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pagesplotsandpints's Reviews (2.1k)
<b>Read Completed 6/8/24 |</b> 3.25 stars
I have very complicated feelings about this book! I found it on a Goodreads list of "most read thrillers this week" and found an audiobook copy on Hoopla, so I immediately jumped in. I love the concept of the "missing person returned" and the author wrote a very compelling story that had a lot of twists and turns throughout the book!
I really liked Caitlin's POV. She's the main character of the book and it's her sister who has been missing for over a decade. When a woman returns claiming to be her long-lost sister, suspicions arise when things don't quite line up. I loved the wild back-and-forth as Caitlin questions whether this woman is really her sister or not, and how other people either don't want to believe she's an imposter or genuinely think Caitlin is losing her mind for thinking so.
There is a second, seemingly unconnected POV in this book, and usually that's pretty interesting in thrillers. I love seeing how things connect and hopefully, having my mind blown by the connection, but this POV was incredibly uncomfortable and I truly wish it hadn't been a part of the book. The second POV is a girl named Elinor who lives with her brother and her controlling uncle after her parents died in a boating accident and drowned. Elinor has a very uncomfortable relationship with her brother where incest is heavily implied but it's not clear whether she is longing for him inappropriately, if he is longing for her inappropriately, if it's both, or (my hope) that it was neither. I was really, really, really hoping we weren't going the incest route and spent the whole book hoping that would be a big misunderstanding with an explanation for it.
Things escalate throughout the book, naturally, and I found the writing to be quite compelling! There were reveals and red herrings, clues and tricks, and I couldn't get enough! I was dying to see how the stories connected, if someone was impersonating someone else, if the characters from Elinor's POV were characters in Caitlin's POV, and how these stories possibly connected and why it was important.
Finally at about 85%, things started coming together and it got really good and then took a turn. I liked how things were going until the last 10% where it felt like things went above and beyond. There was a whole new person introduced that wasn't necessary, fears were confirmed (and not in a good way), and things got a little too wild when this could have been a REALLY good psychological thriller without going over the top.
I would be VERY interested to read more from this author, but I would personally hope that things got less over-the-top. I can see why this has such a high rating and people loved the twist, but I was pretty disappointed in it. I can see lots of potential and I did really like the writing, which is hard to find in a thriller for me sometimes, so maybe a different story would hook me better!
I have very complicated feelings about this book! I found it on a Goodreads list of "most read thrillers this week" and found an audiobook copy on Hoopla, so I immediately jumped in. I love the concept of the "missing person returned" and the author wrote a very compelling story that had a lot of twists and turns throughout the book!
I really liked Caitlin's POV. She's the main character of the book and it's her sister who has been missing for over a decade. When a woman returns claiming to be her long-lost sister, suspicions arise when things don't quite line up. I loved the wild back-and-forth as Caitlin questions whether this woman is really her sister or not, and how other people either don't want to believe she's an imposter or genuinely think Caitlin is losing her mind for thinking so.
There is a second, seemingly unconnected POV in this book, and usually that's pretty interesting in thrillers. I love seeing how things connect and hopefully, having my mind blown by the connection, but this POV was incredibly uncomfortable and I truly wish it hadn't been a part of the book. The second POV is a girl named Elinor who lives with her brother and her controlling uncle after her parents died in a boating accident and drowned. Elinor has a very uncomfortable relationship with her brother where incest is heavily implied but it's not clear whether she is longing for him inappropriately, if he is longing for her inappropriately, if it's both, or (my hope) that it was neither. I was really, really, really hoping we weren't going the incest route and spent the whole book hoping that would be a big misunderstanding with an explanation for it.
Things escalate throughout the book, naturally, and I found the writing to be quite compelling! There were reveals and red herrings, clues and tricks, and I couldn't get enough! I was dying to see how the stories connected, if someone was impersonating someone else, if the characters from Elinor's POV were characters in Caitlin's POV, and how these stories possibly connected and why it was important.
Finally at about 85%, things started coming together and it got really good and then took a turn. I liked how things were going until the last 10% where it felt like things went above and beyond. There was a whole new person introduced that wasn't necessary, fears were confirmed (and not in a good way), and things got a little too wild when this could have been a REALLY good psychological thriller without going over the top.
I would be VERY interested to read more from this author, but I would personally hope that things got less over-the-top. I can see why this has such a high rating and people loved the twist, but I was pretty disappointed in it. I can see lots of potential and I did really like the writing, which is hard to find in a thriller for me sometimes, so maybe a different story would hook me better!
<b>Read Completed 6/7/24 |</b> 2 stars (contains spoilers)
I'm pretty disappointed in this. I've read a few books by this author before and they've been decent with some being better than others. I had high hopes for this one but it quickly went downhill after introducing the logistics of the story and what the Quantum Radio actually is.
The beginning had a lot of science, and that's not usually too overwhelming for me, but this was a little too much science talk in the beginning and not enough other stuff. I liked Ty and wanted to know more about him but I kind of felt like the author was reserving a little too much character development for future books. This is supposed to be a series but it doesn't look like there's any info on future books yet.
