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<b>Read Completed 10/16/24 |</b> 3.5 stars, rounded up
I just adored Melissa Weisner's debut and couldn't wait to read this new release from her. WISH I WERE HERE was a little less my style, but I really enjoyed the writing and really appreciated how the book ended!
This was a little less magical than THE SECOND CHANCE YEAR and a little more magical all at once. In an overwhelming moment, our main character Catherine wishes she was nobody and poof! All of a sudden, she can't be found in any database or system anywhere as a real identity. She then goes on a very real hunt for her birth certificate and her mother, all of which are not magical quests but actual important things in her life. We circle back around to a touch of the magic in the end to wrap things up! This was also a bit more contemporary, to me, than romance, which also wasn't a bad thing but not quite what I was expecting. I suppose all romances still have a lot of self-reflection but I felt like Catherine's growth was definitely first and foremost with the romance being a bonus.
This was a fun exploration in identity and overcorrecting your past. Catherine is very type A and sometimes those types of characters are hard for me to read about. She's a math professor, but comes from a background of her father being a clown and running with a crowd who is very into arts, loose schedules, and living a freer life. Now Catherine, all grown up, fixates on her schedules and goals -- which is not a bad thing at all, but she overcorrected just a bit, not having had security like that as a child. I really liked seeing her connect the two parts of her life. She really loves her father but had a hard time when he wasn't the most reliable parent, and now as an adult, she's figuring out how to have a relationship with him. I loved that she got back in touch with her childhood and let go of some of her strict schedules, realizing that she absolutely can have a STEM/math-focused job and enjoy what she does but still let loose and let go of some of that control every once in a while too. I was SO HAPPY that the author didn't make her quit her job that she enjoyed, and she even got to connect with someone in her department that wasn't stuffy to show that personalities of all kinds get to enjoy this type of job.
I also really appreciated Catherine's search for her mother and I don't want to go into any spoilers, but I really liked how the end of that was handled. It wasn't all or nothing, and it made perfect, realistic sense instead of being hyperbolic for the sake of a romance book.
The romance was cute, and I liked how it all worked out. I was afraid that I, too, was going to get annoyed with Luca's unreliability, but I loved how the author really explained every situation in which he felt unreliable. Catherine gets to dig deeper and see exactly why Luca seems out of sorts all the time, and he really just has a heart of gold and is arranging his schedule around others to help them out. I like that he was so supportive and helped Catherine break some rules.
This was a cute read and I really enjoy Melissa Weisner's writing style! I wasn't bowled over by it but it was quite heart-warming and very enjoyable.
I just adored Melissa Weisner's debut and couldn't wait to read this new release from her. WISH I WERE HERE was a little less my style, but I really enjoyed the writing and really appreciated how the book ended!
This was a little less magical than THE SECOND CHANCE YEAR and a little more magical all at once. In an overwhelming moment, our main character Catherine wishes she was nobody and poof! All of a sudden, she can't be found in any database or system anywhere as a real identity. She then goes on a very real hunt for her birth certificate and her mother, all of which are not magical quests but actual important things in her life. We circle back around to a touch of the magic in the end to wrap things up! This was also a bit more contemporary, to me, than romance, which also wasn't a bad thing but not quite what I was expecting. I suppose all romances still have a lot of self-reflection but I felt like Catherine's growth was definitely first and foremost with the romance being a bonus.
This was a fun exploration in identity and overcorrecting your past. Catherine is very type A and sometimes those types of characters are hard for me to read about. She's a math professor, but comes from a background of her father being a clown and running with a crowd who is very into arts, loose schedules, and living a freer life. Now Catherine, all grown up, fixates on her schedules and goals -- which is not a bad thing at all, but she overcorrected just a bit, not having had security like that as a child. I really liked seeing her connect the two parts of her life. She really loves her father but had a hard time when he wasn't the most reliable parent, and now as an adult, she's figuring out how to have a relationship with him. I loved that she got back in touch with her childhood and let go of some of her strict schedules, realizing that she absolutely can have a STEM/math-focused job and enjoy what she does but still let loose and let go of some of that control every once in a while too. I was SO HAPPY that the author didn't make her quit her job that she enjoyed, and she even got to connect with someone in her department that wasn't stuffy to show that personalities of all kinds get to enjoy this type of job.
I also really appreciated Catherine's search for her mother and I don't want to go into any spoilers, but I really liked how the end of that was handled. It wasn't all or nothing, and it made perfect, realistic sense instead of being hyperbolic for the sake of a romance book.
