#egalley review

[scifrey]

Okay, so remember how I've been Ded Of Editing this last year and just absolutely consumed by bookish stuff?

The bookish stuff is now out in the world.

TIME AND TIDE

Releases November 2024.

Exciting news: the eGalley is up on NetGalley and Edelweiss! This means, with the promise of an honest review, you could potentially read the book right now. However, if you're not interested in an ARC, you can preorder your Copy Here.

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Historical fiction with a touch of time travel, for fans of Diana Gabaldon, Alexis Hall, and Olivia Waite’s Feminine Pursuits series, where a modern bisexual woman is thrown into Regency England and must figure out how to survive, while she falls in love with a woman who will become a famous author.

Just a twenty-first century gal with nineteenth-century problems…

When Sam’s plane crashes catastrophically over the Atlantic, it defies all odds for Sam to be the sole survivor. But it seems impossible that she’s rescued by a warship in 1805. With a dashing sea captain as her guide, she begins to find her footing in a world she’d only seen in movies.

Then Sam is betrayed. At the mercy of the men and morals of the time, and without the means to survive on her own, she’s left with no choice but to throw herself on the charity of the captain's sisters. She resigns herself to a quiet life of forever hiding her true self. What she doesn't expect is that her new landlady is Margaret Goodenough—the world-famous author whose yet-to-be-completed novel will contain the first lesbian kiss in the history of British Literature, and a clever woman. Clever enough to know her new companion has a secret.

As the two women grow ever closer, Sam must tread the tenuous line between finding her own happiness in a place where she doesn’t think she’ll ever fit in, and possibly (accidentally) changing the course of history.

[ilikereadingactually]

if anybody's been wondering why the reviews have slowed down a bit here, it's because i've been working on this blanket as a new baby gift for a friend for what feels like ages, and it's finally done!!!! (it's this Sophie's Winter Dream pattern, but 3x3 instead of 3x4)

anybody else working on or taking a break from big craft projects? i love crocheting but this was a CHALLENGE

digging back into my tbr and egalleys at last, so i'll be back with some reviews soon!

[kmbezner]

Aaaaaand it's time for my top ten favorite reads of the year! In no particular order:

Notes from the Burning Age by Claire North

I'll start with the first book I read this year, cause WOW what a book to start with. I started reading this as an egalley at the end of 2021, but didn’t finish it before it expired 😭 It’s a truly amazing cocktail of one part dystopian climate fiction, one part political thriller, one part fantastical mythology, garnished with a bit of philosophy. North seamlessly weaves these elements in a way that makes you want to write like that.

Full Review | Local Library | Bookshop | Indiebound | Libro

The Carrying by Ada Limón

The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

I read both of these books during a kind of nonfiction blitz challenge that started when my supervisor in the reference department asked for staff picks for a display and I realized I hadn't read any nonfiction in an embarrassingly long time. Both of these ended up on the staff pick display, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about them since.

The Carrying is a beautiful collection of poetry I had read single poems from before, but the entire collection comes together to paint a picture of loss and love traced across generations.

Short Review | Local Library | Bookshop | Indiebound | Libro

I listened to The Undocumented Americans, which I highly recommend as Villavicencio reads it herself and does a wonderful job. It's in part a collection of interviews that turns to reflect Villacencio's own life and the connections she makes with those she meets.

Bookshop | Local Library | Indiebound | Libro

On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden

The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

These were both book club reads, one for my local library's graphic novel book club and the other for QUEST RI. The funny thing is that I ended up not being able to attend the actual meeting for either of them, but damn they were good.

I've been a fan of Tillie Walden for a while now, and am kicking myself for not reading this one sooner. They are SO skilled at that kind of faded nostalgia, that bittersweet, melancholic sadness through gorgeous artwork and sparse, emotional storytelling. Also, gays in space.

