https://amzn.to/3oCji43

Title: Drinking Games

Author: Sarah Levy

Release Date: January 3rd, 2023

Page Count: 277

Format: Netgalley

Start Date: December 26th, 2022

Finish Date: December 30th, 2022

Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

This book is a memoir about someone who struggled with drinking problems. The book is completely raw and open about her struggles and her triumphs. I really felt seen and heard in many parts of this book. I feel like many people will. The main focus is not on the drinking. It’s on the insecurities and struggles we all face when we’re trying to come to terms with who we are. We struggle with what we want to do for a living. We struggle with friends coming and going. We struggle with our mistakes and how to overcome them. I could go on. I’m just overwhelmed by this book. I’m so glad that I had the chance to read the book. I wound up preordering a copy of the audiobook. I plan to listen to it eventually. It’s definitely worth the reread.

https://amzn.to/3C68azt

Title: Omens Bite

Author: P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Release Date: April 5th, 2022

Page Count: 315

Format: Netgalley/Audiobook

Start Date: December 14th, 2022

Finish Date: December 30th, 2022

Rating: 4 Stars

Review:

This is the second book in a trilogy. I fully suggest anybody that’s interested in this book read Spells Trouble first. This trilogy is written by a mother daughter team. They also wrote a series called House of Night. House of Night is one of my favorite series of all time. I’ve read them a few times. I’m not going to lie, I haven’t enjoyed this trilogy as much as I did House of Night. I enjoyed it and was invested in the outcome. I think it was the twins attitudes. They were both just annoying in their own way. I actually enjoyed the secondary characters more than I did the twins. I still fully recommend this trilogy. My misgivings aside, it’s a very intense and alluring story. I just wish that the twins were given less whiny personalities.

https://amzn.to/43FJXeS

Title: Desolation Canyon

Author: P.J. Tracy

Release Date: January 18th, 2022

Page Count: 316

Format: Audiobook

Start Date: December 10th, 2022

Finish Date: December 27th, 2022

Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

I really enjoyed this book very much. This book is the sequel to Deep into the Dark. It can be read as a standalone though. If I’m being honest, I wouldn’t be shocked at all if I found out these books became a television or movie adaptation. They would be right up there with a lot of thrillers and crime shows. This particular book is about a cult and the darker and not so legal things that they are practicing. Somebody important to one of the main characters is unknowingly involved. I’d love to see if there are other books in this series. I also noticed that the authors wrote another series. I fully plan to check it out and any other books by them when I’m able to! They have such a unique writing style. They also work well together.

https://amzn.to/3IWO1zx

Title: Wicked Ever After

Author: Multiple Authors

Release Date: February 10th, 2023

Page Count: 286

Format: Ebook/Paperback

Start Date: April 1st, 2023

Finish Date: May 22nd, 2023

Rating: 4 Stars

Review:

This is a collection of short stories by ten different authors. They are all retellings of a variety of stories that we all know and love. They all give a different perspective of each of the stories. I really enjoyed them all. I did have some small issues with some of them. I felt like some of the stories weren’t really finished. They just felt like an incomplete thought. I also feel like the authors should have gotten together and discussed the stories that they were doing. I just feel like there would have been more of a variety that way. I think it’s important to note that this isn’t saying that any of these stories are bad. I just feel like there could have been some touches that would have made the stories popped more. I do love the fact that the proceeds of this anthology goes to a charity. It’s also a wonderful way to get a glimpse of each of the author’s writing. My favorite story is the last one.

https://amzn.to/43FQoP6

Title: Survive the Night

Author: Riley Sager

Release Date: June 29th, 2021

Page Count: 337

Format: Hardback/Audiobook

Start Date: December 16th, 2022

Finish Date: December 18th, 2022

Rating: 4 Stars

Review:

This isn’t one of my favorite Sager books. I did enjoy it. Especially the usual twist that Sager insists on throwing in. I originally started reading it at one point and set it down because I just couldn’t get into it. I got the audiobook of it and tried again. I made it further and then kept going until I finished it. Charlie isn’t coping well with school after her best friend is brutally murdered by a serial killer. She chooses to go home in the middle of a semester feeling like she just needs to get away from it all. At least for a while. She puts up a flier to ride with anybody heading that way with the offer to help with gas when she finds somebody who’s willing to take her. Everything seems to be going well until it’s not. Compared to the rest of Sager’s books, this one falls a bit flat in places. I also should mention that there is quite a bit of gaslighting in it. I may go back to reread it again one day to see if my opinion changes. It really was a good read. It just wasn’t my favorite. This is another book that I’d like to see as a movie.

