The Precious Dreadful, by Steven Parlato ~ 3.5 Stars

Tags

Abusive Relationships, Dysfunctional Families, Mystery, Paranormal, Substance Abuse, Suspense, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon Pulse for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now 

352 Pages

Synopsis: Teddi Adler is just trying to figure out her life. 

When she joins SUMMERTEENS, a library writing group, she’s only looking to keep herself busy, not go digging around in her subconscious. But as she writes, disturbing memories of her childhood friend Corey bubble to the surface, and Teddi begins to question everything: her friendship with her BFF Willa, how much her mom really knows, and even her own memories. Teddi feels she’s losing her group on reality—-as evidenced by that mysterious ghost-girl who emerges from the park pool one night, the one who won’t leave Teddi alone. To top it all off, she finds herself juggling two guys with potential, a quirky boy named Joy and her handsome barista crush Aidan, who has some issues of his own. 

As the summer unfolds, Teddi is determined to get to the bottom of everything—-her feelings, the mysterious ghost-girl, and the memories of Corey that refuse to be ignored.

I have to give The Precious Dreadful kudos for being so highly original. It also had many other good qualities. I liked Teddi and completely emphasized with her desperate attempts to solve a mystery going back to her childhood. I also loved her BFF Willa who loyally stuck by her even when Teddi turned on her. I wasn’t fond of the romance between Teddi and Aidan however. Their relationship was verbally/emotionally abusive from the beginning, and even though Teddi would stand up for herself, she’d still go back to him. I don’t have an issue with abusive relationships in YA fiction as long as there’s a lesson imparted. But that’s not the case here. Aidan is never called out on his unacceptable behavior and that spoiled what otherwise would have been a 4-5 star read for me. At the end of the book something happens that I surmise was supposed to make the reader feel more sympathetic toward him, but it just didn’t work for me.

The plot itself is quite eerie and kept me guessing through much of the book. The more I read, the bigger feeling of dread swept over me as I wondered what poor Teddi was going to uncover in the end. I started this about mid-afternoon and couldn’t stop reading until I finished around 11:00 at night.

Except for the romance, I really enjoyed The Precious Dreadful and it’s intriguing mystery. I loved Steven Parlato’s writing style and the way the story flowed so smoothly. I also thought he did a fairly convincing job portraying a 15-going-on-16-year-old girl. The story has just a touch of the paranormal and is compelling and will keep readers wondering. Despite my issues with the romance, I think this would still make a worthy book discussion choice as readers could debate over what Teddi should have done in response to Aidan’s behavior. 

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The Bad Daughter, by Joy Fielding ~ 3.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Dysfunctional Families, Mystery

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review review.

Release Date: Available Now

368 Pages

Synopsis: What first appears to be a random home invasion reveals a family’s dark secrets in this domestic ticking-clock suspense from the New York Times bestselling author of See Jane Run.

A hostile relationship with her sister and a complicated past with her father’s second wife have kept Robin estranged from her family for many years. But when her father’s new family is attacked in their house, with her father, his wife, and young daughter in critical condition in the hospital, she returns home to await their fate and hopefully mend fences. It looks like a robbery gone awry, but as Robin spends more time with her family members, she learns they all have their secrets—-and one of those secrets may have put them all in horrible danger.

Joy fielding has been one of my favorite authors in the genres of mystery, suspense, and thrillers, but I have to admit that despite the exciting sounding premise, The Bad Daughter was disappointing for me. 

The pace was much slower than what I’ve come to expect from this prolific author. It’s a domestic drama (which most of her books are), with a mystery thrown in, but not much of the suspense that I’ve come to expect from her. None of the characters are well developed, but the one who annoyed me the most was Robin. She was entirely too bland and passive for me, and I was unable to connect with her despite her suffering from panic and anxiety attacks. The majority of the story focuses on Robin’s dysfunctional relationship with her one-dimensional angry and aggressive sister Melanie. I would have liked a couple of the secondary characters to have been given bigger roles, especially Blake who was the sole voice of reason, but alas, it never happened. 