The romance was cute, and I liked how it all worked out. I was afraid that I, too, was going to get annoyed with Luca's unreliability, but I loved how the author really explained every situation in which he felt unreliable. Catherine gets to dig deeper and see exactly why Luca seems out of sorts all the time, and he really just has a heart of gold and is arranging his schedule around others to help them out. I like that he was so supportive and helped Catherine break some rules.
This was a cute read and I really enjoy Melissa Weisner's writing style! I wasn't bowled over by it but it was quite heart-warming and very enjoyable.
<b>Read Completed on 10/18/24 |</b> 4 stars
Abby Jimenez can make me feel anything in 10 pages! This was just a fun little add-on but it was still cute. Maddy is a little pricklier than some of Abby's other heroines (a side character turned main character for the purpose of this short), but even in this quick short, I still felt all the feelings and loved this little start for these two.
Abby Jimenez can make me feel anything in 10 pages! This was just a fun little add-on but it was still cute. Maddy is a little pricklier than some of Abby's other heroines (a side character turned main character for the purpose of this short), but even in this quick short, I still felt all the feelings and loved this little start for these two.
<b>Read Completed 10/18/24 |</b> 3.25 stars
I loved the concept of this book, but the execution just didn't really do it for me. While I enjoyed the vibe of the book, I felt like it took just forever to really do anything. I was 70% in and I still felt like we were setting things up. Much of the book is a light haunting and seances in the house that Nic and her friends (plus a professor who is running the seances) are inhabiting. There are a couple other things that happen here and there, but it's all a slow burn push to connect with Nic's dead husband, Anton.
There are flashbacks to a horrific incident that happened to Nic when she was a teenager involving two best friends, a different seance, and a gruesome murder. I really felt like a lot of these flashbacks to the past disrupted the flow of the book, though it of course does all tie in at the end.
The book had a lot of potential, but it really lost me the further we got. I loved the atmosphere. The vibe was spooky, there were some amazingly creepy moments where I kept looking over my shoulder as I was listening to the audiobook convinced that someone was behind me. Lots of great chills and goosebumps. But things got really repetitive, poking at the same things over and over again, waiting for Anton to communicate more as a dangerous entity starts poking through. Finally, in the end, it was just so over-the-top that it didn't feel congruous to the vibe of the rest of the book and it got a little unbelievable, so sadly, this one really didn't do it for me.
I listened to this as an audiobook and I really was interested in the story in the beginning, but the narrator was pretty boring. Jennifer Pickens narrated this one, who I've only listened to once before on a novella, but she just wasn't the right fit for this atmospheric vibe, for my tastes. I wanted more gravity, more spooky, but the vibe just wasn't there. Her narration was fine and I don't have a huge complaint, but I just think there were much better choices.
I loved the concept of this book, but the execution just didn't really do it for me. While I enjoyed the vibe of the book, I felt like it took just forever to really do anything. I was 70% in and I still felt like we were setting things up. Much of the book is a light haunting and seances in the house that Nic and her friends (plus a professor who is running the seances) are inhabiting. There are a couple other things that happen here and there, but it's all a slow burn push to connect with Nic's dead husband, Anton.
There are flashbacks to a horrific incident that happened to Nic when she was a teenager involving two best friends, a different seance, and a gruesome murder. I really felt like a lot of these flashbacks to the past disrupted the flow of the book, though it of course does all tie in at the end.
The book had a lot of potential, but it really lost me the further we got. I loved the atmosphere. The vibe was spooky, there were some amazingly creepy moments where I kept looking over my shoulder as I was listening to the audiobook convinced that someone was behind me. Lots of great chills and goosebumps. But things got really repetitive, poking at the same things over and over again, waiting for Anton to communicate more as a dangerous entity starts poking through. Finally, in the end, it was just so over-the-top that it didn't feel congruous to the vibe of the rest of the book and it got a little unbelievable, so sadly, this one really didn't do it for me.
I listened to this as an audiobook and I really was interested in the story in the beginning, but the narrator was pretty boring. Jennifer Pickens narrated this one, who I've only listened to once before on a novella, but she just wasn't the right fit for this atmospheric vibe, for my tastes. I wanted more gravity, more spooky, but the vibe just wasn't there. Her narration was fine and I don't have a huge complaint, but I just think there were much better choices.
<b>Read Completed 10/20/24 |</b> 3 stars
SMALL TOWN HORROR is my third book by Ronald Malfi, but so far the only one that's really stood out for me is still COME WITH ME.
