Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell

Lisa Jewell’s latest novel with dark suspense? Yes please!

Thank you to Atria books for my gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: Owen Pick’s life is falling apart. In his thirties, a virgin, and living in his aunt’s spare bedroom, he has just been suspended from his job as a geography teacher after accusations of sexual misconduct, which he strongly denies. Searching for professional advice online, he is inadvertently sucked into the dark world of incel—involuntary celibate—forums, where he meets the charismatic, mysterious, and sinister Bryn. Across the street from Owen lives the Fours family, headed by mom Cate, a physiotherapist, and dad Roan, a child psychologist. But the Fours family have a bad feeling about their neighbor Owen. He’s a bit creepy and their teenaged daughter swears he followed her home from the train station one night. Meanwhile, young Saffyre Maddox spent three years as a patient of Roan Fours. Feeling abandoned when their therapy ends, she searches for other ways to maintain her connection with him, following him in the shadows and learning more than she wanted to know about Roan and his family. Then, on Valentine’s night, Saffyre Maddox disappears—and the last person to see her alive is Owen Pick. With evocative, vivid, and unputdownable prose and plenty of disturbing twists and turns, Jewell’s latest thriller is another “haunting, atmospheric, stay-up-way-too-late read” (Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author).

The Family Upstairs is still my favorite Lisa Jewell novel. This one was a little too dark for me. Lots of trigger warnings could come up for people reading this. The world of incel is just one that I wasn’t ready to wrap my head around at this time (not mad that I was exposed to it in this book). There’s lots of different point of views which can be confusing to follow so that may turn you off. Lisa is a really talented author and I cannot fault her for that in this book!

3/5 Stars

What Kind of Quiz Book Are You? by Rachel McMahon

My friend Emma and I would google search quizzes all the time in high school to send back and forth to each other because they are just so dang fun! If only we had this book back then, we’d never get anything done. I thoroughly enjoy taking the BuzzFeed quizzes online, so I was super pumped to give this a try!

Thank you Atria books for gifting me a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: Who hasn’t clicked on an online quiz that suggests your choice of Pop Tart flavor (or favorite Jonas brother) will reveal your relationship status or hidden personality traits? (Hint: hundreds of millions of people have done this, and counting!) Perfect for all ages and backgrounds, this fun, light-hearted, and thought-provoking collection features both brand new and popular quizzes directly from BuzzFeed’s viral sensation Rachel McMahon. Featuring additional irreverent commentary and breakdowns of quiz outcomes not previously published on such topics as who is your celebrity boyfriend based on what frozen yogurt you like to finding out whether you are more Phineas or Ferb based on your favorite sandwich toppings, What Kind of Quiz Book Are You? is an entertaining and laugh-out-loud collection like no other, destined to become as addictive as coloring books.

I’ve been so excited about this book. I brought it along with me on my recent long car trip to entertain myself and my family. As much as I loved the goofiness and quirkiness of the quizzes, I was left a little disappointed. Maybe it was just me, but every quiz I took, I scored even on all of the responses! For example, the quiz answers would say “If you answered mostly A’s you are….If you answered mostly B’s you are…If you answered mostly C’s….” For each quiz I took – I was all of them, A, B, C, you name it! Every single time! Frustrating! I tried taking the quizzes a bunch of different ways to prevent it from happening, but it was no use. I absolutely love the concept of this book, but I was left high and dry. Maybe there needed to be more quizzes with an odd number of questions? I’ll just stick to taking them on BuzzFeed I guess or look for another edition in the future.

2/5 Stars

Vessel by Lisa A Nichols

As a Star Trek Fan, I feel it is my duty to expand my science fiction reading experience. This one sounded way too good to pass up. In fact, I stayed up all night reading it!

Thank you Atria Books for my gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: After Catherine Wells’s ship experiences a deadly incident in deep space and loses contact with NASA, the entire world believes her dead. Miraculously—and mysteriously—she survived, but with little memory of what happened. Her reentry after a decade away is a turbulent one: her husband has moved on with another woman and the young daughter she left behind has grown into a teenager she barely recognizes. Catherine, too, is different. The long years alone changed her, and as she readjusts to being home, sometimes she feels disconnected and even, at times, deep rage toward her family and colleagues. There are periods of time she can’t account for, too, and she begins waking up in increasingly strange and worrisome locations, like restricted areas of NASA. Suddenly she’s questioning everything that happened up in space: how her crewmates died, how she survived, and now, what’s happening to her back on Earth. Smart, gripping, and compelling, this page-turning sci-fi thriller will leave you breathless.

This read just like a Twilight Zone episode – another show of which I am a huge fan of (the original of course). This even reminded me of an episode from an old radio show called “Suspense”. Basically, this was so suspenseful that it kept me at the edge of my seat the whole time. It read like a dream! If you enjoyed “The Martian”, then you will love this book even more. The character development was perfect and the mystery really did leave me breathless. I’m just anxiously awaiting to hear that this will become a movie one day because I’m here for it!

5/5 Stars

The Last by Hanna Jameson

This book has been on my radar since early Fall 2018. I have been beyond excited to read this book because it just sounded so incredible!

Thank you Atria Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for my honest review.

It’s the end of the world as we know it. Or do we? Jon was away on conference when the end of the world came in the form of a nuclear war. He is one of the few people that decided to stay in the hotel to wait out and see what happens. What starts as a survival story becomes a story of mystery – a little girl is found murdered in the water tank of the hotel. You’d be surprised at how much this twist of fate makes a difference in the end!

I absolutely loved the way this story was written. This story was Jon’s written journal of what went down when he got the news that the end of the world had begun. Such a cool way to read a book! Hanna is also super talented at writing a mystery novel. She has gone on my list of favorite authors for sure! This story read like a Twilight Zone story. Everything about this novel I loved. Except? The ending! It totally caught me off guard! I don’t know why I didn’t expect it, but it shocked me and still has my head spinning. I thought it was so unfitting for how the rest of the story went. It was just really far-fetched and didn’t seem to belong. It’s been gnawing at my brain for the last 24 hours. I don’t know quite what to think of it, but just to take it as face value.

4/5 Stars

Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering

Lucy is about to attend her college friend’s wedding and it’s starting to stir up a lot of emotions for her. She’s got a decent job, a sort-of boyfriend, and enjoys living in NYC. But she can’t seem to get her mind off Stephen. We learn about their relationship in college, the deep dark family secrets they’ve shared with each other, and now face the reality that they’re about to run into each other again at the wedding. Can she handle it? Can she ever get over him?

I knew I’d love this book, but not as much as I truly do! I did not want this book to end. I fell head over heels for these characters. The story takes place present day and flashes back to their college days. I think some people may find that it makes the story longer than it needs to be, but I completely disagree. You watch these characters grow and it’s so crucial to the plot! And it’s just so well written. I saw myself a lot in this book – through Lucy’s relationship with Stephen. All the feels!

5/5 Stars