Title:A Lie for A Lie Author: Robin Merrow MacReady Genre: mystery, thriller Series: N/A Pages: 208 Published: expected February 28 2017 Source: publishers via NetGalley Rating: 1/5
A gripping YA mystery
about seventeen-year-old Kendra, an amateur photographer who discovers
her father is leading a double life.
Kendra Sullivan loves taking
pictures. But when a photograph reveals that her father is leading a
double life, she sets out to investigate the situation. Before long,
Kendra discovers her father's second family, which he has hidden for
years. Kendra's knowledge soon turns into power; she is torn between
exposing her father and destroying her family as she's known it, or
looking deeper for the truth and suffering that outcome. This
emotionally charged mystery pushes the boundaries between truth and
deception, and the consequences one faces when dealing with
life-changing information.
The premise for A Lie for A Lie is attention-grabbing and unique -- which is why it's such a shame that book shares neither of those two traits. The main character of Kendra faces a tough situation with her father/family situation and the chance to really grow up while handling it. However, this is a stunted, very rushed novel that exchanges emotion and honesty for a simple and easy ending. The potential for more is left unfulfilled or unexplored, and this YA thriller ends up shallow and silly. This book is rather disappointing in several ways, both big and small. For one, it's too short to make any real impact -- less than 215 pages to create realistic characters and storylines? Secondly, (and a direct result of the first issue) the characters all lack depth and the ability to evoke empathy. Even Kendra is under-developed and deliberately facile. The plot is handled with bluntly or dispassionately, despite the supposedly dramatic subject matter. Unpolished and simplistic across the board, at least A Lie for A Lie is over quickly.
A long-lost manuscript, written for Elizabeth I, holds the key to unlocking the past—and to eliminating the future.
Lee
Nicholson is ready to take the academic world by storm, having
discovered a sonnet she believes was written by William Shakespeare.
When she reads the poem on the air, the words put her life in peril and
trigger a violent chase, with stakes that reach far beyond the
cloistered walls of academia.
Buried in the language of the
sonnet, in its allusions and wordplay, are secrets that have been hidden
since Elizabethan times, secrets known only to the queen and her
trusted doctor, but guessed at by men who seek the crown and others who
seek the world. If the riddles are solved, it could explode what the
world knows of the great Elizabeth I. And it could release a pandemic
more deadly than the world has ever imagined.
Lee’s quest for
the answers buried in the sonnet keeps her one step ahead of an
international hunt—from the police who want her for murder, to a group
of men who will stop at nothing to end her quest, to a madman who
pursues the answers for destructive reasons of his own.
As this
intelligent thriller moves back and forth between Tudor England and the
present day, Lee begins to piece together the meaning behind
Shakespeare’s words, carrying the story to its gasp-out-loud conclusion.
Dual timeline novels are always a creative, tricky, and fun approach, and Seth Margolis applies that creativity to Tudor mysteries and secrets and a modern race to uncover them. The two stories tie together rather neatly; The Semper Sonnet is a clever book and Margolis is an author that layers his narratives with plenty of hints, clues, and aha! moments. Lee's story is more action-packed than her Elizabeth physician counterpart Rufus Hatton, but each narrative is interesting and the book is entertaining.
This is an easy rec to make for fans of Dan Brown's famous Robert Langdon series, but Seth Margolis has a better grasp on the techniques of writing and his book is stronger for it. The Semper Sonnet is a thoroughly blended mix of the historical fiction and thriller staples, but there's little infodumping and the book takes pains to show more than it tells. Spanning international borderlines and several centuries, the truth behind Edward Filer is one that propels both Lee and the plot; in doing so, the author puts his own spin on one of the most popular historical conspiracy theories.
Tangling Shakespeare's legacy and a long-untold secret of his times, the plot of The Semper Sonnet is a detailed and involved affair. Developing its many angles takes up the lion's share of the narrative attention so Lee is a moderately well-defined main character, but not, I think, a particularly memorable one. She has personality, agency, and an arc but characterization is not the main strength of this novel. The Semper Sonnet made for an evenly-plotted and well-paced read; its plot was clever and creative take on a well-known historical "what if?"
Bashir “Bish” Ortley is
a London desk cop. Almost over it. Still not dealing with the death of
his son years ago, as well as the break-up of his marriage.
Across
the channel, a summer bus tour, carrying a group of English teenagers
is subject to a deadly bomb attack, killing four of the passengers and
injuring a handful of others. Bish’s daughter is one of those on board.