SMALL TOWN HORROR was a little too much of the same old horror story -- kids do or experience something bad as kids, don't talk for years, and then come back to keep this thing under wraps -- and I really don't read a lot of horror. This was actually kind of a slow burn after the happenings in the beginning. The ending really did have quite an awesome twist that I didn't see coming and I was just so happy with it. But it just wasn't enough to really save the whole book. I wish there had a been a bit more in the middle to really carry things the whole way through.
SMALL TOWN HORROR is my third book by Ronald Malfi, but so far the only one that's really stood out for me is still COME WITH ME.
SMALL TOWN HORROR was a little too much of the same old horror story -- kids do or experience something bad as kids, don't talk for years, and then come back to keep this thing under wraps -- and I really don't read a lot of horror. This was actually kind of a slow burn after the happenings in the beginning. The ending really did have quite an awesome twist that I didn't see coming and I was just so happy with it. But it just wasn't enough to really save the whole book. I wish there had a been a bit more in the middle to really carry things the whole way through.
Read Completed 10/21/24 | 2 stars
MINOR SPOILERS further down
This really wasn't good. It doesn't have a good rating, but I did like Kiersten White's storytelling style in MISTER MAGIC (even if I didn't love the ending) and I was hoping to latch on to something like that here, but nope. This just didn't work for me in any way at all.
<b>Firstly, there were too many characters.</b> Right off the bat, I didn't care about any of them. Mackenzie is really the main character here, but in third person and getting WAY too many POVs, I didn't get to know her enough and she wasn't developed enough as a real personality for me to connect. As for every single other character, I couldn't have cared less. We spent so little time with them that I was immediately drifting and losing focus.
<b>I was really hoping to connect with the writing style, but it really came off as rushed and almost like it was a YA novel, but not even a good YA novel.</b> HIDE kind of had vibes like THE HUNGER GAMES meets SQUID GAME in the beginning, but I liked the human elements in those series much more. Kiersten White DOES come from a young adult background, but this just didn't feel adult in any way, really. The characters were underdeveloped and immature and I felt like it spelled too much out for the reader. The plot was practically non-existent and we spent most of the time just running around. It was more action-driven and yet there was too much time showing how the characters were just all over the place with each other than actually feeling suspense.
<b>Nothing happened.</b> Sure, action-driven books don't have a lot of plot but I wasn't even feeling the suspense here. Another issue I have with a lot of horror novels is that half the time, the author never EXPLAINS why things are happening. So there is a horror / supernatural element here, and I was expecting a 50 / 50 shot of the horror element being humans killing each other, or a monster killing people. BUT WHY was the monster there? Where did it come from? There was kind of a why that it fed on specific people but also WHY was that thing?
<b>I don't like using a diary as a way to tell the most important part of the story.</b> The most interesting parts were tucked away in short, clipped diary entries. Like wait, I actually want to know what's going on here. No one gets to actually experience this or talk about it. The characters just get to find out the most important things from a book.
Really none of this book worked for me. I could probably rate it lower, and maybe thinking on it I'll change my mind, but it feels mean to rate it lower than 2 stars... I just didn't enjoy any single part of this. If this hadn't been this short, I wouldn't have finished it, but it was a quick read.
MINOR SPOILERS further down
This really wasn't good. It doesn't have a good rating, but I did like Kiersten White's storytelling style in MISTER MAGIC (even if I didn't love the ending) and I was hoping to latch on to something like that here, but nope. This just didn't work for me in any way at all.
<b>Firstly, there were too many characters.</b> Right off the bat, I didn't care about any of them. Mackenzie is really the main character here, but in third person and getting WAY too many POVs, I didn't get to know her enough and she wasn't developed enough as a real personality for me to connect. As for every single other character, I couldn't have cared less. We spent so little time with them that I was immediately drifting and losing focus.
<b>I was really hoping to connect with the writing style, but it really came off as rushed and almost like it was a YA novel, but not even a good YA novel.</b> HIDE kind of had vibes like THE HUNGER GAMES meets SQUID GAME in the beginning, but I liked the human elements in those series much more. Kiersten White DOES come from a young adult background, but this just didn't feel adult in any way, really. The characters were underdeveloped and immature and I felt like it spelled too much out for the reader. The plot was practically non-existent and we spent most of the time just running around. It was more action-driven and yet there was too much time showing how the characters were just all over the place with each other than actually feeling suspense.