https://amzn.to/3MKq8MU

Title: The House Across The Lake

Author: Riley Sager

Release Date: June 21st, 2022

Page Count: 363

Format: Hardcover/Audiobook

Start Date: November 7th, 2022

Finish Date: December 15th, 2022

Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

Riley Sager has this habit of sending you on a certain trail and then throwing an explosion on that trail leaving you confused and reeling. What I’m trying to say is that I think it’s going a certain way and suddenly it isn’t. I have a theory on something, and suddenly I’m nowhere near how it actually is. Then sometimes, I was actually right the whole time! This book is no exception to that. In fact, I think this book takes the cake out of all of the books. He became one of my favorite authors quickly. We follow a actress who has been struggling with alcoholism after her husband passed away. In an attempt to keep her out of the public eye until everything calms down, her family sends her to the very place her husband was killed. That’s all I’m willing to share. It’s a really good book. I full intend to read it again one day. I really hope that all the author’s books become movies one day!

https://amzn.to/3CcSqdK

Title: Silent Knight

Author: Xavier Neal

Release Date: December 22nd, 2022

Page Count: 133

Format: Ebook

Start Date: December 15th, 2022

Finish Date: December 15th, 2022

Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

This is a companion novel to the author’s book Compassion. Both of the books are very well written. It has a very powerful message behind it as well. I also love how realistic the situations in the story are. They don’t gloss over anything. It astounds me how many soldiers fight in the war to come home to nothing. They wind up homeless because of it and have to deal with prejudice people looking down on them and assuming the worst. Not all homeless people are addicts. Some just had a string of bad luck and don’t really have the resources to pull them back up. But I digress. In the end, this book is a steamy book with a very deep meaning behind it and I really enjoyed it. I did combine both of those books in this review. I fully encourage reading both. 

https://amzn.to/3MPGWlk

Title: Rebound

Author: Rebecca Barber

Release Date: May 23rd, 2023

Page Count: 305

Format: eARC

Start Date: May 13th, 2023

Finish Date: May 18th, 2023

Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

This author has made me realize that I’m kind of into sports romances. I don’t really care for a lot of spicy books. I don’t mind the spice, but I prefer the story arc over the spicy scenes. This author knows the balance well. I also didn’t mind the tropes that are sprinkled (very lightly) through the book. They don’t really last too long before resolutions happen. So there’s that. This is not the first book that I’ve read by this author. I can confidently say that it won’t be the last either. Her writing style is very addictive. I can’t wait to see what other works she has in store for us!

https://amzn.to/3oCn0dY

Title: Sing Her Down

Author: Ivy Pochoda

Release Date: May 23rd, 2023

Page Count: 277

Format: Netgalley

Start Date: May 14th, 2023

Finish Date: May 18th, 2023

Rating: 3 Stars

Review:

This story takes place shortly after the pandemic where everything went into lockdown. Two women are released early from prison because of it. They are sent to be quarantined in a motel for two weeks before moving on to their permanent location where they will spend their parole. Things don’t go according to plan at all. I got so many vibes from this book. I’m going to be honest, I’m still left reeling. I may have to buy an audiobook copy of this book to read again. It was kind of all over the place. I didn’t hate it, but I can’t say I was fully in love with it either. I’m still glad that I read it. It’s really interesting to read books that have been written since the pandemic. 

https://amzn.to/3OQ4B7W

Title: A Higher Standard

Author: E.F. Dodd

Release Date: May 16th, 2023

Page Count: 340

Format: Paperback

Start Date: May 14th, 2023

Finish Date: May 18th, 2023

Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

Normally, stories like this make me roll my eyes. Don’t get me wrong. I still enjoy them. I guess that would say that they are guilty pleasures of mine? Not sure. But I digress. This book didn’t hit any points of annoyance for me at all. There were several spots where certain tropes that drive me nuts would happen. They didn’t happen here. There were quite a few different spots where I cringed in anticipation of said tropes. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when they didn’t. Also, I really love the messages behind this story. It was a really wholesome story at the end. Well wholesome with a bit of spice mixed in. With this book, I feel like I gained another book girlfriend. The cover is super adorable too!