Local Library | Bookshop | Indiebound

The Honeys is a perfectly tense and taut YA thriller that is so hard to put down. It's got a dark academia vibe despite being set at a summer camp, with plenty of surreal summer feels and guillotine-the-rich vibes.

Local Library | Bookshop | Indiebound | Libro

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell

This book has been on my TBR for a while now, and when the college library I work at started looking for recommendations for next year’s college-wide read on the theme of social media, I figured it was finally time to jump on it. It was much more than I expected, mainly because I was expecting a kind of self-help book plus. But this book isn’t just about putting down your phone every once in a while, it’s an exploration of a cultural shift that’s centuries in the making. Odell discusses art, music, philosophy, psychology, politics, and of course big tech as she traces how our attention has become a commodity to be monetized.

Local Library | Bookshop | Indiebound | Libro

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

These books are doing the job of carrying their whole series onto this list. No, it's not cheating, it's my list and my rules :)

I actually read His Majesty's Dragon years ago, and despite tearing through it didn't get around to reading the other books. During a months-long reading slump earlier this year I decided to dredge myself out of it by rereading a book I knew I liked, and letting the series carry me from there. And boy howdy it worked! I was hoping to finish the series this year, but due to life things and library holds that won't come in for a couple more weeks that plan has been thwarted :/

Short Review | Local Library | Indiebound | Libro

I was looking for a quick read when I started the Singing Hills Cycle, and was just astonished at how much lore Vo packs into these novellas. There is so much information about this world in such short and deeply satisfying books, each one a snapshot into a different aspect of the world, shared in ways that both celebrate and challenge the nature of storytelling, history, and memory.

Full Review | Local Library | Bookshop | Indiebound | Libro

Frizzy by Claribel A. Ortega & Rose Bousamra

Received as an ARC from BookishFirst, this was not only one of my favorite books of the year, but is showing up on best of lists all over the place. And rightfully so—this middle grade graphic novel is about so much more than hair, as important as that is. I can’t stress enough that everyone should read this book.

Full Review | Local Library | Bookshop | Indiebound

Mage and the Endless Unknown by SJ Miller

No cover for this one, because it hasn’t been revealed yet! I read this comic as an egalley on Edelweiss and was instantly grabbed by the eerie artwork and because Iron Circus Comics consistently publishes some of my favorite books. Mage is a collected webcomic, and, without spoiling too much, is basically Over the Garden Wall by Junji Ito (so…CW for graphic imagery. yeah, I know the art starts off kinda cutesy, just trust me). Keep an eye out for this one next year, or if you can’t wait you can read the original webcomic online!

Read Online | Bookshop | Indiebound

[booksbeyondimagining]

Book Review | DOWN COMES THE NIGHT, by Allison Saft

Book Review | DOWN COMES THE NIGHT, by Allison Saft

Down Comes the Night, by Allison Saft

Publish Date: March 2, 2021 Published by: Wednesday Books Length: 400 pages Genre: YA Fantasy/Gothic Mystery My Rating: ★★★★★ (4.5 out of 5 stars)

**I received this as an egalley from the publisher through Edelweiss in return for an honest review.**

Synopsis:

Honor your oath, destroy your country.

Wren Southerland is the most talented healer in the Queen’s…

[lair-of-books]

Spoiler Free Review: The Taking of Jake Livingston by Jake Douglass

Spoiler Free Review: The Taking of Jake Livingston by Jake Douglass

Title: The Taking of Jake Livingston Author: Ryan Douglass Pub. Date: July 13th 2021 Genre: YA Horror/Queer Format: eGalley Publisher: Putnam Pages: 308 pages GOODREADS | BARNES & NOBLE | AMAZON | LIBROFM (REFFERAL LINK) Those that love Horror Noir with atmospheric/creepy vibes may find a new favorite in The Taking Of Jake Livingston, it is intense across the board invoking many emotions all at…

[cavehags]

review of plain bad heroines by emily danforth

This week I had the absolute pleasure of reading Plain Bad Heroines by Emily Danforth! Many thanks to Danforth, HarperCollins, and Netgalley for the e-galley. Here I’m going to do my best to earn that e-galley by writing a short review. 

