5 ⭐️ easily. “When cruelty becomes familiar in your tender, adolescent years, of course you start to become comfortable with it. You believe you dese5 ⭐️ easily. “When cruelty becomes familiar in your tender, adolescent years, of course you start to become comfortable with it. You believe you deserve it. But you don’t.”
Jessica, Alicia, and Norah with an ‘h’, were three girls who deserved so much better, but also, were lucky enough to find each other ...more
4⭐️ people are capable of almost anything. What are you capable of, when pushed past your limit?
Whew…this stressed me. It wasn’t the most shocki4⭐️ people are capable of almost anything. What are you capable of, when pushed past your limit?
Whew…this stressed me. It wasn’t the most shocking twist ever. But the writing?? Solid 10/10.
Anne and Marco Conti, leave their 6 month old baby at home in her crib whilst next door at a dinner party with the neighbours. Baby Cora is missing from her crib when they get back at 1:30am. But Anne and Marco were checking on her every half hour?…the whole book is dedicated to finding out who would have been able to take Cora within just a few minutes, and why.
As with any mystery, all sorts of family secrets start to unravel whilst we investigate, and not even the heartbroken, scared parents are free from suspicion.
This is a definite rec from me. It’s ENTERTAINING. the detective angle, the angst, the family drama…*chefs kiss* and, the writing had me on the edge of my seat a lot of the time.
Also, there’s an initial twist revealed at the half way mark, so we’re not in the dark for too long on some aspects. That helps a lot with this type of story - stops it from feeling like it’s dragging when we get some insight as to what’s happened.
The reveal towards the end about who was behind it all was okayyyyyy. My mind was more blown by the story as a whole to be honest. I did love that last scene though ...more
4 ⭐️ And once the lie is told, it’s what most people believe to be true. The first lie has to be the strongest. The most important. The one that has 4 ⭐️ And once the lie is told, it’s what most people believe to be true. The first lie has to be the strongest. The most important. The one that has to be told.
This story is not what I thought it would be at all. It was way more spy(ish) thriller than I anticipated and it really worked.
RTC
———————————————————— she stole your identity. can you steal it back?…
4.4 ⭐️ Women, I thought, should be able to look however they wanted and still be considered worthy of love. That didn’t stop me from judging myself a4.4 ⭐️ Women, I thought, should be able to look however they wanted and still be considered worthy of love. That didn’t stop me from judging myself and my inability to conform.
How Tasha Coryell managed to write such a deeply complex, chaotic, unhinged, yet scarily relatable female character needs to be studied. Hannah Wilson, I loved and hated you equal amounts through this journey…please, see a therapist ...more
“She had found something immensely precious in their world, a diamond in the coals, a lotus in the mud. And she vowed to cherish it, cherish him,4.4⭐️
“She had found something immensely precious in their world, a diamond in the coals, a lotus in the mud. And she vowed to cherish it, cherish him, as he deserved. He needed time to open up, to trust her not to abandon him someday, and she would give that to him. He had earned that.”
EXCUSE ME? Why did my ‘quick pallet cleanser’ read make me SOB please??? ...more
I think the unsuspecting villain story can only have so much shock factor the third time it’s done?
Also this stor2.4⭐️ ….well…that was underwhelming?
I think the unsuspecting villain story can only have so much shock factor the third time it’s done?
Also this story just didn’t make sense when you consider the first two books. Like this was NOT the Millie and Enzo we know. They were whiny and annoying and very much just a mid couple ...more
5 ⭐️ “People don’t believe women who fight back. When a man lashes out, people say he’s lost control of his temper or made a terrible mistake. When a 5 ⭐️ “People don’t believe women who fight back. When a man lashes out, people say he’s lost control of his temper or made a terrible mistake. When a woman does it, she’s a psychopath.”
3.5⭐️ rounded up this was a hard one. In my opinion it was more a police/procedural drama about a lawyer with a missing sister. Very different from a 3.5⭐️ rounded up this was a hard one. In my opinion it was more a police/procedural drama about a lawyer with a missing sister. Very different from a bog standard “whodunnit” mystery with a range of possible suspects for us to sift through.
I still enjoyed this! And it was quite refreshing to read this type of story about the justice system from a black author with black characters who play police officers and prosecutors.