To me, the villain was fairly obvious early on, and I couldn’t believe no one guessed who it was, particularly Robin, as she’s a therapist. There’s some weak reasoning provided to try to explain this, but I just didn’t buy it so the ending turned out to be anticlimactic for me.

While The Bad Daughter wasn’t my favorite novel by Joy Fielding, she’s been a bestselling author for over four decades, so I’m by no means giving up on her. I’m already looking forward to her next novel. 

 

Ginny Moon, by Benjamin Ludwig ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Autism, Dysfunctional Families

Thanks to NetGalley and Park Row Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

368 Pages

Synopsis: For the first time in her life, Ginny Moon has found her “forever home”–a place where she’ll be safe and protected, with a family that will love and nurture her. It’s exactly the kind of home that all foster kids are hoping for. So why is this 14-year-old so desperate to to get kidnapped by her abusive, drug-addict birth mother, Gloria, and return to a grim existence of hiding under the kitchen sink to avoid authorities and her mother’s violent boyfriends?

While Ginny is pretty much your average teenager–she plays flute in the band, has weekly basketball practice and studies Robert Frost poems for English class–she is autistic. And so what’s important to Ginny includes starting every day with exactly nine grapes for breakfast, Michael Jackson, bacon-pineapple pizza and, most of all, getting back to Gloria so she can take care of her baby doll.

Ginny Moon is a compulsively readable and touching novel about being an outsider trying to find a place to belong and making sense of a world that just doesn’t seem to add up.

Ginny Moon has been receiving a lot of rave reviews, and for the most part I completely concur. 

The story is told from Ginny’s first person POV, which sets a personal tone from the first page. It took me a few chapters to get used to her voice, as she is autistic. Benjamin Ludwig has experience working with special needs children and it’s obvious that he put a lot of additional research into this topic. I have to give him kudos, for being able to climb into the mind of a young teenage girl who’s autistic. This is no mean feat by any stretch of the imagination! Ginny’s voice is so authentic, honest, and raw, that well before the halfway point, I absolutely loved her. While there’s quite a bit of sadness in both her past and current situations, there’s also a fair bit of humor as well.

The main reason why this isn’t receiving 5 stars from me, is because of what has become one of my biggest pet peeves. Unlikable, one dimensional adult characters. I honestly couldn’t stand any of them, but thankfully Ginny is such a strong protagonist that she pretty much carries the entire story on her young shoulders. 

The only other issue I have is that I think the book could have used a little more editing. There were parts of the story that got repetitious at times, and this somewhat slowed down the pace. There were also certain aspects of the storyline that were a bit crazy and unbelievable.

Overall though, Ginny Moon is a suspenseful story featuring an unforgettable new literary heroine, and I was loathe to say goodbye. Ginny is someone I believe everyone should have in their life to remind them of what’s important. While this excellent debut is definitely a standalone, I can’t help hoping that Benjamin Ludwig revisits this amazing young girl! 

Emma In the Night by Wendy Walker ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Child Abuse, Dysfunctional Families, Mystery, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Psychological Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

320 Pages

Synopsis: One night three years ago, the Tanner sisters disappeared: fifteen-year-old Cass and seventeen-year-old Emma. Three years later, Cass returns, without her sister Emma. Her story is one of kidnapping and betrayal, of a mysterious island where the two were held. But to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Abby Winter, something doesn’t add up. Looking deep within this dysfunctional family Dr. Winter uncovers a life where boundaries were violated and a narcissistic parent held sway. And where one sister’s return might just be the beginning of the crime.

We believe what we want to believe. We believe what we need to believe. Maybe there’s no difference between wanting and needing. I don’t know. What I do know is that the truth can evade us, hiding behind our blind spots, our preconceptions, our hungry heart that long for quite. Still, it is always there if we open our eyes and try to see it. If we really try to see.

I knew as soon as I read these chilling opening lines, that I was going to enjoy Emma In the Night, and I wasn’t disappointed. I was completely mesmerized from beginning to end.