Plain Bad Heroines is a sprawling and complex novel that interrogates the horror and violence of gay women’s restricted lives. It follows the haunting of two generations of American lesbians, one century apart. With an extensive cast of well-developed characters from both generations--1902′s reckless idealist; 2014′s magnetic celesbian; 1902′s brash social climber; 2014′s prickly misanthrope; and on and on--it manages to establish a world where gay women seize the autonomy to make decisions that matter. 

In 1902, we follow Libbie Brookhants, the young, wealthy principal of the Brookhants School for Girls. At her side always is her partner, Alexandra Trills. Libbie and Alex are in the difficult position of keeping the school and their relationship together after a series of tragic and mysterious student deaths. The notion that the school might be cursed, and Libbie and Alex at the center of a haunting, becomes a concern of increasing significance as a creeping sense of wrongness encroaches on their life together.

And in 2014, we follow celesbian actor Harper Harper (you read that right) and decidedly less famous Audrey Wells as they prepare for production on the film version of The Happenings at Brookhants. Consulting on the production is Merritt Emmons, the historian and author behind the nonfiction book it’s based on. The production is a mess, with all three women asked to make uncomfortable and dangerous sacrifices for the sake of the film, and the lines between reality and nonreality begin to blur in a decidedly uncinematic way. 

As Harper, Audrey and Merritt come together and clash in the contemporary story, Libbie and Alex’s relationship fractures in the past. The maybe-curse haunting Brookhants deals damage to all of their lives, none of which were in great shape in the first place. Faced with dangerous conditions that take a toll on their ability to tell reality from fiction, all five women flail for agency in differnet ways, sometimes becoming their worst selves.

With so much of the story focusing on a movie about a book which is in its own way about another book, it’s evident that Plain Bad Heroines is deeply concerned with the choices we make in storytelling, and the ways  the narratives we tell affect the people who outlive them. As a text dedicated to granting humanity to the gay women at its center, it specifically focuses on the violence of narratives that are retracted, redacted, or incomplete. Fittingly, then, Danforth rather stylishly uses footnotes to expand on details throughout the text--but never are the secret lives of gay women relegated to footnote status, as they might be in other texts. Their lives (our lives) sprawl luxuriously in the heart of the pages. A distinctive (if occasionally cloying) narrator’s voice speaks to the reader directly (you may get sick of sentences that begin with the word “Readers”), feeding supplemental information that’s as likely to be real as it is to be made up. There is an implied question at the heart of the novel: what is a ghost if not an untold story? 

I greatly enjoyed Plain Bad Heroines and highly recommend it for anyone interested in the same themes as me--lesbian secrets, women finding agency in tough spots, narrative erasure and violence, the horror in women’s constricted lives, flawed women making selfish choices that are the best choices they can make at the time. And there are a lot of surprises I won’t begin to touch here. But I do recommend checking it out, and I’d love to talk about it more after people have had a chance to read it. Plain Bad Heroines comes out on October 20, 2020. 

[fortheloveofbooks]

Ruthless Gods by Emily A. Duncan

4.25/5 stars

Thank you infinitely to Net Galley for an egalley ARC of this magnificent book!

Where do I even begin?

First order of business: Beware the cliffhanger(s).

Seriously, though, this book broke my heart, turned it black, and made it beat at the speed of sound. But in a good way. I promise. It is wicked and Duncan is ruthless all throughout it and it’s just perfect. And even when I hated what was happening, even when I worried about the characters, about their paths and their redemptions, about how it would all come together in the end, even when I was about to throw my phone across the room, I loved every second of it. Because a book that can break your heart and make it flutter is infinitely better than a book that does exactly what you expect of it, a book that satisfies your every wish and fantasy to an entirely dull accuracy.

