My SPOILER ALERT Book Reviews!

T he Girl in Room 12 by Kathryn Croft — 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Perfect Family? More Like Perfectly Messy Okay but LISTEN. 😳 If you enjoy the “perfect family hiding ugly secrets” trope (my absolute favorite), buckle up. This one delivers. ⚠️ Trigger Warnings Murder & strangulation Domestic violence / knife threat Infidelity Stalking Drug theft & illegal drug selling Amnesia (faked) Parental custody fears Physical assault 📚 Premise (Why This Hooks You Immediately) The story opens with a news report : a woman’s body has been found in a hotel room at the River Walk Hotel in Putney. Then our FMC, Hannah Chambers , finds a key card to that exact hotel in her husband Max’s laundry. Excuse me???? 😳 Hannah owns a sweet little bookshop called Whispering Pages . She has a five-year-old daughter, Poppy. On the surface? Cozy, normal, safe. Under the surface? Oh. Oh no. 🚨 SPOILER WARNING — FULL PLOT + ENDING BELOW 🚨 You have been warned. 🔑 The Suspicious Husband Era The murdered woman is Alice Hugh...

🌈 Night Rainbow by V.D. Taylor — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5 Stars) Indie fantasy that absolutely did not have to go this hard… but did. ⚠️ FULL SPOILERS AHEAD — YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ⚠️ (Seriously. I’m about to ruin everything. Proceed accordingly.) 🧷 Trigger Warnings Demonic contracts / loss of soul Murder & serial killer themes Stalking / psychological manipulation Violence (including stabbing) Fatalism / loss of autonomy Existential dread (the quiet, “oh wow, life is scary” kind) 📚 About the Book Night Rainbow is a fantasy novel by indie author V.D. Taylor , published on August 31, 2025. And before my fellow “I’m not really a fantasy person” readers panic—same. This is not dragons-and-maps fantasy. This is philosophical, modern, quietly horrifying fantasy that sneaks up on you and then refuses to leave your brain. 😈 Premise: A Wish That Was Never Going to End Well College student Emily Gate finds a strange black cube at an outdoor market. Naturally, she keeps it. Naturally, she reads t...

  ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ The Man Who Died Twice — 3.5 Stars of Cozy Chaos, Corpses, and Curmudgeonly Charm By Richard Osman ⚠️ Spoiler Warning This review contains FULL SPOILERS , including the entire ending . Proceed only if you’ve read the book or truly do not care about surprises (no judgment). 🚨 Trigger Warnings Violence & murder (multiple shootings) Assault and robbery Organized crime / drug dealing Dementia & cognitive decline Death of elderly characters Emotional manipulation & betrayal 📚 Overview The Man Who Died Twice is the second installment in The Thursday Murder Club , written by Richard Osman . Confession time: I didn’t love book one. Too many characters, too much hopping around, and my brain felt like it needed a whiteboard and color-coded sticky notes. BUT—I liked the mystery , I liked the humor , and apparently I enjoy mild literary suffering… so here we are again. Good news: this one is better . Familiarity helps. Knowing the rhythm of Osman’s writing helps. Menta...

  All the Way Gone ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5 stars) Detective Annalisa Vega #4 by Joanna Schaffhausen Buckle up, because All the Way Gone is one of those books where everything is happening… all at once… and somehow it (mostly) works. 😅🔪 This fourth installment in the Detective Annalisa Vega series leans hard into moral gray areas, psychological warfare, and the unsettling question: can a sociopath ever be “good”? Short answer: absolutely not. Longer answer: keep reading. ⚠️ Trigger Warnings Murder Sexual assault & rape Arson Kidnapping Psychological manipulation Child endangerment Suicide (staged and real) Medical trauma 🚨 SPOILER WARNING 🚨 This review contains FULL, COMPLETE SPOILERS including the ending . 🧠 What Is All the Way Gone About? Former Chicago detective Annalisa Vega , now running her own PI firm, Vista Investigations, takes on a case that sounds deceptively simple: an apparent accidental fall from a balcony. The victim, Vicki Albri...

Dead and Gone ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (4/5 stars) A.k.a. “This book has way too much going on and I still couldn’t stop reading.” ⚠️ SPOILER WARNING ⚠️ This review contains FULL AND COMPLETE SPOILERS , including the ending. If you haven’t read Dead and Gone yet and don’t want everything ruined, bookmark this and come back later. Seriously. I’m about to tell you everything . 😈 Trigger Warnings Sexual assault & attempted sexual assault Stalking and harassment Kidnapping Murder Suicide Gun violence Drugging / paralysis Cancer Overall Thoughts I officially have a complicated relationship with the Detective Annalisa Vega series. I enjoy it. I’m invested. I keep reading. But wow— this book is doing the absolute most . There are four separate cases happening at once: Sam Tran’s death Two cold-case motel murders (actually two sets of them) A serial college predator in a gorilla suit A chicken-masked robber terrorizing convenience stores Is it too much? Yes. Did my brain occasionally feel fried? Also y...

⭐1/2  The Bewitching Review (1.5⭐): Bewitched… Into Boredom The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Published: 2025 Genre: Supernatural Horror , Historical Fiction , Literary Horror Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars ⭐😴 ⚠️ Spoiler Warning This review contains FULL spoilers, including the ending. Proceed at your own risk 👻 🚨 Trigger Warnings Listed early so no one gets ambushed later: Incest (uncle/niece sexual relationship) Sexual content Graphic violence & blood consumption Animal death Death & murder Mental illness themes Substance use Racism & classism 🧙‍♀️ Overview The Bewitching is a supernatural horror novel told across three timelines and centered on the legend of the teyolloquani —a heart-eating creature from Indigenous folklore that bewitches its victims before draining their blood. If you’ve read Mexican Gothic , you’ll recognize Moreno-Garcia’s signature interests: female agency , power , folklore , class , gender ...