Another solid thriller that takes its time with some surprises in store as well. The story follows Chloe two decades after her father was found guilty of murdering six teenage girls. Chloe is an unreliable narrator with some unhealthy coping mechanisms, so when a fresh series of murders crops up, she understandably starts on a downward spiral.
This book is chock full of tension, and sells its red herrings hard, but ultimately I thought the ending was kind of a downer. Chloe makes some choices that are a little hard to stomach, and it makes me feel bad for one character in particular as it rips all of their lives apart.
The audiobook was well narrated and the writing style feels rich and full even if it does slow down after the halfway point. Overall a solid listen I’d recommend to fans of dark thrillers. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! A Flicker in the Dark launches on 11 Jan!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Elsa’s still looking over her shoulder after reading this one.
This was *such* a cute rom com! The Fastest Way to Fall is about Britta, a journalist that’s reviewing a fitness app, and her fitness coach, Wes, as they do everything they can to resist crossing professional lines and falling for each other.
There’s so much to love here. The MCs are super likeable and were totally brought to life in the audiobook. Britta is funny and lovable, Wes is sweet and sincere, their predicament is traditional romcom goodness, and I was cheering for them the whole time. Their relationship growth and chemistry felt super natural and even the side characters felt real. I also loved the body positivity in this book as well as the growth of the female coworker relationship. Honestly Britta’s fictional journey had me alternatively smiling and wanting to hit the gym. (Although, full disclosure, I am a gym rat, so I may be biased.) Also, speaking of disclosure, there is one steamy scene, and also trigger warnings stated in the beginning for eating disorders, addiction, and fat phobia.
This book was heartfelt, sweet, fun, and it just felt super real. Honestly, now that I’ve read it, I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of it before I picked up the audiobook from the library. Since it’s near the end of the year, I can say with confidence that this is my favorite romance of 2021 (and… I have read quite a few), and I *highly* recommend it for anyone looking for feel-good fun.
Now, someone make the movie please!!!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This one definitely left me with a big smile! Reading slump: Vanquished!
This book is Brutal. And it makes it a little tough to review.
Usually I shy away from super long books, but I was tired of having to pick out a new audiobook every few days, so I settled on the first thriller that caught my eye.
The story follows two sisters who, as children, survive a violent and horrific home invasion. In the first chapter we experience this visceral and gut-wrenching event right along with them, and it is HARD to read.
Then we fast forward three decades to where another violent school shooting shakes the survivors and the town they live in once again, unearthing unsolved mysteries from the past and present.
The Quinn family of lawyers is easy to root for, the banter between the sisters feels real, and the personalities of all the characters seem to pop off the page. Although this audiobook was 19 hours long, it felt like it passed quickly.
There are plenty of red herrings in this complicated mystery, and while some of the reveals were certainly unexpected there was at least one in there that didn’t feel quite right to me. But the real thing that I just couldn’t stomach was the brutality of the violence scenes. This book does not hold back, and it really comes off as disturbing. They actually tell the account of the original home invasion three times, and every time the details get worse.
Honestly, if I’d known there was… (*Spoilery Trigger Warning*)
…violent, onscreen child rape I would’ve passed this book by. (That’s what I get for picking it up books at random I guess.) But if extreme, realistic violence doesn’t bother you, you’ll probably enjoy this tense, complicated thriller. I really enjoyed the style of writing, and would probably pick up another book from this author (but you can bet I’ll check out the trigger warnings first!)
⭐⭐⭐¾
This is my disturbed face. I am disturbed. (You know, more than I was before reading, anyway.)
So my office is going through an unconscious bias training, and I remembered that Malcolm Gladwell wrote a relevant book, so I picked up the audiobook at the library.
