Haiku Reviews...

 

Love at First Book by Jenn McKinlay

Em's Irish adventure:

meet favorite author, fall for her 

grumpy bookseller son.

Contemporary romance .... 324 pages .... 4/5 stars.

(This one made me laugh and cry.)

Until The End of the World by Sarah Lyons Fleming

A deadly outbreak

forces Cass and her five friends

to fight for their lives.

Survival fiction .... 392 pages .... 4.5/5 stars.

(An apocalpyse, zombies, and a heroine who's a prepper--all things I love to read about.)

On Her Watch by Melinda Leigh

Three bodies and a

missing girl have Bree and Matt

hunting a killer.

Mystery .... 303 pages .... 5/5 stars.

(While the investigation is good, it's these characters I really love.)

Love in Disguise by Dana LeCheminant

She needs a fake fiancé. 

He wants a different life. Can

old friends find new love?

Romance .... 369 pages .... 4/5 stars.

(I loved Kit's and Skyler's second chance romance.)

Happy Reading!

The Locked Door by Freida McFadden

 

The plot:  She was eleven when her father, Aaron Nierling, was arrested. In their locked basement, police found bones from seventeen victims. Now, twenty-six years later, Dr. Nora Davis doesn't tell anyone her father is a serial killer. She never opens his letters. She's a surgeon who saves people! Then one of her patients is found murdered, her hands disturbingly cut off just like all of Aaron Nierling's victims. Is it a copycat killer playing a sick game on Nora? She doesn't know what to think. And the police seem to suspect her. Because after all, Nora is her father's daughter. 

My thoughts:  What a great cat-and-mouse mystery! McFadden creates a mounting sense of menace and dread as the first murder is followed by a second, the police start closing in, and Nora's own past begins to unfold. It kept me guessing until the end. I loved the suspense and the unexpected twists. It's one of those unputdownable books I read in a day. (Thank goodness it's summer and I have more time to read!) And a big Thank You to Nadia @ A Bookish Way of Life for recommending this author. I can't wait to check out her other books!

Happy Reading!

July's bookish art...

 

Georges D'espagnat -- In the Garden

"If you don't like to read, you haven't found the right book."

--J.K. Rowling.

Top Ten Tuesday...

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly meme hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's theme is supposed to be a list of ten things you love about a certain book. But that was too much like writing a review for me. So, I'm going rogue. 

Here are Ten Fvorite July Reads From the Last Ten Julys. Just because it's really fun to look back and see what I was reading through the last decade. 

Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan

The Silence by Sarah Rayne

Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant

Charming by Elliott James

The Widow's House by Carol Goodman

Whispers Beyond the Veil by Jessica Estevao

A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson

Vanishing Girls by Lisa Regan

Lost Among the Birds by Neil Hayward

The Virginian by Owen Wister

Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton

I'd forgotten that I'd even read some of these, but I loved them all. 

If you're looking for a good book, check any of these out.

Happy Reading!

Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven

 Storm strands amusement

park employees who form tribes

and go Lord of the Flies.

The framework of this novel is a journalist investigating the events that occurred at the Fantasticland amusement park in the aftermath of Hurricane Sadie when over 100 college-age employees were killed at the hands of others. It's told through a series of first-person interviews with the various survivors, from the older Mole Men hiding in the tunnels, to the Shop Girls and their deadly archers, and even the leader of the violent tribe of Pirates. Each eye-witness account offers a different perspective on what happened, and why things went so wrong so fast. The stories are haunting and horrifying. I thought it was an interesting way to tell a story, and one I ended up liking a lot. And I always love that amusement park setting. If you're in the mood for some suspenseful psychological horror that unfolds like a documentary, give this book a try. I gave it 4 stars. 

Happy Reading! 

Similar amusement park read:  

    Hide by Kiersten White

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall

 

From the blurb:  

"Naomi Shaw used to believe in magic. Twenty-two years ago, she and her two best friends, Cassidy and Olivia, spent the summer roaming the woods, imagining a world of ceremony and wonder. They called it the Goddess Game. The summer ended suddenly when Naomi was attacked. Miraculously, she survived her seventeen stab wounds and lived to identify the man who had hurt her. The girls’ testimony put away a serial killer, wanted for murdering six women. They were heroes. They were liars. 

"Now, decades later, Olivia wants to tell the whole story. Then she goes missing, and Naomi sets out to find out what really happened in the woods—no matter how dangerous the truth turns out to be."

What this book has:   Suspense. Mystery. Atmosphere. Flawed yet likable characters. Lyrical prose. Taut plotting. 

My thoughts:  Can you tell I really liked this one? It's a very fun summer read! I appreciated Naomi's sass and attitude, and her grim determination to figure out the truth despite her inner fears and struggles. She's not a perfect character, but I was rooting for her. And I thought the twists and revelations along the way were so well-timed. Some of the secrets I guessed, others were unexpected. But they were all good. 

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

Top Ten Tuesday...

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly meme hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's theme is a Throwback Freebie where you choose a past Top Ten Tuesday topic to do. And I thought I would do my own take on Opening Lines.  

So, here are my Top Ten Fun First Lines From Some Recent Reads:

"I was not born a monster."

(Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim)

"Addie Macrae's internal compass was irreparably damaged."

(Kilt Trip by Alexandra Kiley)

"What baffled them was the skeleton."

(This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer)

"Madi Morgan had never been good with decisions, especially when it came to life or death situations. And cake was definitely life or death."

(Love On Camera by Dana LeCheminant)

"Boo couldn't think of a worse way to die."

(One Last Shot by Susan May Warren)

"My face is melting."

(Wild About You by Kaitlyn Hill)

"Cousin Edna Fairchild had designed her life on the principle that far fields were greener."

(The Chocolate Cobweb by Charlotte Armstrong)

"If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I love a happy ending. That butterlies-in-your-stomach, rush-of-serotonin, breathless, euphoric, wrapped-up-in-a-bow happy ending."

(Only and Forever by Chloe Liese)

"Blood leaves no stain on a Warden's grey cloak."

(Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher)

"The fairy tales in Jen's imagination leaned toward the dark, Grimm variety, but in the real world, the worst monsters looked like everyone else."

(On Her Watch by Melinda Leigh)

Happy Reading!