Some books I need injected into my veins, others I wish I got back 500 pages of my life.
Here were the best books of April and the worst.
Evil Boys
Author: Clarissa Wild
Genre: Reverse Harem, Romance, Dark, Suspense, Adult
Published: July 28th, 2023
Pages: 510
I am the golden child, the one who’s supposed to be perfect.
During the day I attend Spine Ridge University as my father wishes, but when darkness falls I put on my mask to hunt criminals and destroy them.
Until one night when I come face to face with three evil boys …
Kai, Nathan, and Milo from the Phantom Society. Secretive, violent, dirty guys who promise to expose my vigilante justice and put my dangerous side-job in the limelight.
They’ll show the world how savage I truly am … unless I let them have their way with me.
My body bartered for their silence … And I say yes.
They’re shameless in claiming me, not even my dignity is spared.
With their devious games they make me question my sanity.
Worst of all … I’m beginning to love every inch of their corruption.
Until it’s no longer just bodies against bodies, but four hearts beating in sync.
But if I’m really going to go down this path to hell …
I’m taking those devils with me.
My Thoughts
This book was just fan fiction, essentially.
90% of Evil Boys was just “woo-hooing” and the other 10% was family drama and eradicating bad guys.
When I say I lost brain cells reading this. The number of times I laughed not because something was funny but because of how widely bizarre a scene would be.
If you aren’t particular about plot and just want a book to kill time, this may be the one for you. Me however? I barely got through.
Not A Happy Family
Author: Shari Lapena
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Adult
Published: July 27th, 2021
Pages: 349
In this family, everyone is keeping secrets–especially the dead. Brecken Hill in upstate New York is an expensive place to live. You have to be rich to have a house there. And they don’t come much richer than Fred and Sheila Merton. But even all their money can’t protect them when a killer comes to call. The Mertons are brutally murdered the night after an Easter Dinner with their three adult kids. Who, of course, are devastated.
Or are they? They each stand to inherit millions. They were never a happy family, thanks to their capricious father and neglectful mother, but perhaps one of them is more disturbed than anyone knew. Did one of them snap after that dreadful evening? Or was it someone else that night who crept in with the worst of intentions? It must be. After all, if one of your siblings was a psychopath, you’d know.
Wouldn’t you?
My Thoughts
This book always had me second-guessing which I loved.
I gave this 4 stars simply because I found a lot of the dialogue to be repetitive, but other than that, Not a Happy Family was a great read for me.
That is not to say that the ending was particularly “wild” or “unsuspecting.” The moments leading up to the end were far better than the actual ending.
I couldn’t put it down no matter how hard I tried.
My Dark Romeo
Author: Parker S. Huntington & L.J. Shen
Genre: Romance, Dark, Contemporary, Adult
Published: March 1st, 2023
Pages: 366
It was supposed to be a harmless kiss at a lavish debutante ball.
A clandestine moment with a handsome stranger.
But unlike his namesake, my Romeo isn’t driven by love.
He’s fueled by revenge.
To him, I’m a chess piece. Leverage.
His rival’s betrothed.
To me, he is a man deserving of poison.
A dark prince I refuse to marry.
He thinks I’ll accept my fate.
Well, I plan to rewrite it.
And in my story, Juliet doesn’t die.
But Romeo? He perishes.
My Thoughts
This book? Chef’s kiss.
A tough, sassy, independent female lead? A rich, brooding, borderline morally gray male lead?
Fireworks.
I loved this book so much more than I had planned. The banter between Dallas and Romeo had me giggling every other page; I couldn’t get enough of these two.
They are complete opposites and yet each other’s other half.
Long live My Dark Romeo.
The House Across The Lake
Author: Riley Sager
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Paranormal, Adult
Published: June 21st, 2022
Pages: 369
Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press, has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of liquor, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple who live in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is rich; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous.
One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other—and the longer Casey watches—it becomes clear that Katherine and Tom’s marriage is not as perfect and placid as it appears. When Katherine suddenly vanishes, Casey becomes consumed with finding out what happened to her. In the process, she uncovers eerie, darker truths that turn a tale of voyeurism and suspicion into a story of guilt, obsession and how looks can be very deceiving.
My Thoughts
I did enjoy reading this book but was it something to write home about? Not really.
The first 75% was just Casey throwing suspicions around at everyone. Then there was the other 25% that threw me around the globe, spun me around a few times, and then threw me back around again the way I just came.