Although I don’t read/listen to a ton of nonfiction, Malcolm Gladwell and Erik Larson are my two favorites. I love how they can make real world stuff both gripping, educational, and accessible. These are the kinds of book that can fuel intelligent conversation for weeks and… I also like that I can listen to them with my kids in the car. XD
Blink tackles of the somewhat sticky subject of unconscious bias. Through case studies, theories, and research, Gladwell illustrates the power… and dangers… of snap judgments.
I came, I listened, I learned a lot, and as with all Malcolm Gladwell audiobooks I’ve come across so far, I highly recommend.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Do I look smarter? I feel smarter. Maybe I should read more nonfiction after all. 😂
Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating is a dual-POV romcom-ish tale of a chaotic girl with a guarded heart and an ordered guy reeling from a crash and burn relationship. To encourage each other to get back out there, they start going on double-blind-dates with mostly disastrous results.
The plot is cute, the leads are lovable, their relationship grows naturally, and I would totally watch the movie. (Although, I did think the epilogue goes a little overboard on the happily ever after, and they do seem to take quite a lot of time to recognize their feelings.)
All that said, it was a light, quick read with a few steamy scenes, but I didn’t see a whole lot that really set this one apart. If you liked the Unhoneymooners, you’ll almost certainly find this enjoyable… just maybe not terribly memorable.
Okay… here we go. This review is chock full of spoilers, because there’s really no other way to talk (read: rant good-humoredly) about this book, but I’ve marked spoiler territory below.
The first thing I will say is that if the main characters were REALLY like those from Steel Magnolias or The Fried Green Tomatoes… this book would’ve ended a lot sooner. Also, I have not experienced this level of frustration in a book in a long time, but I did give myself a week or two to cool off. With that said, let’s rant!
So I picked up this audiobook from the library after my coworker recommended it. The Steel Magnolias meets Dracula piqued my interest, so I was definitely curious to dive in.
And it starts off so well. This book takes place in the late 80s/early 90s in South Carolina. Patricia is a housewife that meets with her other colorful housewife friends every week for their true crime book club. But…
*SPOILER AHEAD* . . .
…After Patricia’s earlobe is bitten off by her elderly neighbor, her MIL is eaten by rats, the earlobe eater’s nephew’s van is linked to missing kids, and then she SEES this vampire feeding on a girl (with weird sexual undertones, not to mention the “insectoid appendage” in his mouth) – Patricia is naturally, a bit concerned.
So she tries to rally her book club to get rid of the child-molesting vampire, but the husbands step in, trying to convince them their minds have been rattled by all their true crime books. The wives are like, well I guess we have to obey our chauvinistic, manipulative (and in one case, wife-beating) husbands because they’ve gone into business with the child-molester.
AND THEN WE FAST-FORWARD TO THREE YEARS LATER.
Like… what?!??!
Okay. I can understand that maybe happening in the 1950s, but in 1990?! Come on. And maybe like one or two awful husbands & submissive housewives I can see, but all of them!? After Patricia’s earlobe was bitten off, the MIL was eaten by rats, and Patricia SAW the INSECT APPENDAGE?! She’s still going to let him into her house with her CHILDREN?!?!?!
Um no. The Steel Magnolia ladies would’ve pulled their guns out from under their mattresses and killed that guy right there.
But anyways, I digress. I figured I would stick in there, because surely the husbands get their just deserts in the end…
Double spoiler alert. They don’t. . . . *END SPOILERS*
Which is all to say, the book was ridiculous horror fun up until the midpoint. Then it took a dive into some 1950 twilight zone of WTF that was SO incredibly frustrating, and it did not redeem itself. Honestly, I’m getting angry again just writing this review.
I need to tack on trigger warnings for gore and rape, but I’d still give it 2.5 stars for the premise, the flowing, descriptive style of prose, and a well-narrated audiobook. That said, I can’t say I would recommend to anyone, unless you want to go rant to your coworker… and your extended family over thanksgiving… and then the internet.
I have a coworker that shares my love of library audiobooks that recommended this one to me. And although this isn’t my usual pick, I decided to give it a go.