<b>Nothing happened.</b> Sure, action-driven books don't have a lot of plot but I wasn't even feeling the suspense here. Another issue I have with a lot of horror novels is that half the time, the author never EXPLAINS why things are happening. So there is a horror / supernatural element here, and I was expecting a 50 / 50 shot of the horror element being humans killing each other, or a monster killing people. BUT WHY was the monster there? Where did it come from? There was kind of a why that it fed on specific people but also WHY was that thing?
<b>I don't like using a diary as a way to tell the most important part of the story.</b> The most interesting parts were tucked away in short, clipped diary entries. Like wait, I actually want to know what's going on here. No one gets to actually experience this or talk about it. The characters just get to find out the most important things from a book.
Really none of this book worked for me. I could probably rate it lower, and maybe thinking on it I'll change my mind, but it feels mean to rate it lower than 2 stars... I just didn't enjoy any single part of this. If this hadn't been this short, I wouldn't have finished it, but it was a quick read.
Read Completed 10/12/24 | 4 stars
I avoided this book for a long time despite its good reviews because of the cover. So please, begging someone to give this an update because this isn't doing the book any justice. I could go into detail but I'll leave it at that because I actually liked the book and let's talk about that instead!
I really didn't know what to expect going in, but the audiobook had a full cast narration with several POVs from many different characters, and it worked really well for this! I'm happy they went with different narrators for each one because it really worked out well and added to the audiobook production value. I really liked connecting with each one too. We get an intro from Nina and then the rest of the book is told from the perspectives of Nina's parents, Simon's parents, the police officer on the case, and a small part with Nina's sister.
I was a little nervous when halfway through the book, we got a major reveal. I thought it was going to make the rest of the book boring, but it was far from it! There was still so much of this story left to tell and the tension was high. I thought the author did a great job of including all of that emotion, and the audiobook narrators really brought that to the performance as well.
While I think the 5 star reviews maybe overhyped it a little bit, I kept my expectations reasonable and I'm really happy I enjoyed it. I think it's a solid read.
I avoided this book for a long time despite its good reviews because of the cover. So please, begging someone to give this an update because this isn't doing the book any justice. I could go into detail but I'll leave it at that because I actually liked the book and let's talk about that instead!
I really didn't know what to expect going in, but the audiobook had a full cast narration with several POVs from many different characters, and it worked really well for this! I'm happy they went with different narrators for each one because it really worked out well and added to the audiobook production value. I really liked connecting with each one too. We get an intro from Nina and then the rest of the book is told from the perspectives of Nina's parents, Simon's parents, the police officer on the case, and a small part with Nina's sister.
I was a little nervous when halfway through the book, we got a major reveal. I thought it was going to make the rest of the book boring, but it was far from it! There was still so much of this story left to tell and the tension was high. I thought the author did a great job of including all of that emotion, and the audiobook narrators really brought that to the performance as well.
While I think the 5 star reviews maybe overhyped it a little bit, I kept my expectations reasonable and I'm really happy I enjoyed it. I think it's a solid read.
Read Completed 10/14/24 | 3.5 stars
THE HOUSE HUNT was a fun read! I didn't end up loving it and it turned a little more popcorn-y at the end, but the beginning definitely kept my interest. It was fun to have some theories while the book progressed and guess what might have been going on! I was happy that there was a twist that surprised me, even though I kind of guessed part of it. I definitely didn't see part of it coming and it's one of my favorite twists too.
The ending took a little longer than I would have liked. Once the finale action started going, everything took a little too long and I started to lose interest with all of the fast-paced things that were just back-to-back. I felt like some of it got a little too over-the-top and it lost me in the end.
I'm glad I read it and had a good time! I wish I had liked the end a bit more, though.
THE HOUSE HUNT was a fun read! I didn't end up loving it and it turned a little more popcorn-y at the end, but the beginning definitely kept my interest. It was fun to have some theories while the book progressed and guess what might have been going on! I was happy that there was a twist that surprised me, even though I kind of guessed part of it. I definitely didn't see part of it coming and it's one of my favorite twists too.
The ending took a little longer than I would have liked. Once the finale action started going, everything took a little too long and I started to lose interest with all of the fast-paced things that were just back-to-back. I felt like some of it got a little too over-the-top and it lost me in the end.
I'm glad I read it and had a good time! I wish I had liked the end a bit more, though.
Read Completed 5/14/24 | 3.5 - 3.75 stars, rounded up
This was a really fun, high octane thriller read that read like a horror/slasher once things got going. I liked that this was fast-paced and addicting to read! I flew through this, reading as hardcover while on vacation when I haven’t read a physical book in ages.
