My SPOILER ALERT Book Reviews!

  This was a difficult book to read. By that, I mean, difficult to follow. The book is written in the style of a collection of emails, audio file transcriptions, text messages, etc. etc., so there are many disjointed pieces of information, and no narration. Also, as a reader, we'll have to decipher what's important, what's not important, what's truth and what's lies, since obviously, some people lie. When you work it all through and start to understand the story, it is rewarding, because the story is quite interesting, although quite complex as well. This book is a story about a cult group that called themselves the Alperton Angels. The group consists of 4 adults (Gabriel, Michael, Elemiah and Raphael) and 2 teenagers (Holly and Jonah). Gabriel was the cult's leader and had a very charismatic personality. In December 2003, there was a mass suicide when Michael, Elemiah, and Raphael were found dead with their throats slit. Gabriel was found barely alive and charg...

  Slow and well written book that if I had a lot of time to kill, would be a perfect read. But alas, I don't have that much time to kill, so. The Wedding People is a story about Phoebe, who was suicidal at the beginning of the story, due to the dissolution of her marriage, her ex cheating on her with her friend, and her cat dying. She booked herself a stay at Cornwall Inn, with the intention of committing suicide there. Once there, she learns that there's a wedding going on and people assumed she's part of the wedding guests because the bride had reserved the whole place. She tried to explain to the bride, who's name is Lila. Lila tells her she can't off herself this week, not while her wedding is happening! Lila also invites Phoebe to be her maid of honor, since her original maid of honor couldn't be there due to a positive Covid test. Through interactions with everyone, Phoebe realizes she has feelings for the groom, Gary, and Gary has feelings for her, and Ga...

  This book had me hooked. The Darling Girls is about 3 fostered girls, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia, who lived with Miss Fairchild at Wild Meadows as children. Miss Fairchild was an evil woman who abused them and mentally manipulated them. There was a 4th child, Amy, that also lived with them but she was only 2 at the time. Concerned with Amy's safety when the others were at school, the 3 girls decided to turn Miss Fairchild in. Shockingly, they were told Amy doesn't exist as the police found no signs or records of Amy. (Spoiler alert: Jessica who was desperate to win affection from Miss Fairchild, warned her that the 3 sisters were about to turn her in that day so she got rid of Amy and all her things.) Fast forward to present day, a child's body was discovered at Wild Meadows. The 3 women who remained close wondered if the body is Amy. Through Miss Fairchild's sessions with a prison psychologist, we find out that Miss Fairchild had an abusive upbringing from her stepfa...

  The Giver is the first book in a series of dystopian novels and it's often used for English classes. I thought the story was OK. I didn't find it that interesting to be honest. A lot of people think it's very deep. Maybe, but it read like a run of the mill dystopian novel to me. If I'm bored one day, I might pick up the sequel. The Giver is a story about a place in the future, in a community where everything is safe and orderly. It seems to be a utopia at first glance, but we learn that's not the case. There is no sadness in this society, no individuality, no war, not even color. The main character is Jonas, who is about to turn 12. When you turn 12, you find out what your job will be. Jonas has a mom, dad, and little sister Lily. Jonas' father is a Nurturer and works at the Nurturing Center. One day he brought home a baby called Gabriel. The baby wasn't meeting standards at the Nurturing Center so he brought him home for special attention. Jonas learns th...

  I'm shocked at how much I enjoyed this. I don't like romance novels typically. This was the assigned reading for this month's local book club and it was available to me on Libby so I decided to give it a shot. Absolutely glad I did. Expiration Dates is about a girl named Daphne Bell who mysteriously receives a note each time she is about to embark on a relationship. The note tells her how long the relationship will last. As she goes through life (and her relationships), we get the feeling that it's good to know the length of the relationship beforehand - so she knows how much effort or feelings she should put into it. Until... ? When she received a note with just a name one day, she assumed it possibly meant this was her forever. Or does it mean something else? This book was giving me feelings of Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. It made me think, on a philosophical level, which most books do not. It also gently pulls at your heartstrings. There are also many memor...