After we make a huge jump in plot, everything really goes flat, boring, and info-dumpy. The book turns to an alternate history of the world but wow, is that explanation boring when it should have been exciting. The characters visit museums to find out about the history, and also question one single (dying) man in order to find out about this new world with its new background. This was SUCH an info-dump with facts being recited to the reader when it could have been in an exciting discovery of dialogue and making connections with the people in this world. Also, unless you're a big history nerd, it's just really not interesting. We didn't have to go into that much detail.
I really wished this book also focused more on just Ty as the main character. He finds three other people that are also sort of the keys for this Quantum Radio and I found them incredibly boring and underdeveloped. Ty was the interesting one and maybe Nora has something good going on, especially since she has a childhood connection to Ty. Maria was legitimately pointless as a character (sorry, Maria, but it's true) and provides nothing to the plot. Kato didn't really provide much to the plot either except for some muscle and random historical facts.
This was just really not it for me. The story itself was good and had some good bones but the execution was really flat in terms of pacing and it just felt like Part 1 in one chunk and Part 2 in another chunk. The ending was wholly unsatisfying with a mysterious group of people from another Earth who have been watching them all along but can't reveal their identities (who are obviously them. Come on.) and now they have to go on missions to save all the universes. Umm. Why though? They need to stop the big bad baddies, okay. But why did they need to meddle in this alternate universe as some sort of a test? They had no idea what they were doing and the whole thing was frankly weird and assumed a LOT of responsibility that was loosely integrated. I wanted to go back to the science part and leave the weird alt third reich world.
I'm pretty disappointed in this. I've read a few books by this author before and they've been decent with some being better than others. I had high hopes for this one but it quickly went downhill after introducing the logistics of the story and what the Quantum Radio actually is.
The beginning had a lot of science, and that's not usually too overwhelming for me, but this was a little too much science talk in the beginning and not enough other stuff. I liked Ty and wanted to know more about him but I kind of felt like the author was reserving a little too much character development for future books. This is supposed to be a series but it doesn't look like there's any info on future books yet.
After we make a huge jump in plot, everything really goes flat, boring, and info-dumpy. The book turns to an alternate history of the world but wow, is that explanation boring when it should have been exciting. The characters visit museums to find out about the history, and also question one single (dying) man in order to find out about this new world with its new background. This was SUCH an info-dump with facts being recited to the reader when it could have been in an exciting discovery of dialogue and making connections with the people in this world. Also, unless you're a big history nerd, it's just really not interesting. We didn't have to go into that much detail.
I really wished this book also focused more on just Ty as the main character. He finds three other people that are also sort of the keys for this Quantum Radio and I found them incredibly boring and underdeveloped. Ty was the interesting one and maybe Nora has something good going on, especially since she has a childhood connection to Ty. Maria was legitimately pointless as a character (sorry, Maria, but it's true) and provides nothing to the plot. Kato didn't really provide much to the plot either except for some muscle and random historical facts.
This was just really not it for me. The story itself was good and had some good bones but the execution was really flat in terms of pacing and it just felt like Part 1 in one chunk and Part 2 in another chunk. The ending was wholly unsatisfying with a mysterious group of people from another Earth who have been watching them all along but can't reveal their identities (who are obviously them. Come on.) and now they have to go on missions to save all the universes. Umm. Why though? They need to stop the big bad baddies, okay. But why did they need to meddle in this alternate universe as some sort of a test? They had no idea what they were doing and the whole thing was frankly weird and assumed a LOT of responsibility that was loosely integrated. I wanted to go back to the science part and leave the weird alt third reich world.
<b>Read Completed 6/5/24 |</b> 2.5 stars
TERMINAL FREEZE wasn't as exciting as the first book in this series of standalones connected by a single minor character. I liked the setting and the the concept was interesting, but this felt less sci-fi than the previous book. There was a lot of horror with a lot of horror-movie type chase scenes and gore, and then there was maybe a supernatural angle over science fiction as well.
I also just really didn't connect to any of the characters here. I had a hard time with this cast, for some reason, and everyone kind of blended together. I think I wanted more people who were actively involved in investigating, maybe? The film crew didn't do it for me, and that really never does in any book where they're filming some sort of documentary.
This is a fun series that I've been incorporating when I don't know what to read and I like having it on the back burner for that reason. I love Scott Brick, who narrates the audiobooks, so it's an easy and pleasant listen as well.
TERMINAL FREEZE wasn't as exciting as the first book in this series of standalones connected by a single minor character. I liked the setting and the the concept was interesting, but this felt less sci-fi than the previous book. There was a lot of horror with a lot of horror-movie type chase scenes and gore, and then there was maybe a supernatural angle over science fiction as well.
I also just really didn't connect to any of the characters here. I had a hard time with this cast, for some reason, and everyone kind of blended together. I think I wanted more people who were actively involved in investigating, maybe? The film crew didn't do it for me, and that really never does in any book where they're filming some sort of documentary.
This is a fun series that I've been incorporating when I don't know what to read and I like having it on the back burner for that reason. I love Scott Brick, who narrates the audiobooks, so it's an easy and pleasant listen as well.
<b>Read Completed 6/4/24 |</b> 2 stars
Basically everyone was awful, and not in an enjoyable way.