The
suspect is 17 year old Violette LeBrac whose grandfather was
responsible for a bombing that claimed the lives of dozens of people
fourteen years ago; and whose mother, Noor, has been serving a life
sentence for the part she was supposed to have played in the attack.
As
Bish is dragged into the search for the missing Violette, he finds
himself reluctantly working with Noor LeBrac and her younger brother,
Jimmy Sarraf.
And the more he delves into the lives of the family
he helped put away, the more Bish realizes that they may have got it
wrong all those years ago, and that truth wears many colours. Especially
when it comes to the teenagers on board the recent bus bombing.
Including his daughter.
Tell the truth. Shame the devil. Bish
can’t get Violette LeBrac’s words out of his head. But what he may get
is some sort of peace with his own past as the worlds of those involved
in two bombings, years apart, collide into the journey of his life.
This is a tough one; I have been thinking about my review on this novel for weeks. I wanted to love this book so badly -- the Marchetta hallmark of excellent characters helps -- but ultimately (a bit like its title), Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil was just a bit too long, too convoluted, and a bit too overwrought for me to love. I did like it enough to finish, but that was mainly due to the strength of the characterization and my love for the author. This is Marchetta's first novel for adults and also her first thriller. And while I do think there's a great story at the center of Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil it just takes a seemingly interminable amount of time to get to it. There are a lot of characters and backstory and history to unfurl and unravel and while it's all being done with a lot of care and reason, it slow the pace down to a crawl. Add in a plot that was destined to more covert than overt with more than few iffy twists and turns, and it makes a lot of those 400 pages slow-going. The saving grace of TtT,StD is found in its many characters. From sneaky teens to weary adults to mysterious grandmas, there are so many different kinds of people to be found in its pages. Marchetta's YA's have long been favorites because she understood teenagers so well and could then write them realistically and with empathy; that talent is displayed here, but also with older protagonists and narrators.
There may have been a little to much set up, a few too many but well-drawn characters in Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil but it still is a readable thriller. I liked it while still freely admitting it is my least favorite Marchetta novel.
Title:Night Speed Author:Chris Howard Genre: science fiction, thriller Series: N/A Pages: 416 Published: expected May 3 2016 Source: publishers via edelweiss Rating: 3.75/5
Only those young enough
can survive the pulse-pounding rush of tetra, a dangerous and addictive
new drug that fuels a nine-minute burst of superhuman strength and
speed. Alana West has been trained to use the drug so she can pursue the
young criminals who abuse its power—criminals like the breakneck who
nearly killed her kid brother.
On tetra, Alana is unstoppable.
The rush makes her an explosive blur as she surges through New York
City, battling to bring down breaknecks before they leave more people
dead or injured in their wake. But with the clock ticking down to her
eighteenth birthday, Alana will soon be too old for the rush...when just
one more dose will prove deadly.
Supported only by her strong
and steady handler, Tucker, Alana goes undercover, infiltrating an elite
gang of breaknecks to stop the supply of their drug. But when Alana
gets trapped on the wrong side of the law, she learns the breaknecks are
not quite what they seem—especially Ethan, the artistic boy whose
bottomless brown eyes seem to see the truth inside her. With her own
dependency on tetra increasing, Alana must decide where her loyalties
lie before the rush ends. Forever.
I thought that this literally high speed adventure was surprisingly good, with an interesting and well-thought out hook, creative execution, and
enough action, extended chase scenes, and key plot twists to keep those 416 pages
moving quickly. The nonstop race wears a little long and thin by the end, but Night Speed is an exciting and creatively fun read.
I can be a plot or a character reader and I'm about evenly split in my involvement with this particular story. I liked what Howard brought to the table with his main character of Alana, especially her complicated bond with her younger brother, but found the rest of the characters involved with Night Speed's plot to feel a bit wooden, or undeveloped. Still, Alana herself was enough to reel me in until the premise and tetra were brought in to further cement my interest. The plot is pretty well handled once the book fully engages about 15% in, but there are a few slight missteps en route to the story's end. I don't want to spoil anything for new readers because there's more than meets the eye to Alana's story, so all I will say I that some events strain credulity, but.. not enough to seriously detract from my enjoyment. It's a bit of a mixed package, but the overall impression from Night Speed is a good one.
I don't force myself to review my "me" books, but I've been in a bit of a writing slump and this worked out so well last summer when that happened, I decided to bring back....two minute (or less) reviews of the books I read when I wasn't here! Covering February, March, and April reads that left enough of an impact to write about them. (Sorry Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever.)
