The Project, By Courtney Summers ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Cults, Mystery, Physical Abuse, Suspense

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

Release Date: February 2nd, 2020

352 Pages

Synopsis: “The Unity Project saved my life.”

Lo Denham is used to being on her own. After her parents died, Lo’s sister Bea, joined The Unity Project, leaving Lo in the care of their great aunt. Thanks to it’s extensive charity work and community outreach, The Unity Project has won the hearts and minds of  most in the upstate New York region, but Lo knows there’s more to the group than meets the eye. She’s spent the last six years of her life trying—and failing—to prove it.

“The Unity Project murdered my son.”

When a man shows up at the magazine Lo works for claiming The Unity Project killed his son, Lo sees the perfect opportunity to expose the group and reunite with Bea once and for all. When her investigation puts her in the direct path of its charismatic and mysterious leader, Lev Warren, he proposes a deal: if she can prove the worst of her suspicions about The Unity Project, she may expose them. If she can’t, she must finally leave them alone.

But as Lo delves deeper into The Project, the lives of its members, and spends more time with Lev, it upends everything she thought she knew about her sister, herself, cults, and the world around her—to the point she can no longer tell what’s real or true. Lo never thought she could afford to believe in Lev Warren…but now she doesn’t know if she can afford not to.

Welcome to The Unity Project.

The next pulls-no-punches thriller from New York Times bestselling and Edgar award winning author Courtney Summers about an aspiring young journalist determined to save her sister from a cult.

I loved Courtney Summer’s Sadie, so I was quite excited when I saw The Project on NetGalley, especially with that gorgeous cover! I’ve read a few books centered around cults, but this is the first time I could see why one like this would attract so many people. I spent the majority of the book second guessing as to whether The Project really was dangerous, or was its charismatic leader, Lev Warren, sincerely trying to use the trauma of his abusive childhood to help others. The question of whether The Project is a cult is played out through alternating chapters between Lo and Bea. Both sisters are very strong characters, yet each have unique vulnerabilities which make them very relatable. I was kept guessing until the last few chapters, and even then there were a couple of surprising twists.

Overall, while I don’t think The Project was quite as good as Sadie, it was a thought-provoking read, and I was still musing over the characters and various aspects of it two days after I read it. For me, that makes it a resounding success.

The Scorpion’s Tail (Nora Kelly #2), By Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child ~ 3.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Archaeology, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: January 12, 2021

480 Pages

Synopsis: Following the acclaimed debut of Old Bones, this second “happily anticipated” new thriller in Preston & Child’s new series, features Nora Kelly, archaeologist at the Santa Fe Archaeological Institute, and rookie FBI agent Corrie Swanson as they work together to solve a twisted crime that reaches far beyond any of their worst fears. (Booklist).

 A mummified corpse, over half a century old, is found in the cellar of an abandoned building in a remote New Mexico ghost town. Corrie is assigned what seems to her a throwaway case: to ID the body and determine cause of death. She brings archaeologist Nora Kelly to excavate the body and lend her expertise to the investigation, and together they uncover something unexpected and shocking: the deceased apparently died in agony, in a fetal position, skin coming off in sheets, with a rictus of horror frozen on his face.

Hidden on the corpse lies a 16th century Spanish gold cross of immense value.

When they at last identify the body—and the bizarre cause of death—Corrie and Nora open the door into a terrifying, secret world of ancient treasure and modern obsession: a world centered on arguably the most defining, frightening, and transformative moment in American history.

Scorpion’s Tail is the second book in Preston & Child’s Nora Kelly spin-off series and while I didn’t like it quite as much as last year’s Old Bones, I’m still looking forward to future books featuring Nora and Corrie.

As always, the research Preston and Child put into this story is meticulous, but there seemed to be something missing here that I’m not sure I can put my finger on. I liked the historical mystery behind this, but perhaps due to the length of the book, I found my attention wandering more than once. Also, while both women have been recurring characters in the Pendergast series, Nora Kelly is much more relatable. Corrie Swanson is in her early twenties, yet strikes me as an old soul. I like her, and find her intriguing, yet I’m frustrated by her at the same time because she has a remote personality that makes it difficult to connect with. I’m hoping to see her character develop as she and Nora work more cases together. And finally, (here’s my one spoiler), while I enjoyed Pendergast’s cameo at the end of the previous book, this time I found it unwarranted and a bit annoying.

