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.

 

They Never Learn, By Layne Fargo ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Serial Killers, Sexual Assault, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and and Gallery/Scout Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: October 13th, 2020

352 Pages

Synopsis: Scarlett Clark is an exceptional English professor. But she’s even better at getting away with murder.

Every year she searches for the worst man at Gorman University, and plots his well-deserved demise. Thanks to her meticulous planning, she’s avoided drawing attention to herself—but as she’s preparing for her biggest kill yet, the school starts probing into the growing body count on campus. Determined to keep her enemies close, Scarlett insinuates herself into the investigation and charms the woman in charge, Dr. Mina Pierce. Everything’s going according to her master plan…until she loses control with her latest victim, putting her secret life at risk of exposure.

Meanwhile, Gorman student Carly Schiller is just trying to survive her freshman year. Finally free of her emotionally abusive father, all Carly wants is to focus on her studies and fade into the background. Her new roommate has other ideas. Allison Hadley is cool and confident—everything Carly wishes she could be—and the two girls quickly form an intense friendship. So when Allison is sexually assaulted at a party, Carly becomes obsessed with making the attacker pay…and turning her fantasies about revenge into a reality.

After reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, I was suffering from a book hangover and needed something completely different yet still enjoyable, and I found it in They Never Learn. The chapters alternate between Scarlett and Carly, and while there’s obviously a connection between them, there’s a surprise revelation about halfway through the book that blew me away. Scarlett is an antiheroine who I found myself rooting for. As the layers of her backstory are peeled back, I could understand how she set upon the road she did. Some secondary characters are a little stereotypical, but the important ones add much to the unfolding twisted tale. While there are aspects of the story that defy believability, the characters and exciting plot make this a compulsive read. With its mix of entertainment and thoughtful look at campus sexual assaults and misogyny, They Never Learn undoubtedly will attract a wide audience. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for an edgy and addictive read with a surprisingly likable and relatable antiheroine. 

😱Short and Shivery Sunday😱

Tags

Animated Short, ”Patchwork”, Horror, IsArt Digital, Macabre Humor, Serial Killers

 

Curious Toys, by Elizabeth Hand ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Chicago, Classic Cinema, Historical Fiction, LGBTQ, Mystery, Pedophiles, Serial Killers

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

Release Date: Available Now

336 Pages

Synopsis: In the sweltering summer of 1915, Pin, the fourteen-year-old daughter of a carnival fortune-teller, dresses as a boy and joins a teenage gang that roams the famous Riverview amusement park, looking for trouble.

Unbeknownst to the well-heeled city dwellers who come to enjoy the midway, the park is also host to a ruthless killer who uses the shadows of the dark carnival attractions to conduct his crimes. When Pin sees a man enter the Hell Gate ride with a young girl, and emerge alone, she knows that something horrific has occurred.

The crime will lead her to the iconic outsider artist Henry Darger, a brilliant but seemingly mad man. Together, the two navigate the seedy underbelly of a changing city to uncover a murderer few even know to look for.

I’ve been pretty fortunate in the book department this year, with very few disappointments, and I’m happy to add Curious Toys to my list of 2019 standouts. 

Curious Toys is one of those literary gems that has something for just about everyone. Historical fiction readers will love the time period and setting of Chicago’s Riverview Park in 1915. Riverview was a big part of Chicago’s landscape from 1904-1967, and the author does a fantastic job detailing the splendor of the park as well as its seedy underbelly. She also thoroughly depicts the abject poverty that so many citizens lived under, and what they did to survive. Fans of classic cinema will appreciate the inclusion of stars like Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson, Wallace Beery and Essanay Studio in the story. Art enthusiasts will be ecstatic over Hand deftly giving the artist Henry Darger such a pivotal role. And mystery lovers will be both intrigued and repulsed at the actions of the pedophile serial killer, although his identity is fairly obvious by the midway point of the book. 

This is both a plot-driven and character-driven tale, and fourteen-year-old Pin as the plucky protagonist is a wonderfully drawn personality. She’s definitely ahead of her time, and her struggles with poverty, her sexuality and the guilt she feels over the disappearance of her younger sister, makes her very sympathetic and easy to like even when her decision making is a little questionable.

