Review: Where the Crawdads Sing

Author: Delia Owens

Started reading: September 22nd 2022

Finished the book: October 6th 2022

Pages: 384

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery

Published: August 14th 2018

Source: Bought the book

Goodreads score: 4.43

My score:

Synopsis

For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.

But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.

Review: House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2)

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Started reading: July 31st 2022

Finished the book: September 21st 2022

Pages: 805

Genres: Fantasy, Romance

Published: February 15th 2022

Source: Bought the book

Goodreads score: 4.52

My score:

Synopsis

Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar are trying to get back to normal―they may have saved Crescent City, but with so much upheaval in their lives lately, they mostly want a chance to relax. Slow down. Figure out what the future holds.

The Asteri have kept their word so far, leaving Bryce and Hunt alone. But with the rebels chipping away at the Asteri’s power, the threat the rulers pose is growing. As Bryce, Hunt, and their friends get pulled into the rebels’ plans, the choice becomes clear: stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight for what’s right. And they’ve never been very good at staying silent.

In this sexy, action-packed sequel to the #1 bestseller House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas weaves a captivating story of a world about to explode―and the people who will do anything to save it.

Review: The Apple Tart of Hope

Author: Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

Started reading: August 22nd 2022

Finished the book: August 23rd 2022

Pages: 201

Genres: YA, Fiction

Published: June 5th 2014

Source: Bought the book

Goodreads score: 3.88

My score:

Synopsis

Fourteen-year-old Oscar Dunleavy is missing, presumed dead. His bike was found at sea, out past the end of the pier, and everyone in town seems to have accepted this as a teenage tragedy. But Oscar's best friend Meg knows he isn't dead. Oscar is an optimistic and kind boy who bakes the world's best apple tarts; he would never kill himself, and Meg is going to prove it.

Through interwoven narratives, the reader learns what really happened to Oscar. His sweet life had turned sour after Meg's family moved away. Though Meg didn't know it, Oscar had a manipulative bully plaguing him with toxic humiliation. Meg must confront the painful truth of Oscar's past six months—and the possibility that he might really be gone. Surrounded by grief and confusion, she starts to put the pieces back together. With a poignant ending and memorable characters, this story of love and friendship reminds us to keep hope in our hearts.

Review: House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1)

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Started reading: July 19th 2022

Finished the book: July 26th 2022

Pages: 803

Genres: Fantasy, Romance

Published: March 3rd 2020

Source: Bought the book

Goodreads score: 4.48

My score:

Synopsis

Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life—working hard all day and partying all night—until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.

Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose—to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.

As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion—one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.

Review: Fallen (Will Trent #5)

Author: Karin Slaughter

Started reading: June 27th 2022

Finished the book: June 30th 2022

Pages: 432

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Crime

Published: October 16th 2012

Source: Bought the book

Goodreads score: 4.21

My score:

Synopsis

There's no police training stronger than a cop's instinct. Faith Mitchell's mother isn't answering her phone. Her front door is open. There's a bloodstain above the knob. Her infant daughter is hidden in a shed behind the house. All that the Georgia Bureau of Investigations taught Faith Mitchell goes out the window when she charges into her mother's house, gun drawn. She sees a man dead in the laundry room. She sees a hostage situation in the bedroom. What she doesn't see is her mother. . . .

""You know what we're here for. Hand it over, and we'll let her go.""

When the hostage situation turns deadly, Faith is left with too many questions, not enough answers. To find her mother, she'll need the help of her partner, Will Trent, and they'll both need the help of trauma doctor Sara Linton. But Faith isn't just a cop anymore--she's a witness. She's also a suspect.

Two WWII Reviews: Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation & The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

 

I'm waaay behind on reviews, so I decided to review these two WWII books together and put my reviews for them in one post.

Both books that definitely distressing. 

Let's dive right in!

