Ashley

Same shat different book. If I hadn't read book #0.5, I would probably be out of my mind at this point, but.. since I have.. its just like.. meh. Entertaining and light enough to keep the day going :)

I love this book. Wow. I want to laugh and cry and read more dammit.

I lost interest with the audiobook. The problem is that the narration is dated and the sections were repetitive. My kids now have the same trepidation to hearing “the problem is” as they did with “but”. I'll likely revisit the book, in text form, since it's popular and I assume I'm missing something. I did appreciate that many of the scenarios were relatable.

I haven't been this excited for the next in a (technically new, but whatever) series since Harry Potter!

BLUF: Cozy mystery lead by an amateur sleuth.

I was provided a copy of this book from netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review

Plot: After a customer is found dead outside her tearoom, Gemma races to find the killer before her tearoom meets the same fate.

My Thoughts: Gemma is dead set on finding the killer, even before she realizes that the unsolved murder is a threat to her business. It's unusual for me to read a book where the protagonist has no real reason to pursue the murderer outside of her personal curiosity.

I didn't stop to ask myself why I was even doing this. Why was it so important to find out if my suspicions about the American had been right? Was it Cassie's skeptical attitude? Or Devlin's offhand manner with me that morning? Maybe it was just my own nosiness, I thought with a wry smile.

amateur sleuth

emotional

relationships

A Scone to Die For

I adore the rhyming and theme (female/minority + STEM) and the toddlers seemed entertained. My spouse walked in on the page where Ada Twist is writing on the walls and was not as amused as our youngest had walked off with a crayon a few days ago and decorated our TV.

I adored this book as a teen. I guess I'm not as much fun as an adult...

Initial thoughts: I wouldn't put this down after I started, which is better than I had anticipated. The mystery kept me entertained, but not so much guessing, but I felt satisfied with the ending.

There is no value added here. Skip this for a more in depth book.

My nephew likes to pick the worst bedtime stories and this is one of them. The story never ends and it is rather uninteresting. I'm not a fan.

WHY THE HELL DO PEOPLE RATE BOOKS BEFORE THEY ARE PUBLISHED (AND available for arcs)?? Seriously. You are lame.

BLUF: Quick paced thriller that will hook you from the start, but may leave you with questions in the end.

I was provided a copy of this book from netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review

This book will hook you from the first page and not let you go until you finish. Truly. It's the first book I have read in a long time that keeps me interested and wanting more. Despite being exhausted, I just had to finish the last 20% of the book last night. I couldn't bring myself to put this book down.

Someone to Save You begins with our protagonist, Sam Becker, being drawn to a potential suicide – a mother who intends to kill herself and her children by placing their car on the train tracks and waiting to be struck by the next train. What starts as an appreciation for Sam's heroic actions soon takes a sick twist by opening wounds in Sam's past and plunging Sam into a living nightmare.

I really enjoyed this book. It's fast paced and kept me thinking about what I had read so far. Throughout this book, I had suspicions about characters, but could never finger one person or another as the culprit. There was never enough reason to blame one person over another.

I also adored the relationships between the characters in this book. I thought these were well done and believable, although the relationship between Sam and his wife was lacking.

My only issue with this book is that the end leaves the readers with questions. I am able to find reasoning for the destruction of the Ainsley family and of Miles. It shows a pattern of insanity the intense destruction our villain enacts against those who cross him. What I don't understand is how Jody fits into this novel. I understand her desire to help Sam and the Ainsley family is a reaction of anger against Vincent for murdering Mel, but her assistance at the end of the novel doesn't make any sense. It implies that she started the fire at the facility which could mean a) she exacted revenge for Mel's death or b) she was in on it. A) doesn't make sense considering that Anna overheard the bad guys talking about starting the fire and evacuating so... what gives? We will never know. Additionally, like others, I find it to believe that somebody would care about ruining Marcus' life for over fifteen years. That said, I wouldn't let these questions stop you from picking up this book.

Aw. I'm happy I reread this. I definitely didn't grasp much back when this was required reading.

BLUF: If you can get past rough main character, pick this one up.

I was provided a copy of this book from netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review

After reading the description of this book, I had to read it.

Series: This book is third in the D.I. Kim Stone series, but can be read as a standalone. That said, the characters are not introduced and the reader is expected to understand them from previous novels. For me, this wasn't a major issue, but it did negatively affect the amount I enjoyed this book.

Plot: Nine-year-old best friends are kidnapped. The families of these girls are very close and are prepared to do whatever it takes to get both their daughters back. Well.. they were until the kidnapper determined that only the girl whose parents bid the highest will be freed. Can D.I. Stone and her team deter the parents from giving in long enough to try and save both daughters?

The bad: Because this is a series, the characters aren't introduced in this book and, as a result, felt a little flat in comparison to the characters new to the series. I wasn't able to pick up the personality of Stone's team and I wasn't exactly fan of Stone's bad attitude. The other thing I really didn't enjoy was that a crude sexual act was used to help build the evilness behind the kidnapper. I know many authors use this tactic, but I really hate it. The evilness is well described without this incident. Another minor concept, but there weren't many clues leading up to figuring out who/where the kidnapper was. It was like one minute they knew nothing, then the hypnotism happened, and suddenly they are at the barn.

The good: I couldn't put this book down! Despite disliking Stone's attitude it didn't stop me from enjoying the book or her role in it. I enjoyed the dynamics between the new characters and adored the dialogue. This book is fast paced and I definitely will be reading more from this author and this series – preferably from the start so I can better understand Stone's selfishness.

This lift-the-flap book follows Little Blue Truck as he picks up his friends to the Halloween party. They are all dressed up when he picks each up so the question is.. Under the mask, who do you see? (Baa says the Sheep, it's me, it's me!)