While The Scorpion’s Tail is not my favorite story from Preston and Child, it’s still a worthwhile read. And to be honest, I’ve been reading their books since the 90s, and have extremely high expectations for each new entry. If any of you are fans I’d love to know your thoughts about this once you’ve read it. 

The House on Vesper Sands, By Paraic O’Donnell ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Victorian Historical Fiction

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

Release Date: January 12th, 2021

408 Pages

Synopsis:

London 1893: High up in a house, on a dark, snowy night, a lone seamstress stands by a window. So begins the swirling, serpentine world of Paraic O’Donnell’s Victorian-inspired mystery, the story of a city cloaked in shadow, but burning with questions: why does the seamstress choose to jump out of that window? Why is there a cryptic message sewn into her skin? And how is she connected to a rash of missing girls, all of whom seem to have disappeared under similar circumstances?

On the case is Gideon Bliss, a young Cambridge dropout who is in love with one of the missing girls, and his partner, Inspector Cutter, a detective as sharp and committed to his work as he is wryly hilarious. There is also Octavia Hillingdon, a young reporter determined to tell stories despite her employer’s preference that she write a woman’s society column. By turns, clever, surprising, and impossible to put down, The House on Vesper Sands peels back the mystery layer by layer, offering in the strange undertow of late 19th century London a startling glimpse at the secrets we all hold inside.

The House on Vesper Sands is a little slow in the beginning, but it gathers steam as it moves along, and turns out to be an imaginative Victorian mystery, touched with a bit of the supernatural. The characters are well written and I especially enjoyed the engaging repartee between Inspector Cutter and young Gideon Bliss. Their exchanges provided some much needed moments of levity amidst the darker, eerie tones of the story. While much of the action takes place in the final chapters of the book, I found O’Donnell’s atmospheric writing and quirky characters quite entertaining, and was thoroughly satisfied with the way the ending wrapped everything up. I’m actually hoping that O’Donnell turns this into a series because I’d love to see more of Cutter and Bliss. While it shares some similarities of other books in the sub-genre of Victorian Gothic, it contains many unique elements that make it stand out. I particularly recommend The House on Vesper Sands for fans of classic authors such as Wilkie Collins and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Lore, By Alexandra Bracken ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Contemporary Fiction, Greek Mythology, LGBTQ, Mystery, Romance, Thriller, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: January 5th, 2021

480 Pages

Synopsis: Every seven years, the Agon begins. As punishment for a past rebellion, nine Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals, hunted by the descendants of  ancient bloodlines, all eager to kill a god and seize their divine power and immortality.

Long ago, Lore Perseous fled that brutal world in the wake of her family’s sadistic murder by a rival line, turning her back on the hunt’s promises of eternal glory. For years she’s pushed away thought of revenge against the man—now a god—responsible for their deaths.

Yet as the next hunt dawns over New York City, two participants seek out her help: Castor, a childhood friend of Lore believed long dead, and a gravely wounded Athena, among the last of the original gods.

The goddess offers an alliance against their mutual enemy and, at last, a way for Lore to finally leave the Agon behind forever. But Lore’s decision to bind her fate to Athena’s and rejoin the hunt will come at a deadly cost—and still may not be enough to stop the rise of a new god with the power to bring humanity to its knees.

Before I start this review, if you’re getting a sense of deja vu, or see that you’ve already written a comment, that’s because this is an updated post I did a few months ago on the chapter sampler of Lore. I apologize for being lazy, but instead of writing out the entire synopsis again, I thought I’d just update my original review now that I’ve had the opportunity to read the entire book.

