My SPOILER ALERT Book Reviews!

  For all the people that said they predicted the twist, good for you I guess. I wrote down my theories for this book as I read it. I made 5 theories for 5 separate issues, which means any one of them can be true - nothing really would disqualify each other. And I got exactly 0 out of 5 things correct. So maybe I'm just super easy to fool, but clearly, I didn't see the ending coming.  The premise of the story is a popular podcast called Tell Me What You Did . Poe Webb, the host of the podcast, is a 30 year old woman living in Burlington with her dog Bailey. The podcast is a true-crime podcast where Poe interviews a willing participant about a crime they committed. The person can remain anonymous, but in the past, their confessions have lead to arrests due to the huge amount of listeners she has that were able to decipher the confessor's identity through their voice etc. She secretly wishes her mother's killer would come on her podcast, but she knows that's not possi...

 This book was SOOOOO BORRRRIIIINNNNGGGG!! And if you read my blogs often, you would know that I never say that about any book, hardly ever. I mean, this is the first book I can recall that I seriously wanted to DNF (do not finish)! And honestly, I don't get it, because the storyline isn't that bad. I just can't get into it at all. Like, I'm just not in the right headspace or something. I don't know. It reminds me of Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah a little bit, like, I was in a similar boredom with that book, if that makes any sense. This one is worse though. I don't even have any desire to write a review, that's how bad it is. But I'm making myself write it so I don't feel like I completely wasted my time. There are two storylines in this book. One is in 1875, 10 years after civil war. A lot of the slaves got separated from their family members due to the war and the slave markets. Hannie Gossett, an 18 year old slave has been working on the Gosset...

  I'm not a fan of Fantasy book because they usually have unrealistic storylines and difficult to memorize character names. I watched the first movie of Hunger Games many years ago and thought the whole premise was kind of silly, and it felt like it was stealing from the concept of Battle Royale ,which I didn't consider as silly because, oh, I don't know... I mean, it's Japanese, so I guess I just kind of... gave it a pass?  I picked up this book because 1. It's hugely popular 2. It's the only book my older daughter actually enjoyed reading. I must say, I was absolutely blown away, from the very first chapter. Also, unlike most books that people say that will make you cry (they do nothing to me usually), this book actually made me tear up a few times! Hunger Games tells the story of a dystopian society of Panem, set in a post-apocalyptic America. Panem is divided into "districts". Each district must randomly select one boy and one girl to participate i...

  This story is set in the fictional town of Cutter's Pass, North Carolina, a town known for its natural beauty near the Appalachian Mountains. It's also known for a series of disappearances over the course of 25 years. The first 4 happened in 1997, dubbed the "Fraternity Four", was a group of guys named Brian, Neil, Jerome and Toby. Next was a woman named Alice Kelly in 2012, then Farrah Jordan in 2019 and Landon West in 2022. None of these have been solved or found. The town enjoys its infamy with tourists but try to suppress any negative publicity.  The story starts with a mysterious man, trying to check into the local hotel, The Passage Inn. He doesn't give his real  name, but he's recognized by the inn manager Abigail Lovett (Abby) as the brother of the most recent missing person's case. Trey West immediately admits he is the brother of Landon West. Abby decides to put him in Cabin #4, the same cabin Landon West stayed in before he went missing. Trey ...

  This book is not what I expected. I usually go into a book fairly blind, because I don't want to have any presumptions going in, but sometimes, presumptions are inevitable because for example, the cover of this book says "A Thriller", so I'm expecting a thriller. The author wrote " Gray After Dark ", so I kind of expect a psychological thriller perhaps similar to that. While I see that this is a thriller, what I didn't expect was that it's also got quite a bit of paranormal elements to it, a genre I typically do not enjoy, although I wonder if I should reconsider that because lately, I've enjoyed quite a few books with paranormal elements, including this one. Let me reiterate that in more simpler terms. I fucking loved this book. Ask for Andrea tells the story from the perspective of 3 women (or rather, the ghost of the 3 women), Brecia, Skye and Meghan. All 3 have been murdered by the same internet predator, James. James uses fake names and f...

  Oh my this was good!! Just that perfect balance of romance, suspense, mystery and smut! This is one of the best books I've read this year. This story is a about 26 year old, Cecelia Horner, reflecting on her life from 7 years ago when she was 19. She left her home in Peachtree City and drove to Triple Falls, North Carolina, to live with her father. Her father Roman Horner is the owner of a successful company, Horner Technologies. Roman was never close to Cecelia, but she was hoping by living with him for a year and working at Horner Technologies, he would let her inherit his wealth.  While working at Horner, she befriends her boss Sean Roberts and they start dating. Sean is pretty nice and looks good too. Sean's friend, Dominic King, is also very good looking but he's not so nice to Cecelia. Sean tells Cecelia to ignore him but she can't, as she feels a sexual attraction to him. Eventually, Sean suggests she can date both of them. So she starts having sex with both of...

  Joe Talbert, a 21 year old University of Minnesota student has an English assignment to write a biography of an older person. He could write about his mom Kathy, but he doesn't really like her because she's a total drug addict. He decides to go to a local nursing home for a more interesting subject. The director Mary Lorngren of Hillview Manor nursing home (which has no hills or views) recommends Joe to interview a war veteran and convicted child molester and killer, Carl Iverson, who's dying soon from pancreatic cancer. Oh this is good! Carl Iverson is a Vietnam Vet who's won multiple war medals, but he's convicted of raping and killing a 14 year old girl, Crystal. Crystal lived next door to Carl with her mother Danielle Hagen, her stepfather Douglas Lockwood and stepbrother Daniel Lockwood. Crystal's burned body was found in Carl's backyard. One of Crystal's fake nails was found on Carl's front steps. Carl was arrested the day after the body was ...

