The Couple Next Door- Shari Lapena

While wedding planning I started reading this book and let me tell you, it got me second guessing getting married! Just kidding, but this book is so well written that I started double checking that, yes, I do actually know the person I’m going to marry!!

Anne and Marco Conti just had their first child. They are going through a bit of a rough patch since Anne had the baby as she has postpartum depression. When  their babysitter cancels at the last minute they decide to still go to their neighbors for the first time in months. They bring the baby monitor along and plan to check on the baby every 30 minutes. After doing as they promised and checking on the baby, they leave their neighbor’s house at 1 AM and arrive home to find an empty crib. When the police arrive, the police immediately suspect Anne and Marco. What could they have gained by hurting their baby? How well do they really know each other? Where is their daughter?

The Couple Next Door is 308 pages long and took me three days to read.

I give this novel a four out of five for it’s intriguing plot and twisty-turny story line! I highly recommend reading this book if you haven’t already!

Please comment with your thoughts after you’ve read!

Here’s to the adventure of finding a novel novel!

I See You- Clare Mackintosh

I’m back in my groove, y’all! Hopefully I’ll be able to start cranking out reviews like I’ve been wanting to! I’m very excited to share my thoughts on Clare Mackintosh’s “I See You” with you.

Zoe Walker is just your average, everyday woman that travels to home and work by train.  When she browses the newspaper on her way home she sees a familiar picture in the personals section with a phone number and a website “findtheone.com”. After looking closer she realizes that the picture is of herself. She is, naturally, freaked out about her picture being used in the paper without her consent. When Zoe recognizes another picture in the personals section dated a a few days before her own she tries to recall how she knows her. When she realizes that she knows this woman from an article about her keys being stolen on the train while she slept, Zoe calls the police.  Zoe becomes increasingly concerned that there is a connection of crime to the personals advertisement.  Is she next in line to get robbed or hurt?

I See You is 372 pages long and took me four days to read.

I give this novel a four out of five because it kept me completely on the hook! The excitement of this novel literally doesn’t stop until the last page. I highly recommend this book!!

Please comment with your thoughts after you’ve read!

Here’s to the adventure of finding a novel novel!

Lacey

 

Still Mine- Amy Stuart

I finally finished a book! For the first time in over a month I have taken a book off my to be read pile and now am able to put it on the shelf. This book made it possible and hopefully jump start my new years resolution of reading a book a week!

Clare isn’t her real name but that’s what the folks of the small town Blackmore call her. She will only be in Blackmore a week and in that time she needs to find out what happened to Shayna Fowles, the missing local. Clare is running from her own past but in order to do so she needs to move forward. By finding where or what happened to Shayna will be lucrative for her and she needs money now more than ever. When she starts to lose herself in what feels like home (and not in a good way) she obsesses about finding Shayna before its to late for herself to get out.

Still Mine is 305 pages long and took me 4 days to read.

I give this novel a three out of five because I really enjoyed reading this story. It wasn’t a difficult read and was exactly what I needed to get back into my reading groove.

Please comment with your thoughts after you’ve read this book!

Here’s to the adventure of finding a novel novel!

Lacey

The Fever- Megan Abbott

I’m pulling this book out of my “previously read” vault to review because it’s my last semester is school and I’ve been slacking on reading. This was the first Megan Abbott that I had the pleasure reading and since reading I’ve added many of her books to my to be read list.

The Fever takes place in a small town where Deenie, a young high school girl, suddenly has a seizure in the middle of class. When other female students start having unexplained seizures as well the entire town becomes increasingly paranoid to the point of hysteria.

The Fever is 303 pages long and took me 3 days to read.

I really enjoyed this book. I always find myself drawn to mysteries and this book is no different. I give The Fever a 3 out of 5 for the anxiety it gave me throughout the story.

Please comment with your thoughts on this book!

Here’s to the adventure of finding a novel novel!

Lacey

Her Every Fear- Peter Swanson

I have been reading very slow here lately as it’s my last semester of school before I’m done! Yessss! That being said, I’m finding that I’m reading more than studying so I won’t be posting as often until I’m done.

This is my first Peter Swanson novel and I really enjoyed it. I’ll start by saying there are a lot of creepy characters in this boon but Kate Priddy, our main character, is worth it.