What do you get when you combine bestselling YA author Alexandra Bracken with Greek gods? A surefire blockbuster is what I’m thinking! Except for Madeline Miller’s phenomenal Circe(2019), once Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series ended, there haven’t been many Greek mythology-based books released, so I had high hopes for Lore. Well, it starts off with a bang and plenty of blood, gore, and even a decapitation. One word of warning, the violence continues throughout the book, including two scenes involving the murder of little girls. These two particular sections relate the murders in the third person, and compared to other parts, aren’t terribly graphic, but they still made me squirm, and may make some readers uncomfortable as well. While the storyline may sound similar to previous series, like Percy Jackson and The Hunger Games, let me assure you that this is completely unique. There are a lot of characters but they’re easily remembered because they each have an integral part to play. The romance is a bit ho-hum, but that’s okay because there’s so much else going on. The pacing is insane, and I flew through this in two days despite it being just under 500 pages. The only reason why I rated this 4 stars is because there are some rough passages, especially in the first fifty or so pages where the reader is being introduced to the history and rules of the Agon. I’ve been a voracious reader of Greek Mythology since I was a child and I consider myself fairly well-versed in the stories and characters involved, but there were a few times I was left confused and frustrated. Thankfully things became clearer the deeper I got into the story. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Lore and unhesitatingly recommend it to my fellow mythology enthusiasts who are looking for a refreshing take on the old legends.

The Woman Outside My Door, By Rachel Ryan ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mental Health, Mystery, Suspense

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

Release Date: January 5th, 2021

288 Pages

Synopsis: All children have imaginary friends, Georgina tells herself. It’s perfectly normal, and they all grow out of it in the end. But when her seven-year-old son Cody, tells her about New Granny, the new friend he’s met in the park, Georgina is instantly suspicious. Something—call it maternal instinct—tells her he isn’t making it up.

But maybe Georgina is losing her mind. It wouldn’t be the first time, after all. And with her own mother’s recent death leaving her bereft and trying to cope with life as a busy working mom, it’s no wonder she’s feeling paranoid that Cody has invented a “New Granny” to replace his beloved grandmother.

Her husband Bren, becomes the voice of reason, assuring Georgina that it’s just a game, the product of their son’s overactive imagination. But what if Cody’s imaginary friend isn’t so imaginary after all?

The Woman Outside My Door, is the debut novel by Irish author Rachel Ryan, and much to my delight, while it seems at first as though it’s going down the same predictable road as others in this genre, it takes a surprising twist and brings in part of Ireland’s dark history to boot. I have to be honest and state I really didn’t care for Bren at all and continually questioned why Georgina didn’t show him the door, but that was my one and only issue with the book. Everything else, from Georgina’s self-doubt, her past trauma, the identity of New Granny and the numerous twists that had me guessing from beginning to end, made for an engrossing and quick read. I highly recommend The Woman Outside My Door to readers looking for a puzzling mystery. I’ll definitely be looking out for Ryan’s next venture.

City of Villains (City of Villains #1), By Estelle Laure ~ 3.0 Stars

Tags

Fantasy, Mystery, Suspense, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: January 26th, 2020

240 Pages

Synopsis: Disney’s Villains meet Gotham in this gritty fairy-tale inspired story.

Mary Elizabeth Heart is a high school senior by day, but by night she’s an intern at the Monarch City Police Department. She watches with envy from behind a desk as detectives come and go, trying to contain the city’s growing crime rate. For years, tension has simmered between the city’s wealthy elite, and their plans to gentrify the decaying neighborhood called the Scar—once upon a time the epicenter of all things magic.

When the daughter of one of the city’s most powerful businessmen goes missing, Mary Elizabeth is thrilled when the Chief actually puts her on the case. But what begins as a missing person’s report soon multiplies, leading her down a rabbit hole of a city in turmoil. There she finds a girl with horns, a boyfriend with secrets, and what seems to be a sea monster in a poison lake. As the mystery circles closer to home, Mary finds herself caught in the fight between those who once had magic, and those who will do anything to bring magic back.

This dark and edgy YA series explores the reimagined origins of  Maleficent, Ursula, Captain Hook, and other infamous Disney villains like you’ve never seen before.

I was quite excited when I read the premise of City of Villains with the tagline Disney villains meets Gotham, but I have to be honest and say it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. My biggest problem I think is that everything is told rather than shown. I was never able to fully connect with the characters, the setting, or the story. However, seeing the origin stories of some of my favorite Disney villains was interesting and kept me turning the pages. I also have to say this is a quick read which I breezed through in couple of hours. Overall, while City of Villains wasn’t everything I was hoping it would be, there was just enough there that not only kept me reading, but also has me sufficiently interested enough to give the sequel a try when it comes out.