The book alternates between Cass and Dr. Abby Winters, the forensic psychiatrist who was originally assigned to the sisters case when they first disappeared three years previously. Starting with the return of Cass, the story brings the reader back to the girls’ childhood and what their lives were like growing up with their mother who has narcissistic personality disorder. From there, what happens slowly comes together, much like a puzzle. From the onset, Cass is an unreliable yet hypnotic narrator which adds to the mystery because you’re constantly wondering if she’s telling the truth. I was so sucked into Cass’s cringe-worthy story that when Abby’s chapters came, they were a little jarring, although necessary to the plot. 

The story itself is full of many twists and turns. There were quite a few times that I thought I’d figured everything out, only to be proven wrong. The only reason why I’m not giving this 5 stars is because I did think the story dragged just a bit at times, especially in the middle. But overall, I really enjoyed Emma In the Night and I highly recommend it to fans of psychological suspense and mysteries filled with sketchy characters.

 

 

 

 

The Goddesses by Swan Huntley ~ 1.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Alcoholism, Dysfunctional Families, Hawaii, LGBTQ

Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

320 Pages

Synopsis: When Nancy and her family arrive in Kona, Hawaii, they are desperate for a fresh start. Nancy’s husband has cheated on her; they sleep in separate bedrooms and their twin sons have been acting out, setting off illegal fireworks. But Hawaii is a paradise: they plant an orange tree in the yard; they share a bed once again and Nancy resolves to make a happy life for herself. She starts taking a yoga class and there she meets Ana, the charismatic teacher. Ana has short, black hair, a warm smile, and a hard-won wisdom that resonates with Nancy. They are soon spending all of their time together, sharing dinners, relaxing in Ana’s hot tub, driving around Kona in the cute little car Ana helps Nancy buy. As Nancy grows closer and closer to Ana, skipping family dinners and leaving the twins to their own devices, she knows that she will do anything Ana asks of her.

Given the rating above, it probably will come as no great surprise that The Goddesses just was not my cup of tea. When I first saw the publisher’s blurb saying it was a cross between The Descendants and Single White Female, I was so excited. But it wound up not being anything like I expected.

I know I tend to go on and on about being able to connect to characters, but honestly, this is one of the first things I look for in a story. Here, I disliked everyone, with the exception of Nancy’s seventeen-year-old twin sons, Jed and Cam. While they were troublemakers, this was in response to their parents self-absorption and neglect. Most of the time I found them sweet and funny, and kept thinking that Nancy and Chuck didn’t deserve to have them as children. Actually, disliked might be too strong a word for my feelings toward everyone else. They were all just so boring, with little to no personality. Nancy and her adulterous husband Chuck, are cardboard cutouts of a married couple. Nancy especially drove me crazy with her judgmental attitude and neglect of her sons. She completely ignores her own shortcomings which made it absolutely impossible for me to emphasize with her. The only thing I can give them kudos for was the way they handled their son Cam’s coming out to them. And Ana, who I was expecting all sorts of exciting villainy from, was equally banal. When the book finally got around to revealing her motivations, it was completely predictable and left me thinking “That’s it? I stuck with this book for this?!”

As for the plot, instead of being an exciting thriller, it was more like wading through quicksand. I kept reading. I kept waiting. But nothing happened. Okay, there’s a little twist near the end, but it’s nothing inspiring, and even worse, there’s no real climax, and there’s no realistic resolution.

The only reason why I’m giving The Goddesses 1 1/2 stars is because I did love Jed and Cam, and I liked the setting of Kona, Hawaii, but even the beautiful setting was spoiled for me due to the utter lack of diversity. As always, I recommend that you check out other reviews before making up your mind if you want to try this. As for me, I don’t think I’ll be trying anything else by Swan Huntley.