A LOVELY LIE is my 3rd read by Jaime Lynn Hendricks but unfortunately, they just keep getting worse instead of better. I was hoping this would be a decent popcorn thriller, but it was a little too unbearable with everyone being an unlikable character. Pretty much everyone was terrible except for the son, a friend that's barely on-page (and even he's lusting after someone else's wife, basically), and... that's about it. Was I supposed to feel something for Scarlett? Because she was nearly as bad as everyone else, and her POV was a little irritating too.
The beginning of the book was already rough, but I was hoping things would get more interesting. The author does an annoying thing where she keeps telling you about "the incident, the incident" *~but we can't tell you what happened~*. Okay, I get that, it would spoil the book, but then stop talking about it and get on with some character-building or something. The flashbacks really didn't do much for me, and they're kind of take it or leave it in a thriller anyway, but I really don't like reading adult thrillers and then flashing back to snotty, stuck-up teenagers who make things feel like a bad YA novel. (This actually happens a lot, not just with this author.)
JLH still made this a readable book, even though I didn't enjoy it, and there's always something going on. While the characters were all pretty awful, at least they had some secrets that they were revealing, and there was still one surprise or two left for me in the end. It wasn't super wild when they were revealed, but there was a little more to each story in the end. I wanted one more thing from Scarlett to make her a more interesting character, but that didn't really happen and I wasn't a fan of her ending.
The final conclusion of the book was a little weird, throwing in extra happiness as well as extra tragedy that didn't really need to be there. It felt like a little shock value and didn't add anything to the plot. It just made me dislike everyone a little bit more. There was also kind of an odd choice to follow Scarlett and Zoe in first person POVs, but then have random ones thrown in there later. I don't really like when authors do that and usually prefer the POVs to stay consistent.
The writing was also a little clunky, which is fine for some popcorn thrillers where I'm pretty entertained, but the dialogue here wasn't the best and the amount of times Scarlett said "my boy" in reference to her son made me think somehow magically it was going to end up NOT being her boy even though she gave birth to him. Obviously that didn't happen, but I don't know why that was the writing choice or something that didn't get cleaned up in editing because it was glaring obvious while I was reading it and I saw many other readers note it in their reviews too. The title, "a lovely lie" was also used too many times and probably shouldn't have been used in dialogue at all because it's a decent title but not decent in conversation.
This was a messy one for me that wasn't saved by characters or plot. Sometimes when one is good and the other isn't, it can still turn out to be an enjoyable read but this one just wasn't it for me. I can still see plenty of people having fun reading it but I just needed a little bit more here.
AUDIOBOOK THOUGHTS: I borrowed this audiobook from my local library. This was narrated by Hillary Huber, who I really enjoy and she did a nice job with this book, for what it was. Things kind of got weird in the end when the author added in a lot more POVs and she had to narrate all of these in first person, even a male POV. I'll tell you, it was mighty weird to pause during the male POV and come back, forgetting I was in the middle of his chapter and not understand the female voice narrating it! I'm sure it was way too expensive to have a different narrator for all of them, but three females and one male -- it was a lot for one person. I don't think she did a bad job but it's also hard to get that many different voices when you have to do them in a first person narrative. It would have been better to have one narrator for third person, or each one to have their own voice.
Basically everyone was awful, and not in an enjoyable way.
A LOVELY LIE is my 3rd read by Jaime Lynn Hendricks but unfortunately, they just keep getting worse instead of better. I was hoping this would be a decent popcorn thriller, but it was a little too unbearable with everyone being an unlikable character. Pretty much everyone was terrible except for the son, a friend that's barely on-page (and even he's lusting after someone else's wife, basically), and... that's about it. Was I supposed to feel something for Scarlett? Because she was nearly as bad as everyone else, and her POV was a little irritating too.
The beginning of the book was already rough, but I was hoping things would get more interesting. The author does an annoying thing where she keeps telling you about "the incident, the incident" *~but we can't tell you what happened~*. Okay, I get that, it would spoil the book, but then stop talking about it and get on with some character-building or something. The flashbacks really didn't do much for me, and they're kind of take it or leave it in a thriller anyway, but I really don't like reading adult thrillers and then flashing back to snotty, stuck-up teenagers who make things feel like a bad YA novel. (This actually happens a lot, not just with this author.)
JLH still made this a readable book, even though I didn't enjoy it, and there's always something going on. While the characters were all pretty awful, at least they had some secrets that they were revealing, and there was still one surprise or two left for me in the end. It wasn't super wild when they were revealed, but there was a little more to each story in the end. I wanted one more thing from Scarlett to make her a more interesting character, but that didn't really happen and I wasn't a fan of her ending.
The final conclusion of the book was a little weird, throwing in extra happiness as well as extra tragedy that didn't really need to be there. It felt like a little shock value and didn't add anything to the plot. It just made me dislike everyone a little bit more. There was also kind of an odd choice to follow Scarlett and Zoe in first person POVs, but then have random ones thrown in there later. I don't really like when authors do that and usually prefer the POVs to stay consistent.