The plot twists begin on page one. The ending is not at all what you would expect. And for a moment I was worried it would end when everything has crumbled to ashes and dust and I didn’t think I’d be able to pull myself together, but Duncan inexplicably saved the day at the very last second... albeit with an enormous cliffhanger. But a cliffhanger that left me desperately needing more.

All of the emotion in this book, all the love and hate and the million shades of grey in between, all the moral ambiguity and crises of conscience, all of the brokenness and the strength, the divinity and the sin, make this book a well of intrigue. Captivating in every quip and kiss and tear shed.

We get more divine meddling, and altogether more insight into the forces at play behind the curtains. We get more of Malachiasz’s quest for divine destruction, more of Nadya’s for divine salvation, and more of Serefin’s struggle with divine debt. And though their paths diverge, they come together again and again as if drawn to one another by magnet.

Though I thought this book would break me, I am deeply ecstatic that this is not the end, that the last chapter left me with so many questions and so much hunger for more. I can’t stop thinking about the fact that there is a third book coming out, and no matter how long I have to wait to read on about these complicated, beautifully twisted characters, I can and will be patient.

[touchmyspinebookreviews]

Book Review: Madam Love, Actually by Rich Amooi

Book Review: Madam Love, Actually by Rich Amooi

I would like to thank Rachel @ Rachel’s Random Resources and the author for providing me with an opportunity to be part of his awesome blog tour. Unfortunately, I was plagued with technical difficulties that kept me from writing my post. I’m very sorry this happened and am appreciative for the copy. All views expressed are my own.

  Lance Parker is an arrogant know-it-all. As author of…

[leahsportfolio]

WAR: Wizards and Robots

WAR: Wizards and Robots

WAR: Wizards and Robots – Will I Am

Embarrassingly, I have had this book sitting on my kindle for the longest time –  I was sent an eGalley for review a couple of millennia ago – so apologies.

When a young man breaks into her home claiming her life is in danger, Ada Luring’s world changes forever. Geller is a wizard, on the run from his father’s hidden clan who want to kill Ada and her mother.…

[noveltyreads]

Henry Hamlet's Heart by Rhiannon Wilde Book Review 

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

There's something so nice about reading a book set in your country and in the 2000's. 

I have always loved reading #LoveOzYA books. This year though, I've felt like I've barely read any so I was glad to pick this eGalley up a few months ago especially with all the hype I've read about it on Goodreads and from Aussie bookstagrammers. I was excited to get back to my contemporary roots too since this year I've been delving more and more into fantasy rather than emotional/character focused reads. 

Henry Hamlet's Heart follows the main character, Henry as he navigates his final year at school and his growing feelings for his best friend Len who he is starting to see as something more. This book looks specifically at the bond between friends, family and yourself and what it means to grow up, change and evolve. Henry Hamlet's Heart reads emotionally and really packs a punch. 

One of the things I enjoyed in this book was Len. I loved how passionate about photography he was and that last scene with the exhibition? My heart leapt out of my skin! It was so cute and wholesome! I also enjoyed the friend group of "The Boiyss" and how supportive they were of each other. It was really endearing to see and I loved seeing their dynamic shine on the page.

The main criticism for me is with Henry. To me he just seemed kind of bland as a character and I wanted more layers, backstory or personality to make me really fall in love with him. I also wished him and Len would've communicated more with each other about what they wanted. I felt like for so much of the novel, it was unclear what Len really wanted and if he wanted to truly be in a relationship with Henry or not. 

All in all, a must read for people who love wholesome and emotional books. Especially if you enjoy books set in Australia which discuss the highs and lows of high school. 

ACTUAL RATING: 2.7 STARS

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEW: 16 Ways to Break a Heart by Lauren Strasnick

Release Date: July 25, 2017

Age Group: 16+

Genres: Romance, Contemporary

Rating: 1/5 Stars

Original review on Goodreads here. (To view points marked as “view spoiler” go to my original review on Goodreads)

Be warned: This is a rant review and IT IS LONG. I haven’t posted a full review on here in a long time, but it’s late and I wanted to share. There MIGHT be spoilers, I honestly didn’t care too much because this book is just UGH. Okay, happy reading!