Curious Toys will please not only readers who are already fans of Cynthia Hand, but also win many her new ones. The only reason why I’m not giving it a full five stars is because there are a couple of instances when Hand veers away from the main plot unnecessarily. But otherwise, I highly recommend this. It’s the kind of book where if you’re like me, you’ll wind up looking up the time period and real life personalities that are mentioned for further research. Speaking of which, I have to go peruse some more of Henry Darger’s paintings!

 

Pretty Dead Girls, by Monica Murphy ~ 2.0 Stars

Tags

Mystery, Serial Killers, Suspense, YA Fiction

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

Release Date: Available Now

300 Pages

Synopsis: Beautiful. Perfect. Dead.

In the peaceful seaside town of Cape Bonita, wicked secrets and lies are hidden just beneath the surface. But all it takes is one tragedy for them to be exposed.

The most popular girls in school are turning up dead, and Penelope Malone is terrified she’s next. All the victims so far have been linked to Penelope—-and to a boy from her physics class. The one she’s never really noticed before, with the rumored dark past and a brooding stare that cuts right through her.

There’s something he’s not telling her. But there’s something she’s not telling him either. 

Everyone has secrets, and theirs might get them killed.

I have to begin by saying that my rating and opinion of Pretty Dead Girls is definitely in the minority. The majority of readers on Goodreads are giving this 3-5 stars, so I’m left wondering what did I miss?

My main problem is with the characters. From the premise, I knew going in this was going to be similar to Mean Girls, only with a serial killer added in. But these girls weren’t just witchy. They were one dimensional and completely flat and I was rooting for the unknown killer for the entire book. 

The main character, Penelope, is the “It” girl of the school. Not quite a mean girl herself, she nonetheless surrounds herself with them and doesn’t really do anything to try to  curb their behavior. She’s too focused on eclipsing her older sister’s queen bee reputation. And when she’s not obsessing about that, she’s obsessing about this new, mysterious, and attractive fellow classmate. But wait. It turns out he’s not so new, she just hasn’t noticed him before. Just ugh. With such an inauspicious beginning I never bought into their romance.

The plot is okay, but I was disappointed in the big reveal because I had actually thought the villain would be someone else, who I would have found much more satisfying. As it was was, I was left with a “meh” feeling. I also felt the author did a lot more telling rather than showing, which was also irksome.

Pretty Dead Girls just wasn’t for me. I’m giving it two stars though because it was a quick read, although that might have been because by the time I was midway through the book, I was skimming. As I said though, there are a lot of positive reviews so if the premise interests you, I recommend you check this out for yourself.

Disturbed, by Jennifer Jayne ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers, Serial Killers, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer 

Release Date: Available Now

238 Pages

Synopsis: On Halloween night five years ago, Chelsea Dutton’s college roommates were viciously stabbed to death, and Chelsea was critically injured. She was found hiding in her apartment’s bathtub, barely clinging to life.

With only fragments of shattered memory, she’s been trying her best to move past the nightmares ever since. Now in Boston, she lives a somewhat reclusive life, working from home as a medical transcriptionist and binging on mindless television shows. 

She can’t shake the fear that her attacker is out there, waiting to finish what he started, and Elizabeth, a nurse she met after the murders, is the only person she can trust.

When someone from her past re-emerges, Chelsea starts receiving disturbing messages and worries that her every move is being watched. As the messages mount and her memories begin to return, she’s led to a terrifying and lonely place. But she needn’t be afraid. She won’t be there very long.

Jennifer Jaynes has established a well-respected reputation for writing creepy and chilling tales, and Disturbed is no different. It’s chock full of suspense and it kept me mesmerized right up until the very last page.

Chelsea is a complicated and unreliable character. Suffering from amnesia due to the traumatic events of that Halloween night five years ago, she’s moved to Boston and has carved out a fairly nice life for herself working from home as a medical transcriptionist. But she’s still haunted by her lost memories and occasional nightmarish flashbacks. Thankfully, she has her supportive best friend, Elizabeth, to lean on. After a chance meeting with someone from her past, makes it obvious that the murderer is not done with Chelsea, her life quickly begins to spiral out of control.