The writing was also a little clunky, which is fine for some popcorn thrillers where I'm pretty entertained, but the dialogue here wasn't the best and the amount of times Scarlett said "my boy" in reference to her son made me think somehow magically it was going to end up NOT being her boy even though she gave birth to him. Obviously that didn't happen, but I don't know why that was the writing choice or something that didn't get cleaned up in editing because it was glaring obvious while I was reading it and I saw many other readers note it in their reviews too. The title, "a lovely lie" was also used too many times and probably shouldn't have been used in dialogue at all because it's a decent title but not decent in conversation.
This was a messy one for me that wasn't saved by characters or plot. Sometimes when one is good and the other isn't, it can still turn out to be an enjoyable read but this one just wasn't it for me. I can still see plenty of people having fun reading it but I just needed a little bit more here.
AUDIOBOOK THOUGHTS: I borrowed this audiobook from my local library. This was narrated by Hillary Huber, who I really enjoy and she did a nice job with this book, for what it was. Things kind of got weird in the end when the author added in a lot more POVs and she had to narrate all of these in first person, even a male POV. I'll tell you, it was mighty weird to pause during the male POV and come back, forgetting I was in the middle of his chapter and not understand the female voice narrating it! I'm sure it was way too expensive to have a different narrator for all of them, but three females and one male -- it was a lot for one person. I don't think she did a bad job but it's also hard to get that many different voices when you have to do them in a first person narrative. It would have been better to have one narrator for third person, or each one to have their own voice.
<b>Read Completed 6/3/24 |</b> 2.75 stars
A MARRIAGE OF LIES was decently entertaining but ultimately pretty predictable. The previous on Hoopla promised "GONE GIRL like twists" and I guess I can see it, but when people read GONE GIRL, they didn't see it coming. This didn't really surprise me in any way and I felt like a lot was pretty obvious. There was one thing I didn't pick up on, but I figured out a piece of it before the whole was revealed.
The writing style was just average! It wasn't horrible but it felt a little unpolished. Maybe this just isn't my style, the same way I don't enjoy Freida McFadden's writing style, so maybe fans of FM will like this more than I did! I has a very good rating and plenty of fans. I just felt like it was pretty forgettable and followed a ton of thriller tropes and concepts that I've already read many times before. This wasn't breaking any boundaries and didn't really have anything that will stick with me, but I don't regret my time reading it either. I'm sure it'll just fade into the background, though, sadly.
A MARRIAGE OF LIES was decently entertaining but ultimately pretty predictable. The previous on Hoopla promised "GONE GIRL like twists" and I guess I can see it, but when people read GONE GIRL, they didn't see it coming. This didn't really surprise me in any way and I felt like a lot was pretty obvious. There was one thing I didn't pick up on, but I figured out a piece of it before the whole was revealed.
The writing style was just average! It wasn't horrible but it felt a little unpolished. Maybe this just isn't my style, the same way I don't enjoy Freida McFadden's writing style, so maybe fans of FM will like this more than I did! I has a very good rating and plenty of fans. I just felt like it was pretty forgettable and followed a ton of thriller tropes and concepts that I've already read many times before. This wasn't breaking any boundaries and didn't really have anything that will stick with me, but I don't regret my time reading it either. I'm sure it'll just fade into the background, though, sadly.
<B>Read Completed 6/1/24 |</b> 2 - 2.5 stars
I've been searching for some great new sci-fi reads and I picked this up after seeing some really good reviews on BookTok. Well, this is another time I just don't agree with the popular reviewers, unfortunately. <b>Review may contain small spoilers.</b>
Firstly, I would never have picked up NOPHEK GLOSS if I hadn't seen it reviewed by people who have loved some of the same books I have. The title is totally meaningless without having opened the book and it could be hard to get someone to pick up something when they have no idea what it means. (If you're wondering, the nophek are creatures in this universe and the gloss is a sort of gemstone they produce.) I'm also irritated that NOPHEK GLOSS is the title in general because that's not really what the book is *about*. It's not really about these creatures and though they do have an important role to play in the beginning, it's an odd choice for a title.
I actually really did like the beginning of this book and I hoped it could be a 5 star read for me, or close to it. There's a shocking sequence after we meet main character Caiden and things I did not expect from the opening of a book! He meets a crew and there's a real found family trope blended with space opera that had vibes of Red Rising, Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, and more all rolled in to one. Sounds like a recipe for success, but I felt like we didn't really get any character development. There were a couple fun, cheeky one-liners and I was hoping for a little humor and a lot of heart. The potential was there, but I just didn't feel like the author really developed these awesome side characters to really get me to feel for them. It was right there but out of reach.
The uniqueness of all of these races, species, etc was also so interesting. The crew is able to travel between universes in their fancy ship and they've assembled a very diverse crew. I really enjoyed seeing how different everyone could be from appearance to ability to gender to background, etc. I thought the author did a really nice job at creating these different humans/aliens to explore. There are also some interesting technologies, though I was hoping for a bit more explanation as to how they worked as well...? I don't really need details on how a spaceship can do what it does, but...how exactly do you age someone? Maybe I can buy physically aging someone's cells to make them older, but how did they give Caiden knowledge and skills? That doesn't make any sense. I'm also just irritated that they had to age him at all. Why couldn't we have started him at 16 or 17 and let him age naturally? Or even 20. Especially on a naive, sequestered planet, 20 is still very young. It was just a weird thing to include that didn't really have a purpose. He didn't need to be 14 when the book started and it just made his thinking very young.
