Tag: books and baking

Book Review, Fiction

Silver Girl by Elin Hilderbrand ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Fiction

When Meredith finds out that her husband cheated his investors out of billions of dollars, her world is turned upside down. Meredith was truly in the dark about her husband’s crimes, but finds herself struggling to convince anyone or to know who to trust. When Meredith hears from her old friend Connie with an offer to stay with her on Nantucket, it seems like the perfect place to escape and regroup.

This was one of Elin Hilderbrand’s less standout stories for me. The Nantucket setting was, as ever, beautifully depicted, and I appreciated the emotional depth of Meredith’s character and her attempts to pull her life back together. The backlash Meredith received and her trying to sort through how to deal with her situation made for a really compelling story and I appreciated the premise a lot. Because this story was so focused on Meredith and Connie’s emotional states, I found the actual plot and action to be a bit lacking, especially for such a long book.

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

Book Review, Fiction, thriller

Stone Cold Fox by Rachel Koller Croft ~ Book Review

Morgan

Thriller
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

Stone Cold Fox has all the makings of the kind of thriller that I love, including a conniving female protagonist manipulating a man to get what she wants. Bea is both a high powered career woman and *this close* to marrying into Collin Case’s wealthy family. Bea grew up watching her mom use and be used by men in an attempt to get ahead in life and it is clear that Bea learned a lot from her, but holds a lot of resentment for the things her mom made her do, which slowly come to light throughout Bea’s story.

I devoured this book, but I had some trouble with Bea’s main conflict with Collin’s childhood best friend Gale, who has it out for her. There interactions didn’t seem realistic and felt forced into the narrative to me. I can’t exactly pinpoint what it was about them, but this part of the story– and particularly how it ended– left something to be desired.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Stone Cold Fox at an indie bookstore near you
Stone Cold Fox on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

Acts of Violet by Margarita Montimore ~ Book Review

Morgan

Mystery
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

What a wacky enjoyable read this was – especially over audio. A decade after the disappearance of acclaimed magician Violet Volk, podcast host Cameron is desperate to secure an interview with Violet’s sister, Sasha. Sasha was left to pick up the pieces after her sister vanished, and has done her best to distance herself from Violet in the ensuing years. This feat is made all the more difficult by Sasha’s daughter Quinn who is very much still enamored by the aunt who vanished.

The book focuses mainly on the ten-year anniversary and the news articles, events, and of course, podcasts that discuss Violet. The audiobook included a number of different narrators, one for each medium, which made this so much fun to listen to. It really was like listening to an elongated podcast most of the time.

Although the mystery of what happened to Violet is central to the story, this was much more a character study of her and Sasha. It included flashbacks showing how Violet’s rise to fame impacted them both and showed the dark sides to Violet that were hidden to her adoring fans.

The story definitely requires you to suspend reality throughout, but especially at the end. I’ll admit, the ending didn’t do the rest of the story justice for me, but the book had Montimore’s signature quirk and was truly fun to listen to.

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

Book Review, Fantasy, Romance

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling ~ Book Review

Morgan

Avon Books
Romance/Fantasy
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

The Ex Hex is a cute, spooky fall romance that checked a lot of boxes, but never invested me past surface level. When Vivi’s ex, Rhys, breaks up with her, she and her best friend pretend to place a curse on him in an amusing scented-candle-and-alcohol-induced act of defiance. Upon his return to the town of Graves Glen nine years later, Vivi begins to worry that what was meant to be a joke may have done more harm than she intended.

This is a perfect book to read in the fall. The small town charm is wonderfully done, and their obsession with Halloween made for the ideal witchy atmosphere. The romance is steamy and the chemistry between Vivi and Rhys was palpable.

The actual plot? Honestly, not much happened. The ‘action’ felt pretty draggy for me, and I enjoyed meeting the characters and the world-building in the first half of the book much more than the actual plot later on.

A+ vibes, C+ plot.

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

Book Review, mystery

The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda ~ Book Review

Morgan

Scribner
Mystery
My Rating: 🍪🍪

I loved the setting of The Last to Vanish. It took place at The Passage Inn in the town of Cutter’s Pass, most notably known for outdoor recreation and its access to the Appalachian Trail. It’s also, however, known for a string of unsolved disappearances of hikers over the years. The descriptions of the inn and the natural surroundings were wonderfully depicted and I could perfectly visualize the story unfolding.

The protagonist, Abby has managed the inn for ten years. She begins to feel increasingly troubled by the disappearances when the brother of the most recent man to go missing shows up to investigate. Abby begins to suspect that her neighbors and coworkers are not being honest about what they know.

There were so many characters in this book that I couldn’t keep track of them. No one had a stark enough personality to orient me to who was saying and doing what and it made it very confusing to try to stay invested in the mystery. It also felt to me like not much happened for the majority of the storyline, and the twists at the end were extremely anticlimactic. 

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

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey ~ Book Review

Morgan

Avon Books
Romance
Release Date: March 1, 2022
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

I loved It Happened One Summer and was excited for another light, steamy story in the Bellinger Sisters’ universe. I really enjoy the small fishing town of Westport and the tight knit community it fosters, so I was thrilled when Hannah ended up there for work. She decides to crash with Fox Thornton while she’s there, a notorious flirt who she has befriended, largely over text, since her last visit.

The build up of Fox and Hannah’s relationship and their individual concern about ruining their friendship felt realistic to me and kept me on my toes. I couldn’t wait for them to finally get together. I did think there were some very dramatic hot and cold situations, but that feels like more a product of the genre than this specific story.

I really enjoyed getting to delve into Hannah’s work life and her career aspirations and how prominently that played into her storyline and her motivations. This added a lot more to her character and I liked seeing how Fox supported her.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Hook, Line, and Sinker at an indie bookstore near you
Hook, Line, and Sinker on Goodreads

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.

Check out my bookstagram: Treat.your.shelf
Buy The Shadow House at an indie bookstore near you
The Shadow House on Goodreads