The meme that dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning? Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl.
This Sunday I’m reading Tell Me My Name by Erin Ruddy.
Goodreads Synopsis:
When a woman is snatched by an obsessed stranger claiming to be her soulmate, the consequences could be deadly in this suspenseful and darkly twisted psychological thriller … unless she can remember his name.
Ellie and Neil Patterson are eager to settle in to some quality time at their new cottage. It’s the first time in ten years they’ve been alone … or are they?
When a friendly encounter with their new neighbour leads to their violent kidnapping, they awake to a living nightmare. Insisting he is Ellie’s soulmate, the stranger gives her three chances to say his name. If she guesses wrong, it’s Neil who will suffer the consequences. This propels Ellie on a desperate trip down memory lane to dredge up the dubious men of her past.
Only after discovering the man’s true identity and sacrificing her own safety to save Neil does Ellie learn the truth — that everything she thought she knew about her husband and their decade-long love story was a lie.
Title: Horrid Author: Katrina Leno Genre: Young Adult, Horror, Thriller, Fantasy Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Source: Owlcrate box Format: Hardcover Release Date: September 15, 2020 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
From the author of You Must Not Miss comes a haunting contemporary horror novel that explores themes of mental illness, rage, and grief, twisted with spine-chilling elements of Stephen King and Agatha Christie.
Following her father’s death, Jane North-Robinson and her mom move from sunny California to the dreary, dilapidated old house in Maine where her mother grew up. All they want is a fresh start, but behind North Manor’s doors lurks a history that leaves them feeling more alone…and more tormented.
As the cold New England autumn arrives, and Jane settles in to her new home, she finds solace in old books and memories of her dad. She steadily begins making new friends, but also faces bullying from the resident “bad seed,” struggling to tamp down her own worst nature in response. Jane’s mom also seems to be spiraling with the return of her childhood home, but she won’t reveal why. Then Jane discovers that the “storage room” her mom has kept locked isn’t for storage at all–it’s a little girl’s bedroom, left untouched for years and not quite as empty of inhabitants as it appears….
Is it grief? Mental illness? Or something more…horrid?
Review:
After Jane’s father dies, Jane and her mother, Ruth, move across the country to Ruth’s family home in the small town of Bells Hollow. The house has been abandoned since Ruth’s mother died years ago. There is a lot of mystery that surrounds the house, which is avoided by everyone in town. Jane quickly gets settled in her new life, but then she starts hearing things in the house. There are things hidden behind the locked doors, which holds a dark family secret.
I loved the mystery elements of this story. Jane loves Agatha Christie novels, and some were mentioned in the story. These were ones that I had never read, but clues in those stories also tied into the mystery in this book.
The house was quite creepy. Many parts of this story weren’t realistic, so that made the story a little less scary. For example, the roses in the garden continued to grow after being chopped down, which seemed fantastical and took away some of the fear of the house. However, the mystery behind the house was slowly unraveled, which made me keep reading.
The only problem I had with this book is that I had a lot of questions at the end. There were a few loose ends that I would love to know the answers to. At the same time, this adds to the mystery of the story, since some parts are left unsolved.
Title: Dear Justyce (Dear Martin #2) Author: Nic Stone Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Publisher: Penguin Random House Canada Source: Publisher Format: Paperback arc Release Date: September 29, 2020 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
In the stunning and hard-hitting sequel to the New York Timesbestseller Dear Martin, incarcerated teen Quan writes letters to Justyce about his experiences in the American prison system.
Shortly after teenager Quan enters a not guilty plea for the shooting death of a police officer, he is placed in a holding cell to await trial. Through a series of flashbacks and letters to Justyce, the protagonist of Dear Martin, Quan’s story unravels.
From a troubled childhood and bad timing to a coerced confession and prejudiced police work, Nic Stone’s newest novel takes an unflinching look at the flawed practices and ideologies that discriminate against African American boys and minorities in the American justice system.
Review:
Quan Banks is an incarcerated teen who writes letters to his old friend, Justyce. Quan had a troubled childhood, witnessing the arrest of his father and his step-father abusing his mother. He joined a crime group, and was arrested in connection with the shooting death of a police officer. Quan writes to Justyce to work through his feelings about being incarcerated and to possibly get some help with his case.
This is the perfect companion novel for Dear Martin, though there wasn’t meant to be a sequel. The boys Justyce and Quan have things in common even though they have different life situations. They’re from the same neighbourhood and went to the same schools, but have different futures.