OK, so when Jess told me I had to read a contemporary, prison/cult retelling of The Girl With the Silver Hands, I looked at her pretty funny. Like, how?
This book is so good. The way the information on The Prophet and the cult is doled out is perfect, tense and intriguing. Minnow's absolutely inspiring, as she adjusts to the outside world at the same time as she adjusts to a world without her hands. The relationship that develops between her and her cell mate, Angel might be my favorite part.
My only teeny, tiny quibble is Jude, Minnow's boyfriend, and his ultimate fate. There were parts of it that were just too convenient and pulled me out of the tense, realistic thriller.
Oh, the Twelve Dancing Princesses reference! Authors, don't bother trying to reinvent that story anymore. Stephanie Oakes has crushed it.
Title: The Rose Society
Author: Marie Lu
Genre: Fantasy
Series: The Young Elites #2
Pages: 418
Published: October 13, 2015
Source: Borrowed - Library
Rating: 4 out of 5
I liked the concept of The Young Elites more than I liked the execution. The series tells the story of the birth of a super villain, from the villain's POV. That is absolutely an amazing idea, but in the first book, all I felt for Adelina was pity.
TRS picks up where TYE left off, with Adelina and Violetta cast out of the Daggers and searching for Elites of their own, to overthrow the throne. Meanwhile, Raffaele is ingratiating himself to Queen Giulietta as part of The Dagger's own plan for the kingdom.
This book is dark. Super dark. But in a way that makes total sense. You're in Adelina's head, rooting for her, right up until the last chapter when she sits down and you finally realize, "oh god, what have we done?" I'm not sure how the trilogy can wrap up, because the final scene is so masterful.
Title: Strong Signal
Author: Megan Erickson , Santino Hassell
Genre: Romance
Series: Cyberlove #1
Pages: 235
Published: February 15, 2016
Source: Purchased
Rating: 5 out of 5
Can I just put the blushing emoji for this review?
I don't read a ton of contemporary romances, but when Dahlia turned me onto this one, I knew I had to have it. This book is so steamy, so unbelievably hot, just the promo pictures had me overset.
Told in dual POVs between Garrett, a tough, closed-off Staff Sergeant stationed in Afghanistan, and Kai, an agoraphobic Twitch streamer, the first half of the novel details a long distance video game rivalry turned love affair. And I LOVED IT. The way the sexual tension builds into the masturbation and videos is extreme and heady.
Once Garrett returns from his deployment, the tone of the book changes into something more tender as both men work on their mental health and explore a LTR neither of them expected. I especially liked how it touched on the difficulties for servicemen returning to the workforce once their terms end and how Kai's agoraphobia couldn't just be cured with a hug and a handhold. It's work and therapy and medication and dedication, just like in real life. But, and I think this is super important, especially in M/M, the book lets both guys show a lot of vulnerability and silliness and Garrett and Kai get their HEA. Totally recommended.
Title: Illuminae
Author: Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: The Illuminae Files #1
Pages: 599
Published:October 20, 2015
Source: Purchased
Rating: 5 out of 5
First and foremost, this is the most beautiful book I've seen since Six of Crows. The plastic cover hiding the redacted reports. The ads, handwritten notes, and personal touches. The collage of faces. And this fucking page:
No wonder I couldn't get into this one when I first read my eARC. It's absolutely imperative you experience it in dead tree format.
The romance plot is a little meh for me, but once Kady starts investigating the plague, holy hell the main plot is bonkers awesome. Without giving anything away, I'm going to burst into tears every time someone says "don't look at me" for the rest of my life. It hasn't even been two months and I'm already rereading. Don't sleep on this.
Gotham Academy reminds me a lot of award winning webcomic, Gunnerkrigg Court. Both stories are about girls who've just lost their mothers going to haunted boarding schools, of course, but I also see stylistic similarities in the blending of gothic mystery with fantasy.
Olivia Silverlock's returned from summer break with selective amnesia, an ex-boyfriend, and a whole new attitude. Obviously the question of what happened last summer hangs over the volume, along with the aforementioned ghost story. It's compelling and spooky and surprisingly fits well with the larger Bat-universe, which prefers sci-fi to explain its characters' powers. Between an interesting mystery, a humanizing of old villains, and jaw dropping art work, this graphic novel series is my new obsession.