While Chelsea doesn’t always make the best decisions, I was sympathetic toward her right up until the end. Her fears that the killer isn’t finished with her are palpable and I was completely invested in her even during the couple of occasions I wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake her. 

There’s a huge twist near the end, but I had already grown suspicious toward the character it involved about halfway through the story. That said, I wasn’t entirely sure, so when the revelation came it was still a bit of an “aha!” moment. The story concludes with an open ending and to be honest a couple of days after finishing,  I’m still not sure if I loved it or hated it.

Disturbed certainly lives up to its title and fans of Jennifer Jaynes will not be disappointed by this latest book. If you’re new to her writing and love chilling psychological thrillers, filled with unreliable characters, then I highly recommend this. It’s a twisted tale that can easily be read in 1-2 sittings, and it’s one that will leave you at the edge of your seat!

Follow Me (The Amateurs #2), by Sara Shepard ~ 3.5 Stars

Tags

Mystery, Serial Killers, Suspense, YA Fiction

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

Release Date: November 7th, 2017

272 Pages

Synopsis: It was the perfect night for a party.

That is, until twenty-one-year-old Chelsea Dawson disappeared. The social media star was last seen enjoying a beautiful summer night at the Jersey Shore with her friends. But after an explosive fight with her ex-boyfriend, she vanished without a trace.

When Seneca, Maddox, Aerin, and Madison hear about the suspected kidnapping, they notice a jarring detail about the victim: she looks exactly like Aerin’s sister, Helena, who was killed five years earlier. Seneca is convinced she knows who killed Helena, and she can’t shake the feeling that the same person has taken Chelsea.

Desperate for answers about the two girls, and the truth behind her mother’s murder, Seneca will stop at nothing to find out if the cases are linked. So when Maddox receives an invitation to the Shore from none other than their primary suspect, the Amateurs begin an intense new investigation.

Full of disturbing secrets, startling twists, and horrifying revelations, the second book in #1 bestselling author Sara Shepard’s The Amateurs series follows the team down a twisted path—one crafted by a brilliant killer.

Follow Me is the second installment in Sara Shepard’s The Amateurs. It could be read as a standalone, but I recommend you read the previous book before starting this one. To sum up what’s happening, a group of teen sleuths are attempting to find a serial killer, the same killer they now know is behind the murders of Aerin’s sister and Seneca’s mother. While this sequel lacks the enormous “gotcha” twist of its predecessor, there are still a few surprises here.

Once again, I mostly enjoyed the story being told from multiple povs, including those of the killer and his latest victim. The one problem I had was even at the end of this sequel, I still didn’t find myself attached to any of the characters. It’s not that they’re unlikable, well except for the killer that is. I just didn’t find them all that interesting. If I had to pick two who I’m still hoping to connect to, it would be Seneca and Aerin, as they have direct personal ties to catching this killer. 

Now that the intrepid sleuths know the villain’s identity, the mystery focuses more on where is he, finding his latest victim before it’s too late, and what is his endgame. The one thing that’s apparent is that he plays everything out as a sick twisted game, and he delights in taunting and tormenting not only the girl he’s kidnapped, but also the Amateurs. 

While this particular kidnapping is solved by the end of the story, it still concludes with a cliffhanger that sets things up nicely for the third book. 

Follow Me is definitely more a plot driven book than a character driven one, but it’s still a quick and entertaining read. I think fans of Sara Shepard’s other books, especially her Pretty Little Liars series will enjoy this series.

Wicked Fallout (Pretty Wicked #2), by Kelly Charron ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Serial Killers

Thanks to NetGalley and Dark Arts Publishing for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

358 Pages

Synopsis: Convicted of six murders when she was just fifteen, the notorious Ryann Wilkanson hasn’t been able to act on her darkest, deadliest urges for twelve years. She’s exhausted her appeals and has little hope of ever getting out of prison and back to hunting.

Until a media-hungry legal team mounts a campaign to do the impossible–get her immediately released with a commuted sentence.

