[REVIEW] Nice Girls

title: Nice Girls
author: Catherine Dang  
genre: adult, mystery, thriller
published: September 7th 2021 by William Morrow
my copy: eGalley, 320 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 3 / 5 stars
goodreads

A pulse-pounding and deviously dark debut, written with the psychological acuity and emotional punch of Luckiest Girl Alive and All the Missing Girls, that explores the hungry, angry, dark side of girlhood and dares to ask what is most dangerous to a woman: showing the world what it wants to see, or who she really is? 

What did you do? 

Growing up in Liberty Lake, Minnesota, Mary was chubby, awkward, and smart. Earning a scholarship to an Ivy League school was her ticket out; she was going to do great things and never look back. Three years later, “Ivy League Mary” is back—a thinner, cynical, and restless failure. Kicked out of Cornell at the beginning of senior year, she won’t tell anyone why. Working at the local grocery store, she sees familiar faces from high school and tries to make sense of the past and her life. 

When beautiful, magnetic Olivia Willand, a rising social media star, goes missing, Mary—like the rest of Liberty Lake—becomes obsessed. Best friends in childhood, Mary and Olivia haven’t spoken in years. Everyone admired Olivia, but Mary knows better than anyone that behind the Instagram persona hid a willful, manipulative girl with sharp edges. As the world worries for perfect, lovely Olivia, Mary can’t help but hate her. She also believes that her disappearance is tied to another missing person—a nineteen-year-old girl named DeMaria Jackson whose disappearance has gone under the radar.   

Who was the true Olivia Willand, and where did she go? What happened to DeMaria? As Mary delves deeper into the lives of the two missing girls, old wounds bleed fresh and painful secrets threaten to destroy everything. 

Maybe no one is really a nice girl, after all.

started strong, tried to do more.

I'm definitely the type to try out every mystery/thriller because why not. They may all feel the same but who knows, maybe there's some aspect I'll like. Sometimes I do wonder what I really, really look for in a mystery/thriller that I just pick up most that I can get my hands on. Nice Girls has a very typical-ish plot when you read that synopsis. and somehow, yeah... it is..

[REVIEW] The Kind Worth Killing

title: The Kind Worth Killing
author: Peter Swanson 
genre: adult, mystery, suspense
published: September 3rd 2015 by Faber & Faber

my copy: paperback, 411 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 4.5 / 5 stars
goodreads

'Hello there.' 

I looked at the pale, freckled hand on the back of the empty bar seat next to me in the business class lounge of Heathrow airport, then up into the stranger's face. 

'Do I know you?' 

Delayed in London, Ted Severson meets a woman at the airport bar. Over cocktails they tell each other rather more than they should, and a dark plan is hatched - but are either of them being serious, could they actually go through with it and, if they did, what would be their chances of getting away with it? 

Back in Boston, Ted's wife Miranda is busy site managing the construction of their dream home, a beautiful house out on the Maine coastline. But what secrets is she carrying and to what lengths might she go to protect the vision she has of her deserved future? 

A sublimely plotted novel of trust and betrayal, The Kind Worth Killing will keep you gripped and guessing late into the night.

absolutely UNPUTDOWNABLE!

This has been on my TBR for the longest time!! Because I've seen Peter Swanson's name so much and one of his recent books, Eight Perfect Murders, kind of intrigued me. So here we are..

[REVIEW] Mother May I

title: Mother May I

author: Joshilyn Jackson
genre: adult, suspense
published: April 6th 2021 by William Morrow
my copy: eGalley, 336
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 3 / 5 stars
goodreads

Revenge doesn’t wait for permission. 

Growing up poor in rural Georgia, Bree Cabbat was warned by her single mother that the world was a dark and scary place. Bree rejected her mother’s fearful outlook, and life has proved her right. Having married into a family with wealth, power, and connections, Bree now has all a woman could ever dream of: a loving lawyer husband, two talented teenage daughters, a new baby boy, a gorgeous home, and every opportunity in the world. 