Title: The Joker: Death of the Family
Author: Scott Snyder
Genre: Horror
Series: n/a
Pages: 456
Published: October 22, 2013
Source: Purchased
Rating: 4 out of 5
I reviewed a good portion of Death of the Family back in 2014 with Batgirl Vol. 3, but for such a huge storyline spanning so many monthly titles, I was really excited to see a full standalone graphic novel.
Stand alone it does. It's an interesting choice to only include the first and last Batman issues, skipping over four volumes of Bats and Joker recreating famous face-offs through their history. It's a choice I actually support though, as so much of the storyline revolves around removing Batman from the Batfamily. The only thing that could be confusing is since the meeting where the Family learns Batman knew Joker might know their identities is missing, their anger at the end seems disproportional.
The book is divided into chapters for each member of the Family and friends, starting with Catwoman and Joker's return to Gotham, then Harley Quinn, Batgirl, Red Hood and Red Robin combined, Nightwing, and Damien, before ending with Batman's last volume and the Joker's...defeat. The stories maintain a rough chronological order that keeps the through-line moving, though Barbara does show up for the Teen Titans, after she should already be captured. A minor quibble in a series where the Robins' ages make literally no sense.
Death of the Family is probably never going to be as essential as Killing Joke or even Death in the Family, partly because of it's door stopper size, but I'm glad they put the whole thing out.
That does it for this installment, folks. Stay tuned next time for the meanest review I've ever written. It was ten words.
Title:Burning Author:Danielle Rollins Genre: contemporary, horror Series: N/A Pages: 352 Published: April 5 2016 Source: publishers for review Rating: 1/5
After three years in
juvie, Angela Davis is just a few months shy of release, and she'll
finally be free from the hole that is Brunesfield Correctional Facility.
Then Jessica arrives. Only ten years old and under the highest security
possible, this girl has to be dangerous, even if no one knows what she
did to land in juvie. As strange things begin happening to Angela and
her friends that can only be traced to the new girl's arrival, it
becomes clear that Brunesfield is no longer safe. They must find a way
to get out, but how can they save themselves when the world has
forgotten them?
Advertised as a creepy Orange in the New Black for YA, Burning boasts an interesting and promising premise but hosts a flawed execution for those ideas. Part contemporary novel and part slow-building horror story, I was intrigued from the first chapter but my hopes were quickly dismayed as the story progressed into darker and less concrete territory. Rollins tries to build a creepy atmosphere through unexplained events, unnatural incidents and more, but so much of this novel was a miss. I didn't care about Angela. I wanted to, but she is inconsistent and frustrating as a narrator. I was the most interested in Jessica, but also found her characterization somewhat stunted. The villain was cartoonish and laughable. Alongside my complete lack of investment in any of the characters named in Burning, there are many errors in the book, though admittedly I read an ARC version. But these are errors that dealt with continuity, the plot's timeline, and more. It added up to a sloppy feel to the novel's already struggling execution.
This was a novel I was sorely tempted to DNF, but was reeled back in again and again by my curiosity to know the endgame. Having fought my way through those 352 pages, I can't say the effort was worth it. Horror is not my favorite genre, but I prefer a more polished approach with more developed characters and antagonists.
Title:After the Woods Author:Kim Savage Genre: contemporary, thriller, mystery Series: N/A Pages: 305 Published: Feb 2016 Source: publishers for review Rating: 3/5
Would you risk your life to save your best friend?
Julia
did. When a paroled predator attacked Liv in the woods, Julia fought
back and got caught. Liv ran, leaving Julia in the woods for a
terrifying 48 hours that she remembers only in flashbacks. One year
later, Liv seems bent on self-destruction, starving herself, doing
drugs, and hooking up with a violent new boyfriend. A dead girl turns up
in those same woods, and Julia’s memories resurface alongside clues
unearthed by an ambitious reporter that link the girl to Julia’s
abductor. As the devastating truth becomes clear, Julia realizes that
after the woods was just the beginning.
In this debut novel by Kim Savage, After the Woods is graced with some evocative writing, an interesting plotline, and several intriguing, if nebulously drawn, characters in a somewhat generic thriller plot. The plot itself twists around several times over the course of the book, which makes for an eventful and occasionally unpredictable read, but one that was perhaps shallower and less meaningful in how it explored the inciting events that set the story into motion. There's good setup and good elements to the story here but After the Woods also felt rushed by the short length and curbed by the narrow nature of the POV.