Forensic psychiatrist Nancy Clafin in has mere weeks to evaluate Ryann’s current mental state against her grisly past to determine if she’s changed. But under the shadow of her own questionable history, it’s not easy to separate her personal life from her professional duty.

At least that’s what Ryann is counting on. 

Behind the cold steel doors of a Colorado maximum-security prison, will Nancy find a cold-blooded killer or a newly redeemed woman determined to right her past wrongs?

Wicked Fallout is the sequel to last years Pretty Wicked, and while it can be read as a standalone, I recommend you read the previous book before diving into this. Another word of warning: While Pretty Wicked was definitely in the older YA genre, this book is more for adults. 

So, twelve years after young Ryann went on killing spree through her town, she’s now twenty-seven and safely locked up in a maximum-security prison…for now. The question is, after more than a decade behind bars, has Ryann truly repented, and is she ready to become a productive member of society? You don’t think I’m going to tell you, do you? MOWAHAHA! Nope! You’re going to have to read the book to find out for yourself!

Most of the story revolves around Ryann’s life in prison, her interactions with the other inmates, and her visits with forensic psychiatrist Nancy Clafin. There’s also some alternate chapters that relate what’s happening with Nancy’s home life and her family. While the first book was pure horror, this one falls more into the psychological suspense category. There’s not as much action in this story, but that really doesn’t make it any less compelling. Pretty Wicked conjured images of a Buffy gone bad, while Wicked Fallout made me think of Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs.

I did find the pacing of the first half of the story a little slow, because some of it was spent rehashing the events of the first book. However, it was interesting seeing Nancy’s interaction with Ryann during their sessions, and seeing how she agonized over whether she believed her or not.

The second half, though had me completely captivated as Ryann’s relationships with other prisoners grew more heated, and her sessions with Nancy got more and more suspenseful as the clocked ticked down to the deadline on whether Ryann’s sentence should be commuted. I was so absorbed and tense, that I actually caught myself nervously biting my fingernails!

Wicked Fallout is a fantastic sequel in Kelly Charron’s Pretty Wicked series, and after a jaw dropping ending, to say that I’m looking forward to the next book is putting it mildly! I cannot recommend this series enough to fans of horror and suspense, and psychological thrillers!

 

 

A Killer Harvest by Paul Cleave ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Bullying, Cellular Memory, Medical Thriller, Organ Donation, Serial Killers, Suspense

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

Release Date: Available Now

400 Pages

Synopsis: Joshua is convinced there is a family curse. It’s taken away his biological parents, robbed him of his eyesight, and is the reason why his father Logan, the detective who raised him, is killed while investigating the homicide of a young woman. The suspect, Simon Bowers, is killed by Logan’s partner Ben, whose intentions are murkier than expected. 

After this tragedy, Joshua is handed an opportunity he can’t refuse: a new pair of eyes. But a mishap during surgery leads to Joshua unknowingly getting one eye from his father, and the other from Simon. As Joshua navigates a world of sight, he gets glimpses of what his eyes might have witnessed in their previous life. Memories, truth, and lies Joshua discovers a world darker than the one he has emerged from. What else has he failed to see?

Meanwhile, Simon’s accomplice Vincent, is bent on revenge, going after the loved ones of those involved in Simon’s death, and Vincent is drawing closer and closer to Joshua.

Huh. This was a surprise. I figured I was going to enjoy Killer Harvest after reading so many positive reviews, but I didn’t suspect how much I was going to love it! 

At the heart of this story is the controversial phenomenon of cellular memory. Is it possible for a recipient of an organ donation, to receive the emotions and behaviors from the donor through memories stored in the neurons of the donated organ? It seems like the medical community is divided as of now over this possibility, but there have been cases that make you wonder. There have been plenty of books and movies that have used this theory as part of their premise, but Paul Cleave puts a whole new spin on it.

Joshua is one of the most lovable characters I’ve come across in a while. There are times that it really does seem like some supernatural curse is hanging over his head. He grabbed me by the heartstrings from the very beginning and because of that I was thoroughly invested in the story. He’s sweet, compassionate, and determined to do the right thing. He’s also a bit impulsive, like many teens, and this winds up getting him into trouble. 

