Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner

I’m excited to share with you the famous Lisa Gardner’s latest novel releasing this month!

Thank you Dutton Books for my gifted ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: Frankie Elkin is an average middle-aged woman, a recovering alcoholic with more regrets than belongings. But she spends her life doing what no one else will–searching for missing people the world has stopped looking for. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never paid attention, Frankie starts looking. A new case brings her to Mattapan, a Boston neighborhood with a rough reputation. She is searching for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who vanished from her high school months earlier. Resistance from the Boston PD and the victim’s wary family tells Frankie she’s on her own–and she soon learns she’s asking questions someone doesn’t want answered. But Frankie will stop at nothing to discover the truth, even if it means the next person to go missing could be her. 

I adore Lisa’s writing, but didn’t love the plot. I think it was more of a slow-read for me compared to some of her previous books. There are two different mysteries going on at once and they slowly unraveled. There are multiple flash-backs that left the plot jumbled in my opinion. This is one I would skip, but would encourage you to read her previous novels, especially if you love following detective series.

3/5 Stars

This Book Is Not Yet Rated by Peter Bognanni

If you love watching movies, you’re going to want to stick around for this review!

I am so excited to be apart of this book tour! Thank you Dial Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: Movies have always helped Ethan Ashby make sense of the world. So when developers swoop in and say the classic Green Street Cinema is going to be destroyed to make room for luxury condos, Ethan is ready for battle. And so a motley crew of cinema employees comes together to save the place they love: There’s Sweet Lou, the elderly organist with a penchant for not-so-sweet language; Anjo, the too-cool projectionist; Griffin and Lucas who work concessions, if they work at all; and Ethan, their manager (who can barely manage his own life). Still, it’s going to take a movie miracle for the Green Street to have a happy ending. And when Raina Allen, Ethan’s oldest friend (and possible soul mate?), comes back to town after working in Hollywood–cue lights and music–it seems that miracle may have been delivered. But life and love aren’t always like in the movies. This Book is Not Yet Rated is about growing up, letting go, and realizing love hides in plain view–in the places that shape us, the people who raise us, the first loves who leave us, and the lives that fade in and fade out all around us.

As soon as I started reading this book, I got immediate “Empire Records” vibes! I felt like that fit perfectly, considering it’s a book about movies in the first place. It has the same type of camaraderie between employees and the fight for saving the institution. I loved the characters in this book because they were all different ages, coming from different backgrounds, and each had their own quirkiness to them. I will say, the relationship between Raina and Ethan really brought me down. I really didn’t care much for Raina and felt like she was a distraction to the bigger picture at play. I was really annoyed every time she came in the picture because I was so invested into the story line of saving the theater and all the people involved. The ending didn’t really go in my favor, but I enjoyed reading this nonetheless. There aren’t many books out there that focus on movies and Peter really has a great gift of writing!

3.5/5 Stars

This book releases April 9th, 2019. Keep following the blog tour to see what others think and fun interactions along the way!

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

Looking for a summer-themed read? Look no further than this book! This one will throw you right back to your childhood summer camps days. Only, this book is way more intense than any camp you’ve ever went to.

Thanks Dutton Books for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest review.

This book has two stories taking place at once. One story follows Emma as a little girl attending a prestigious summer camp. She becomes close with her bunkmates until one night, all the girls except her leave wihtout a trace. Emma thinks it has something to do with a boy she saw hooking up with one of the girls (Vivian), but does she really have enough proof? The other story follows Emma as an adult. She has been invited back to the camp (the camp is being re-opened for the first time since the dissapearance of the girls during her time spent there). Emma because the artistic camp counselor and bunks with the girls she’s watching over. Of course, the unthinkable happens…..(read to find out!) Now Emma has some more clues to try to figure out what’s really been happening at Camp Nightingale.

The first part of the book had me hooked. Once Emma got to camp, I felt like it slowed down a little for me. I felt like it dragged out the story line, although I was probably just more anxious to find out what she was going to find out by returning to camp. The point of the long backstory was to really paint a picture for the surprise twist in the end, which was surprising! I’ve seen other reviews where people have complained about multiple characters, but that added so much depth to the story which made you feel like you were right at camp with them.

What a twisted ending, in more ways than one! I will say that I’m not a huge fan of two stories going on at once. I probably would’ve appreciated reading each story separately. Nevertheless, it was a perfect summer read and it left me with goosebumps! A chilling tale for sure!

4/5 Stars

 

The Real Michael Swann by Bryan Reardon

Happy Publishing Week to this gem of a book! I was super happy to be selected to read this on it’s birthday week.

I want to thank Dutton Books for sending me this read in exchange for my honest review.