Part contemporary, part thriller, part mystery, Savage ties her plotlines together in After the Woods pretty neatly, if not the most originally. I liked how the story progressed with main character Julia's slow awakening of what transgressions really happened, then questioning what she is told, and then becoming more proactive and less passive in pursuing the truth. She's the strongest aspect of After the Woods by far. She's the most defined character, even if her memory is unsteady; her personality is realistic and varied. As the story builds its tension and Julia's comprehension of what really happened that day expands, the novel it its stride and becomes pretty hard to put down. Part of the issue with After the Woods' overall execution is that it tries to do too many things, to be too many things, and to say too much in too short of timespan. Therefore, a lot of the plot points and issues feel weak or shallow when the author had good intentions or was intending to reinforce a theme or point. It made the story feel unfocused, and drew off attention and focus from the plot. It doesn't help that readers will likely spot the overall reveal before the ending, though the author has one or tricks that can come without warning. For me this was not bad, but it's another contemporary thriller that feels rather damned with faint praise. I did enjoy the novel, but never made a lasting impression on me and its small issues built into a larger dissatisfaction once I set the book down for the final time.
Title:Rebel, Bully, Geek, Pariah Author:Erin Jade Lange Genre: contemporary Series: N/A Pages: 320 Published: February 16 2016 Source: publishers for review Rating: 3.75/5
"The Breakfast Club"
gets a modern, high-stakes reboot in this story of four very different
teens and a night that changes them forever.
The Rebel: Once popular, Andi is now a dreadlocked, tattooed wild child. The Bully: York torments everyone who crosses his path, especially his younger brother. The Geek: Tired of being bullied, Boston is obsessed with getting into an Ivy League college. The Pariah: Choosing to be invisible has always worked for Sam . . . until tonight.
When
Andi, York, Boston, and Sam find themselves hiding in the woods after a
party gets busted by the cops, they hop into the nearest car they see
and take off—the first decision of many in a night that will change
their lives forever. By the light of day, these four would never be
caught dead together, but when their getaway takes a dangerously
unpredictable turn, sticking together could be the only way to survive.
With
cinematic storytelling and compelling emotional depth, critically
acclaimed author Erin Jade Lange takes readers on literary thrill ride.
I
can see why this novel is being compared to The Breakfast Club, but whereas
that movie was an edgy but mundane contemporary coming-of-age, this story about a group of misfit teens is more in the vein of a contemporary
thriller with a side of coming-of-age themes. Rebel, Bully, Geek, Pariah was actiontastic, it
was twisty, and it had some really well drawn characters. Some of the
plot's twists and reveals are just a leeeeetle too far outside my realm of believability (hence the
3.75/5) but on the whole this was a fast-paced, quick, involving read.
The characters, for all that they're outright labelled into archetypes by the title, have quite a bit depth to them. This story is told in just one POV -- the Pariah from the title -- , but all the characters are pretty well represented and defined into distinguishable people. They are all pretty three dimensional and diverse. I'm trying to not spoil anything in the novel but yeah, I knew that a character was
definitely not straight from the small hints and allusions. On one hand, I can see why the author is going to make it a
"reveal" or twist but I was it was more explicit in the text.
The novel does stretch the basic premise out over the course of the relatively few hours the story covers. I did not anticipate the myriad twists the author had in store but there's only so much real plot to be found. I wasn't bored by TGBP but the social points had been made, the action had appeared numerous times, etc; the ending came at just the right time and at a smooth pace. The rather open-ended nature of the book appealed to me as well, thought it might not for most; it fit both the narrative structure and the movie that influenced the character and plot.
Of the three Erin Jade Lange novels I've read this is by far her most polished and well-rounded effort. Rebel, Bully, Geek, Pariah explores high school ideas and stereotypes in unexpected but smart ways with distinct, diverse, and memorable bunch of characters.
Title:A Drop of Night Author: Stefan Bachmann Genre: horror, science fiction, historical fiction, thriller Series: N/A Pages: 464 Published: expected March 15 2016 Source: publishers via edelweiss Rating: 2.5/5
Seventeen-year-old Anouk
has finally caught the break she’s been looking for—she's been selected
out of hundreds of other candidates to fly to France and help with the
excavation of a vast, underground palace buried a hundred feet below the
suburbs of Paris. Built in the 1780's to hide an aristocratic family
and a mad duke during the French Revolution, the palace has lain hidden
and forgotten ever since. Anouk, along with several other gifted
teenagers, will be the first to set foot in it in over two centuries.
Or so she thought.