Little Monsters, by Kara Thomas ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Dysfunctional Families, Mysteries, Teen relationships, Thrillers, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Release Date: June 25th, 2017

336 Pages

Synopsis: Kacey is the new girl in Broken Falls. When she moved in with her father, she stepped into a brand-new life.  A life with a stepbrother, stepmother, and strangest of all, an adoring younger half sister.

Kacey’s new life is eerily charming compared with the wild highs and lows of the old one she lived with her volatile mother. And everyone is so nice in Broken Falls–she’s even been welcomed into a tight new circle of friends. Bailey and Jade invite her to do everything with them.

Which is why it’s so odd when they start acting distant. And when they don’t invite her to the biggest party of the year, it doesn’t exactly feel like an accident.

But Kacey will never be able to ask, because Bailey never makes it home from that party. Suddenly, Broken Falls doesn’t seem so welcoming after all–especially once everyone starts looking to the new girl for answers.

Kacey is about to learn some very important lessons: Sometimes appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes when the you’re the new girl, you shouldn’t trust anyone.

Little Monsters has been one of the more hotly anticipated books of 2017, and I’m happy to say that it more than lives up to the hype. 

I love stories about the darker layers of the human psyche, especially in regards to teens. It would have been easy to turn this into a more horror/thrillerish ripoff of Mean Girls, but Kara Thomas has made her characters fascinating if not always likable. Kacey herself, is a sketchy character. There were times when I really liked her, especially during her interactions with her stepbrother and half sister, and other times, I had doubts in her innocence, even though she seemed determined to discover what happened to Bailey. The other characters are equally well written. I especially loved Bailey’s journal entries, which showed how much someone can change in a fairly short amount of time. Their inclusion gives the already suspenseful story an additional creepy and menacing layer. 

The story itself moves along at a steady pace and because I was so invested in the characters I finished it in two sittings. There are a lot of red herrings, so I didn’t really guess who was behind Bailey’s disappearance until right before the big reveal. The only reason why I didn’t give this a perfect 5 is because I thought the supernatural plot device of the “Red Lady” was interesting, but ultimately never went anywhere. 

In the end, I have to agree with the many other reviewers who have commented that Little Monsters is a perfect book for fans of Pretty Little Liars. It’s an enjoyable, twisty mystery and thriller that will keep you guessing right up until the end!

Don’t Close Your Eyes, by Holly Seddon ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Agoraphobia, Alcohol Abuse, Child Abuse, Dysfunctional Families, LGBT, Mystery, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: July 4th, 2017

336 Pages

Synopsis: Twin sisters Robin and Sarah haven’t spoken in years.

Robin can’t leave her house. A complete shut-in, she spends her days spying on her neighbors, subtly meddling in their lives. But she can’t keep her demons out forever. Someone from her past has returned, and is desperate to get inside.

Sarah can’t go home. Her husband has kicked her out, forcibly denying her access to their toddler. Sarah will do anything to get their daughter back, but she’s unraveling under the mounting pressure of concealing the secrets of her past. And her lies are catching up to her.

The novel takes readers back in time to witness the complex family dynamics that formed Robin and Sarah into the emotionally damaged young women they’ve become. As the gripping and intricate layers of their shared past are slowly peeled away, the shocks and twists will keep readers breathless long after the final page.

Don’t Close Your Eyes is a slow burning suspense story, which takes a look at two dysfunctional families who start out as friends, but are torn apart by secrets and lies. It’s told in the alternating POVs of Robin and Sarah, and also flashes back and forth from the 1990s and the present day. Just as she did in her debut novel Try Not To Breathe, Holly Seddon is not afraid to tackle the more sinister aspects of family life. The beginning of the story is seemingly innocuous, but it’s not long before the first cracks appear, which ultimately send each character on their own self-destructive journey. Seddon is brutally honest regarding her flawed characters and they come off as being very realistic, if not completely likable. The pacing of the book stays steady until the last quarter, when everything I thought I understood was turned on its head, literally leaving me gasping in disbelief. The shocking ending tied everything up wonderfully which left me completely satisfied. I highly recommend Don’t Close Your Eyes to readers who enjoy a dark story exploring complex family relationships. 