One of my other big complaints is that we just didn't get *enough* world-building. Oh yes, it was there, and there was a lot of building for sure, but it didn't have the depth I was hoping for. We have all of these amazingly diverse characters but I barely know anything about their origins, planets, universe, backgrounds... There are planets and universes to explore and we get some hasty descriptions of people and setting that was really hard to latch onto (especially as an audiobook). So many things were mentioned once as a quick info dump description and not incorporated into the dialogue and moving plot so it was hard to just get that picture and hold onto it. I tried looking to see if there was any fan art so I could see what everyone looked like to try to remember it as I was reading but I didn't have any luck.
Really, my biggest issue, is the single-minded aspect of revenge. There are tons of revenge stories and I have no issue with that being the main plot but that was kind of the ONLY plot. You can't blame Caiden for being so single-minded after what he went through and not knowing any better, but I was hoping his wise and knowledgable crew had other plot points to bring to the table, working as a team throughout the book to create this wide, exciting concept. Instead, the crew really just served Caiden, literarily, and it all worked up to a moment when...Caiden just left them all behind. The revenge plot was just really the only thing going on and it got very tiresome after a while, pushing towards this one thing with blinders on.
I was still interested in the first half of the book because I was still hoping to connect and I did like the bones of everything, but I grew very tired and bored and just wanted to finish after halfway. I probably should have DNFed but I don't like DNFing after 40% because I've already invested so much time, and hey, maybe something good could happen in the end. It just really didn't work and the second half of the book was incredibly slow and dull. I zoned out for a while, not intentionally, but it was really hard to focus.
I guess I'm glad I tried it. You can't know unless you try, and the writing for this book was its ultimate downfall for me. Apparently this the author's debut and it's really not bad until halfway, and then I just got lost. I would have rated it at least three stars in the beginning, but I couldn't after slogging through the second half for a very anticlimactic finish. I guess it's a good thing that I didn't like it because the rest of the series doesn't exist as audiobooks, so heads up, audiobook readers.
AUDIOBOOK THOUGHTS: This book was narrated by Dan Bittner, who I often enjoy! He did a really great job with all of the different voices, and this audiobook also has a few sound effects for some of the voices to give it a different feel. There are tons of unique characters here and I thought the narrator did and excellent job at making them all stand out and become something I haven't heard before.
I've been searching for some great new sci-fi reads and I picked this up after seeing some really good reviews on BookTok. Well, this is another time I just don't agree with the popular reviewers, unfortunately. <b>Review may contain small spoilers.</b>
Firstly, I would never have picked up NOPHEK GLOSS if I hadn't seen it reviewed by people who have loved some of the same books I have. The title is totally meaningless without having opened the book and it could be hard to get someone to pick up something when they have no idea what it means. (If you're wondering, the nophek are creatures in this universe and the gloss is a sort of gemstone they produce.) I'm also irritated that NOPHEK GLOSS is the title in general because that's not really what the book is *about*. It's not really about these creatures and though they do have an important role to play in the beginning, it's an odd choice for a title.
I actually really did like the beginning of this book and I hoped it could be a 5 star read for me, or close to it. There's a shocking sequence after we meet main character Caiden and things I did not expect from the opening of a book! He meets a crew and there's a real found family trope blended with space opera that had vibes of Red Rising, Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, and more all rolled in to one. Sounds like a recipe for success, but I felt like we didn't really get any character development. There were a couple fun, cheeky one-liners and I was hoping for a little humor and a lot of heart. The potential was there, but I just didn't feel like the author really developed these awesome side characters to really get me to feel for them. It was right there but out of reach.
The uniqueness of all of these races, species, etc was also so interesting. The crew is able to travel between universes in their fancy ship and they've assembled a very diverse crew. I really enjoyed seeing how different everyone could be from appearance to ability to gender to background, etc. I thought the author did a really nice job at creating these different humans/aliens to explore. There are also some interesting technologies, though I was hoping for a bit more explanation as to how they worked as well...? I don't really need details on how a spaceship can do what it does, but...
One of my other big complaints is that we just didn't get *enough* world-building. Oh yes, it was there, and there was a lot of building for sure, but it didn't have the depth I was hoping for. We have all of these amazingly diverse characters but I barely know anything about their origins, planets, universe, backgrounds... There are planets and universes to explore and we get some hasty descriptions of people and setting that was really hard to latch onto (especially as an audiobook). So many things were mentioned once as a quick info dump description and not incorporated into the dialogue and moving plot so it was hard to just get that picture and hold onto it. I tried looking to see if there was any fan art so I could see what everyone looked like to try to remember it as I was reading but I didn't have any luck.
Really, my biggest issue, is the single-minded aspect of revenge. There are tons of revenge stories and I have no issue with that being the main plot but that was kind of the ONLY plot. You can't blame Caiden for being so single-minded after what he went through and not knowing any better, but I was hoping his wise and knowledgable crew had other plot points to bring to the table, working as a team throughout the book to create this wide, exciting concept. Instead, the crew really just served Caiden, literarily, and it all worked up to a moment when...