I received a copy via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review

This book is a disaster.

That's probably the best way to describe WTF I just read (okay, speed read because I couldn't, for my sanity, take my time to read the ridiculousness of this book). I even made notes because I was just so confused while reading this that I needed to keep my thoughts straight. 

Everything in this book was toxic. I literally asked myself multiple times why I was still reading this book because all of the characters were just so unnecessary and (view spoiler). I get that not all characters are made to be likable, but this isn't even about that. These were just characters who were just given so much leniency and they were just horrible characters. They weren't even the kind of characters you love to hate. I just can't with these characters. 

I will include snippets of the synopsis because I don't think anyone will ever really be ready for the disaster they will encounter when they read this book. 

Here's the first paragraph of the synopsis:

Natalie and Dan were electric from the moment they met. Witty banter and sizzling chemistry made falling in love easy—even inevitable. He was in awe of her subversive art and contagious zest for life; she was drawn to his good-guy charm and drive to succeed as a documentary filmmaker.

Yes, the start of the book is a letter from Natalie detailing their encounter and how there was immediate chemistry--but there's also an attempt in the first letter at alluding how Dan, the male protagonist, is a manipulative asshole that completely hid his true self when they first met. I will touch on that later in this review. What this paragraph doesn't allude to is how Dan's jealousy becomes a big issue with Natalie's "success", and how she basically thinks he's wasting his time with his documentary because he's spending so much time working on something that's important to him, instead of spending time with her. Because you know, someone else future dream? Fuck that, right? 

Second paragraph:

But that was before. Before hot tempers turned to blowout fights. Before a few little lies turned to broken trust. Before a hundred tiny slights broke them open and exposed the ugly truth of their relationship.

OKAY. Hot tempers. HA. Whoever created this synopsis failed to mention the mild physical and verbal abuse, the slut shaming, the manipulation, the triggering comments of wanting to "commit suicide" introduced as jokes. Shit is not funny. I find it really freaking troubling that this is such a huge part of the novel and its alluded to as "hot tempers" and "blowout fights". Also, "Tiny Slights" is like putting a kid's superhero bandaid on a bleeding gash. These two people were HORRIBLE together and look, if the synopsis explained it as more than just a little troubled relationship, then maybe I'd be writing a different review, but honestly, WTF.

Rest of synopsis: 

And now Natalie wants Dan to know just how much he broke her.

Over the course of one fateful day, Dan reads sixteen letters that Natalie has secretly, brilliantly hidden in places only he will find. And as he pieces together her version of their love story, he realizes that she has one final message for him. One that might just send his carefully constructed life tumbling down.

Okay, for starters, this was not a "LOVE STORY". This was a nightmare that was attempting to pass as a romance. 

This synopsis makes it seem like this book had a female character who was SO clever about her delivery of her revenge, which by the way was(view spoiler), but really it was her literally dropping off letters throughout his school and life. Honestly, I thought Natalie was fucking nuts and I'm sorry, I don't mean to be offensive or anything, but seriously fuck these characters. The last sentence of that synopsis says that she has a message that "might just send his carefully constructed life tumbling down." SURPRISE: She spent the whole fucking book ruining his life. She destroyed a guy that actually did sound legitimately good.

Look, Dan wasn't a saint by the end of everything. But one of the things that really, really screwed with my mind was how this girl was a legit nightmare. She was controlling, manipulative, and abusive and basically got Dan to put her as number one in his life despite of who and what he was giving up, yet when he starts to do other less than boyfriend-ly things on the side, suddenly he's the villain of the story. I might be wrong here, but it dangerously felt like the character of Natalie going through what she was describing as a horrible relationship because he wasn't who she thought he was was being validated for her actions because Dan almost (view spoiler). 