 

Lockdown, by Laurie R. King ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Child Abuse, Diversity, Dysfunctional Families, Gang Violence, Mystery, School Shootings, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

336 Pages

Synopsis: Career Day at Guadalupe Middle School: a day given to innocent hopes and youthful dreams. A day no one in attendance will ever forget.

A year ago, Principal Linda McDonald arrived at Guadalupe determined to overturn the school’s reputation for truancy, gang violence, and neglect. One of her initiatives is Career Day–bringing together children, teachers, and community presenters in a celebration of the future. But there are some in attendance who reject McDonald’s bright vision. 

A principal with a secret. A husband with a murky past. A cop with too many questions. A kid under pressure to prove himself. A girl struggling to escape a mother’s history. A young basketball player with an affection for guns.

Even the school janitor has a story he dare not reveal.

But no one at the gathering anticipates the shocking turn of events that will transform a day of possibilities into an explosive confrontation.

Laurie R. King is best known for her Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series, of which I’m a devoted fan. She’s also written the contemporary mystery Kate Martinelli series, which I haven’t tried yet, but after reading Lockdown, I definitely will be. I thought going into this, that it would be a thriller about a school shooting, and I was eagerly anticipating how the author would handle this topic. While it started off a little slow and a bit chaotic, in the end I was completely captivated by the character-driven story. It took me a little while though to get used to the way the story unfolds. It’s told from several different viewpoints including: the Principal’s, her husband, a police officer, and a few students. It also jumps between different time periods and adds in the mysterious disappearance of a young student, and because of these things I felt as though I was getting whiplash at first. But the characters are so well written, that within the first fifty pages I settled in and couldn’t tear myself away. Their lives and backstories are integral to what unfolds on Career Day, and they add to the slow- building suspense. Because each of them has something going on that could result in the violent act that happens at this small California town’s middle school, I really had no idea who the shooter was going to be. When the story arrives at its climax, what happens makes sense and leads to a satisfying conclusion. Overall I found Lockdown to be a creative standalone from Laurie R. King that solidifies her respected reputation. I highly recommend it to fans of hers, as well as readers who enjoy a good character-driven mystery.

Ultimatum ~ By K.M. Walton – 5.0 Stars

Tags

Addiction, Dysfunctional Families, Sibling Relationships, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: March 7th, 2017

320 Pages

Synopsis: Oscar is misunderstood. Ever since his mother died, he’s been disrespected and bullied by his family, and he seeks refuge in his art. Vance is a popular athlete and wishes his brother would just loosen up and be cool. It was hard enough to deal with their mother’s death without Oscar getting all emotional. Vance just wants to throw himself into partying, to live.

But when their father’s alcoholism sends him into liver failure, the two boys must come face-to-face with their demons–and each other–if they are going to survive an uncertain future.

Ultimatum is a heartbreaking, thought-provoking look at a family torn apart by alcoholism and drug addiction. As the story opens, Oscar and Vance having already lost their mother in a car accident, are keeping watch in a hospice, over their father as he lays dying from kidney failure. Vance, the popular, extroverted lacrosse player, and Oscar, the sensitive, artistic introvert, despise each other. Oscar thinks Vance and his father have never tried to understand him or make him feel part of the family. Vance, views his younger brother as someone who would rather hole up in his room and mope, rather than enjoy life. The chapters alternate between the brothers as well as the the past and present which allows the reader to see how things developed to this point. I have to admit I thoroughly despised Vance at first. He seems to definitely take after his father in terms of arrogance, selfishness, and misogyny. He also shares his father’s addiction problems. He shows complete contempt for just about everyone, but saves the worst of his attitude toward Oscar. I honestly wanted to smack him at times. Oscar broke my heart with his grief and isolation from his brother and father. An artist and classical music fan, it seems in the beginning that there is no way for the two brothers to bridge the chasm that their family circumstances has made between them. But this story and Oscar and Vance have many layers. The amount of growth in their development is amazing. In the end Ultimatum is a journey of two brothers who each deal with their grief in different ways. It’s full of sadness, anger, and helplessness, yet ends on a note of hope. It’s a story that will stay with you long after you’ve finished, and it’s one that I highly recommend for teens and adult fans of YA fiction. 