I love that this takes the kids through the farm animals because it reinforces the association between the farm animal and the sound that animal makes. Between the lift-the-flaps, the animal sounds, and their general love for Halloween, the kids love this so much that we hit the re-read maximum log on Goodreads (which is 25).

The small thing that bugs me is that the first flaps cover the text so the first read or two was frustrating because I had to have the kids put the flap back down in order for me to read it. The small thing that bugs the kids is that the last page doesn't follow the same pattern, so they request that I use the same phrasing there as the rest of the book.

Out of the ~10 books I've read so far (between pregnancy and year 1), this is the one I find most useful/ soothing

I received this book from netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review

No One Knows is another book touted as the next Gone Girl, but most of us know better by now to expect that level of surprise. The plot is similar as the husband disappears without a trace and the wife is assumed guilty, but never fully charged due to insufficient evidence. What I am trying to say is, if you enter this book thinking of it as the new Gone Girl, you will be disappointed. (So don't! This book holds its' own.)

We being our story five years after the husband's disappearance, just as the state legally declares him dead. Unfortunately, it's hard to find closure knowing what happened or, at minimum, finding a physical body. As the wife stumbles into a new love (who has strong resemblance to her lost husband), the web of mystery becomes tangled with new information and missing pieces – not to mention the million dollar inheritance.

There is a lot I really like about this book. The simplicity of characters of this book was a huge relief. My last book had seven narrators in the first five chapters – I had a hell of a time figuring out what was going on. Here, there was no need for guessing who's mind you were in. Also, our two main characters didn't get along, which I absolutely love. The story wasn't “gossipy”, but the tension and insight into how a person feels about another and vice versa makes me happy. The rivalry and twisting of situations keeps it interesting.

I love that this book did not ignore the obvious.I won't go too far into detail here – I want you to read the book after all – but there is an instance in the story where the answer is obvious. Like ‘OMG, narrator, you are stupid, author, why did you do this obvious thing to me?!' status. But, you know what? The main character did not ignore the obvious and actually obsessed about it like a normal person (and the readers) does. I was impressed.

The one part that killed me: the endings. In fact, my four star rating is fully based on the first ending and pretending the story ends there. I am blissfully blacking out the epilogue.

Why? Well.. It's mostly a spoiler alert, but what I can tell you is that it tries reeeally hard to twist the story into something it can't possible be – something that is too unbelievable, even for me.

I don't want you to read this spoiler alert because I want you to read the book, but.. if you can't stand it.. here it is: The first ending plays perfectly into the story and what we know of the characters and the situation.The second ending – grrr – it tries to turn the entire story around saying that our MC was in on the scam the entire time. This COULD be a reasonable twist of events, but not with the way the story is written. This worked for Gone Girl because, while we were reading from the missing wife's diary, we were not in her head. If we were in her head, we would know what she was really up to and how she really thought. You can't tell me throughout this whole book that the MC forgot that she not only planned the scam and somehow convinced herself that she didn't, but also that the husband forgot her major role. Nu-uh, no way.The third ending (Epilogue Part 1*) looked promising, but the news story ended too soon to be satisfying. If this piece included the whole expose on the couple, I would have been content. But.. It didn't.The fourth ending (Epilogue Part 2*) was just frustrating. It set the book up for a second, but not really because there is nowhere else for the book to go. It creates another unsatisfying loose end.*I lied above by stating I was only blocking out the Epilogue. The second ending is a part of the story.]

Overall, I think this is a relatively forgivable flaw as I can blissfully pretend it never happened.

Interesting characters, but this series does little for me.

It amazes me how different relationships are now compared to in the past, but romantic and platonic. I enjoyed the action of this book, but was not too thrilled about the mental deterioration. Its important to life, yet rather boring to read.

What? How can this book end without any real explanation? I would have given 3 stars If the main secret was explained or even if a few of the side secrets were. Instead, we are simply reflecting on a persons past and a little bit of their present with absolutely no point or enlightenment. (The only secret that was explained ended up being along the lines of “suddenly, his mind changed” and lacked any real meaning or realism.)

Also... The whole quote from Steven king calling this an eerie and suspenseful novel had me expecting horror or anticipation that would be satisfied. Neither were applicable.. (If we are being honest, I have myself to fault for this assumption as I haven't read or liked much Steven King..) Not to mention, the only suspense it had was for answers which we never receive..

I like this as an ending to the series, but the book itself is just okay. I think I have to give it 4 Stars though because there's no way I could continue living without reading this. (dramatic, I know.. ;) )

I feel like this concept was huge for the time period, but lackluster for the current one. there was no question about the “plot twist”, it was an assumption/given from the beginning. (Perhaps I remembered the plot subconsciously from somewhere? But I have never watched the movie, so who knows..)

I was happier without reading these turn of events. I'm very behind on my reviews, but review to come.

Great plot, long delivery. Review to come.

BLUF: Play about a self-destructing family.

Not convinced? Here is the break down of characters (note: daughters not in age order)

Father – drunk
Mother – drug abuser
Daughter 1 – not good enough
Daughter 2 – control freak
Daughter 3 – depressed & naive
Granddaughter – drug user
Grandson – waste of life

The whole dysfunctional family concept is not entertaining to me. At all. I get enough crazy between my family and the hubby's, I don't need to read about too.

This play did not let up the arguments, cheap jabs at each other, or any of the other punches a family can throw. If that's not enough, you get incestual hints and pedophiles too.

Act I: Relationship background & Beverly ventures off
Act II: Bev is found and put to rest
Act III: General family drama

In the end, I understand that this play is a social commentary, but it's not my kind of read (or watch..).