Julia is outside with her children hanging out with the neighborhood moms when she calls her husband to check-in on him as he travels home from a work interview. He’s headed home on the New York Amtrak when a bomb explodes. He had been on the phone with his wife during the explosion when his phone went dead. Julia has to keep calm for her children, yet is desperate to go find her husband. She lives her kids with the neighbors and goes downtown to find him. Soon enough, she learns the news that the police think her husband is the one behind the bomb. She just can’t believe it. As we try to find out if he is the bomber, we also see flash backs of how they met and their life together in love.

This is a DEEP read. The entire time I was thinking, “Man, this is a perfect story for a thrilling read.” I slowly realized, the sad truth is that it could totally be a true story. Our world is in such a chaotic state, anything could happen. Familes are torn apart in a split second…it’s unreal. This book captures it all. The emotions these families go through after a public bomb explosion are so authentic. I felt like I was just watching a CNN special while reading this. It was utterly chilling. The book follows two story-lines, one of Michael and the other as a narrator. I, personally, am not a fan of multiple point of views, but this book needs that. It’s crucial to see both sides of the story here. I also really appreciated learning all about their relationship together. What a marriage! This book is the most relevant thing I’ve read in a long time. If anything, you need to read this book for the epilogue because you’ve going to have to pick your jaw off the floor.

4.5/5 Stars

Ghosted by Rosie Walsh

A much needed break from murder mysteries brng me to this romance novel with a hint of mystery still alive. Let’s be honest, me not reading a mystery novel? Hard to come by these days!

Thank you penguin for granting me this first to read early access!

Sarah and Eddie have spent 7 perfect days together. They are completely in love and already start talking about what their future may hold. Sarah has to leave for a quick vacation and Eddie promises he will be waiting for her when she gets back. Problem is, he “ghosts” her. He doesn’t show up, he doesn’t call. Nothing. What happened to him? Their love seemed so perfect? Why didn’t he call? What went wrong? Sarah needed this relationship to work because she had never felt love like this, not even in her long marriage with her ex-husband! What’s a girl to do…

This book had me all emotional! It brought back a ton of memories from my high school relationships of boys just going missing for days after confessing their love. The thoughts that run through your mind! I was right with Sarah the entire time. I wanted to be her best friend and help her through the mystery. I totally agreed with her through every thought. I felt for both of them. My heart poured out while reading this; something I was in dire need of a book to help me do. There’s nothing like an emotional read to make you feel human. The book jumps around a lot, so it’s something you have to really pay attention to when you read. I’m more of a person who loves a free-flowing story and would’ve loved to read this story in order, but it didn’t completely ruin the read for me.

4.5/5 Stars

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

HA! I bet you can figure out by now what my go-to genre novels are, yes? Here’s one of them for sure.

Anne and Marco are visiting their neighbor next-door (it’s important to know they live in a townhouse and this is their neighbor directly next-door) for a dinner party one night. Their babysitter dropped out last second so they figured they could just bring the monitor over with them to keep an eye on their sleeping baby. Anne had a bit too much to drink and went home early to find their their baby Cora has gone missing. Was this an inside job or a result of an unlucky case of events? Is their marriage truly what it’s all cracked up to be?

I enjoyed the first half of this book. She grabbed my attention right away and kept me going along for the ride, up until when I totally figured out the rest of the story. By the middle of the novel, I had it all figured out and it just went downhill from there. I think the idea behind the novel and even the ending was fine, I was just hoping and expecting more of a sudden twist that I couldn’t see coming. This could be because I read a ton of mystery/thriller/suspense novels and they start to have a similar theme to them. I actually liked her newer novel “A Stranger in the House” a lot better. That one also had somewhat of a predictive ending, but it still was able to catch me off guard until the last few pages.

3.5/5 Stars

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Young Adult Fiction is my guilty pleasure. It’s what got me into reading! Back in high school, I used to go to the bookstore once a week with my best friend and grab as many books as we could afford and share them between each other. Reading John Green has always been some of our top choices in authors for sure. I was super excited to see this one come out.

Turtles All the Way Down is a story about Aza who is in high school struggling with anxiety. Her best friend comes to her with a golden opportunity, to help find a missing billionaire, who happens to be the father of one of Aza’s childhood friends. Get ready for adventure and romance in this highly anticipated read!

If you struggle with anxiety, be careful reading this one. I only say that because he does SUCH an AMAZING job with portraying what goes on in your head when you have anxiety. He hit the nail right on the head. I felt every single emotion throughout the entire book which had me begging for more. I chatted with one of my best friends about this book after we both finished it and we talked about how the ending seemed a little flat. I felt it ended a little emotionless compared to the rest of the book and, for that, I didn’t think it to be one of my all-time favorites by him. I will say this book was one of the best books I’ve read in awhile that truly put you in the character’s shoes. That’s great talent.

4/5 stars