Review: Typecast

Author: Andrea J. Stein

Started reading: June 18th 2022

Finished the book: June 21st 2022

Pages: 400

Genres: Women's Fiction

To be Published: September 13th 2022

Source: Netgalley

Goodreads score: 3.90

My score:

Synopsis

At thirty-one, Callie Dressler is finally comfortable in her own skin. She loves her job as a preschool teacher, and although living in her vacant childhood home isn’t necessarily what dreams are made of, the space is something she never could have afforded if she’d stayed in New York City. She knows her well-ordered life will be upended when her type A, pregnant sister, Nina; adorable four-year-old niece; and workaholic brother-in-law move in, but how could she say no when they needed a place to crash during their remodel? As Nina pointed out, it's still their parents’ house, even if their mom and dad have relocated.

As if adjusting to this new living situation isn’t enough, the universe sends Callie another wrinkle: her college boyfriend—who Callie dumped ten years earlier for reasons known only to her—has a film coming out, and the screenplay is based on their real-life breakup. While the movie consumes her thoughts, Callie can’t help wondering if Nina and her friends are right that she hasn’t moved on. When a complication with Nina’s pregnancy brings Callie in close contact with Nina’s smart and funny architect, Callie realizes she'd better figure out whether she wants to open the door to the past—or risk missing out on her future.

Review: Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass #7)

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Started reading: June 5th 2022

Finished the book: June 14th 2022

Pages: 992

Genres: Fantasy

Published: October 8th 2019

Source: Bought the book

Goodreads score: 4.61

My score:

Synopsis

Aelin has risked everything to save her people-but at a tremendous cost. Locked within an iron coffin by the Queen of the Fae, Aelin must draw upon her fiery will as she endures months of torture. Aware that yielding to Maeve will doom those she loves keeps her from breaking, though her resolve begins to unravel with each passing day…
With Aelin captured, Aedion and Lysandra remain the last line of defense to protect Terrasen from utter destruction. Yet they soon realize that the many allies they've gathered to battle Erawan's hordes might not be enough to save them. Scattered across the continent and racing against time, Chaol, Manon, and Dorian are forced to forge their own paths to meet their fates. Hanging in the balance is any hope of salvation-and a better world.
And across the sea, his companions unwavering beside him, Rowan hunts to find his captured wife and queen-before she is lost to him forever.

Review: Our Trespasses

Author: Michael Cordell

Started reading: May 25th 2022

Finished the book: May 28th 2022

Pages: 247

Genres: Paranormal, Horror

Published: October 15th 2021

Source: TCK Publishing

Goodreads score: 3.95

My score:

Synopsis

Drowning in a meaningless existence flipping burgers, Matthew Davis suddenly collapses from a powerful psychic connection he shares with his twin brother, Jake. The pain is violent and immediate, and Matt knows exactly what it means… hundreds of miles away, Jake has been viciously killed. But instead of severing their connection, the murder intensifies it and Matt begins to suffer the agony of Jake’s afterlife.
Hell bent on solving Jake’s murder in order to break the connection, Matt travels to his troubled hometown of Hatchett, Nebraska, where an old lover and savage new enemies expose the festering wounds that Jake left behind.

Matt tries atoning for Jake’s sins, but when a demon infests the connection between the two brothers, Matt must find a way to sever their bond before his world, and ours, become engulfed in the flames of hell.

Review: Guiltless (Sandhamn Murders #3)

Author: Viveca Sten

Started reading: May 23rd 2022

Finished the book: May 24th 2022

Pages: 370

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Mystery

Published: May 23rd 2017

Source: eBook

Goodreads score: 4.10

My score:

Synopsis

The tiny Swedish island of Sandhamn has always been a haven for lawyer Nora Linde. With trouble brewing in her marriage, she finds its comforts more welcome than ever, even in the depths of winter. That is, until her two young sons trip across a severed arm in the woods.

The boys’ gruesome discovery will once again connect Nora with her childhood friend Thomas Andreasson, now a local police detective. When the limb is identified as belonging to a twenty-year-old woman who disappeared without a trace months earlier, what had been a missing persons case takes on a whole new urgency.

Nora and Thomas delve deeply into the woman’s final hours, each of them wrestling not only with the case but with the private demons it awakens in them. As they do, they’ll find themselves drawn into the history of Sandhamn and the tensions that have been simmering just below the surface for more than a hundred years.