There’s a lot in this one - loss of a parent, loss of a sibling, alcohol dependency, racism, depression. It sounds terrible but I promise it all makes the story. It’s not trauma for the sake of it. These issues link into the plot and build our main character, Lainey Abbot.
Lainey, is a complicated character that equally frustrates us as much we empathise with her. Her alcohol dependency is written so realistically - that internal dialogue she has with herself to justify her drinking or to even just battle the craving is executed perfectly. And this is what I mean about it not being your typical mystery…as much as we want to find out what happened to her little sister Steph, we simply just want to root for Lainey and her love interest Russ ...more
Me *reads mystery* Also me *frustrated that story has secrets and is, in fact, a MYSTERY*
We start off with Becka Alright had a day to digest this one!
Me *reads mystery* Also me *frustrated that story has secrets and is, in fact, a MYSTERY*
We start off with Becka who wakes up in hospital with memory loss after nearly drowning. Becka is in and out of consciousness and does not remember anything about the accident or who she is. Only that there is a man who says he is her husband, Freddie.
Now Freddie, it’s clear from the beginning he’s a few sandwiches short of a picnic. It’s not much of a spoiler as we get to see quite early on that Freddie is not being 100% truthful and something is off. The mystery was WHY he was saying he was her husband and what led to her accident.
Throughout the story, Becka catches Freddie out on several lies and keeps trusting him?? Girl? There are several moments she could have learned the truth. At one point all she had to bloody do was open the door to the person knocking? Like Becka PLEASE.
Without spoiling the book, I will say we are introduced to more characters and their POVs to add more to the story. There’s Magdalena, who should have really just done some self reflection and maybe a bit of counselling instead of GETTING INVOLVED IN THIS MADNESS. and then there is Toby..a real life DUMBO who gave me the ick from the very first introduction. Silly man. This all could have also been avoided if he didn’t think with his little head.
No character in this book was redeemable and none were even likeable but I loved it ...more
3 ⭐️. I liked the premise - standard mystery murder in a hotel. And although some parts were predictable, I thought it was written well and a nice rea3 ⭐️. I liked the premise - standard mystery murder in a hotel. And although some parts were predictable, I thought it was written well and a nice read with good pacing.
Molly the maid, loves her job. She loves cleanliness, she loves the hotel and did I mention? She LOVES being a maid. Molly has always had the help of her Gran, who interpreted emotions and explained the world to her. Unfortunately, Gran passed away and Molly is left to navigate a world that she doesn’t quite understand. You can imagine the trouble she gets into when she’s the one to find the body of one of the regular hotel guests she cleans for…
For me, it’s lost stars only because I don’t know how I feel about they was the author writes about Molly. She is clearly on a spectrum and struggles with social cues and interaction. I just feel like she’s been made into a ‘cute awkward dumb’ girl rather than someone with a developmental disability being manipulated. And although I’m not part of the community, I can see why it would be offensive. A shame because Molly herself was funny and quite intelligent…it was more how people reacted to her and how she interacted. When she was by herself talking to the reader it was done well in my opinion.
I think there’s a particular nuance you’ve got to have when writing a neurodivergent character. You can make them funny and ‘quirky’ (I hate that word) but you cannot make them dumb. It’s all about balance, and I don’t know if the author got it right all the time. There were parts where I felt like we were supposed to laugh at Molly rather than with her.
Apart from the hiccup with Molly, you have your standard murder mystery characters: An annoying hotel manager, the mean and lazy maid, the obviously BAD boy who works at the bar etc. you can’t really go wrong with these type of characters. They’ve been tried and tested in the mystery genre and I’m not going to fault it hahaha.
What the hell??? I’m really not sure how to truly rate this or what to think of that ending. But I’m marking it high because of the writing style and What the hell??? I’m really not sure how to truly rate this or what to think of that ending. But I’m marking it high because of the writing style and unique story. It was smart, quick writing and I loved the pace - it wasn’t too repetitive and it was easy to read even though the story was quite dark and disturbing. The MC, Lowen, was so annoying though. And Verity’s manuscript chapters are super dark and I think readers should really prepare themselves to read from the point of view of a psychopath.
I will say that the ending annoyed me and I’m not sure I liked the ‘you’ll never really know’ factor....more
Surajat Debbie
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Books:
mystery-and-or-thriller
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