There was a lot of tension in the story, due to the fact that we don’t know why Quan is in prison until a few chapters into the story. There were many important scenes about Quan’s childhood, each event leading to his time in prison. There were some uncomfortable scenes that were hard to read, such as when Quan’s father was arrested. It’s devastating to think of a child having to go through these things, but this is a reality for many children.
Though Quan tried to be successful and work hard, he was often discouraged by the people around him. When he studied hard for a math test and got a very good grade, everyone assumed he must have cheated. These events eventually made Quan believe that he didn’t deserve that kind of success, leading him to a crime group. When Quan was imprisoned, he had a great support team around him who believed in him. Many people in his situation don’t have the same kind of support, so unfortunately most of that part was fictionalized. However, I’m glad that Quan got to have a happy ending in this story.
I could talk about this book for hours. This is definitely required reading, and it’s the perfect companion to Dear Martin. I highly recommend this book!
Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is a weekly meme hosted by Wandering Words, where you give the first few lines of a book to hook your readers before introducing the book.
Here are my first lines:
“I am the black flamingo. The black flamingo is me trying to find myself.”
Do you recognize these first lines?
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And the book is… The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta.
Goodreads synopsis:
A fierce coming-of-age verse novel about identity and the power of drag, from acclaimed poet and performer Dean Atta. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, Jason Reynolds, and Kacen Callender.
Michael is a mixed-race gay teen growing up in London. All his life, he’s navigated what it means to be Greek-Cypriot and Jamaican—but never quite feeling Greek or Black enough.
As he gets older, Michael’s coming out is only the start of learning who he is and where he fits in. When he discovers the Drag Society, he finally finds where he belongs—and the Black Flamingo is born.
Told with raw honesty, insight, and lyricism, this debut explores the layers of identity that make us who we are—and allow us to shine.
Have you read The Black Flamingo? What did you think of it?
Title: A Golden Fury Author: Samantha Cohoe Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fiction Publisher: Wednesday Books Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: October 13, 2020 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Thea Hope longs to be an alchemist out of the shadow of her famous mother. The two of them are close to creating the legendary Philosopher’s Stone—whose properties include immortality and can turn any metal into gold—but just when the promise of the Stone’s riches is in their grasp, Thea’s mother destroys the Stone in a sudden fit of violent madness.
While combing through her mother’s notes, Thea learns that there’s a curse on the Stone that causes anyone who tries to make it to lose their sanity. With the threat of the French Revolution looming, Thea is sent to Oxford for her safety, to live with the father who doesn’t know she exists.
But in Oxford, there are alchemists after the Stone who don’t believe Thea’s warning about the curse—instead, they’ll stop at nothing to steal Thea’s knowledge of how to create the Stone. But Thea can only run for so long, and soon she will have to choose: create the Stone and sacrifice her sanity, or let the people she loves die.
Review:
Thea Hope is the daughter of an alchemist, who has been trying to make the Philsopher’s Stone. Just before her mother can complete it, she is taken over by madness. Thea finds her mother’s notes, which says anyone who creates the Stone will go insane. Because of her mother’s madness, Thea is sent to find her father in Oxford, who doesn’t know she exists. Her father is also an alchemist who is trying to figure out how to make the Stone. When someone close to her father becomes mad with the Stone, Thea has to run away again to find some way to complete the Stone herself and end this curse.
This was a fast paced story. Every time it seemed like things were going well for Thea and she was doing what she planned, there would be a drastic event that changed everything. Thea had a strong character development. She had grown into a different, more mature person by the end of the story. I really liked how the story and characters developed.
I’m not interested in science, but I liked the alchemy in this book. It was a combination of science with some myth surrounding the Philosopher’s Stone. The alchemists had to use a wide range of knowledge to complete their work, including knowing multiple different languages. I learned a lot about alchemy and the mythical Philosopher’s Stone in this story.
I really enjoyed this story!
Thank you Wednesday Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Cadaver and Queen by Alisa Kwitney
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein
About the author:
Samantha Cohoe writes historically-inspired young adult fantasy. She was raised in San Luis Obispo, California, where she enjoyed an idyllic childhood of beach trips, omnivorous reading, and writing stories brimming with adverbs. She currently lives in Denver with her family and divides her time among teaching Latin, mothering, writing, reading, and deleting adverbs. A Golden Fury is her debut novel.
Have you read A Golden Fury? What did you think of it?
TBR Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly Faye Reads, where you post a title from your shelf or e-reader and find out what others think about it.
My pick this week is Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers.