Every Last Fear, By Alex Finlay ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Discussion of suicide, Mystery, Suspense

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

Release Date: March 2nd, 2021

368 Pages

Synopsis: “They found the bodies on a Tuesday.” So begins this twisty and breathtaking novel that traces the fate of the Pine family, a thriller that will both leave you on the edge of your seat, and move you to tears.

After a late night of partying, NYU student Matthew Pine, returns to his dorm room to devastating news: nearly his entire family—him mom, his dad, his little brother and sister—have been found dead from an apparent gas leak while vacationing in Mexico. The local police claim it was an accident, but the FBI and State Department seem far less certain—and they won’t tell Matt why.

The tragedy makes headlines everywhere because this isn’t the first time the Pine family has been thrust into the media spotlight. Matt’s older brother Danny—currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his teenage girlfriend Charlotte—was the subject of a true crime documentary suggesting that Danny was wrongfully convicted. Though the country has rallied behind Danny, Matt holds a secret about his brother that he’s never told anyone: the night Charlotte was killed, Matt saw something that makes him believe his brother is guilty of the crime.

When Matt returns to his small hometown to bury his parents and siblings, he’s faced with a hostile community that was villainized by the documentary, the frenzied media, and memories he’d hoped to leave behind forever. Now, as the deaths in Mexico appear increasingly suspicious and connected to Danny’s case, Matt must unearth the truth that sent his brother to prison—putting his own life in peril—and forcing him to confront his every last fear.

Told through multiple points-of-view, and alternating between past and present, Alex Finlay’s Every Last Fear, is not only a page-turning thriller, it’s also a poignant story of a family managing heartbreak and tragedy, and living through a fame they never wanted.

Oh my goodness! Every Last Fear was a nearly perfect page-turner for me. I’ll begin with my small issues. First, this is told through several POVs, yet Danny, who has been possibly wrongfully convicted, gets one chapter in the final half of the book. Seeing as how everything comes back to what happened the night his girlfriend was killed, I would have liked to have heard more from him. Also, the identity of the culprit was fairly predictable, but the journey getting there was still enjoyable. What I loved the most were the characters, particularly the Pine family. They helped turn this into not only a compelling suspense tale, but a heartbreaking family drama. I couldn’t tear myself away from this and finished the book in one sitting. Overall, Every Last Fear is an impressive debut from Alex Finlay, and I can’t wait to see what he comes out with next. I highly recommend this particularly to fans of authors like Harlan Coben and Linwood Barclay.

What She Found in the Woods, By Josephine Angelini ~ 2.0 Stars

Tags

Contemporary Fiction, Mental Illness, Mystery, Serial Killers, Substance Abuse, Suicide, Suspense, YA Fiction

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

Release Date: December 1st, 2020

384 Pages

Synopsis: Running from a scandal at her New York private school, Magdalena heads to her family home to recover under the radar.

Over-medicated and under-confident, she’s fearful she’ll never escape her past.

Until she meets Bo out hiking. Gorgeous, wild, and free he makes her believe she might finally be able to move on.

But when a mutilated body is discovered in the woods, Magdalena realizes she can’t trust anyone.

Not even herself.

I’ve enjoyed Josephine Angelini’s previous books, especially her Starcrossed series, so it comes as a shock that I really didn’t care for her standalone What She Found in the Woods.

My biggest issue was the way social issues like mental illness and drug addiction were portrayed. I don’t want to venture into spoiler territory, but in my opinion these themes were used as shallow plot devices instead of being a thoughtful exploration of the afflictions that plague so many. I feel terrible writing this after reading Angelini’s reasons why she included these topics as part of the story, but as always, I feel the need to be honest with my review.

While the enigmatic Magdalena was a puzzle to me that I felt the need to solve, most of her teen friends were pampered, entitled brats who annoyed the heck out of me. The romance between Magdalena and Bo was sweet, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the main problems I had.

