Bloodhound Books
Thriller
Release Date: July 13, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪

The Perfect Marriage opens like your classic domestic thriller. Adam has been engaging in an affair, primarily taking place at the lake house he and his wife Sarah own. Sarah is a defense attorney who is typically too busy to join her husband for outings to the lake house. Adam is frustrated and resentful of his wife, and has come to realize that he wants to be with his mistress Kelly. That is, until she’s found dead and he’s suspected of her murder.

The first issue I had with this book was Sarah defending Adam for the murder of his mistress. Excuse me?! In what world would that happen. I had trouble looking past that as the investigation into the crime got under way.

I was, however, intrigued with how the police force and Kelly’s mysterious and possibly violent history would all play into her ultimate murder. For the most part, I couldn’t stop reading. I really was invested in figuring out what had happened to her.

Alas, the ending. I think I rolled my eyes. It was not a twist so much as a convenient fallback that left me disappointed.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy The Perfect Marriage at an indie bookstore near you
The Perfect Marriage on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson ~ Book Review

Morgan

Ballantine Books
Fiction
Release Date: February 1, 2022
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

Black Cake was a very winding story. Although much of it is a slow-burning character driven exploration of a family, there was an unexpected mystery baked in as well. Siblings Byron and Benny find themselves faced with a letter left behind for them after their mother Eleanor’s death, along with a traditional Caribbean black cake for them to eat together when the time is right. As they delve into the letter, the two begin to realize that there was much more to Eleanor’s life than they ever could have imagined.

Eleanor’s story was intricate, heartbreaking, and compelling. The challenges she was up against were interesting and intricate. Her story pulled me in much more fully than those of Byron and Benny. Although fully grown, the two seemed to lack maturity, and their stories felt shallow, particularly in comparison to the richness of the characters surrounding Eleanor and her life.

There was a lottt that went on in this book to the point where I had some trouble following along and keeping track of characters, and the ending seemed like a rushed effort to tie everything together.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Black Cake at an indie bookstore near you
Black Cake on Goodreads