Ill Will ~ By Dan Chaon – 2.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Childhood Sexual Abuse, Drug addiction, Dysfunctional Families, Mental Illness, Mystery, Satanic Ritual Abuse, Serial Killers, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: March 7th, 2017

480 Pages

Synopsis: “We are always telling a story to ourselves, about ourselves,” Dustin Tillman likes to say. It’s one of the little mantras he shares with his patients, and it’s meant to be reassuring. But what if it’s a lie?

A psychologist in suburban Cleveland, Dustin is drifting through his forties when he hears the news: His adopted brother, Rusty, is being released from prison. Thirty years ago, Rusty received a life sentence for the massacre of Dustin’s parents, aunt, and uncle. The trial came to symbolize the 1980s hysteria over Satanic cults; despite the lack of physical evidence, the jury believed the outlandish accusations Dustin and his cousin made against Rusty. Now, after DNA analysis has overturned the conviction, Dustin braces for a reckoning.

Meanwhile, one of Dustin’s patients gets him deeply engaged in a string of drowning deaths involving drunk college boys. At first Dustin dismisses talk of a serial killer as paranoid thinking, but as he gets wrapped up in their amateur investigation, Dustin starts to believe that there’s more to the deaths than coincidence. Soon he becomes obsessed, crossing all professional boundaries–and putting his own family in harm’s way.

Ill Will is the first book I’ve read by bestselling author and National Book Award winner Dan Chaon, and I was so excited when I was approved for this on NetGalley, but after finishing it last night, I’m left with a feeling of overwhelming frustration. While there were some parts that were complete and total genius, there are just too many issues I had with this and the bad wound up outweighing the good. I’m trying to think where to even begin. The story’s timeline alternates between the early 1980s and 2012-2014. The past focuses on Dustin Tillman, his adopted brother Rusty, and his two cousins Katy and Wave. The central mystery is who massacred Dustin’s parents and aunt and uncle. It’s set against the 80s hysteria around satanic cults and repressed memories. This mystery was definitely my favorite part of the book. The author definitely did his research into the horrible witch hunts that destroyed so many lives. Dustin and Rusty’s relationship is complicated, and even though Rusty turns out to be innocent of the murders, as an adult, he himself admits to doing some pretty horrible things to Dustin. Because of this I didn’t feel as much sympathy for him as I ordinarily would have for an innocent person being railroaded by the legal system. Dustin as a child is an extremely complex character and enigmatic one. I felt so sorry for him, but as the story of his childhood unfolds it becomes apparent that there’s something not quite right about him. Whether this is related to his and Rusty’s relationship, or the murders, or something more sinister, is the big question. As an adult, he seems to have put everything behind him. He’s a successful psychologist, with a wonderful wife and two teenage sons. But when one of his patients who’s an ex-cop brings to his attention a series of mysterious drownings of young men, he immediately partners up with him in this crazy investigation that completely crosses the boundaries of professional patient/doctor relationships. Honestly, the whole thing made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. Adding to my confusion was Chaon’s writing style. There are sentences left uncompleted, chapters that are nothing but columns which was so bizarre, I wound up skimming the majority of them, and the choppy transition between the past and the present, as well as the different viewpoints of multiple characters. I was hoping at least the ending would answer my questions, but it didn’t. The identity of the serial killer was revealed, although I had already guessed who it was, but there were numerous plot holes that were never filled, and I was left unsure as to who really murdered Dustin’s family. Overall, this was just a convoluted mess from start to finish, and I confess I’m really annoyed because it could have been a fantastic mystery/suspense novel. However, it’s gotten some rave reviews on Goodreads, as well as from critics at the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and Entertainment Weekly,  which has left me second guessing myself and wondering what did I miss.