Until the day she awakens and sees a witch peering into her bedroom window—an old gray-haired woman dressed all in black who vanishes as quickly as she appears. It must be a play of the early morning light or the remnant of a waking dream, Bree tells herself, shaking off the bad feeling that overcomes her. 

Later that day though, she spies the old woman again, in the parking lot of her daugh­ters’ private school . . . just minutes before Bree’s infant son, asleep in his car seat only a few feet away, vanishes. It happened so quickly—Bree looked away only for a second. There is a note left in his place, warning her that she is being is being watched; if she wants her baby back, she must not call the police or deviate in any way from the instructions that will follow. 

The mysterious woman makes contact, and Bree learns she, too, is a mother. Why would another mother do this? What does she want? And why has she targeted Bree? Of course Bree will pay anything, do anything. It’s her child. 

To get her baby back, Bree must complete one small—but critical—task. It seems harmless enough, but her action comes with a devastating price, making her complicit in a tangled web of tragedy and shocking secrets that could destroy everything she loves. It is the beginning of an odyssey that will lead Bree to dangerous places, explosive confrontations, and chilling truths. 

Bree will do whatever it takes to protect her family—but what if the cost tears their world apart?

lacks on certain aspect but I do like the overall point of it.

When I requested this, I didn't really read through the plot. Then reading the first chapter or two, I found out that it involves a kidnapping of a child (so there's that for ❗❗ trigger warning). But unlike See How They Run and The Couple Next Door, Mother May I is a revenge plot.

[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] The Other Widow

title: The Other Widow

author: Susan Crawford
genre: adult fiction, mystery
published: April 26th 2016 by William Morrow
my copy: ARC, 352 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 3 / 5 stars
goodreads

The author of The Pocket Wife explores the dark side of love, marriage, and infidelity in this sizzling novel of psychological suspense.

Everybody’s luck runs out. This time it could be theirs . . .

It isn’t safe. That’s what Joe tells her when he ends their affair—moments before their car skids off an icy road in a blinding snowstorm and hits a tree. Desperate to keep her life intact—her job, her husband, and her precious daughter, Lily—Dorrie will do everything she can to protect herself, even if it means walking away from the wreckage. Dorrie has always been a good actress, pretending to be someone else: the dutiful daughter, the satisfied wife, the woman who can handle anything. Now she’s going to put on the most challenging performance of her life. But details about the accident leave her feeling uneasy and afraid. Why didn’t Joe’s airbag work? Why was his car door open before the EMTs arrived? And now suddenly someone is calling her from her dead lover’s burner phone. . . .

Joe’s death has left his wife in free fall as well. Karen knew Joe was cheating—she found some suspicious e-mails. Trying to cope with grief is devastating enough without the constant fear that has overtaken her—this feeling she can’t shake that someone is watching her. And with Joe gone and the kids grown, she’s vulnerable . . . and on her own.

Insurance investigator Maggie Devlin is suspicious of the latest claim that’s landed on her desk—a man dying on an icy road shortly after buying a lucrative life insurance policy. Maggie doesn’t believe in coincidences. The former cop knows that things—and people—are never what they seem to be.

As the fates of these three women become more tightly entwined, layers of lies and deception begin to peel away, pushing them dangerously to the edge . . . closer to each other . . . to a terrifying truth . . . to a shocking end.

could have been better.

This is one of those books I randomly picked up from the discarded piles of ARC on the bookstore I used to work in. I grabbed it because it looks like a psychological-thriller and somehow it is. But also, it isn't. OR it just isn't good. for me.

[REVIEW] Pretty Little Wife

title: Pretty Little Wife

author: Darby Kane
genre: adult fiction, mystery
published: December 29th 2020 by William Morrow Paperbacks
my copy: eGalley, 416 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 3 / 5 stars
goodreads

Debut author Darby Kane thrills with this twisty domestic suspense novel that asks one central question: shouldn’t a dead husband stay dead? 

Lila Ridgefield lives in an idyllic college town, but not everything is what it seems. Lila isn’t what she seems. A student vanished months ago. Now, Lila’s husband, Aaron, is also missing. At first these cases are treated as horrible coincidences until it’s discovered the student is really the third of three unexplained disappearances over the last few years. The police are desperate to find the connection, if there even is one. Little do they know they might be stumbling over only part of the truth…. 

