[REVIEW] The Lost Village

title: The Lost Village

author: Camilla Sten, Alex Fleming (translator)
genre: adult fiction, mystery
published: March 23rd 2021 by Minotaur Books
my copy: eGalley, 352 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 3.5 / 5 stars
goodreads

The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar in this brilliantly disturbing thriller from Camilla Sten, an electrifying new voice in suspense.

Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed “The Lost Village,” since she was a little girl. In 1959, her grandmother’s entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the only two people who were left—a woman stoned to death in the town center and an abandoned newborn—have plagued her. She’s gathered a small crew of friends in the remote village to make a film about what really happened.

But there will be no turning back.

Not long after they’ve set up camp, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed. People go missing. As doubt breeds fear and their very minds begin to crack, one thing becomes startlingly clear to Alice:

They are not alone.

They’re looking for the truth…

But what if it finds them first?

an absolutely atmospheric and intriguing read

That ominous cover! That intriguing synopsis! What else do I really need from this book? Does it live up to how it looks and sounds?

[REVIEW] Tender Is the Flesh

title: Tender Is the Flesh

author: Agustina Bazterrica, Sarah Moses (Translator)

genre: adult, horror
published: February 6th 2020 by Pushkin Press
my copy: kindle, 166 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 4.5 / 5 stars
goodreads

Everyone's eating human meat. Would you? A vivid, shocking dystopian novel from an Argentinian rising star 

'This book will pull you in, take hold, and not let go until you reach the final page – perhaps far longer than that. Without a doubt, my favourite read of this year' Christina Dalcher, author of VOX 

It all happened so quickly. First, animals became infected with the virus and their meat became poisonous. Then governments initiated the Transition. Now, 'special meat' – human meat – is legal. 

Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans – only no one calls them that. He works with numbers, consignments, processing. One day, he's given a gift to seal a deal: a specimen of the finest quality. He leaves her in his barn, tied up, a problem to be disposed of later. 

But the specimen haunts Marcos. Her trembling body, her eyes that watch him, that seem to understand. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost – and what might still be saved…

it's not for everyone but if you're intrigued and you think you can take it, I'd say go for it.

When this book came to my radar, it's easily a must read for me! 

[REVIEW] Confessions

title: Confessions (告白 / Kokuhaku)
author: Kanae Minato, Stephen Snyder (Translator)
genre: adult, thriller
published: August 19th 2014 by Mulholland Books (first published August 5th 2008)
my copy: Paperback, First English language edition, 235 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 5 / 5 stars
goodreads

HER PUPILS KILLED HER DAUGHTER.
NOW, SHE WILL HAVE HER REVENGE. 

After calling off her engagement in wake of a tragic revelation, Yuko Moriguchi had nothing to live for except her only child, four-year-old Manami. Now, following an accident on the grounds of the middle school where she teaches, Yuko has given up and tendered her resignation. 

But first she has one last lecture to deliver. She tells a story that upends everything her students ever thought they knew about two of their peers, and sets in motion a maniacal plot for revenge. 

Narrated in alternating voices, with twists you'll never see coming, Confessions explores the limits of punishment, despair, and tragic love, culminating in a harrowing confrontation between teacher and student that will place the occupants of an entire school in danger. You'll never look at a classroom the same way again. 

highly intriguing and horrifying.

I've been hoping to read this and last year's #Burtontober pushed me to finally pick it up.

Confessions is about the revenge of middle school teacher and single mother, Yuko Moriguchi, for the death of her child. During her last day as a teacher, she tells the class the full story of the death of her child and explained her revenge. The novel covers the results of the said revenge and it is not pretty.

[REVIEW] Perfect Blue

title: Perfect Blue (Pāfekuto Burū: Kanzen Hentai)
author: Yoshikazu Takeuchi;  Nathan A. Collins (translator)
genre: adult fiction, thriller
published: February 6, 2018 by Seven Seas (first published in March 1991)
format: paperback, 288 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 4 / 5 stars
goodreads

Kirigoe Mima is in the third year of her career as a pure and innocent pop idol. Feeling like something big needs to change, she plans to give her image a major update. When the new Mima is revealed, complete with a sexy outfit and a risqué photo book, one of her most obsessive fans refuses to accept her transformation. To restore Mima to the innocent girl of her debut, he puts a terrifying plan to action that throws her life into chaos and mortal peril.

horrifying, disturbing, and nightmarish obsession

This landed on my radar because of Satoshi Kon who directed the anime adaptation of this novel. Satoshi Kon is the author of Opus, a metafiction novel I read late last year as well as directed and written the the psychological thriller anime Paranoia Agent.

[REVIEW] P.S. From Paris

title: P.S. from Paris
author: Marc Levy; Sam Taylor (translator)
genre: chick lit, romance
published: September 1, 2017 by AmazonCrossing
format: paperback, 288 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 4 / 5 stars
goodreads

From Marc Levy, the most-read French author alive today, comes a modern-day love story between a famous actress hiding in Paris and a bestselling writer lying to himself. They knew their friendship was going to be complicated, but love—and the City of Lights—just might find a way. 

On the big screen, Mia plays a woman in love. But in real life, she’s an actress in need of a break from her real-life philandering husband—the megastar who plays her romantic interest in the movies. So she heads across the English Channel to hide in Paris behind a new haircut, fake eyeglasses, and a waitressing job at her best friend’s restaurant. 

Paul is an American author hoping to recapture the fame of his first novel. When his best friend surreptitiously sets him up with Mia through a dating website, Paul and Mia’s relationship status is “complicated.” 

Even though everything about Paris seems to be nudging them together, the two lonely ex-pats resist, concocting increasingly far-fetched strategies to stay “just friends.” A feat easier said than done, as fate has other plans in store. Is true love waiting for them in a postscript?

Cute romance between an actress and an author!

Romance aren't my usual read that's why whenever I find myself involved in a romance novel, I get so excited! This one is clean and funny and cute romance between an actress escaping her lousy marriage and an author who's unusually selling well in South Korea.

[REVIEW] A Man Called Ove

title: A Man Called Ove
author: Fredrik Backman, Henning Koch (translator)
genre: adult fiction, contemporary
publish: May 5, 2015 by Washington Square Press
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | Fully Booked
rating: 5 / 5 stars
goodreads

ALL YOU NEED IS OVE.

At first sight, Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet, a curmudgeon with staunch principles, strict routines, and a short-fuse. People think him bitter, and he  thinks himeslf surrounded by idiots. 

Ove's well-ordered solitary world gets shake-up one November morning with the appearance of new neighbors, a chatty young couple and their two boisterous daughters, who announce their arrival by accidentally flattening Ove's mailbox with their U-Haul. What follows is a heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unlikely friendships, and a community's unexpected reassessment of the one person they thought they had all figured out. 

A word-of-mouth bestseller that has caused a sensation across Europe, Fredrik Backman's irresistible novel about the angry old man next dorr is an uplifting exploration of the unreliability of fist impressions and a gentle reminder that life is sweeter when it is shaed with other people. 

OVE IS ALL YOU NEED.

easily one of my fave 2017 reads!

After reading this, I got into one of those moments when I keep on asking myself: Why did I never read this as soon as I had it?. I've only seen A Man Called Ove a couple of times in the book blogging community and I seriously think it needs to be known by everyone.