But
nothing is as it seems, and the teens soon find themselves embroiled in
a game far more sinister, and dangerous, than they could possibly have
imagined. An evil spanning centuries is waiting for them in the depths. .
.
A genre-bending thriller from Stefan Bachmann for fans of The Maze Runner and Joss Whedon’s The Cabin in the Woods.
You cannot escape the palace.
You cannot guess its secrets.
For the first thirty-five percent or so of its 464 pages, A Drop of Night and I were getting along pretty well; the plot felt somewhat familiar but engaging despite that. For all that I was much more involved in the historical storyline also being told in alternating chapters, I was curious to see how it would tie together with the current plotline featuring the five teens, set hundreds of years later. However, after about 170 - 175 pages in, the other elements of Bachmann's genre mashup of a novel are introduced and that is where he began to lose me as a reader.
A Drop of Night is just too jumbled, on the whole, for me to enjoy as a reading experience. I did finish it, but it was a determination game for the last 100 straight pages. I like that the author is inventive in approaching his story, but there was just too much in the narrative. A Drop of Night is just not just speculative, or science fiction; it's also very clearly a horror novel, in addition to elements of a thriller, and also partly a historical fiction novel about a family during the Troubles in France. As a very selective horror fan when it comes to the genre, I need more mentality to the horror and less thud-in-the-dark, pop-out-behind-approach taken here. The book just worked better for me when the suspense was building that omg there is something wrong here feel of the beginning, rather than when it was overt and more generic horror of the middle and end. There are admittedly some moments of real creepiness and a few good twists behind the plot and characters, if you can hang in through a somewhat fast-paced but often very confusing read to get to those moments.
Title:My Second Life Author:Faye Bird Genre: contemporary, thriller, supernatural Series: N/A Pages: 305 Published: Jan 19 2016 Source: publishers for review Rating: 2/5
A pacy pageturner that asks: Can you be held responsible now for something you did in a previous life?
Fifteen-year-old
Ana has a good life--she has friends and a boy she likes and a kind
mother--but still, she's haunted by her past; she knows that she lived
once before as a girl named Emma, and she still misses her old family.
When, by chance in her life now, Ana meets a woman she knew in her
previous life, a terrifying memory flashes through her mind of a young
girl drowning. Was Emma responsible? And should Ana pay the price?
Consumed by guilt, Ana sets out to find out as much as possible about
the person she was before and what she had done, only to discover that
the family she misses so deeply had dark secrets of its own. To come to
terms with her life now, Ana must figure out how to let go of the past.
Though the author attempts a lot with her debut novel, My Second Life is a somewhat flawed and predictable YA thriller. The premise is an interesting one -- second chances to understand an old tragedy -- but the execution is ultimately shallow and unfulfilling. There are aspects of the novel that did work, and work well but overall it is an uneven novel. The issues with My Second Life are simple but impossible to ignore. The general storyline and plot are predictable from the beginning. It's very easy for a reader with any kind of awareness to guess what happened on the pivotal night and why. Thus, the next 200 pages of the novel feel way, way too drawn out for the amount of plot left. As Ana tries to understand it gets frustrating when the answer seems, and is for the most, obvious. The characterization shown for anyone in My Second Life is thin to nonexistent. It's hard to care about either of Ana/Emma's lives when so little time is spent developing her into a real person. The same goes for anyone else involved in her life. Both her moms are cardboard cutouts, as is the unavoidable and unnecessary love interest. The author did manage to pull off one twist before the end of the novel. I did like the unexpected angle that played naturally into resolution; it made it a more engaging read... just 95% too late. I can't say that this was a particularly good novel but it was not egregiously bad, either. For the most part what My Second Life is forgettable. There's not much to recommend and I doubt if I will remember the particulars two months from now.
Title:A Madness So Discreet Author:Mindy McGinnis Genre: historical fiction Series: N/A Pages: 384 Published: expected October 6 2015 Source: publishers via edelweiss Rating: 2/5
Grace Mae knows madness.
She
keeps it locked away, along with her voice, trapped deep inside a
brilliant mind that cannot forget horrific family secrets. Those
secrets, along with the bulge in her belly, land her in a Boston insane
asylum.
When her voice returns in a burst of violence, Grace is
banished to the dark cellars, where her mind is discovered by a visiting
doctor who dabbles in the new study of criminal psychology. With her
keen eyes and sharp memory, Grace will make the perfect assistant at
crime scenes. Escaping from Boston to the safety of an ethical Ohio
asylum, Grace finds friendship and hope, hints of a life she should have
had. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a
killer who stalks young women. Grace, continuing to operate under the
cloak of madness, must hunt a murderer while she confronts the demons in
her own past.