Dan had his shit, too. His jealousy about Natalie's life wasn't fair, and he also said and did questionable things, I just don't want Natalie's actions to be pushed aside because suddenly he's not a saint in our eyes anymore. Abuse and manipulation CAN NOT be justified just because the victim decides to do other shady stuff. One is not a lesser issue than the other. At the same time, I'm not defending Dan because he was also a massive asshole. 

One of my final points is going to be about the layout of this book. I get what was being done with the letters and the messages and such, but like it felt like it was trying too hard to be either Thirteen Reasons Why or Why We Broke Up. I haven't read the former (but watched the TV Show) and hated the latter. I just wanted to throw the similarities in there because it felt like Natalie's letters were just so over the top dramatic and just really really annoying. 

I'll leave this rant on the note that the ending is 10/10 dramatic and 10/10 unnecessary and just as messed up as this relationship. Also, wtf was up with that one final reveal? Like, not only was it cliche but we had absolutely NO LEAD UP TO IT. I wish I had a physical copy of this book so I could pull a Bradley Cooper.

I don't recommend this book for anyone, sorry. I don't normally say this, but I legitimately did not enjoy this at all and I was just so shocked that this was even a thing. 

Happy reading!

[fearlessly-fictional]

ARC Review: Black Bird of the Gallows

Release Date: September 5th, 2017

Page Count: 300

My Rating: 5 stars! 

Goodreads Rating: 4.23 stars

Summary via Goodreads: A simple but forgotten truth: Where harbingers of death appear, the morgues will soon be full.Angie Dovage can tell there’s more to Reece Fernandez than just the tall, brooding athlete who has her classmates swooning, but she can’t imagine his presence signals a tragedy that will devastate her small town. When something supernatural tries to attack her, Angie is thrown into a battle between good and evil she never saw coming. Right in the center of it is Reece—and he’s not human.What's more, she knows something most don't. That the secrets her town holds could kill them all. But that’s only half as dangerous as falling in love with a harbinger of death.

Review: 

When I was younger, I used to be obsessed with everything that had anything to do with paranormal teen romance. Reading Black Bird of the Gallows allowed me the opportunity to relive and fall back in love with paranormal romances! I absolutely loved this read and at times found it to be the slightest bit creepy but only because it pretty much surrounded the legends that we have all heard about crows and how they are said to symbolize that death is right around the corner.

Because I know that a lot of people will probably try to compare this book to other paranormal teen romances, I just wanted to immediately shut that down by saying that all paranormal romances have things that have to happen. One of the character's has to discover that the other is some kind of creature and they will typically always have to fight off another creature that is somehow connected to the paranormal love interest. Something that stood out to me as being different though was that our love interest wasn't initially a jerk toward our main character. In a lot of the paranormal romances that I have read in the past, the paranormal character always acts incredibly grumpy and overly mysterious in the beginning and I didn't get that vibe in this story.

An aspect that I really enjoyed about this story was the characters. As much as I hate to admit it, I have put down books for not having good characters but I loved every character in this story. I found that a few of the characters were very diverse and I also really liked the background information about the characters that we were introduced to. I can't think of a single character that I found to be lacking or uninteresting.

Like I mentioned before, I loved how dark this story was. I loved that death played such a tragic and important role in this story. I feel that it really helped create a better understanding of just how tragic and strained a relationship between the two character's would be.

The one thing that I did not like in this story was the role that being a DJ played into the storyline in the beginning of the story. Personally, I am never a fan of books that surround character's involved in music or acting and I was very worried that this story was going to revolve around her music for a moment but thankfully, it didn't. Toward the end of the story, I had forgotten all about her music interest so I can't say that it was something that ruined my reading experience.

Overall, I found myself really enjoying this read and I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a little bit of a darker, creepy read or anyone that just really happens to enjoy paranormal romances! You can grab a copy today!