There are many secondary characters, and while I didn’t think all of them were necessary to further the plot, there were a few that play a big part in Joshua’s life and I really enjoyed them.

The story itself has more than one theme with organ donation/cellular memory, bullying, and serial killers, among them. This could have been messy and confusing, but the author deftly brings everything together. I was hooked from the very first page, and the surprising twists and mini cliffhangers at the end of each chapter made it impossible for me to put this book down. I started it mid-afternoon and finished about 1:00 in the morning.

The only reason why I’m not giving this a perfect 5 stars is because of the ending. It’s deliberately left open-ended, which I had no problem with, although it’s left me longing for a sequel. However, there were some loose ends concerning a couple of characters that left me a little frustrated.

There are quite a few reviewers on Goodreads who have mentioned that Paul Cleave, who’s from New Zealand, is underappreciated in the U.S. and after reading Killer Harvest, I have to agree. It’s a brilliantly written thriller and a perfect beach and vacation read. I really can’t recommend it highly enough. This was my first book by Cleave, but it certainly won’t be my last! 

Deceived, by Heena Rathore P. ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers, Serial Killers, Suspense

Thanks to Heena for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: June 24th, 2017

350 Pages

Synopsis: How well do you know your loved ones?

A girl struggling to cope with the murders of her mother and five-year-old brother.

A journalist chasing the ghost of a potential serial killer.

A thirteen-year-old girl who slaughtered her parents.

And a revenge-driven psychopath who is about to destroy everyone’s life.

After 9 years, a young writer is still coping with the brutal murders of her mother and five-year-old brother, as she moves into a house of horrors, to start a new life with her lover. Will friends and family be ably to redeem Ally out of the impending doom in time? Will her infallible love become the key to the destruction of her already fragile world? Will madness prevail over love; true love over revenge?

Deceived is a gripping psychological thriller that mazes through the deepest, darkest emotions of the human mind through the story of a vulnerable girl who treads in the mist of deception bred from a long unforgiven betrayal.

I’ve been eagerly anticipating reading Deceived since our fellow blogger Heena, announced several months ago that she was going to be coming out with her first novel. Before I proceed with my review, let me say, if you haven’t checked out her author blog at https://heenarathorep.com and her review blog at https://thereadingbud.com please do. I know to book lovers a cover can make a big difference as far as drawing our attention. As soon as I saw the cover of Deceived, I had to know more and I’m so happy to say that the story delivered on that first promise. The foreward which is written by crime blogger and author Patrick H. Moore, sets the tone by writing about the difference between Psychopaths and Sociopaths. From there the story takes off and maintains a very fast pace. Although I guessed at some revelations, there were others that managed to catch me by surprise. Heena does a great job juggling the perspectives of four different characters as well as two time periods set thirty years apart. There’s a nice seamless flow to the chapters, which when added to the fast pace, makes this book difficult to put down. The journal entries from the mysterious psychopath known only as “Mikey”, add a further creepy tone to the story. Some of the scenes, especially toward the end are graphically violent and bloody, which had even me cringing. None of these are gratuitous however, and they fit in with the rest of the story. One word of warning to animal lovers, Ally has a loyal German Shepherd named Max who does suffer at the hands of Mikey, so you might want to skim over those couple sections. There are just a couple of issues I ran into which prevented this from being a perfect read for me. The first concerns the dialogue between the characters. At certain times I found it to be awkward, which was a little distracting. And then there’s Allison, who I really liked, yet at the same time she left me extremely frustrated at times. She’s a smart, capable and independent woman, who’s survived this horrible trauma in her past, but she allows herself to be manipulated which results in not only her life being put in danger, but the people she loves and cares about as well. There are plenty of warning signs that she ignores, which had me wanting to take her by the shoulders and yell ” What is wrong with you? Wake up! Run and don’t look back!” Overall though, Deceived is a wonderful page-turner and I recommend it to mystery, suspense and psychological thriller enthusiasts. Heena has another book in the works called Sinister Town which I’m eagerly awaiting, especially after reading her exciting debut.