In this beautifully twisted historical thriller, Mindy McGinnis, acclaimed author of Not a Drop to Drink and In a Handful of Dust, explores the fine line between sanity and insanity, good and evil—and the madness that exists in all of us.
Mindy McGinnis can write in a unique and visceral style and she definitely has one hell of an imagination. I was very interested to see what she would do after her almost-western post-apocalyptic duology (Not a Drop to Drink and In a Handful of Dust) and that project being a YA historical fiction slash thriller novel set in an asylum is both unexpected and completely perfect. The premise is perfection.....and the novel is a good effort and wholly original if not quiiiiite the novel we want it to be.
There have been a lot of glowing reviews for this and ostensibly, I can see why. But A Madness So Discreet never managed to connect with me on any kind of personal or emotional level. I am not saying a book has to do that to be a good book, but for me, with this novel, it fell flat and emotionless. And while I can objectively say that what Grace and her compatriot characters endure is both harrowing and worthy of empathy, I had little invested in the story's outcome. The message at the end of the book is either clouded or weak, depending on your interpretation or mileage. For a novel that wants to explore mental health and "madness", it falls too easily on tropes and stereotypical bad guys to make any kind of meaningful statement about either.
More
than twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia's teenaged sister Julia
vanished without a trace. The two women have not spoken since, and now
their lives could not be more different. Claire is the glamorous trophy
wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia, a single mother, dates an ex-con
and struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the
horror and heartbreak of their shared loss—a devastating wound that's
cruelly ripped open when Claire's husband is killed.
The
disappearance of a teenage girl and the murder of a middle-aged man,
almost a quarter-century apart: what could connect them? Forming a wary
truce, the surviving sisters look to the past to find the truth,
unearthing the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago .
. . and uncovering the possibility of redemption, and revenge, where
they least expect it.
This was my first book by this author, and she came recommended for the thriller and mystery genre. And while this is highly readable, I don't know that it's good.
And, honestly, reading this has made me nauseous several times. It's dark and violent and gruesome. I am
reminded again and again why this is a genre I rarely reach for. It's
like an episode of Criminal Minds for 700 pages but more explicitly and sexually violent. It's full of some twists and turns (several of which were entirely predictable) but this is often a hard novel to read. I liked some of the writing and a few of the characters. But this is a bloated behemoth. Somewhere in those 700 pages is a 450 -page taut thriller. And while this never necesarily lagged -- it zips, honestly -- it's just exhausting to read. If fewer of the twists had been obvious or telegraphed, if the villains were more than just one-note (if horrifying), this could have been a better read for me. But as it was -- with all the violence and torture and pain -- Claire's occasional oneliners and Lydia's snark weren't enough for me to enjoy this. In the end, this is just not a book or author for me. It was an experiment I am glad I tried, but I will stick to thrillers and mysteries that don't disturb me.
Title:The Fixer Author:Jennifer Lynn Barnes Genre: contemporary, thriller Series: The Fixer #1 Pages: 384 Source: publishers via NetGalley Rating: 2/5
This thriller YA is Scandal meets Veronica Mars.
Sixteen-year-old
Tess Kendrick has spent her entire life on her grandfather's ranch. But
when her estranged sister Ivy uproots her to D.C., Tess is thrown into a
world that revolves around politics and power. She also starts at
Hardwicke Academy, the D.C. school for the children of the rich and
powerful, where she unwittingly becomes a fixer for the high school set,
fixing teens’ problems the way her sister fixes their parents’
problems.
And when a conspiracy surfaces that involves the family
member of one of Tess's classmates, love triangles and unbelievable
family secrets come to light and life gets even more interesting—and
complicated—for Tess.
Perfect for fans of Pretty Little Liars and Heist Society, readers will be clamoring for this compelling teen drama with a political twist.
I should have followed my instincts on this one. I should have remembered every time I try to watch Scandal, I get bored within minutes and change the channel. I should have remembered that I never watched Veronica Mars and thus have no built-in nostalgia for it. I should have read the bookish comparisons (Heist Society) and realized that it was for another series I DNF'd early on. Basically, the charms of this book were just wasted on me. So yes, I am one of the very few black sheep for this novel and it's entirely because I upended the black paint all over myself.