Review: A ​Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses #4)

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Started reading: May 14th 2022

Finished the book: May 21st 2022

Pages: 757

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, New Adult

Published: February 16th 2021

Source: Bought the book

Goodreads score: 4.40

My score:

Synopsis

Nesta Archeron has always been prickly-proud, swift to anger, and slow to forgive. And ever since being forced into the Cauldron and becoming High Fae against her will, she's struggled to find a place for herself within the strange, deadly world she inhabits. Worse, she can't seem to move past the horrors of the war with Hybern and all she lost in it.
The one person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred warrior whose position in Rhysand and Feyre's Night Court keeps him constantly in Nesta's orbit. But her temper isn't the only thing Cassian ignites. The fire between them is undeniable, and only burns hotter as they are forced into close quarters with each other.
Meanwhile, the treacherous human queens who returned to the Continent during the last war have forged a dangerous new alliance, threatening the fragile peace that has settled over the realms. And the key to halting them might very well rely on Cassian and Nesta facing their haunting pasts.

Review: The Ghostwriter

Author: Alessandra Torre

Started reading: May 12th 2022

Finished the book: May 14th 2022

Pages: 321

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

Published: October 2nd 2017

Source: Digital copy from the author

Goodreads score: 4.24

My score:

Synopsis

I have three months to write the last book of my life. Three months to confess the details of that day, and how it changed everything for me.

My name is Helena Ross. I've written 15 romance novels, 10 of which have become international best sellers. But this one isn't a romance, no happily ever after in place. This novel holds only the truth, which I have run away from for four years. The truth, which I have hidden from the police, from my loved ones, from the world. Four years ago, I lied. I stood in front of the police, my friends and family, and made up a story, my best one yet. And all of them believed me. I wasn't surprised. Telling stories is what made me famous. Millions of fans. Fame and fortune. Now, I have one last story to write. It'll be my best one yet, with a jaw-dropping twist that will leave them stunned and gasping for breath. They say that sticks and stones will break your bones, but this story? It will be the one that kills me.

Review: Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass #6)

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Started reading: March 31st 2022

Finished the book: April 16th 2022

Pages: 660

Genres: Fantasy

Published: September 5th 2017

Source: Bought the book

Goodreads score: 4.29

My score:

Synopsis

Chaol Westfall has always defined himself by his unwavering loyalty, his strength, and his position as the Captain of the Guard. But all of that has changed since the glass castle shattered, since his men were slaughtered, since the King of Adarlan spared him from a killing blow, but left his body broken.
His only shot at recovery lies with the legendary healers of the Torre Cesme in Antica-the stronghold of the southern continent's mighty empire. And with war looming over Dorian and Aelin back home, their survival might lie with Chaol and Nesryn convincing its rulers to ally with them.

But what they discover in Antica will change them both-and be more vital to saving Erilea than they could have imagined.

Review: Malibu Rising

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Started reading: March 27th 2022

Finished the book: April 11th 2022

Pages: 365

Genres: Historical Fiction, Contemporary

Published: June 1st 2021

Source: Ebook

Goodreads score: 4.09

My score:

Synopsis

Malibu: August, 1983. It's the day of Nina Riva's annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together, the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over-especially as the offspring of the legendary singer, Mick Riva.

By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames.

But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family's generations will all come bubbling to the surface.

Review: Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga #4)

Author: Pierce Brown

Started reading: January 17th 2022

Finished the book: March 27th 2022

Pages: 601

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy

Published: January 16th 2018

Source: Bought the book

Goodreads score: 4.22

My score:

Synopsis

A decade ago, Darrow was the hero of the revolution he believed would break the chains of the Society. But the Rising has shattered everything: Instead of peace and freedom, it has brought endless war. Now he must risk everything he has fought for on one last desperate mission. Darrow still believes he can save everyone, but can he save himself?