  Why did I pick up another book by Lucy Foley... I think this author likes to have confusing books. This book is told from 5 POVs. I do like her stories though, so there's that. It's just a little more complicated than what I'm used to.  The story sets on a remote island somewhere in West Ireland, called, The Folly. The island is somewhat of a tourist destination but there's a secret past that the locals don't want tourists to know. At the beginning of the story, Julia (Jules) Keegan and Will Slater are getting married, and they are going to have a wedding on this island. The island is owned by husband and wife, Aoife and Freddy. Aoife is also the wedding planner and Freddy is the chef. Aoife and Freddy want to make sure everything goes perfectly because they need future guests. Family and guests start coming the day before the wedding. Charlie and his wife Hannah are invited because Charlie is very close with the bride, Jules. Hannah thinks a little too close beca...

  I LOVE the premise of this book, and a lot of people say the cover alone should earn it 2 stars, which I totally agree with. I'm not a big fan of having multiple POVs (this has 4), but I loved this book overall. The book starts with Laura Thomas on her deathbed from cancer. Her oldest daughter, Beth is by her side. Laura tells Beth that her missing father, Brian, didn't actually disappear 7 years earlier. She also says "don't trust..." but she never finished her sentence. Uh... Why didn't you say something earlier? Did you have to wait till last second of your life to tell us such a major secret?? I mean, C'MON! So we learn about Laura's 3 kids. Besides Beth the oldest, we also have Nicole, a drug addict, and Michael, a successful tech executive. Michael is the most successful one of the bunch, and he thinks his other siblings are losers, for staying in the small town of Allen's Grove. Now all three kids are back home dealing with what's happ...

  Jennifer Hillier is such an amazing author. I just find her books to be very thrilling and suspenseful and keep you wonder what's going to happen. Jar of Hearts is just like that.  Angela Wong, Kaiser Brody, and Georgina "Geo" Shaw were high school friends. One day, 16 year old Angela Wong went missing. 14 years later, Calvin James, a serial killer known as "Sweetbay Strangler" is found guilty for Angela's murder. Calvin was in a relationship with Geo. Geo had helped with the cover up of Angela's murder, and agreed to testify against him in court in exchange of a lighter sentence of 5 years. Calvin James went on to kill 3 other women. The community reminds Geo that if she had come forward initially, those 3 other women's lives would have been spared. In the courtroom, Calvin passes a note to Geo that says "You're welcome", inside a hand drawn heart. Geo swallows the paper. So now I'm thinking, why would Calvin say you are welcome?...

  This story is actually quite good, and makes me think of the movie, The Birds . For the record, I've never seen the movie The Birds, but I'm a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock. It's one of very few movies by him that I haven't seen, because I've been told it's truly scary, and I have a hard time with scary movies. This book reminds me of The Birds, not just because of what it talks about, but also because it's truly, hauntingly, scary. Now that's the good. The bad, is that this book is SO HARD TO FOLLOW!! It's got lots of people, storylines, timelines... It's complicated. More than most thrillers try to be, so I took off a star for that. The story starts with the opening night at The Manor, a luxury hotel. Francesca Meadows is the owner, and her husband Owen Dacre had designed the renovations. This is told through the POV of Bella. 3 days after this celebration, a group of fisherman sees the Manor is on fire and alerted the authorities. We are intr...

  This is the second book I'm reading by Rachel Hawkins, the first one being The Wife Upstairs , which turned out to be right above average. This book I thought was very good. The story is quite engaging and I found myself quickly absorbed in the story. The Heiress starts out with 3 epigraphs from the Outside magazine . One of the epigraphs talk about the disappearance of a 3 year old, Ruby McTavish, during a family picnic in the Appalachian Mountains. Another epigraph defines the word, Changeling, setting the tone of the novel. The story centers around Jules Brewster and her husband Cam McTavish. The McTavish is a powerful family that the town is named after, Tavistock. Cam is the owner of the Ashby House, high in the Blue Ridge Mountains, an old giant mansion that's the family estate of the McTavish's. Cam inherited it from his mom, Ruby. Ruby McTavish is the one that was abducted at age 3, but she was recovered 8 months later. Ruby has a sister named Nelle. Nelle's ...

  One of the most emotional books I've ever read. Parts of this book made me so sad that I had to stop and take a break. As an Asian American, I found myself connecting with the author SO MUCH, especially since my father also passed away from cancer, and his family also came to US to help us. Reading this book brought back so many memories for me.  Crying in H Mart is a story about the author, Michelle Zauner. Her mother is Korean and her father is American. She grew up enjoying Korean cooking from her mother and they spent extended summers in Korea visiting friends and family there. H Mart is the name of a popular US-based, Korean grocery store chain - one that I'm quite familiar with. The book opens with Zauner standing in the middle of an H Mart, feeling lost now that her mother has passed. It's a heartbreaking opening. Next, we go back in time and learn about Zauner's childhood, although not much is said there. She describes the feeling of being an outcast at schoo...

  1st to Die is the first installment in the Women's Murder Club series which contains 25 books. (26 if you count book 15.5.) There's a TV series based on this series of books as well. I thought this book was very good. Easy to read, with the perfect balance of humor, romance, suspense and crime. I would be interested in continuing the series once I can thin out my TBR a bit. 1st to Die tells the story of a serial killer who has been killing newlyweds with different methods. The killings are almost always shortly after the wedding, when the bride is oftentimes still in her wedding dress. The killer uses different methods to kill, but there's still enough similarities (all the victims' wedding rings were removed) that the detectives quickly link them together. 4 groups of couples are murdered. Inspector Lindsay Boxer who was called to the scene to the first murders by her partner, Warren Jacobi, has just recently be diagnosed with a rare form of blood disease that can ...