I did have a lot of things that pulled me out of the book, though. The author had a lot of inaccuracies that either had me looking things up to see if it’s even true/possible or rolling my eyes because I knew it wasn’t. I also could have done without some of the more distasteful and offensive things in the book. It’s weird and unnecessary to include random slurs and child abuse just for the sake of making bad characters. The baddies were already creepy and gross and it really didn’t need to be a part of the book.
This was definitely a popcorn thriller, leading readers on a wild, intense, and brutal journey. I actually had a lot of fun reading it and while it’s not mind-blowing, I love those books where I can just race through them, just enjoying the experience!
This was a really fun, high octane thriller read that read like a horror/slasher once things got going. I liked that this was fast-paced and addicting to read! I flew through this, reading as hardcover while on vacation when I haven’t read a physical book in ages.
I did have a lot of things that pulled me out of the book, though. The author had a lot of inaccuracies that either had me looking things up to see if it’s even true/possible or rolling my eyes because I knew it wasn’t. I also could have done without some of the more distasteful and offensive things in the book. It’s weird and unnecessary to include random slurs and child abuse just for the sake of making bad characters. The baddies were already creepy and gross and it really didn’t need to be a part of the book.
This was definitely a popcorn thriller, leading readers on a wild, intense, and brutal journey. I actually had a lot of fun reading it and while it’s not mind-blowing, I love those books where I can just race through them, just enjoying the experience!
dark
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Read Completed 10/10/24 | 3.25 stars
Mainly, I just think I'm not the audience for Rachel Harrison's books, or very specifically, not for this one. SO THIRSTY read much more contemporary than horror, though it did have some horror moments for sure, full of vampire violence and thrilling moments. But the heart of the story, really, is about Sloane finally breaking through the monotony of her life, settling for things instead of going after what she really wants and really living. She's been staying with a husband who cheats on her, unhappy with her life, feeling old at 36 and completely unfulfilled but not interested in changing the status quo. Naomi is her wild and care-free friend who joins her for her 36th birthday party at a weekend away that her husband arranged and they meet a group of vampires (which obviously they don't know at the time), and things progress from there.
I feel like Sloane is very representative of women everywhere who shouldn't have to settle, and need to go off and seize what they want from life, SO THIRSTY, obviously a play on Sloane's new found thirst to be fulfilled by life in every way as well as her new found physical thirst as a vampire. My issue was that I didn't connect with Sloane. I did like her growth throughout the book, but I just wanted a little bit more, from everything really.
The vampire part of the book was really fun, but the plot and the character development just wasn't enough. The vampire crew were mostly just caricatures and didn't really have deeper personalities, especially for undead beings that are over 500 years old. Or if they did, we didn't really see them. The plot really took a long time to take off. This isn't a long book, and we didn't get to the really vampire-y things until like 40%. I was less interested in Sloane trudging along on a personal journey and more interested in the actual plot. I wanted to see them happen side-by-side.
The friendship also really bothered me. I feel like, especially by the end, we were supposed to be happy about this friendship, but I thought it was pretty unhealthy. Sloane chooses Naomi over her husband and gives up her old life to save Naomi and to basically commit to her forever, but they're really not the best to each other. I'm sure that's all friendships at times, but I just didn't even feel like they really treated each other well. They were constantly fighting and going behind each other's backs. Naomi encouraged Sloane to come out of her shell, hook up, lose control a bit, but then when Sloane starts cavorting with one of the vampires, Naomi gives her shit for pairing off with him. WELL??? You told her to! They were all still in a group together, so it's not like she left her there. (They also fight about this too, that Sloane gave up her entire life for Naomi.) Naomi can't get her thirst under control and Sloane cleans up several of her messes, and she still doesn't appreciate it. It just didn't seem like a balanced, healthy, supportive friendship and I feel like I was supposed to be happy them, but I wasn't.
I did like some of the read and it was just super easy to breeze through. I'm disappointed in the lack of plot -- at least SOME more development with plot and side characters would have been great. It got an extra quarter of a star because it was so easy to fly through, but the ending felt unfinished and rushed. A big old EH feeling for me.
Mainly, I just think I'm not the audience for Rachel Harrison's books, or very specifically, not for this one. SO THIRSTY read much more contemporary than horror, though it did have some horror moments for sure, full of vampire violence and thrilling moments. But the heart of the story, really, is about Sloane finally breaking through the monotony of her life, settling for things instead of going after what she really wants and really living. She's been staying with a husband who cheats on her, unhappy with her life, feeling old at 36 and completely unfulfilled but not interested in changing the status quo. Naomi is her wild and care-free friend who joins her for her 36th birthday party at a weekend away that her husband arranged and they meet a group of vampires (which obviously they don't know at the time), and things progress from there.