  Sooooo gooooood!!!!!! And the fact it's based on a true story is just icing on the cake!! Gray After Dark is about the abduction of Miley Petrowski, a professional biathlon athlete who was training at Hidden Springs Resort. The resort had a missing person case 4 years prior, of a girl named Rayna. When they found torn bloody clothing, they assumed Rayna was attacked by a bear and died. One day, when Miley was out for a run, she was abducted by father and son Fred and Hamish. When they took her to their "home", she found another girl that's similar age there, named Mary. Soon she realized Mary is the missing girl Rayna. Fred and Hamish renames Miley "Ruthie Sue" and is determined to turn her into a slave by torturing her. She notices Rayna is missing an eye and finds out she had been through the same treatment 4 years ago and has learned to behave now. This makes it difficult for Miley to conspire with her to escape. In the meanwhile, the resort has alerted...

  What started off as a reddit horror serial turned into this book called WE USED TO LIVE HERE. As a debut novel, this book was pretty well written. It's certainly a book you can make theories with and read multiple times to look for tiny clues between the pages. Imagine series like LOST and movies like MULHOLLAND DRIVE. This is a bit like that. The book doesn't answer all your questions in the end, although upon multiple readings and discussions, some of those questions will be answered on your own. The story is about a couple, Eve Palmer and her girlfriend Charlie, who had just moved into an old house. They are professional flippers, and that's what they were going to do with this house too. However, this house is very very old and in a pretty bad shape. Early in the novel, a man named Thomas shows up with his family and asks if they could tour the house. They claim that they used to live in the house years ago, so they wanted their kids to see what it's like inside. ...

  This book is about an accountant named Dawn, who turned up missing in the beginning of the story. We learn that Dawn was a very particular character - she had quite an obsession with turtles, and she wasn't good at reading social cues. We slowly start to sympathize with her. She does come across annoying at times, but we also get the sense that she's not a bad person. Contrast that with Natalie, the popular saleswoman at her company who is pretty and successful, but bullies Dawn at work. Typical for McFadden books, we have the good and bad established early on, only to have the rugs pulled out from under us as we go towards the end of the book. But before the finale, our opinions of the characters will change a few more times of course. This is the 5th McFadden book I've read (Housemaid, The Teacher, Never Lie, The Boyfriend) and I'm starting to be able to predict some things, which is fine with me - it's a fun ride even if I could see all the twists coming. Out o...

  This book was well written, but the story didn't grab me at all!! It's about the friendship of two girls, Tully and Kate, from 8th grade on for the next 30 years. Things happen, until one of them dies from cancer. I keep reading just to see what happens, out of curiosity, not out of any other reason. Knowing there's a sequel, I'll probably read the next one also, just out of curiosity. The writing is great, don't get me wrong. But it just doesn't grab me. The story started when neighbors Tully and Kate, both in 8th grade, became fast friends. Tully declares that they are going to have journalism careers together. Kate agrees, but later on realizes she's more interested in writing than reporting. Tully get them an internship as seniors for a local TV station. Kate starts falling in love with her boss Johnny. Later they get married and have kids. Tully keeps climbing the journalist ladder and becomes very successful. Kate seems to always be in her shadow. Wh...

  Did I seriously read the same book as everyone else? I had heard so many great things about this book that I just don't understand how it became such a dud for me! The book starts out with different families/characters and different timelines, something that's often seen in psychological thrillers. The main character in one of the storylines, Josie, is excited about the state fair she's going to attend next day with her best friend, Becky Allen. Another storyline, Randy's wife Deb mentions her husband and son aren't home. When the night comes, Josie and her best friend Becky Allen who are outside jumping on the trampoline, hear gunshots, so they start running. Becky falls, a bullet grazes Josie but she keeps running. She survives but finds out her parents are shot to death and her brother Ethan is missing, as is Becky, making her feel guilty for leaving Becky behind. At this point, it's pretty obvious to me that Randy had something to do with the killings beca...