Thank you NetGalley and Entangled TEEN for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review!

[passionatelyperusing]

Book Review: Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Book Review: Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Publication Date: May 14th, 2019 by St. Martin’s Griffin

432 pages

ISBN: 9781250316776

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Amazon | B&N | Goodreads

This novel follows Alex, the son of the U.S. President, and Henry, the Prince of Wales. Alex’s mother, Ellen, is up for re-election, and she refuses to let anything stain her reputation. There are…

[booksbeyondimagining]

Book Review | ROGUE PRINCESS, by B. R. Myers

Book Review | ROGUE PRINCESS, by B. R. Myers

Rogue Princess, by B. R. Myers

Publish Date: January 21, 2020 Published by: Swoon Reads Pages: 304 Genre: YA Sci-Fi/Retelling My Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.5 out of 5 stars)

**I received this as an egalley from the publisher through Edelweiss in return for an honest review.**

Synopsis:

Princess Delia knows her duty: She must choose a prince to marry in order to secure an alliance and save her failing planet.…

[readrunramble]

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

Title: The Golden Couple Author: Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen Genre: Psychological Thriller Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Publication Date: March 8, 2022 Format: egalley via Netgalley

Synopsis

My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

My Review:

Thank you, St. Martin's Press via Netgalley, for providing me with a copy of this book!

Look for this one in March 2022; you definitely do not want to miss it!

Honestly, when I received an invitation to download an early copy of The Golden Couple, I didn't even read the synopsis. The second I knew who wrote it, I knew I had to read it and was grateful to be an early reader.

As expected and with all their other novels, I was captured within the first page; Hendricks and Pekkanen waste zero time pulling readers in and ensuring they must continue - sometimes without putting down the book for hours!

As intrigued as I was, several times through the first half of the story, I kept wondering if they'd chosen a different genre this time and I mistakenly only thought it was a psych thriller; it felt more like a family drama though breadcrumbs were being dropped. Then ... well, then ... everything started to twist and twist some more. And BAM - I'm deep in the thrill of a Hendricks/Pekkanen psychological tale that is exciting, ever-changing, and driven by strong characters.

What stands out the most in The Golden Couple is those strong characters. So many players and they each have a story that the authors wove together intricately and masterfully. At every turn, readers learn a little bit more about one of the characters, but not until the very end do you truly understand what stories overlap and how.

Marissa and Matthew are at the center of everything and readers can expect to adore them one second, then completely distrust that love the very next. Avery, trying to help and guide Marissa and Matthew through a surprising rough patch, has secrets and fears of her own - do they intertwine with the seemingly perfect couple's layered issues? How can they; Marissa only found Avery by reading an article about the non-traditional "therapist." What are the odds?

As that question and SO.MANY.MORE. are introduced and answered, the authors take great care not to leave any of their characters or plots behind. I truly adore this about Hendricks and Pekkanen - they don't mention something or someone if it doesn't play into the central story and theme so readers are never left wondering, "Why did they write this?" or "Why was this never resolved?"

If you've read their past thrillers and loved them, you're going to blast through this one in no time, and if you haven't read their others, why? But seriously, go grab The Wife Between Us and An Anonymous Girl to read while you wait for The Golden Couple to hit shelves March 8, 2022!

I was provided with an ARC of this book by the publisher or author in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I am not compensated for any of my reviews.

[lair-of-books]

Spoiler Free Review: Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno Garcia

Spoiler Free Review: Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno Garcia

Title: Certain Dark Things Author: Silvia Moreno Garcia Pub. Date: September 7th 2021 Genre: Paranormal/Horror Noir Format: eGalley Publisher: Tor Pages: 272 pages GOODREADS | BARNES & NOBLE | AMAZON | LIBROFM Originally published in 2016, Certain Dark Things was given a new cover and re-released last month. There’s been a recent resurgence of Vampires across all media and I for one was excited…