Tag: thriller books

Book Review: Into the Drowning Deep (Rolling in the Deep #1) by Mira Grant

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Thriller / Horror
Length: 440 pages
Author: Mira Grant
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: November 14th, 2017
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Seven years ago, the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a “mockumentary” bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend. It was lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy.

Now, a new crew has been assembled. But this time they’re not out to entertain. Some seek to validate their life’s work. Some seek the greatest hunt of all. Some seek the truth. But for the ambitious young scientist Victoria Stewart this is a voyage to uncover the fate of the sister she lost.

Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the waves. But the secrets of the deep come with a price.

THIS WAS SO GOOD.

What’s a genre I never read? HORROR. But this book came highly recommended and I was told it’s a must because MERMAIDS and y’all, it delivered.

I loved that there was so many points of view. The people above the ocean and the creatures below the ocean. There were many different angles and types of thoughts on this ship and I loved that this showed every nuanced side of the story. It made everything feel real and authentic to how things would probably be going down in this situation.

This was definitely giving me Jurassic Park (a favorite of mine) + murderous mermaids and I was easily convinced that I needed to read it. I loved the morality discussions and how much gray area was being brought about as research needed to be accomplished.

Things were intense, spooky and I could not stop listening. I do think my enjoyment level was increased because of the audiobook. The narrator did a FANTASTIC job of giving every character their own style and it brought the book that much more alive in my mind. Highly recommend that route if you’re interested.

I don’t want to say much more because it’s filled with twists and sinister turns that are best brought out by reading it on your own. Just know, this is an easy recommendation for me to give.

Overall audience notes:

  • Horror / Thriller
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: quick fade to black / closed-door
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: high contents of gore and blood, multiple deaths, gun violence, poisonings, etc.

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Book Review: Regrets Only by Kieran Scott

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Mystery/Thriller
Length: 336 pages
Author: Kieran Scott
Publisher: Gallery Books
Release Date: January 10th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In a fast-paced new novel in the vein of Big Little Lies, a single mom goes undercover to investigate a host of disturbing secrets held by the leaders of a local suburban parent-school association, including embezzlement, bribery, adultery, and murder—by the bestselling author of Wish You Were Gone.

Paige Lancaster, single mom and prodigal daughter, has returned to the East Coast from her prestigious, well-paid job in Los Angeles, writing for the smartest detective series on television. Something terrible happened to her back in Hollywood. Okay, two terrible things, one featuring a misplaced tire iron—and now she’s broke, homeless, and living with her widowed mother and eight-year-old daughter, Izzy, in her Connecticut hometown.

Paige needs to buckle down and find a new writing gig but first, she meets the movers and shakers of Izzy’s school’s Parent Booster Association, run by the intimidatingly gorgeous Ainsley Anderson, who just happens to be married to Paige’s old high school flame, John.

Then she shows up at the annual Parents and Pinot fundraiser, held at Ainsley and John’s dazzling mansion in the toniest part of town, where she’s caught in a compromising position with John, accidentally destroys the guest bathroom, overhears an incriminating conversation, and discovers that her purse has gone missing. And later that night, Ainsley turns up dead at the bottom of her own driveway.

Did she fall? Or was she pushed?

Paige may have only written about detectives, but she is convinced she can handle a little undercover sleuthing. After all, it’ll give her an excuse to spend more time with John. Still, she can’t help but wonder: could he be capable of murder? Or could one of the PBA members have planned a dastardly crime to reach the top? But the most important question of all: will Paige ever get her life back on track?

Thank you to Book Club Favorites and Simon & Schuster for the gifted copy.

BRING THE DRAMA.

You can sometimes easily know what you’re getting into from a book by the summary. In this case, I knew allllll the momma drama was coming my way and by leaning right into it, I enjoyed this one! It was a fantastic audiobook with multiple narrators that brought out another dimension to the story.

I liked the murder mystery the most. I honestly didn’t know who committed what and kept pointing my finger at the wrong person. It’s super fast paced and a compulsive kind of read that has a bit of an edge too.

Character wise, I didn’t love or hate anyone. I feel like they all played their roles well and each brought a little bit of something to the story. I like seeing things from multiple angles and Regrets Only brought that dynamic for me.

Not my usual genre, but definitely a nice switch up.