Am I pleased with the ending? No.
Will I read it again in the future? Most likely.
If you aren’t particular about logistics and just want to read a good mystery, definitely pick this one up.
However, I suggest lowering your standards if you’re expecting a top-of-the-line thriller.
The Goldfinch
Author: Donna Tartt
Genre: Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Coming of Age, Mystery, Adult
Published: September 23rd, 2013
Pages: 771
Aged thirteen, Theo Decker, son of a devoted mother and a reckless, largely absent father, survives an accident that otherwise tears his life apart. Alone and rudderless in New York, he is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. He is tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, and down the years clings to the thing that most reminds him of her: a small, strangely captivating painting that ultimately draws him into the criminal underworld. As he grows up, Theo learns to glide between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love – and his talisman, the painting, places him at the centre of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.
The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettably vivid characters and thrilling suspense, it is a beautiful, addictive triumph – a sweeping story of loss and obsession, of survival and self-invention, of the deepest mysteries of love, identity and fate.
My Thoughts
I’m going to keep this one short because there is no way for me to write just how this book made me feel.
A very very very long book with distant references that I only understood about half of the time. This is by no means an easy read.
Does it live up to the hype? I vote 10x yes.
Sweetbitter
Author: Stephanie Danler
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Adult
Published: May 24th, 2016
Pages: 353
“Let’s say I was born when I came over the George Washington Bridge…” This is how we meet unforgettable Tess, the 22-year-old at the heart of this stunning debut. Shot like a bullet from a mundane past, she’s come to New York to escape the provincial, to take on her destiny. After she stumbles into a coveted job at a renowned Union Square restaurant, we spend the year with her as she learns the chaotic, punishing, privileged life of a “backwaiter,” on and off duty. Her appetites are awakened, for food, wine, knowledge and experience; and she’s pulled into the thrall of two other servers–a handsome bartender she falls hard for, and an older woman whose connection to both young lovers is murky, sensual, and overpowering. These two will prove to be Tess’s hardest lesson of all. Sweetbitter is a story about discovery, enchantment, and the power of what remains after disillusionment.
My Thoughts
I really did start by enjoying this book but once Tess started seeing her love interest, the book went down hill so fast.
Everything is about her and the way she goes about certain events makes you want to grab Tess by the shoulders and shake her senseless.
It seemed like her entire life became centered around this guy who would never give her the time of day that she deserved. I couldn’t take the lack of self-respect any longer.
The story became less about Tess navigating through life and more about making this guy like her. I would have put the book down half way through but I had to see it till the end. |
The Lying Club
Author: Annie Ward
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Adult
Published: March 22nd, 2022
Pages: 432
A tangled web of lies draws together three women in this explosive thriller of revenge, murder and shocking secrets
My Thoughts
I need this book injected into my veins.
My favorite of all the mysteries I’ve read so far this year for sure.
There is family drama, affairs, cheating, lying, murder, you name it. I mean it, there is everything.
The blurb doesn’t give much but if you love seeing rich people getting there hands dirty, I beg of you to pick this up.
One chapter in and I was hooked till the end.
I'm Glad My Mom Died
Author: Jennette McCurdy
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Mental Health, Adult
Published: August 9th, 2022
Pages: 320
A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.
In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly , she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.
My Thoughts
If you have the means to listen to the audiobook, you absolutely must. Hearing Jennette’s story from herself was an entirely different experience that I know the physical book wouldn’t have been able to provide.
If you are looking to jump into memoirs than I’m Glad My Mom Died will be a great first step.
Jennette’s story was so troubling and even more so inspiring. She has such a way with words that makes it impossible to hear anything else.
People We Meet on Vacation
Author: Emily Henry
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Adult
Published: May 11th, 2021
Pages: 364
Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.
Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.
Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since.
Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.
Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?
My Thoughts
This one was not my favorite of Ms. Henry’s but I couldn’t stop reading nonetheless.
Poppy is energetic, outgoing, and an adventurer. Alex is quiet, introverted, and a homebody. One summer together turned into a decade-long tradition until trouble struck paradise.
I found the problems these two faced that led to the whole “one last summer to fix” situation to be lame. While this was the first I’ve found myself enjoying the friends-to-lovers trope, the reason for their disconnect was uncalled for
I did giggle a lot so that was a plus.