Where the Crawdads Sing follows Kya Clark, “the Marsh Girl,” as she grows up mostly on her own in the backwoods marshes of North Carolina. The story follows her from age 6 to her 20s while alternating with the investigation into the death of popular townie during Kya’s adulthood.
Strangely, I don’t have a whole lot to say about this book. It was beautifully written, but slow, and I didn’t really fall in love with Kya in any way (although this might partially be because I found the narrator’s voice/accent for her to be a bit grating.) While I was rooting for her, I found it difficult to connect with her, and although I found the mystery of the death investigation interesting, I found the ending (though heavily foreshadowed) to be rather unsatisfying, and I guess I thought the themes to be kind of predictable.
If there’s ever a movie adaptation, I’ll pass, but I’d recommend this book to those that are interesting in imagery-rich prose that takes its time.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Nearly guaranteed to make you want to go get lost in nature somewhere.
Fable was another solid read that I didn’t love. Fable is the story of a girl abandoned by her ship-captain father on a rough island where she desperately tries to scrape together enough coin to escape and confront her father.
I really loved the concept of this book along with the found-family themes on the rough and tumble high-seas and the subtle magic in an intriguing, unforgiving world. But I found myself really wishing for more connection between Fable and the other characters, particularly the love interest. Told from the first person, Fable seems to stay in her own head a lot, and although everyone in this world is supposed to be reserved and guarded, I really found myself wanting more inter-character interaction and connection.
I think part of the problem might be that this book does not stand alone in any way. I’d say it ends on a cliffhanger, but honestly it doesn’t really feel like an end. It feels like we got cut off in the middle of the book – so maybe the second book would bring that depth and satisfaction I was missing. The audiobook narrator wasn’t my favorite voice, but overall I enjoyed the listen, and would recommend to fans of seafaring YA.
If I see the sequel ever pop up in the library, I’d probably pick it up, but I don’t think I’ll be pining for it.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
I think Tula has begun to dread the possibility of a reading slump! Ever hopeful, we continue to search the horizon for new, amazing reads.
I picked up this audiobook from the library after a coworker recommended it, citing big “Stranger Things” vibes. I have to admit, I was a bit reluctant, because I’m not a huge fan of Stephen King’s recent books (they’re a bit long and slower-paced for my personal taste), and when I saw this sucker was 15 hours long, I almost aborted.
But with a lack of any other audiobook ideas, I persevered, and honestly I can say it was a solid listen. The plot follows a *gifted* boy who’s stolen away to a cruel institute full of other gifted children, and basically has to figure out where he is, what they’re doing, and how to escape.
The writing was flawless of course, but everything else felt pretty average to me. The characters are likeable, although I didn’t fall in love with any of them. It had some tense moments, but the pacing, as usual was on the slower side, and I think it could’ve easily been about two hours shorter.
Overall, while it is HEAVY on the Stranger Things vibes, I guess I felt like the concept was a little tired, and I didn’t find my surprised by… well… anything. The narrator did a fabulous job bringing the book to life though, and there were times when he had me rapt. By the end, while I can say I enjoyed it, I don’t think it’ll really be sticking with me in any way.
Recommended to Stephen King and Stranger Things fans looking for a solid listen.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
I asked my K-niece houseguest, Locke, for her thoughts… and I got this. Interpret as you will.
The Pursuit once again follows smooth ex-con Nick and intense FBI agent Kate on another one of their not-con (but very con-like) capers. Honestly, I think this one was a bit of a let down. Although of course there were more fun capers and banter, nothing really stood out with this one that was any different than the last four, and I was hoping for a little bit more of a satisfying conclusion for Lee Goldberg’s last entry in the series. While this has a been a short, light audiobook series, the formula does wear out after a while, and I don’t feel any need to continue the series. But now, I’ll have to spend some time exploring the library’s audiobook archives to find something new!
Hayley Reese Chow 