I feel like Sloane is very representative of women everywhere who shouldn't have to settle, and need to go off and seize what they want from life, SO THIRSTY, obviously a play on Sloane's new found thirst to be fulfilled by life in every way as well as her new found physical thirst as a vampire. My issue was that I didn't connect with Sloane. I did like her growth throughout the book, but I just wanted a little bit more, from everything really.
The vampire part of the book was really fun, but the plot and the character development just wasn't enough. The vampire crew were mostly just caricatures and didn't really have deeper personalities, especially for undead beings that are over 500 years old. Or if they did, we didn't really see them. The plot really took a long time to take off. This isn't a long book, and we didn't get to the really vampire-y things until like 40%. I was less interested in Sloane trudging along on a personal journey and more interested in the actual plot. I wanted to see them happen side-by-side.
The friendship also really bothered me. I feel like, especially by the end, we were supposed to be happy about this friendship, but I thought it was pretty unhealthy. Sloane chooses Naomi over her husband and gives up her old life to save Naomi and to basically commit to her forever, but they're really not the best to each other. I'm sure that's all friendships at times, but I just didn't even feel like they really treated each other well. They were constantly fighting and going behind each other's backs. Naomi encouraged Sloane to come out of her shell, hook up, lose control a bit, but then when Sloane starts cavorting with one of the vampires, Naomi gives her shit for pairing off with him. WELL??? You told her to! They were all still in a group together, so it's not like she left her there. (They also fight about this too, that Sloane gave up her entire life for Naomi.) Naomi can't get her thirst under control and Sloane cleans up several of her messes, and she still doesn't appreciate it. It just didn't seem like a balanced, healthy, supportive friendship and I feel like I was supposed to be happy them, but I wasn't.
I did like some of the read and it was just super easy to breeze through. I'm disappointed in the lack of plot -- at least SOME more development with plot and side characters would have been great. It got an extra quarter of a star because it was so easy to fly through, but the ending felt unfinished and rushed. A big old EH feeling for me.
Read Completed 10/9/24 | 4 stars
THE FIVE YEAR LIE was a fun read for me! It was a little different than some of the thrillers I've read, just in tone, but I appreciated a little break. Sarina Bowen is best known for her romances but I haven't read any of them yet -- and I really appreciated her writing style in this thriller! It isn't a romantic thriller but it also does have just a little bit of romance peppered in, fitting well with the story, being a mix of domestic and corporate thriller.
There was a little lull in the middle for me and I was worried the book was losing steam, but things really picked up again and I really enjoyed the ending. I appreciated the character development, which I guess shouldn't surprise me from a romance author since romances are sometimes pure character. I loved getting to know Ariel, and her son Buzz was adorable. I often don't like kids in thrillers, but Buzz was a great addition and the writing kept him cute and relatable.
I wasn't AS interested in the actual plot for a while in the middle once we started uncovering more clues and answers, but the story came back around to keep it interesting. There were a few minor characters tossed in which were important to the story, but it took it away from the main focus for me for just a bit.
I'm happy I had fun with this one because I wasn't really sure what to expect. This turned out to be a solid read for me.
THE FIVE YEAR LIE was a fun read for me! It was a little different than some of the thrillers I've read, just in tone, but I appreciated a little break. Sarina Bowen is best known for her romances but I haven't read any of them yet -- and I really appreciated her writing style in this thriller! It isn't a romantic thriller but it also does have just a little bit of romance peppered in, fitting well with the story, being a mix of domestic and corporate thriller.
There was a little lull in the middle for me and I was worried the book was losing steam, but things really picked up again and I really enjoyed the ending. I appreciated the character development, which I guess shouldn't surprise me from a romance author since romances are sometimes pure character. I loved getting to know Ariel, and her son Buzz was adorable. I often don't like kids in thrillers, but Buzz was a great addition and the writing kept him cute and relatable.
I wasn't AS interested in the actual plot for a while in the middle once we started uncovering more clues and answers, but the story came back around to keep it interesting. There were a few minor characters tossed in which were important to the story, but it took it away from the main focus for me for just a bit.
I'm happy I had fun with this one because I wasn't really sure what to expect. This turned out to be a solid read for me.