  The story kept me going and even though I wasn't impressed with the twist, it was overall an enjoyable experience from the beginning to the end. Local Woman Missing starts out about the missing case of Shelby. We learn that Shelby is cheating on her husband Jason. Shortly thereafter, neighbor Meredith and her daughter Delilah also disappear. Police locates an abducted child named Carly who claims she's actually Delilah. She's sent to live with Meredith's husband Josh and son Leo. DNA test proves Carly is not Delilah, but the police decides not to tell Josh. Later on, Delilah's childhood friend notices this newcomer can't be Delilah because Delilah has a cleft chin and this child does not. She tells Josh and Josh confronts the police, who comes clean. Carly is sent back to her family (through DNA they were able to find her family and she was just another abducted child). While searching for Meredith and Delilah, they find Shelby's body. Jason becomes the pr...

  This is the first book I've read by John Marrs. It wasn't terrible, but the story just didn't grab me. I didn't really like jumping back and forth from decades ago to current day. Combine that with different narrators and mystery narrators, it's just a lot to keep up with. It felt like the only reason it was somewhat suspenseful was due to the fact the story was told in such a confusing way. The end tried to have a few twists but I feel like I saw all of them coming. This story is about the Hunter family and their crimes. Debbie and her brother George Hunter grew up in a family where their parents often lured young children to the house and killed them. When Debbie's father realized his wife might try to kill George, he sent George to a remote town in Norway for safety, unbeknownst to Debbie, who thought George was dead. Debbie married at age 16, with her grandparents support, to another 16 year old named Dave, who also had a bad upbringing. In the meanwhile, ...

  This was laughably bad. I mean, the storyline was ok, but it was so repetitive, and I don’t think any proofreading was done before printing, so much so that I felt bad for the person narrating the book. (I listened to the audio version.) It was just very poorly written. The story is about a young mom Palmer who found out her husband Ben is possibly cheating on her. When she wanted to gather some hard evidence, the husband, their baby, and his girlfriend all went missing.  The twist is, the husband was secretly meeting his ex-wife Kat who lost their child due to a drunk driver. The accident also made her unable to bear children. The relationship was irreparable because she became delusional and depressed. After filing for divorce, Ben quickly rebounded and knocked Palmer up, which made him propose and get married very quickly. This made his ex go crazy. She convinced Ben to meet her and show his baby to her, which made her even crazier and she abducted both of them. Eventuall...

  This book had me at the edge of my seat a few times. I didn't see the first twist coming, but definitely saw the second (final) twist coming and I believe most people would. It also feels similar to many other stories to me, but it was still quite an enjoyable ride. Don't Let Her Stay is a story about real estate agent Joanne, who lives with her husband Richard and their four month old daughter Evie. Richard has an adult daughter from a previous marriage named Chloe. Richard has a very close relationship with Chloe but has told Joanne that Chloe is very possessive and doesn't like anyone Richard is with. One day, Richard receives a letter from Chloe and she tells him she wants to live with them for a few weeks during her college break, as she wants to get to know Joanne and Evie. Her letter seems very sweet and Joanne is interested in getting to know her too, so they let her stay. Quickly, we learn that the stay isn't going well at all - Chloe seems to be drugging Evi...

  Quite a unique book that I enjoyed reading. Eleanor Oliphant is a peculiar young lady who suffered an abusive childhood at the hands of her mother. We find out towards the end of the book that all her conversations with her mum (who often put her down) were imaginary. She lost her mum and sister in a house fire set by her mum. Her mum intended to kill her and her sister but it didn't go according to plan. Eleanor lives through life with rigid routine, but has her struggles due to loneliness and some type of undiagnosed mental illness (seemingly similar to asperger's). The author uses her peculiarity to make this a comedy, which makes this book quite different from most others. The book has a happy ending - a common theme of the book is the kindness of others. Eleanor's coworker Raymond who liked her awkwardness and persistently helped her, Eleanor's boss who was always complimentary of her and patient with her, her other coworkers who kindly welcomed her back after he...

  I LOVED this book!! Easy listening, easy to follow, just the right twists. She's Not Sorry is a story about an ICU nurse and single mom living in Chicago, Meghan. The story starts with the arrival of a patient, Caitlin, in her ICU, for jumping from a bridge. We find out that Caitlin wasn't a great person. At the same time, there's a menacing serial killer in the streets of Chicago, making everyone on edge. Meghan befriends Caitlin's parents, who's there for all the visiting hours for their daughter. They request Meghan to be Caitlin's nurse. Meghan runs into a high school friend, Nat. Nat has visible bruises, and opens up about being in an abusive relationship. Over time, Meghan shares her deepest secret with Nat - that her ex Ben isn't her daughter's father. Meghan also opens her home to Nat so she has a safe place to stay. Turns out, Nat was only using Meghan for money. She stole Meghan's wedding ring AND engagement ring and also used her knowled...