And throughout the worlds, other destinies entwine with Darrow’s to change his fate forever:
A young Red girl flees tragedy in her refugee camp and achieves for herself a new life she could never have imagined.
An ex-soldier broken by grief is forced to steal the most valuable thing in the galaxy—or pay with his life.
And Lysander au Lune, the heir in exile to the sovereign, wanders the stars with his mentor, Cassius, haunted by the loss of the world that Darrow transformed, and dreaming of what will rise from its ashes.

Review: Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass #5)

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Started reading: September 12th 2021

Finished the book: November 16th 2021

Pages: 689

Genres: Fantasy

Published: September 6th 2016

Source: Bought the book

Goodreads score: 4.52

My score:

Synopsis

Kingdoms will collide.

The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius as war looms on the horizon. Loyalties have been broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who possess magic find themselves at odds with those who don't.
With her heart sworn to the warrior-prince by her side, and her fealty pledged to the people she is determined to save, Aelin will delve into the depths of her power to protect those she loves. But as monsters emerge from the horrors of the past, and dark forces become poised to claim her world, the only chance for salvation will lie in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.

In this breathtaking fifth installment of the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series, Aelin will have to choose what—and who—to sacrifice if she's to keep the world of Erilea from breaking apart.

Review: Billy Summers

Author: Stephen King

Started reading: September 29th 2021

Finished the book: November 10th 2021

Pages: 515

Genres: Thriller, Crime

Published: August 3rd 2021

Source: Storytel

Goodreads score: 4.30

My score:

Synopsis

Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He’s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he’ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong?

How about everything.

Review: The Anatomy of Desire

Author: L.R. Dorn

Started reading: August 27th 2021

Finished the book: September 16th 2021

Pages: 320 / 08:14:14

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction

Published: May 11th 2021

Source: Storytel

Goodreads score: 3.63

My score:

Synopsis

Claire Griffith seems to have it all, a thriving career, a gorgeous, successful boyfriend, a glamorous circle of friends. She always knew she was destined for more than the life her deeply conservative parents preached to her. Arriving in Los Angeles as a flat broke teenager, she has risen to become a popular fitness coach and social media influencer. Having rebranded herself as Cleo Ray, she stands on the threshold of achieving her most cherished dreams.

One summer day, Cleo and a young woman named Beck Alden set off in a canoe on a quiet, picture-perfect mountain lake. An hour later, Beck is found dead in the water, her face cut and bruised, and Cleo is missing. Authorities suspect foul play and news about Cleo’s involvement goes viral. Who was Beck and what was the nature of her and Cleo’s relationship? Was Beck an infatuated follower who took things too far? If Cleo is innocent, why did she run? Was it an accident? Or was it murder?

As evidence of Cleo’s secret life surfaces, the world begins to see just how hard she strived to get to the top— and how fast and far the fall is from celebrity to infamy.

Review: Project Hail Mary

Author: Andy Weir

Started reading: August 11th 2021

Finished the book: September 6th 2021

Pages: 481

Genres: Science Fiction, Space

Published: May 4th 2021

Source: E-book

Goodreads score: 4.55

My score:

Synopsis

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crew mates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

Review: The Paladin (Saga of the Chosen #4)

Author: Petra Landon

Started reading: July 24th 2021

Finished the book: July 29th 2021

Pages: 452

Genres: Fantasy, Magic

Published: June 28th 2021

Source: Digital copy from the author

Goodreads score: 4.60

My score:

Synopsis

The explosive epiphany of their unique connection triggers the bondmates in different ways and simmering animosity drives a wedge between them. While their adversary and her shadowy sponsor get bolder, Tasia faces a tough decision.
The Alpha dredges up Vampire secrets to sow the seeds of dissension among the Clan, while Lady Bethesda struggles to right her ship. Sienna comes out, Temi makes a friend, the Blood Mages pick a side and ElMorad goes on a rampage. As more of the Oracle’s clues come to light, the investigation must make audacious moves and riskier bets, even work with the Guardians and other capricious partners, to checkmate their adversary. When a twist of fate forces Tasia to confront her worst nightmare, she has nothing to fall back on. As a multitude of threats converge on her, can Raoul shake off the chains of the past to help Tasia outrun her destiny?