I was still interested in the first half of the book because I was still hoping to connect and I did like the bones of everything, but I grew very tired and bored and just wanted to finish after halfway. I probably should have DNFed but I don't like DNFing after 40% because I've already invested so much time, and hey, maybe something good could happen in the end. It just really didn't work and the second half of the book was incredibly slow and dull. I zoned out for a while, not intentionally, but it was really hard to focus.
I guess I'm glad I tried it. You can't know unless you try, and the writing for this book was its ultimate downfall for me. Apparently this the author's debut and it's really not bad until halfway, and then I just got lost. I would have rated it at least three stars in the beginning, but I couldn't after slogging through the second half for a very anticlimactic finish. I guess it's a good thing that I didn't like it because the rest of the series doesn't exist as audiobooks, so heads up, audiobook readers.
AUDIOBOOK THOUGHTS: This book was narrated by Dan Bittner, who I often enjoy! He did a really great job with all of the different voices, and this audiobook also has a few sound effects for some of the voices to give it a different feel. There are tons of unique characters here and I thought the narrator did and excellent job at making them all stand out and become something I haven't heard before.
<b>Read Completed 5/31/24 |</b> 3.75 stars
DEEP STORM was a random read I picked when looking for some new sci-fi books from the library. Some sci-fi concepts mixed into a deep sea diving mission sounded wholly unique and this was definitely unlike anything I've read before! I really liked the refreshing concept, which is hard to do when I've read so many books.
It was easy to slip into this story and I really enjoyed my time reading it! There were a few times where I zoned out while listening to the audiobook, so my attention did slip a bit, but for the most part, I was pretty engaged and interested to see everything that was going on.
The book had some really interesting twists and it was so fun to explore these sci-fi elements! There were definitely a few good surprises and even a good cliffhanger that made me wonder if I should keep reading. I actually started book 6 of this series on accident a while back, not knowing it was a series, and was bored with it and didn't finish. I didn't even realize this was the same series when I started but did recognize the author's name. The next book in the series doesn't sound like it's exactly continuing this story, so I wonder if we'll get answers to the cliffhangers? But I am curious! Not quite curious enough to start it right away, though. Maybe I'll tuck that away for the next time I'm in a reading slump, which will probably be soon anyway.
DEEP STORM was a random read I picked when looking for some new sci-fi books from the library. Some sci-fi concepts mixed into a deep sea diving mission sounded wholly unique and this was definitely unlike anything I've read before! I really liked the refreshing concept, which is hard to do when I've read so many books.
It was easy to slip into this story and I really enjoyed my time reading it! There were a few times where I zoned out while listening to the audiobook, so my attention did slip a bit, but for the most part, I was pretty engaged and interested to see everything that was going on.
The book had some really interesting twists and it was so fun to explore these sci-fi elements! There were definitely a few good surprises and even a good cliffhanger that made me wonder if I should keep reading. I actually started book 6 of this series on accident a while back, not knowing it was a series, and was bored with it and didn't finish. I didn't even realize this was the same series when I started but did recognize the author's name. The next book in the series doesn't sound like it's exactly continuing this story, so I wonder if we'll get answers to the cliffhangers? But I am curious! Not quite curious enough to start it right away, though. Maybe I'll tuck that away for the next time I'm in a reading slump, which will probably be soon anyway.
<b>Read Completed 5/29/24 |</b> 3.5 stars
<b><I>Thank you to the publisher, Macmillan Audio / St. Martin's Press, for the audiobook review copy. This did not affect my review in any way.</b></I>
HOUSE OF GLASS was like definition "okay" thriller. I wasn't really wowed by Sarah Pekkanen's last book, GONE TONIGHT, and this one was a little bit better but it just wasn't anything original nor was it high octane and fast-paced to make up for it. I really enjoyed the co-author team of Sarah Pekkanen & Greer Hendricks... not sure what happened to Greer Hendricks, but those books just had better chemistry for me.
HOUSE OF GLASS wasn't bad, but I've read far too many thrillers to really be impressed by it. I did like the main character and narrator Stella, and I had fun watching the the mystery of the Barclay house unravel. This was a little like THE SILENT PATIENT in the sense that Rose is no longer speaking after the traumatic incident of watching her nanny die. Was it murder? And if so, who did it? Anyone in the house is a suspect, including Rose herself. I didn't feel like this was too close to THE SILENT PATIENT or anything, but it still maybe be of interest for fans of the book! It was just an average thriller that felt pretty tame, in my opinion, and there wasn't really any twist or reveal that shocked me. Thrillers don't always have to have a wild twist, but when the rest of the book isn't really catching me, a good twist does help to raise that rating a bit.
I felt like the author handed the reader a few too many things. I always like to read reviews after I finish the book, and it seems like plenty of people were still shocked by the ending, but I thought a lot of things were spelled out for me. Was I 100% sure? No, it could have been anyone, but the culprit was still well within our sights and I wish there was something pushing us away so it would have been a bit more exciting to reveal.