Overall audience notes:

  • Mystery/Thriller
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: fade to black
  • Violence: murder, gun violence, physical altercations

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ARC Book Review: Juniper Bean Resorts to Murder by Gracie Ruth Mitchell

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance + Mystery
Length: 368 pages
Author: Gracie Ruth Mitchell
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: March 31st, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Juniper Bean has big plans for her writing career. Swoony kisses, sigh-inducing happily ever afters—she’s going to write them all.

There’s just one problem: she can’t seem to stop killing off her main characters.

After accepting that a genre change is in order, Juniper sets out to do some research. What’s the best way to carry a dead body? How exactly does one pick a lock? Juniper is going to find out—with the unwilling help of her new roommate, Aiden.

But Juniper’s plans go haywire when she stumbles across an actual, real-life dead body—and before she knows it, she and Aiden are thrust into the middle of a murder mystery that seems suspiciously tied to Juniper’s past.

Who killed the girl in the woods? Can Juniper ever get the hang of mystery writing? And, perhaps the biggest question of all: Why the heck does Aiden look so good in a tweed jacket?

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

WHAT A COMBINATION.

I increasingly became obsessed with this story the more I read. It was a beautiful combination of romance, mystery, vulnerability and humor. My new favorite book by Gracie Ruth Mitchell.

This romance was off the charts tender. With a dash of second chance and a feeling of fate playing a role, Juniper and Aiden found each other [again]. I loved the way they bounced off of each other and how you could really see the growth in their bond as they worked together to solve a murder mystery. There were incredibly vulnerable moments from both Aiden and Juniper about how they perceive themselves and things they knew they needed to work on and it had me all misty-eyed at the end. I felt all the feels.

The mystery played out well!! It was woven in behind the romance (without overshadowing) and I was still very much intensely involved in solving the crimes. Those more intense ending scenes were exactly what I was hoping for and all of the grand reveals simultaneously broke my heart and gave me relief for the characters involved.

A really great read. I could keep gushing about all of the tiny moments I absolutely adored that came together to make this book huggable. I know this was a mix-up in what GRM usually writes and she NAILED IT.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance + Mystery
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: moderate
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: murder, knife violence, alludes to sexual assault and rape (of a side character), loss of a mother, lack of food resources

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Book Review: The Siren by Katherine St. John

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Thriller/Mystery
Length: 416 pages
Author: Katherine St. John
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Release Date: May 4th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From Katherine St. John, author of The Lion’s Den, comes another sublimely escapist thriller: When dangerously handsome megastar Cole Power hires his ex-wife, Stella Rivers, to act in his son’s film, he sparks a firestorm on an isolated island that will unearth long-buried secrets — and unravel years of lies.

In the midst of a sizzling hot summer, some of Hollywood’s most notorious faces are assembled on the idyllic Caribbean island of St. Genesius to film The Siren, starring dangerously handsome megastar Cole Power playing opposite his ex-wife, Stella Rivers. The surefire blockbuster promises to entice audiences with its sultry storyline and intimately connected cast.

Three very different women arrive on set, each with her own motive. Stella, an infamously unstable actress, is struggling to reclaim the career she lost in the wake of multiple, very public breakdowns. Taylor, a fledgling producer, is anxious to work on a film she hopes will turn her career around after her last job ended in scandal. And Felicity, Stella’s mysterious new assistant, harbors designs of her own that threaten to upend everyone’s plans.

With a hurricane brewing offshore, each woman finds herself trapped on the island, united against a common enemy. But as deceptions come to light, misplaced trust may prove more perilous than the storm itself.

WILD RIDE.

Goodness this book took me in so many directions I could hardly keep a handle on everything happening. Which definitely kept the pages turning.

What I did realize though is that this type of thriller isn’t my favorite? The writing is great, the story is intense and disturbing, but something about it just didn’t click for me in the end. Maybe some of the subject matter was a bit too much. I can’t quite pinpoint the vibe.

I liked that this kept me guessing at every turn. The flashback scenes added to the history and built up to the reveals well. As the hurricane rocked the island and crap really started to hit the fan I HAD to know where things were going.

I’m glad everything worked out in the end and that there was an epilogue. This kind of story had to have that closure. An intense tale for sure.

Overall audience notes:

  • Thriller/Mystery
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: multiple brief open door
  • Violence: mild-strong
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: suicide, murder, physical altercations, gun violence, kidnapping, drug use, rape, forced miscarriage, substance abuse, nonconsensual drugging

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