Book Review: No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall

March 10, 2025February 13, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: Mystery/Thriller
Length: 336 pages
Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Release Date: January 23rd, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The author of What Lies in the Woods returns with a novel about three sisters, two murders, and too many secrets to count.

Emma hasn’t told her husband much about her past. He knows her parents are dead and she hasn’t spoken to her sisters in years. Then they lose their apartment, her husband gets laid off, and Emma discovers she’s pregnant―right as the bank account slips into the red.

That’s when Emma confesses that she has one more asset: her parents’ house, which she owns jointly with her estranged sisters. They can’t sell it, but they can live in it. But returning home means that Emma is forced to reveal her secrets to her husband: that the house is not a run-down farmhouse but a stately mansion, and that her parents died there.

Were murdered.

And that some people say Emma did it.

Emma and her sisters have never spoken about what really happened that night. Now, her return to the house may lure her sisters back, but it will also crack open family and small-town secrets lots of people don’t want revealed. As Emma struggles to reconnect with her old family and hold together her new one, she begins to realize that the things they have left unspoken all these years have put them in danger again.

I FIGURED IT OUT.

I might not be a thriller gal, no matter how hard I try. This go around, I figured out what happened in the first few chapters and was only surprised by one twist. I didn’t really care for any of the characters either. Another situation where basically everyone had done something bad so I didn’t feel attached to anyone.

The audiobook narration was great, no issues there.

And also I felt like nothing felt new? The points of the plot were what you would expect and I was hoping for something fresh or to really hold my attention.

Overall audiobook notes:

Thriller/Mystery
Language: moderate
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: multiple murders, child abuse, gun violence

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ALC Book Review: A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

February 22, 2025February 7, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Thriller
Length: 304 pages
Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Release Date: February 4th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A woman invited to her wealthy fiance’s family retreat realizes they are hiding a terrible secret—and that she’s been there before, by the bestselling author of What Lies in the Woods.

A whirlwind romance.
When Theodora Scott met Connor—wealthy, charming, and a member of the powerful Dalton family—she fell in love in an instant. Six months later, he’s brought her to Idlewood, his family’s isolated winter retreat, to win over his skeptical relatives.

Stay away from Connor Dalton.
Theo has tried to ignore the threatening messages on her phone, but she can’t ignore the footprints in the snow outside the cabin window or the strange sense of familiarity she has about this place. Then, in a disused cabin, Theo finds something impossible: a photo of herself as a child. A photo taken at Idlewood.

I’ve been here before.
Theo has almost no recollection of her earliest years, but now she begins to piece together the fragments of her memories. Someone here has a shocking secret that they will do anything to keep hidden, and Theo is in terrible danger. Because the Daltons do not lose, and discovering what happened at Idlewood may cost Theo everything.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the gifted audiobook.

A THRILLER I ENJOYED.

Which, y’all, is hard for me. I am not a thriller girlie but I usually read a small handful each year that either remind me why I don’t or convince me that I should try some more. This one leaned into the more column. I’ve been a fan of KAM’s YA books and loved the audiobook narration for A Killing Cold.

I loved the remote house setting filled with rich people trying to hide secrets. I liked that Theo wasn’t a hard character to like. Of course she’s complicated and hiding secrets, but, she didn’t feel like an inherently bad person and that makes a thriller better for me.

The twists were good and I was surprised by a few of them. I thought the reveals happened at the right times and there wasn’t a lot of drag out moments where I was just waiting for the shoe to drop. I wouldn’t say this had a creepy factor for me but it is suspenseful. I liked the way it ended too.

Overall audience notes:

Thriller
Language: moderate
Romance: multiple open door
Violence: high
Content Warnings: murder, loss of life, hunting and dressing of deer,

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Book Review: Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry

November 15, 2023November 17, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Celebrity Memoir
Length: 272 pages
Author: Matthew Perry
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Release Date: November 1st, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In an extraordinary story that only he could tell, Matthew Perry takes readers onto the soundstage of the most successful sitcom of all time while opening up about his private struggles with addiction. Candid, self-aware, and told with his trademark humor, Perry vividly details his lifelong battle with the disease and what fueled it despite seemingly having it all.

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is an unforgettable memoir that shares the most intimate details of the love Perry lost, his darkest days, and his greatest friends.

Unflinchingly honest, moving, and hilarious: this is the book fans have been waiting for.

THOUGHTS.

I don’t really know how to go about a non-fiction review (because I rarely read this genre) but, Friends is my ultimate comfort show and I knew I had to listen to Matthew Perry’s memoir.

What I gathered most from this was the sheer complexity of addiction. And the power it can have over someone. I learned a lot and felt like I came out with a better understanding of this topic and more. I also liked hearing some of the behind the scenes stuff about Friends. It’s filled with Perry’s very highest moments and the lowest.

This book is dark, but with the added levity you’d expect from Perry. I listened to it on the audio (which he narrates) so I didn’t notice as many issues as I’ve seen from other reviewers. What I did notice was some repetitive thoughts and such, but I think that if that’s how he wants to write his book, let him?

It felt honest and raw. The ramblings of someone still hoping for love and connection while dealing with darkness on his shoulders. I do hope he continues to stay sober and content with who he is now.

Overall audience notes:

Memoir
Language: some strong
Romance: some mentions of nights with others; innuendo
Trigger/Content Warnings: dark discussions of alcoholism and drug abuse, descriptions of medical procedures and other medical incidents