While this was a bit more suspenseful than GONE TONIGHT, HOUSE OF GLASS still was medium-paced, which again, is fine, but the rest of the details didn't really grab me. I was definitely interested in who killed the nanny and I was entertained the whole read, so that's why I went with 3.5 stars, but it didn't cross that threshold to really hit 4, and I wasn't disengaged enough to lower it to a 3. The author also tried to throw in the hint of a romance at 80% and no no no, that is not necessary whatsoever.
AUDIOBOOK THOUGHTS: I listened to this book as an audiobook whose narrator was Laura Benanti. While I thought she did a good job with the narration, I really didn't feel like her voice and style was a fit for this book. Her voice was just a little higher pitched and kind of reminded me of Rebecca Soler in a way. I just feel like her style would be much better for romance or young adult. I actually have listened to her before, only once, in another thriller but it was an action thriller (DROWNING by T.J. Newman). Whatever the reason, I just didn't feel it here. Other than that personal preference, I thought she did a really good job with the rest of the narration and all of the different voices!
<b><I>Thank you to the publisher, Macmillan Audio / St. Martin's Press, for the audiobook review copy. This did not affect my review in any way.</b></I>
HOUSE OF GLASS was like definition "okay" thriller. I wasn't really wowed by Sarah Pekkanen's last book, GONE TONIGHT, and this one was a little bit better but it just wasn't anything original nor was it high octane and fast-paced to make up for it. I really enjoyed the co-author team of Sarah Pekkanen & Greer Hendricks... not sure what happened to Greer Hendricks, but those books just had better chemistry for me.
HOUSE OF GLASS wasn't bad, but I've read far too many thrillers to really be impressed by it. I did like the main character and narrator Stella, and I had fun watching the the mystery of the Barclay house unravel. This was a little like THE SILENT PATIENT in the sense that Rose is no longer speaking after the traumatic incident of watching her nanny die. Was it murder? And if so, who did it? Anyone in the house is a suspect, including Rose herself. I didn't feel like this was too close to THE SILENT PATIENT or anything, but it still maybe be of interest for fans of the book! It was just an average thriller that felt pretty tame, in my opinion, and there wasn't really any twist or reveal that shocked me. Thrillers don't always have to have a wild twist, but when the rest of the book isn't really catching me, a good twist does help to raise that rating a bit.
I felt like the author handed the reader a few too many things. I always like to read reviews after I finish the book, and it seems like plenty of people were still shocked by the ending, but I thought a lot of things were spelled out for me. Was I 100% sure? No, it could have been anyone, but the culprit was still well within our sights and I wish there was something pushing us away so it would have been a bit more exciting to reveal.
While this was a bit more suspenseful than GONE TONIGHT, HOUSE OF GLASS still was medium-paced, which again, is fine, but the rest of the details didn't really grab me. I was definitely interested in who killed the nanny and I was entertained the whole read, so that's why I went with 3.5 stars, but it didn't cross that threshold to really hit 4, and I wasn't disengaged enough to lower it to a 3. The author also tried to throw in the hint of a romance at 80% and no no no, that is not necessary whatsoever.
AUDIOBOOK THOUGHTS: I listened to this book as an audiobook whose narrator was Laura Benanti. While I thought she did a good job with the narration, I really didn't feel like her voice and style was a fit for this book. Her voice was just a little higher pitched and kind of reminded me of Rebecca Soler in a way. I just feel like her style would be much better for romance or young adult. I actually have listened to her before, only once, in another thriller but it was an action thriller (DROWNING by T.J. Newman). Whatever the reason, I just didn't feel it here. Other than that personal preference, I thought she did a really good job with the rest of the narration and all of the different voices!
<b>Read Completed 5/28/24 |</b> 3.75 stars
This was an interesting read that started off immediately with the death of Jen's son Eli, and then slipped into a little bit of more of a drama feel than thriller for a while. I was definitely interested in getting to the bottom of how he died and who killed him, and while I was curious, the pacing was still a bit slower in the middle. I did enjoy my read overall, though there were a few things that I didn't love.
Firstly, let's talk about good things, starting with the ending! That really sealed the deal for me and some of the reveals we got in the end were so wild. I loved that the author was able to slip a few more surprises in there for us, even after revealing so much already! Honestly, it made me round up this rating and leave the book at a 3.75 instead of 3.5.
I did like the characters as well. Everyone in the book is flawed but it's also not so much that it makes you hate them. They really did feel human and everyone makes mistakes. There was a clear villain in the end and you do end up hating that person, but for good reason.
The few things I didn't like did affect the reading experience, but not horribly. Like I said before, the pacing was a bit slower and more dramatic in the middle of the book. That wasn't a bad thing and it was almost more character-driven during that section, getting to really know the ins and outs of all of the families and people of the town that are potentially connected to this case. What I didn't love was the addition of extra POVs only in the very end to explain everything that happened. While I liked the ending, it felt a bit clunky to have random extra POVs just to explain how everything went down. I'm no writer, but I wish there was a way to have that more incorporated in the story... maybe include some of them at random in the middle.