  The Housemaid is about a woman who was abused by her husband, so she wanted to find a live-in maid to distract her husband with. The maid ultimately kills the husband as a revenge to his abuse and the wife decided to take the fall for the murder. It was an exciting read but I didn’t like how many plot holes were in this story. Like, early in the book we found out the husband would punish the wife for brown roots showing (he preferred blonde), or for gaining any weight, but somehow, by the time she hired the maid, she had gained 50 pounds? And she would intentionally make a big mess in the kitchen daily? How would she have gotten away with that? Or the gardener who liked to warn the maid in Italian but speaks perfect English. Why not warn her in English then? Or the pliers that were given to the husband at the end to pull his teeth out. Why didn’t he just use the pliers to break the window or the door?

  I did not like this book from the start. I thought it was confusing and I felt like it wasn't clear where it was going. It didn't grab me. I also had very high expectations because the book club I was in simultaneously yelled out this book when the conversation was on what book has the best twists and turns. But now I finished the book, I realize that it is such a good book. I had to think about it for a while after - to put all the pieces together. The mentioning of the different presidents' speeches were the author's way of letting you know what year it was, which allows you to understand which event happened first, etc. I've never lost a loved one due to a brutal crime, so I have no idea what that feels like, but when the victim becomes the attacker, should we feel sympathetic towards them? I don't know. We find out who Mr. Blue Eyes is at the end. But even for Mr. Blue Eyes, the line of good and evil is blurred. 5 out of 5 stars. 

  This book was OK. The book is about a serial killer that's been murdering young girls in the Chicago area, and leaving stone figurines in their throats as a ritual. FBI forensic anthropologist Christine Prusik is assigned to solve the case. Her rival at the FBI, Bruce Howard, and her superior Roger Thorne, do not make her job easier because they don't really trust her abilities and Bruce wants to steal the limelight. When David Claremont was caught attacking a woman in a parking lot, he was brought in and an eye witness Joe confirmed David was the serial killer. Howard is quick to arrest Claremont and claim victory. Prusik decides not so fast! She interviews Claremont and believes he's not the killer. In the meanwhile, the forensic evidence comes back and the dental isn't a match. The fingerprint is a mirror image! So that means it must be a mirror twin! A rare type of identical twin where certain things are mirrored. Prusik investigates Claremont's childhood and ...

  This is the worst McFadden book I've read. I think I'm being generous by giving her 2.5 stars. It was more like a 2 star. The book was a fast read, which is good. But the twist at the end was just silly. This book uses an unreliable narrator as a way to trick you, a method that's always felt cheap to me, but even with that considered, this was cheaper than most.  For example, if Tricia was the killer, why did she act like she's never been to the house before, even when she was narrating through her inner voice?  A good book will not fall apart if you read it multiple times. However, if you re-read the beginning chapters of this book after finishing it, you will realize it completely falls apart.

  I enjoyed The Boyfriend. As usual with Freida McFadden, the killer in the book is not who you would initially suspect. I did not see the twist coming, and it was a clever one. There were some weak points in the story, for example -  Why did Daisy have to kill Allison? The book tells us that Daisy killed Allison to keep her quiet, but if Allison really saw the murder of Tom's father, wouldn't she have alerted the police right away instead of waiting till next day?  What I didn't expect (besides the ending of course) was that this book was very funny. There were quite a few laugh out loud moments as I was reading. Sydney's experience with online dating was so relatable for anyone that's had experience with online dating. The humor in this actually earned an extra star from me. The story was more like a 3, but with the witty writing, I gave it a 4.