With the small town in an uproar, everyone is worried about the whereabouts of their beloved high school teacher. Everyone except Lila, his wife. She’s definitely confused about her missing husband but only because she was the last person to see his body, and now it’s gone.

started strong but didn't hold up for me.

It's a suspense. The usual thing: a wife, a husband, they look perfect on the outside. Yes to that trope? Then there's that tagline: there's more than one way to end a marriage. Yes to that? It's all so good, to be honest.

[REVIEW] Girl in Snow

title: Girl in Snow
author: Danya Kukafka
genre: adult fiction, mystery, thriller
published: August 1, 2017 by Simon & Schuster
format: hardcover, 368 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 2 / 5 stars
goodreads

Who Are You When No One Is Watching? 

When a beloved high schooler named Lucinda Hayes is found murdered, no one in her sleepy Colorado suburb is untouched—not the boy who loved her too much; not the girl who wanted her perfect life; not the officer assigned to investigate her murder. In the aftermath of the tragedy, these three indelible characters—Cameron, Jade, and Russ—must each confront their darkest secrets in an effort to find solace, the truth, or both.  

In crystalline prose, Danya Kukafka offers a brilliant exploration of identity and of the razor-sharp line between love and obsession, between watching and seeing, between truth and memory. Compulsively readable and powerfully moving, Girl in Snow offers an unforgettable reading experience and introduces a singular new talent in Danya Kukafka.

Girl in Snow tried but failed. *shakes head*

Mystery thrillers are a thing, ya know? Cheating husbands are a thing, ya know? Unreliable main characters with memory loss are a thing, ya know? And this just combined that but ya know what? It failed. It failed so much I can't even believe I finished it. I  finish it because I was curious as to who actually killed the girl and why and how it will be revealed. Mysteries keep me going, you see. And when it's poorly done, I get sad and disappointed af.

[REVIEW] Resthaven

title: Resthaven
author: Erik Therme
genre: young adult, contemporary, suspense
publish: April 12, 2016 by Kindle Press
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 3 / 5 stars
goodreads

2016 Kindle Scout Winner  

The last thing Kaylee wants to do is participate in a childish scavenger hunt--especially inside the abandoned retirement home on the edge of town. When she finds a bruised, deaf boy hiding inside one of the rooms, she vows to lead him to safety . . . only to discover the front doors are now padlocked, and her friends are nowhere to be found. Kaylee is about to learn that not everything that goes 'bump in the night' is imaginary, and sometimes there are worse things to fear than ghosts.

I really wanted to love this book.

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. And I really, really wanted to love this because I loved his first novel, Mortom. It was suspenseful and the mystery was really well put together and the revelation was just amazing.

[REVIEW] Twenty Questions for Gloria

title: Twenty Questions for Gloria
author: Martyn Bedford
genre: young adult, contemporary
publish: April 12, 2016 by Wendy Lamb Books
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 3 / 5 stars
goodreads

It started with an appearance, not a disappearance. 

Gloria is tired of her ordinary life. An unadventurous teenager, she barely remembers the free-spirited child she used to be. So when a mysterious new boy strolls into school, bent on breaking all the rules, Gloria is ready to fall under his spell. 

Uman is funny, confident, and smart. He does what he wants without a care for what anyone thinks. The only people for him, he says, are the mad ones, the ones who never say or do a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn. 

He is everything Gloria wants to be. He can whisk her away and show her a more daring, more exciting life—one in which the only limits are the boundaries of her own boldness. 

But Uman is not all he seems. And by the time she learns the truth about him, she’s a long way from home…and the whole country wants to know: Where’s Gloria?

runaway kids. then what?

I bought Twenty Questions for Gloria because of the blurb. When I read it, the first thing that came to my minds was my oh-so boring life and how much I wish I'd be more adventurous but too scared to actually make a move. And I am like, oh hey this book could be an exciting read -- this boring girl and this confident guy and a mystery.