Lisa

This is a character driven novel and I really loved the character Celine - she is strong, mysterious, clever and flawed. I think listening to it on audio impacted my enjoyment of the novel because of the change in place and narrator - it wasn't clean delineations which made it a bit hard to follow.

So disturbing - very twisted, hard to listen to in parts. Made me want to vomit several times. The narrator was awesome. I needed a palette cleanser after this book so went to a SciFi YA. I feel like I will read another book of hers - if I'm brave enough.

reading these are so cozy - I feel like I'm going back home and spending time with dear friends.

straight forward explanation and examples of using very small changes to change your habits

Loved this book. Writing is so good. I was very invested in the two main characters and loved all the insights into human behavior and the current news cycle.

This is a short prequel to The Pretty Girls and was so good, and sad. Definately recommend listening/reading this after The Pretty Girls.

I agree with the review by Bob Milne - I loved the first 2/3 of the book. the last few Pendergast books were OK but this reminded me of the earlier books and the reason I fell in love with Pendergast and Preston Child. However, the last 1/3 felt awkward. I ended up rolling my eyes as I finished the last page. Disappointing finish to an otherwise well told interesting story. I gave this book a rating of 4 simple because of the first 2/3 of the book. I really enjoyed that.

I had a hard time getting into this one but I persisted and was glad I did. It was a pretty depressing book and made me feel sad, angry, guilty... The book really highlights the mass amount of misunderstanding that often lies between people from different backgrounds.

I enjoyed the concept and the book was enjoyable. A bit too predictable.

When I started reading the book I loved the way she described everything - pretty poetic for the genre. It kept my interest and I couldn't stop reading. About half way through it was feeling slow, I had that feeling of “I'm only half way!” 3/4 of the way through I knew “who dunnit” and the last 1/4 was very slow and when everything wrapped up it still went on. I'm trying to decide if I want to read another one of her books. I ended the book feeling a little blah. However, as I said previously, the writing was beautiful in parts and because of that I may give another book a chance.

My 3 star rating comes more from my oversaturation of reading psychological thrillers then from the writing / story. I read this one in a day so it obviously kept my interest - I figured out the twists and turns pretty early on but again I think that might be more from reading so many books in this genre as of late. If psychological thrillers are a favorite genre I think this is a good one to add to your list of read books.

Just as good as the first time I read it - maybe better (I've upped my rating to 5 stars). Second read was audio and I enjoyed overall but didn't like the voice for Lila. Re-reading in anticipation of Threads of Power.

Love this series and this book did not disappoint - can't wait to start the next one

Rounded up from 3.75

This book is a atmospheric young adult historical fantasy with a romance sub plot. Plot pacing felt very slow to me and a bit repetitive - about 30% in and I was still wondering what the main plot of the book was. The plot picked up until the last 100 pages and I found that to be the best part of the reading experience for me. A slower plot usually doesn't bother me much if I feel the characters are well-developed. To me, both characters felt a bit flat to me which made the slow plot stand out more.

This is part one of a duology. The full story does get told with a small piece at the end that allows a jumping off point for book two. I'm not sure if I will continue with the series or not but I liked my experience. I also had the edition with the sprayed edges of a bookshelf and the beauty of the book did enhance my reading experience.

I listened to the audiobook and found it a bit slow to get into but I LOVED it by the end. So many twists and turns and I came to really enjoy everyone in the story. Can't wait to read more by Kate Morton.

3.5 starts. The audio was a dramatized full cast which was weird at first but did feel it suited the story. This is a silly, whimsical, magical story with a midlife female MC. I enjoyed the commentary related to living in this world as a midlife women and found myself chuckling a few times. A good palate cleanser between my darker spooky reads. Quick read as well - around 5 hours on audio.

Received digital ARC from Edelweiss

I really enjoyed this book. This is the first I have read of Steve Cavanagh but he has been on my radar. Since it is my first, and number 8 in the series, you can read out of order. I'm sure I would have enjoyed even more if I had read from the beginning of the series but I still enjoyed it and didn't feel like I was missing anything.

The recurring characters are fantastic and have a found family vibe that I adore (this is one of my favorite tropes). Chapters were short and aided the propulsive pace of the plot. The whole time I was intrigued on how he would bring everything together and was satisfied by the ending. This was my first Steve Cavanagh but it won't be my last.

Received digital ARC from Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review

I loved this book. I have read some of the other reviews giving this 2 stars and saying they were not the target audience and I completely disagree with those reviews. I am a almost 50 year old woman with one child in college and the other in high school. My evenings are quiet and my at home child requires very little of me. I have a husband that is a full participant in household chores and we have a pretty equal division of labor. I still found this book extremely valuable.

1. I loved the feminist / patriarchal talk. We all know that we live in a patriarchal society but not once have a read a time management book that addresses the elephant in the room. This books gives us a time management book through the FEMALE gaze instead of the MALE gaze. Even other books written by women still look at the process through the male gaze. Also, a bonus is that this was the post election book I needed that I didn't know I needed.

