A Court of Thorns and Roses

By Sarah J Maas

The Blurb –

‘When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.

At least, he’s not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin and his world forever.”

The Review –

I had to read this book twice in order to understand everything that happened. I must have read it the first time too fast because when I listened to the audiobook for the second round, I didn’t remember a thing. 😵‍💫 This was a beautiful start to a 5 book series, it really laid out both characters lives and how they eventually intertwined together. I didn’t quite understand at first why someone would be so generous to another person after they had killed one of their friends, but the twist at the end brought that all together. I really liked the trials Fryre had to go through, they really tested her mind and body. The only thing I didn’t like was the over use of “undergarments” lol. Very little spice in this book, hoping for a little bit more in the next couple since they have established a relationship already. I already ready to read(listen) the next book in the series!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5!

Behind the Red Door

By Megan Collins

The Blurb –

“When Fern Douglas sees the news about Astrid Sullivan, a thirty-four-year-old missing woman from Maine, she is positive that she knows her. Fern’s husband is sure it’s because of Astrid’s famous kidnapping—and equally famous return—twenty years ago, but Fern has no memory of that, even though it happened an hour outside her New Hampshire hometown. And when Astrid appears in Fern’s recurring nightmare, one in which a girl reaches out to her, pleading, Fern fears that it’s not a dream at all, but a memory.

Back at her childhood home to help her father pack for a move, Fern purchases a copy of Astrid’s recently published memoir—which may have provoked her original kidnapper to abduct her again—and as she reads through its chapters and visits the people and places within it, she discovers more evidence that she has an unsettling connection to the missing woman. With the help of her psychologist father, Fern digs deeper, hoping to find evidence that her connection to Astrid can help the police locate her. But when Fern discovers more about her own past than she ever bargained for, the disturbing truth will change both of their lives forever.”

The Review –

This was another book I couldn’t put down! I should probably start reading the synopsis of books instead of just getting them base on the covers. This was very well written of a first person point of view of returning home to think that you are just helping out your parents in a tough situation. Then it turns into your worst nightmare of your childhood that you have repressed. I liked that there weren’t many characters to have to follow along with and also the timeline of events was pretty cut and dry if we were in the past or in the present. I did guess correctly about who the kidnapper was and the reasoning behind it, however I did not guess who “kidnapped” Astrid for the second time. Looking forward to reading another book by this author soon.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5!

She’s Not Sorry

By Mary Kubica

The Blurb –

A terrible accident.

Meghan Michaels is trying to find balance between being a single mom and working full time as an ICU nurse, when a patient named Caitlin arrives in her ward with a traumatic brain injury. They say she jumped from a bridge and plunged over twenty feet to the train tracks below.

A shocking revelation.

When a witness comes forward with new details about Caitlin’s fall, it calls everything they know into question. Was a crime committed? Did someone actually push Caitlin, and if so, who… and why?

No one is safe.

Meghan lets herself get close to Caitlin until she’s deeply entangled in the mystery surrounding her. Only when it’s too late, does she realize that she and her daughter could be the next victims…

The Review –

I was recommended this book by a coworker who has very good taste in reading material. Of course she was spot on again, I could not put this down since I started it. I am a huge fan of mystery and knowing that I am missing something on purpose from the author because they will use that at the end to make “the turn of events” happen. This is also special to me since I did go through nursing school before I got into law enforcement so this incorporates both parts of my life with past and present. There are a lot of twists and turn throughout the whole book with the attempted murder, the fraud, kidnapping, and actual murder. I thought I had the suspect figured out and of course I was wrong! This is a great quick read especially if you like a good whodunit!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 !

The Club

By Ellery Lloyd

The Blurb –

Everyone’s Dying to Join . . .

The Home Group is a glamorous collection of celebrity members’ clubs dotted across the globe, where the rich and famous can party hard and then crash out in its five-star suites, far from the prying eyes of fans and the media.

The most spectacular of all is Island Home—a closely-guarded, ultraluxurious resort, just off the English coast—and its three-day launch party is easily the most coveted A-list invite of the decade.

But behind the scenes, tensions are at breaking point: the ambitious and expensive project has pushed the Home Group’s CEO and his long-suffering team to their absolute limits. All of them have something to hide—and that’s before the beautiful people with their own ugly secrets even set foot on the island. 

As tempers fray and behavior worsens, as things get more sinister by the hour and the body count piles up, some of Island Home’s members will begin to wish they’d never made the guest list.

Because at this club, if your name’s on the list, you’re not getting out.

The Quotes –

That if you really wanted to do it, it was never too late to change your life. To follow your dreams. To be a better person. To start treating the people around you the way they deserved to be treated.

The Review –

I had high hopes for this book since it was a Reese’s Book Club pick for 2022. I read this in just under 24 hours in quite a few sittings. There were many times that I wasn’t quite sure if we were in the past or present settings and also way too many characters to follow along with. It did help that each section noted which point of view was speaking, however it was still hard to figure out how everyone tied together in some parts. I did like the premise of the book with celebrities and the rich and famous being murdered for doing terrible things, it shows that they are not untouchable. It was just too hard to figure out who was alive or dead, or who was supposed to be dead and then came back alive.

This is not a “Club” I want to be invited to.

⭐️⭐️

Black Widows

By Cate Quinn

The Blurb –

“Polygamist Blake Nelson built a homestead on a hidden stretch of land—a raw paradise in the wilds of Utah—where he lived with his three wives:

Rachel, the first wife, obedient and doting to a fault, with a past she’d prefer to keep quiet.
Tina, the rebel wife, everything Rachel isn’t, straight from rehab and the Vegas strip.
And Emily, the young wife, naïve and scared, estranged from her Catholic family.

The only thing that they had in common was Blake. Until all three are accused of his murder.

When Blake is found dead under the desert sun, all three wives become suspect—not only to the police, but to each other. As the investigation draws them closer, each wife must decide who can be trusted. With stories surfacing of a notorious cult tucked away in the hills, whispers flying about a fourth wife, and evidence that can’t quite explain what had been keeping Blake busy, the three widows face a reckoning that might shatter all they know to be true.

For fans of The Wife Between Us and The Dry comes a chilling murder mystery that takes a domestic thriller’s classic question—”Did his wife kill him?”—and twists it into an completely new type of suspense.”

The Quotes –

“It would almost seem as though your husband went out shopping for wives. A maid in the parlor, a cook in the kitchen, a whore in the bedroom.”

The Review –

I’m going to be honest and I did not know anything about this book before I started reading it. I was shook for the second chapter when it explained it was about a polygamous family and the husband had been murdered. It brought me back to when I first started watching “Sister Wives” a couple years back when all 3 wives were living in one household together raising their families. The 3 wives in this book are complete opposite personalities. You have Rachel who is the “legal wife” who seemingly is supposed to run the household. You have Emily who is very sheltered and unaware of normal society things. And then you have Tina who is the wild child that was supposed to be tamed by her new living situation. It’s nice to see the author bring these 3 women together to try to figure out who murdered their husband, rather than have them pitted against each other. However this quickly takes a turn and they are forced to rescue themselves at the end. This book goes to show how deep is a Mother’s love and how far she will go to protect their children. After reading this I will never be able to look at a shoe box the same way again 😣.

Trigger warning for infant death/miscarriage.

Very good book overall with good character interactions, easy to follow along the chain of events and which chapter reflects which wife.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️