I picked this up because of the hype and word-of-mouth building in the last few weeks. And while it didn't particularly work for me, I can see why it does for others. For the right kind of reader, The Fixer would be a slam dunk novel. I just was not caring at all about the mystery OR the characters. I'm primarily a character-reader though I can be more plot-driven in special cases. That was not the case here. The chemistry between characters is natural and banter-y but I just observed from a distance, and never invested. Maybe it was the lack of a romance? I'm not sure but the emotional connection was never there. As this review so clearly states above, I did not finish The Fixer. It was just too long of a page commitment for a book I was so very mehhh about so early on. I made it 210ish pages in, set it down, and started reading a series about dragons. I didn't feel the need or even an interest to see it through and that's how I know that this series is not for me. I do enjoy Jennifer Lynn Barn's writing style (both here and in Every Other Day) and plan to explore her other series. Tess and Vivvie and Co will live to fight the good fight as this expands into a series, I just won't be around to read about it.
This electrifying,
addictive, and hypnotically beautiful debut spins suspense and literary
fantasy into a stunning epic—the first volume in the Night Song
Trilogy—ablaze with fear, mystery, and possibility.
Katherine
Emerson was born to fulfill a dark prophecy centuries in the making, but
she isn’t aware that this future awaits. However, there is one man who
knows the truth: A killer stalking the women of New York, a monster the
media dubs the “Sickle Man” because of the way he turns his victims into
canvasses for his mesmerizing, twisted art.
Unleashed upon
Manhattan after lying dormant for centuries, the Sickle Man kills to
harvest the precious hues of his victims. As his palette grows, so too
does his power. Every death brings him closer to the one color, and the
one woman, he must possess at any cost.
While the city hunts the
Sickle Man, Katherine must decide what to do about two men who have
unexpectedly entered her life: handsome and personable David, and
alluring yet aloof Sael. Though she’s becoming increasingly torn between
them, how well does she really know them? And why is she suddenly plagued by disturbing visions?
Told from the alternating viewpoints of Katherine and the Sickle Man, Love Is Red
is a riveting thriller that unfolds into an intense story of obsession
and control, desire and fate. Katherine may not realize it yet, but with
this haunting novel—as arrestingly original as Marisha Pessl’s Night Film, Patrick Süskind’s Perfume, and Lauren Beukes’s The Shining Girls—her
moment of awakening is here. And soon she will find herself fighting a
battle at the edges of our world, among forces more dangerous than we
can possibly imagine.
For me, supernatural thrillers live or die based on a few things: how well-developed the paranormal is within the storyline and the mundane aspects, how obvious or non-obvious the killer is to the audience, how developed the characters are, and how strong the writing is. Love Is Red did a number of things really right for me over the course of those almost 400-pages: the writing occasionally is strong, the mystery killer really is a mystery. But while I enjoyed some of the book, on the whole, I was rather whelmed by it on the whole.
Sophie Jaff is a good writer, and also a creative one. Her unique style and voice lends really well to vivid imagery and creating a lasting impression, as shown here in her debut novel. Her killer-at-large is particularly eloquent at times, using language inventively and almost like an example of synesthesia. While the entire novel wasn't a favorite for me, I did like how the author used language for her characters. It definitely made for a memorable reading experience. There were a few genuinely creepy and unsettling moments in Love Is Red, when Jaff's writing was just perfect and evocative. I needed more substance for the worldbuilding/supernatural to solidify into something believable for me. The reader is introduced to characters and a story that all seem mundane, but also contains hints to, and finally is revealed to be, supernatural. However, there are a lot of terms and background agendas at work to which the reader is not privy. There's no real explanation or reveal about why all this happens or even what the point is. It's just too open-ended to work for me. I needed more foundation and detail than the novel provided so in the end, it didn't satisfy me when the big finale came around. The first in a trilogy and a debut besides, Love is Red is being marketed pretty smartly. It is a good fit for fans of Lauren Beukes. Fans of the weird and the creepy will find another author to read with Sophie Jaff and Love is Red. If you're more open-minded about open-endedness and worldbuilding, I can see this being a genuine hit for that audience.
About Sophie Jeff
A native of South Africa, Sophie Jaff is an alumna of the Graduate
Musical Theatre Writing Program at Tisch School of the Arts, New York
University, and a fellow of the Dramatists Guild of America. Her work
has been performed at Symphony Space, Lincoln Center, the Duplex, the
Gershwin, and Goodspeed Musicals. She lives in New York City.
Find out more about Sophie at her website and connect with her on Facebook.