I also didn't love that towards the end, Jen relied heavily on being visited by Eli's spirit/presence/memory/ghost to help her solve the mystery. He sent them a few clues in dreams and flashes and it was just odd when this wasn't a part of the book the whole way through. I had no issues with feeling him at the place where he died and feeling close to him that way, but having actual clues being sent through dreams was out of place.
This was such a random pick on Hoopla and I'm glad I read it! Aside from the things I didn't really enjoy, the author did a great job with the ending and totally floored me with some of those reveals/twists! That really left me happier with the book than I expected to be.
This was an interesting read that started off immediately with the death of Jen's son Eli, and then slipped into a little bit of more of a drama feel than thriller for a while. I was definitely interested in getting to the bottom of how he died and who killed him, and while I was curious, the pacing was still a bit slower in the middle. I did enjoy my read overall, though there were a few things that I didn't love.
Firstly, let's talk about good things, starting with the ending! That really sealed the deal for me and some of the reveals we got in the end were so wild. I loved that the author was able to slip a few more surprises in there for us, even after revealing so much already! Honestly, it made me round up this rating and leave the book at a 3.75 instead of 3.5.
I did like the characters as well. Everyone in the book is flawed but it's also not so much that it makes you hate them. They really did feel human and everyone makes mistakes. There was a clear villain in the end and you do end up hating that person, but for good reason.
The few things I didn't like did affect the reading experience, but not horribly. Like I said before, the pacing was a bit slower and more dramatic in the middle of the book. That wasn't a bad thing and it was almost more character-driven during that section, getting to really know the ins and outs of all of the families and people of the town that are potentially connected to this case. What I didn't love was the addition of extra POVs only in the very end to explain everything that happened. While I liked the ending, it felt a bit clunky to have random extra POVs just to explain how everything went down. I'm no writer, but I wish there was a way to have that more incorporated in the story... maybe include some of them at random in the middle.
I also didn't love that towards the end, Jen relied heavily on being visited by Eli's spirit/presence/memory/ghost to help her solve the mystery. He sent them a few clues in dreams and flashes and it was just odd when this wasn't a part of the book the whole way through. I had no issues with feeling him at the place where he died and feeling close to him that way, but having actual clues being sent through dreams was out of place.
This was such a random pick on Hoopla and I'm glad I read it! Aside from the things I didn't really enjoy, the author did a great job with the ending and totally floored me with some of those reveals/twists! That really left me happier with the book than I expected to be.
<b>Read Completed 5/26/24 |</b> 2.5 stars, rounded down
I accidentally thought this was a different book when I started it, but nevertheless, I was still hoping to enjoy it. This just wasn't the book for me and if I had known a little bit more about it, I might not have picked it up.
I'm mostly disappointed in DON'T YOU DARE for two reasons: 1. Because every character was horrible and nothing about Hannah as a main character was redeemable and 2. This was annoyingly smutty, which is not my style and I got really tired of hearing Hannah bang this dude for half the book. Maybe if you're looking for a romantic thriller, this might be more for you, but we spent way too much time hearing about everything sexual going on when I could not have cared less. Some of it was important to the plot, but really, most of it wasn't.
The characters were absolutely horrible. There really wasn't a grey area where I was like, well, I feel for Hannah. She had some rough things in her past, but so do we all. I got sick of listening to her wallow about her college days, stuck in the past, and instead just drinking and hating her current life, aside from her kids. She makes terrible choices and basically wants zero accountability. Scarlett is also a horrible person, and I always doubted Thomas's intentions as well. I'm all for thrillers that have toxic characters, complicated relationships, and morally grey leads, but the way they were all written, this just didn't work for me.
The plot of this was pretty weak the whole book and then things FINALLY got a little interesting in the end with some twists. I did see a couple of them coming, but a couple things still surprised me... but I still hated every single one of them in the end and didn't want anyone to have a happy resolution.
I accidentally thought this was a different book when I started it, but nevertheless, I was still hoping to enjoy it. This just wasn't the book for me and if I had known a little bit more about it, I might not have picked it up.
I'm mostly disappointed in DON'T YOU DARE for two reasons: 1. Because every character was horrible and nothing about Hannah as a main character was redeemable and 2. This was annoyingly smutty, which is not my style and I got really tired of hearing Hannah bang this dude for half the book. Maybe if you're looking for a romantic thriller, this might be more for you, but we spent way too much time hearing about everything sexual going on when I could not have cared less. Some of it was important to the plot, but really, most of it wasn't.
The characters were absolutely horrible. There really wasn't a grey area where I was like, well, I feel for Hannah. She had some rough things in her past, but so do we all. I got sick of listening to her wallow about her college days, stuck in the past, and instead just drinking and hating her current life, aside from her kids. She makes terrible choices and basically wants zero accountability. Scarlett is also a horrible person, and I always doubted Thomas's intentions as well. I'm all for thrillers that have toxic characters, complicated relationships, and morally grey leads, but the way they were all written, this just didn't work for me.
The plot of this was pretty weak the whole book and then things FINALLY got a little interesting in the end with some twists. I did see a couple of them coming, but a couple things still surprised me... but I still hated every single one of them in the end and didn't want anyone to have a happy resolution.