Goodreads Synopsis:
When “Perfect” Parker Fadley starts drinking at school and failing her classes, all of St. Peter’s High goes on alert. How has the cheerleading captain, girlfriend of the most popular guy in school, consummate teacher’s pet, and future valedictorian fallen so far from grace?
Parker doesn’t want to talk about it. She’d just like to be left alone, to disappear, to be ignored. But her parents have placed her on suicide watch and her conselors are demanding the truth. Worse, there’s a nice guy falling in love with her and he’s making her feel things again when she’d really rather not be feeling anything at all.
Nobody would have guessed she’d turn out like this. But nobody knows the truth.
Something horrible has happened, and it just might be her fault.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it?
Title: Invisible Girl Author: Lisa Jewell Genre: Thriller Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook, Paperback Release Date: October 13, 2020 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
The author of the “rich, dark, and intricately twisted” (Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author) The Family Upstairs returns with another taut and white-knuckled thriller following a group of people whose lives shockingly intersect when a young woman disappears.
Owen Pick’s life is falling apart.
In his thirties, a virgin, and living in his aunt’s spare bedroom, he has just been suspended from his job as a geography teacher after accusations of sexual misconduct, which he strongly denies. Searching for professional advice online, he is inadvertently sucked into the dark world of incel—involuntary celibate—forums, where he meets the charismatic, mysterious, and sinister Bryn.
Across the street from Owen lives the Fours family, headed by mom Cate, a physiotherapist, and dad Roan, a child psychologist. But the Fours family have a bad feeling about their neighbor Owen. He’s a bit creepy and their teenaged daughter swears he followed her home from the train station one night.
Meanwhile, young Saffyre Maddox spent three years as a patient of Roan Fours. Feeling abandoned when their therapy ends, she searches for other ways to maintain her connection with him, following him in the shadows and learning more than she wanted to know about Roan and his family. Then, on Valentine’s night, Saffyre Maddox disappears—and the last person to see her alive is Owen Pick.
Review:
Owen Pick is a thirty-year-old man who lives with his aunt and has never had a romantic relationship. One day, he was accused of sexual assaulting and behaving inappropriately with some of his students, but he denies it and he left his job. Owen lives across the street from Cate and Roan Fours and their two teenage children. Roan is a child psychologist. On Valentine’s Day, Saffyre Maddox, one of Roan’s patients, goes missing. She was last seen alive by Owen outside of Roan and Cate’s home, making him their prime suspect. All signs point to Owen having something to do with Saffyre’s disappearance, but is he guilty?
Lisa Jewell’s books have a unique thriller layout. The main crime or incident of the thriller doesn’t happen until a few chapters into the story. The first part introduces the characters living their day to day lives. Most thrillers begin with the crime or inciting incident hooking the reader into the story. Though the main incident doesn’t happen for a few chapters, the characters all seem guilty and suspicious of something. They each seem to be hiding a dark secret. With this layout, the reader can get to know the characters before the main incident happens.
I was surprised at the ending. I was sure that all signed pointed to one character, but I didn’t guess correctly. It was a complicated ending, involving a few different parts. When I read a thriller, I prefer a clear, final ending, so this ending didn’t satisfy me.
Though I didn’t really like the ending, I enjoyed reading this twisty thriller.
Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
Have you read Invisible Girl? What did you think of it?
This is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. In this post we highlight a book that’s highly anticipated.
The book that I’m waiting on this Wednesday is Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao. The expected publication date is November 10, 2020.
Goodreads Synopsis:
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before meets The Farewell in this incisive romantic comedy about a college student who hires a fake boyfriend to appease her traditional Taiwanese parents, to disastrous results, from the acclaimed author of American Panda.
Chloe Wang is nervous to introduce her parents to her boyfriend, because the truth is, she hasn’t met him yet either. She hired him from Rent for Your ’Rents, a company specializing in providing fake boyfriends trained to impress even the most traditional Asian parents.
Drew Chan’s passion is art, but after his parents cut him off for dropping out of college to pursue his dreams, he became a Rent for Your ’Rents employee to keep a roof over his head. Luckily, learning protocols like “Type C parents prefer quiet, kind, zero-PDA gestures” comes naturally to him.
When Chloe rents Drew, the mission is simple: convince her parents fake Drew is worthy of their approval so they’ll stop pressuring her to accept a proposal from Hongbo, the wealthiest (and slimiest) young bachelor in their tight-knit Asian American community.
But when Chloe starts to fall for the real Drew—who, unlike his fake persona, is definitely not ’rent-worthy—her carefully curated life begins to unravel. Can she figure out what she wants before she loses everything?
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