2. This books does lead with kindness. Just because she points out that we have been trying to manage our time based on principles that only really work for one gender doesn't make it unkind. She is giving the women reading this book kindness - telling us we don't have to be perfect, we don't have to do everything, we don't have to hustle to be valuable. We are more that! One of the most important things she says is that we are more than the plan we have and more than our to do list.

3. Yeah for bringing in the menstrual cycle and how that affects the energy you have. I follow a nutritionist that also talks about that and it's sad to say that, as a 49 year old woman, I had never heard that men are on a 24 hour energy cycle and women are on a 28 day energy cycle. I obviously knew about the menstrual cycle but never connected it to how much energy I have at a given time (again, it addresses the elephant in the room that men can't even begin to understand)

4. Some reviews said there are a lot of acronyms and it gets confusing. I disagree. Acronyms are helpful for some to remember key points but if that doesn't help you then throw out the acronym and just use key points. At the end of the book she clearly says to start small and don't try to incorporate everything at once and that the most important thing is getting into a rhythm of preparing, adjusting and noticing. Do this daily at first and then look to expand to weekly, monthly, seasonally. My plan going into this book was to read this slowly and finish right before Christmas so I could take everything I learned and start fresh in January. After I closed the book I have a completely different outlook - I'm going to start small. Every year I do the whole “This year is going to be different” and it lasts two weeks and I feel like a failure. If nothing else this book is a big permission slip that says you are not a failure. Life happens, plans change and learning to pivot is much more important than learning to plan.

5. There are chapters that help you build a better To Do List, help you learn how to plan based on different time frames (day, week, month). Understanding that you don't treat each of these the same is valuable.

6. Some of the other negative reviews are that she doesn't focus enough and tries to make it for everyone. I think one of the biggest lies of all other time management books is that there is one way to manage your time and if you use that system you will succeed. If you don't, it's on you. This book follows the key Lazy Genius Principle which is that how you implement anything is unique to you. And it changes as you change. This book is a framework. We have to do the work of figuring our how it works in our life.

7. This isn't just for a woman who manages her home and/or children. These principles can be used with work as well. Preparing your day, adjusting your day and noticing how that day goes at work is also super helpful. Also, looking at the energy required at home or work in different seasons is vital to creating YOUR Plan. Woman often think that we have to do it all and give 100% at work and at home no matter what. That is not possible and this book highlights that and gives you a framework to adjust how you look at things.

Overall, this is about prioritizing what is most important to you, not what should be most important. In putting this rhythm into practice you will be able to see what is most important while getting a handle on your to do's. This book will not fix everything for you but it gives you a compassionate guide live your days instead of just getting through them.

I DNF'd this book at the 38% mark (on audio). The person who recommended this said to go in blind and I think that was the issue for me. If I had read a short summary I would have known this book wasn't for me. This is 100% the case of the storyline not being for this reader.

The writing was good, the narration was good, I enjoyed the parts where she talked about her MFA program and I think I would have liked delving deeper into her family life (not sure if this happens in the book or not).

I've also seen the following descriptors of this book that might help you decide if it's for you: dark romance, co-dependency, isolating relationship

Specifically why I DNF'd:
I do not like books about manipulative, jealous, controlling men. I don't like books when women don't listen to their gut instinct, making excuses for obviously erratic behavior, etc. The Charlie red flags were BIG from the beginning - texting incessantly, being caging about who you are with, stalking behavior. And I don't like the, "Well, he makes me feel so special" excuse. This line in particular in the jacket copy would have indicated it wasn't a book for me "When he starts to make Leah feel unsafe, she can't help but feel that what exists between them is destined." NOPE..

Rounded down from 3.5. I dug the beginning of this book but not so much the second half. Part of this was post election depression. The second half had a lot of anxious energy and I needed more confident, vengeful energy. Also more murder on the page would have been appreciated. But that's just my vibe, especially right now.

LOVED this book!

Another book I picked up because it's December and I want to read about Christmas. This is a dysfunctional family story but not a heavy one. Some characters were annoying but I came to like this family. There are 3 more books in the series and this book ends abruptly.

This was fun and campy and made me nostalgic for my youth and love of slasher movies. The slasher sub-genre is one of my horror favorites and I find them hard to come by. The cover drew me in and I'm so glad I picked this one up. Wasn't all fluff either - I liked the commentary on cancel culture and how every mistake made online comes under scrutiny. Eager to read more by this author.

Rounded up from 3.5/3.75 (still thinking...) Read more like dark fairytale than thriller to me. More dark themes from Ahsley Winstead - religions/patriarchy.

Rounded up from 3.75

I had fun with this book and enjoyed the choose your own adventure structure. I had heard a lot of mixed review going into this so my expectations weren't that high which I think aided my enjoyment. If it didn't have the choose your own adventure format I think I would have given this a lower rating but I did have fun making choices in the book so it got a bump for that.

I did find myself getting anxious for a choice if I had to go more than 20 pages without making one. Not sorry I read it.