Kate has a traumatic past. After being nearly killed by her ex-boyfriend, she reluctantly agrees to get out of London and swap apartments with her second cousin in Boston. Because of her traumatic past she suspects the worst out of every situation. When she arrives at her cousin’s apartment and finds that his neighbor has been murdered her first instinct is flight. But she is determined to make this work and to prove to herself that she can do it. Then she finds that her cousin was intimately connected to the girl next door. Did her cousin that she hardly knows kill this girl? What did she get herself into?

Her Every Fear is 329 pages of suspense and took me 3 days to read.

I give this book a 3 out of 5 for its wonderful character development.

Thank you so much to HarperCollins Publishing for sending me this great book!

Please comment with your thoughts once you’ve read this book!

Here’s to the adventure of finding a novel novel!

Lacey 

The Trespasser- Tana French 

Goodness gracious, I love Tana French. Every one of her books is a page turner and I can’t help but get giddy picking up her newest book because I know it will be unique.

The Trespasser is a story of the Irish Murder Squad detective Antoinette Conway. Like all of French’s novels, she has us following a highlight case of a detective’s career. Detective Conway is the only female detective in the Murder Squad. Due to a previous disagreement with another detective, she feels shes been labeled as the black sheep of the squad. Feeling out of place has taken its share on Conway and she is feeling less and less useful on the squad. When a case comes in that feels slightly fishy, she latches onto it and it turns her life upside down.

449 pages long and addicting as ever. It took me awhile longer to finish this book (5 days) but it is well worth the commitment!

I give The Trespasser a 4 out of five because Antoinette Conway may be one of my favorite characters of all time. Tana French really knows how to bring these complex characters to life.

Please comment with your thoughts once you’ve read the book!

Here’s to the adventure of finding a novel novel!

Lacey

In A Dark, Dark Wood- Ruth Ware 

 

For a reason that is beyond me, I thought it would be a good idea to start reading Ruth Ware’s In A Dark, Dark Wood on Halloween Eve. I had heard that it was a creepy book and thought “hey, it’s almost Halloween, I’ll get in the spirit!”. That was a mistake…

We’ve all been invited to wedding events where we’ve thought to ourselves that it was a strange request for one reason or another. Nora gets invited to a bachelorette party by a childhood friend that she hasn’t spoken to in ten years since the “incident”. She decides that it might be nice to see her old friend Clare and possibly reconnect so she takes the leap and RSVPs yes. When she arrives at the party in the middle of the secluded woods in a house with  gigantic outer glass walls with Clare’s oddly manic friend Flo, she becomes even more paranoid about the real reason why she was invited. From there on her past comes back to haunt her in the form of her old friend.

In A Dark, Dark Wood is 308 pages long and is impossible to put down. I literally started it Sunday afternoon and finished it later that night.

Ruth Ware does an impeccable job of bringing these characters to life and magnifying how uncomfortable certain personalities can make you feel. Throughout the book I found myself feeling the tension as though I was in the room with them. I rate this book a 4 out 5 for making it impossible for me to sleep.

Please comment with your thoughts once you’ve read the book!

Here’s to the adventure of finding a novel novel!

Lacey

Party of One- Dave Holmes

 

I’m not usually a fan of biographies. They don’t usually hold my attention long enough to keep me reading the whole way through.

But Dave Holmes has written an autobiography that is not only hilariously honest but also incredibly endearing. Party of One: A Memoir in 21 Songs is Dave Holmes story of growing up a young, gay male in the 80’s. While I am not: 1. gay or 2. male, I found this story to be truly inspiring about finding yourself when you feel like no one understands you. Holmes’ snarky and honest voice shines throughout the book.

Party of One is 272 pages and as I mentioned before, it takes me a little longer to read biographies so it took me 10 days. I want to emphasize that this doesn’t mean I didn’t thoroughly enjoy this book, because I did! I’m just a little slower at reading this type of book!

I happily give Party of One a 3 out of 5 for bringing a smile to my face and a new fondness of Dave Holmes.

Please leave your comments with your thoughts on this novel!

Here’s to the adventure of finding a novel novel!

Lacey

P.S. I received this book from Blogging for Books for review.