There were some elements here that I enjoyed, namely the mystery of what was really happening and who was responsible, but as intriguing as that was, my distaste for the mainly superficial depiction of the all too real illnesses that millions battle, overrode everything else. There are many positive reviews of What She Found in the Woods, on Goodreads, so if your interest is peaked by the premise, don’t just go by my opinion, as I believe I’m an outlier regarding my feelings. As I said, I’ve enjoyed Angelini’s other books, so I’m looking forward to her next.

 

The Wife Upstairs, By Rachel Hawkins ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Suspense

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

Release Date: January 5th, 2021

304 Pages

Synopsis: Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates—a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewelry off the side tables of her well-heeled clients. Where no one will think to ask if Jane is her real name.

But her luck changes when she meets Eddie Rochester. Recently widowed, Eddie is Thornfield Estates’ most mysterious resident. His wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, their bodies lost to the deep. Jane can’t help but see an opportunity in Eddie—not only is he rich, brooding, and handsome, he could also offer her the kind of protection she’s always yearned for.

Yet as Jane and Eddie fall for each other, Jane is increasingly haunted by the legend of Bea, an ambitious beauty with a rags-to-riches origin story who launched a wildly successful southern lifestyle brand. How can she, plain Jane, ever measure up? And can she win Eddie’s heart before her past—or his—catches up to her?

With delicious suspense, incisive wit, and a fresh, feminist sensibility, The Wife Upstairs flips the script on a timeless tale of forbidden romance, ill-advised attraction, and a wife who just won’t stay buried. In this vivid reimagining of one of literature’s most twisted love triangles, which Mrs. Rochester will get her happy ending?

The Wife Upstairs is a modern day adaptation of Jane Eyre, and although it shares many similarities such as people’s names, and the plot, Hawkins deft hand gives it several twists which makes it stand apart from its predecessor. If you’ve read Jane Eyre, then the mystery at the heart of this won’t be a shock, but getting there is as delicious as a mint julep. That’s thanks to the inhabitants of Thornfield Estates, who might not be likable but they’re utterly fascinating. The main characters all have their backstories tweaked and modernized, making them familiar yet intriguing. This is the very definition of a page-turner and I gobbled it up in one sitting. The ending is a little different from the original classic, but it’s perfectly in keeping with the story and quite satisfying. I HIGHLY recommend The Wife Upstairs to anyone who loves sly twisty mysteries.

Bright Shining World, By Josh Swiller ~ 2.0 Stars

Tags

Coming of Age Stories, Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction, Social Satire, The Environment, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Books For Young Readers for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: November 24th, 2020

304 Pages

Synopsis: Wallace Cole is perpetually moving against his will. His father has a deeply important job with an energy company that he refuses to explain to Wallace who is, shall we say, suspicious. Not that his father ever listens to him. Just as Wallace is settling into a comfortable life in Kentucky, his father lets him know they need to immediately depart for a new job in a small town in upstate New York which has recently been struck by an outbreak of inexplicable hysterics—an outbreak which is centered at the high school Wallace is to attend.

In the new town things go from disturbing to worse: trees appear to be talking to people; a school bully, the principal, and the town police force take an instant dislike to Wallace; and the student body president is either falling for him or slipping into the enveloping darkness. Bright Shining World is a novel of resistance, of young people finding hope and courage and community in a collapsing world.

You can probably guess from my rating that Bright Shining World was not for me. I wanted to like this, I really did. Mainly because of Wallace, who I loved and is the sole reason why I’m giving this 2 stars. But even this endearingly snarky, clever, courageous misfit couldn’t save a story that to me, just never found its footing. It’s a convoluted mess of coming-of-age, science fiction, a bit of horror, some social satire, and environmental activism. While I’m all for genre-defying tales, this was jumbled and confusing and in the end, made my head hurt. And to make matters worse was that except for Wallace and his mysterious father—who was unlikable but at least somewhat interesting—the other characters were so overwhelmingly stereotypical that I found myself continually rolling my eyes. When I reached the last page all I could think was “Thank God it’s over!” It’s too bad, because Bright Shining World had a lot of potential, especially with such a strong protagonist.