Posted on by hrchow12

Audiobook Review – Two Can Keep a Secret

Two Can Keep a Secret follows Ellery and her twin brother as they move in with their grandma in the small town their mother grew up in. Death threats start popping up at their school, which has Ellery, a true crime addict, digging into past murders in the town and trying to fit the pieces together.

This is really just a solid YA mystery. Not as clever or as neat as “One of Us is Lying” perhaps, but still filled with plenty of false leads and lots of intertwining threads. I did not guess who the murderer was, but they were in my top two, so I wasn’t completely surprised. Ellery and Malcolm are both likeable, and I enjoyed their little side romance. The writing is snappy, and the ending is satisfying. I would totally recommend to all looking for a clean YA mystery, and I will definitely be reading more from McManus in the future.

My only minor issue is that I listened to the audiobook (courtesy of the library), and I found the male narrator for Malcolm to be slightly annoying/grating. It’s probably just a personal preference though!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Who doesn’t love a fun YA with murder?

Thanks for reading!

Posted on by hrchow12

Audiobook Review – Mr. Rook

So, this was an interesting book. I was totally intrigued by the premise. MC goes to secret fantasy island to search for her missing sister and is drawn in by the handsome and off-limits owner of the island. Throw in a little paranormal mystery, and get me some popcorn, because I was Ready for this one.

While I thought the audiobook narration was very good, and the plot definitely kept me guessing right up the end, I have to say, I was a little thrown off by the main characters. Overall, even though I got that they are super lusty and attracted to one another, I didn’t really feel a connection between them otherwise. The MC oscillates between “I must find my sister but Rook is so hot but he’s such an asshole” pretty repetitively, and I feel like I didn’t really see a whole lot of growth in their relationship throughout. I was totally ready for an enemies to lovers plot, or even just enemies with a connection and benefits kind of thing… but really they just seemed kind of angry with each other most of the time, and I found myself not really enjoying their interactions. Maybe there’s more character growth in the sequels, or it could just be a personal preference, but I didn’t particularly like either of the MCs.

However, the plot still definitely kept my attention and the writing was smooth. There were a lot of questions being raised and answered that I did not see coming, and I thought the paranormal tension was a refreshing addition that I wasn’t really expecting. This is a short snappy book, and I would recommend this to readers looking for a “enemies with sexual tension with a side of paranormal. Also, just a head’s up, there’s a lot of language, so if angry F-bombs make you cringe, this one’s not for you. (3.5/5 stars)

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½

Thumb’s side for this one.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this free ARC in exchange for an honest review! And thanks so much for reading!

Posted on by hrchow12

Audiobook Review – Out, Mouse!

Out, Mouse! by Valerie L. Edgar is a super cute story of a man writing letters to the mice in his cottage with suggestions of other places they might live. I listened to this audiobook with my five-year-old and really enjoyed this light, humorous story. I really liked the narrator’s dialogue delivery, although the prose seemed a touch choppy. At 32 minutes long, it was about the right length for my five-year-old’s attention span and he seemed to easily follow the plot, laughing as the mice kept rejecting Finn’s suggestions. It definitely made me smile as well!

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

My five-year-old’s review is as follows: I enjoyed it some (as averse to: I didn’t like it or I enjoyed it a whole lot), it was funny, almost like a movie. I asked him if there was anything he didn’t like, and he said no. I would totally recommend this to any kids from the ages of 4-7. Thanks so much to IBPA and NetGalley for for the free ARC listen!

Slightly smiling face
Five-year-old rating

Thanks for reading!

Posted on by hrchow12

Audiobook Reviews – Five Feet Apart, The Heist, Squeeze Me, and On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.

I was roadtripping for work last week so I downloaded a few audiobooks from the library to enjoy on the way… and I really struggled with finding something that hit the spot.

I started with On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, a poetic novel which reads like the autobiography of Vietnamese child immigrant and his experiences in US as an immigrant, as well as the far-reaching impacts of his mother and grandmother’s war-battered history. I got to the 50% mark when I had to put this one down. While beautifully told, I was just not in the mood or this kind of wandering, raw literary fiction. But for the right reader, I feel this might hit strong. (No rating.)

Then I moved to Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen, a lighter novel told in a humorous third person omniscient. The story starts off when a wealthy heiress goes missing at a swanky party, and you get the viewpoints from a host of characters either trying to figure out what’s going on or cover it. It was after listening to the first hour of this novel that I realized that third person omniscient definitely isn’t my favorite. Although Angie Armstrong, the wildlife removing excon, is an interesting character, I didn’t really feel particularly attached to her or any of the other characters with the detached POV. Also, since we found out what happened to the heiress in the first hour, the story really just wasn’t holding my attention. However, if you’re into humorous third-person POV, you might enjoy this one. (No rating.)

Then I moved onto Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott. A YA Romance! Surely this one will be right up my alley! The premise is essentially about two teens with Cystic Fibrosis that fall in love, but because of their condition, aren’t allowed within 6 feet of one another.

And it started off really cute! The MC is likeable, and of course she and the love interest get off on the wrong foot. They start to fall for each other… but honestly by about midway, the story started to fall flat for me. The back stories veered into melodramatic territory with bad, short-sighted decisions and even their relationship felt more jerky than smooth.

I googled the book, and it sounds like this book was based on the screenplay… which actually makes a lot of sense. The dialogue is snappy and it’s actually a pretty short book, but I felt like the characters and plot weren’t really as full as they usually are in a novel. I feel like teen readers may enjoy it, and seeing the CF representation was really cool, but as a whole I’d label it as a meh read. I’m not even sure I would watch the movie.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

And then, lastly, feeling somewhat put out about all my audiobook bad luck, I started The Heist by Lee Goldberg. And the first thing I notice, of course, is that it’s in third person omniscient, which as I had just realized many hours earlier, is not my favorite. 🤦

If almost abandoned this book at the 10% mark, but since I didn’t have another audiobook downloaded, I decided to press on.

And I’m super glad I did! I absolutely loved the characters (specifically Kate, Nick, and Kate’s dad), the banter was just perfection, and the heists antics were definitely clever. I actually even recommended this to my husband since he’s a fan of heists (which I almost never do.) My only complaint is that I wanted more Nick and Kate flirting/interaction… and with seven books in this series, I’m not exactly expecting significant relationship growth in Book Two.

That said, while I’m not entirely sure I’ll be picking up the sequels, this book was a fun ride, and I would LOVE to see a movie. Like seriously, GIMME GIMME GIMME. (4.5/5)

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½

Thanks for reading! I’m really hoping I have better audiobook luck on my next work roadtrip in July, and now that I have NetGalley, I’ll be requesting audiobooks through there too. Fingers crossed for some good ones!