  This book was well written, the story moved along well and the ending was fine. The issue with this book is that the excitement is at a constant. Not unexciting, but there's no up and down. It maintains somewhat exciting from beginning to finish, and left me with a book that I feel like I'll forget what it's about in a week or so. I really did enjoy this book, and I feel that Sadeqa Johnson is an excellent writer, but I can only give it a 3 because it's just not memorable enough. The House of Eve is about two parallel stories of two Black women, Ruby and Eleanor. Ruby grew up in a broken family after her mom got pregnant at a young age. Ruby's family has no money, and she knows the only way out of poverty was to win a highly coveted, prestigious scholarship through the  We Rise  program and go to college. This became difficult when she met a young Jewish man, Shimmy, and got pregnant. Eleanor is a student at Howard University and meets a medical student, William. ...

  I don't read much romance because I feel like they are all so similar and unrealistic. It's usually a man and a woman who somehow met by chance and both are extremely good looking and they have insane physical chemistry but they are somehow damaged goods, and the man is really rich... Yeah...  This story is about a young businessman named Gideon Cross. We know he's rich and handsome, but he never emotionally connected with anyone until when he ran into Eva Tramell by accident on her first day of work. Both turned out to be tortured souls. While Eva opened up to Gideon about her history of being molested by her stepbrother, Gideon never opened up about what happened to him. I'm sure the author is saving that for the next book or two.

  This book will leave you speechless. The stories in this book are so hard to read you know it has to be real. It explains perfectly how Jeanette and her siblings became successful - despite the fact her parents were not good parents, they did love them and educate them in their own way. They were intelligent too. It is all very sad but at the same time, made sense. The book starts out with little Jeannette getting burned while cooking herself some hot dog. Her mom was around - she wasn’t completely neglected, but she had to fend for herself to have something to eat. The burn left her with scars that helped her escape from a sexual assault attack later in life. This book will frustrate you too, as you realize the parents have the ability to make money and provide for the children but they simply choose not to. They enjoy living on the edge and are constantly looking for instability. The mom and dad are perfect for each other in that sense. This is a great story on survival and wil...

  I recently read The Housemaid and didn’t like the story that much, but I did like all the twist and turns and the author’s writing style. So I thought I would grab another one of her books and give it a whirl. This one was SO MUCH BETTER!! Lots of twist and turns, all the people you thought were good will turn out to be bad, all the people you thought were bad will turn out to be good, or at least half decent. Lots of red herrings. The book starts out with a bang - someone is digging a grave in the middle of the night. Someone else was supposed to be digging with her but he’s long gone. The story unfolds from there. Page after page. Things happen fast. The ending with the bird was far fetched but that’s almost to be expected with this type of books. Everything else ties up nicely.

  Wow. I mean, this book, is… phenomenal. I would give it 10 stars if I could. I never thought I would like a book on war stories, but here we are. The Women is about the women nurses in the Vietnam war. A part of history that most of us did not know existed. It tells us what life was like for these women, physically, emotionally, mentally etc. Intertwined with the goriness of war was the love interests. Frankie the main character, is young and inexperienced when it comes to dating. So naturally made many mistakes along the way. She is also always constantly seeking her father’s approval, something I can relate with greatly. This is easily one of the best books I’ve ever read.

  This book deserves all the praises. I see lots of reviewers mention this book was some right wing Fox News propaganda. It’s not. It’s a great story, with a fantastic twist at the end. For all the people who said this book was anti-trans, you should read the book again. No one was trans in this book or you don’t know what trans means. The book keeps you at the edge of your seat and the a-ha moment (when you find out who Anya is) is so satisfying. I usually listen to books but the written version of this book comes with the actual drawings, which is cool. The drawings are totally creepy too and really add to the story. Great book. (I gave it a 4 out of 5 when I first finished the book but it has grown on me some and is now a 5 out of 5.)

  The book kept me going, even though I somewhat predicted the ending pretty early on, which is rare for me with this type of books (mostly due to the fact I don't usually try very hard to make guesses and just keep reading). This book is about a successful lawyer, Sarah, who married an unsuccessful author, Adam. Adam who felt inadequate next to his wife, was secretly cheating on her with a woman named Kelly. Kelly turns up dead.  I personally enjoyed the punishment for Adam, as I don't condone cheating, but the ending of Sara marrying Bob sure was convenient. I guess if you plotted to kill someone together, then you are certainly a match made in heaven.  Overall, I enjoyed the book and will try to read other books by Jeneva Rose.