No One Needs to Know - Lindsay Cameron

 

This domestic suspense follows a group of people living in the Upper East Side of NYC where keeping up appearances is paramount. But when the anonymous confession site UrbanMyth is hacked, all secrets are released - including some worth killing for. 

I loved the set up and premise for this book, but overall the execution wasn't for me.  Domestic suspense are real hit or miss for me and but I think for fans of the genre, this would be a fun read.  I do think this book stays true to the premise, but I was just expecting it to go darker than it did. I'd categorize this as mild suspense, at best.  All the pieces were there, in theory, but the spark was missing.  I didn't believe that there was anything really at stake with these characters so the suspense elements fell flat for me. I spent a lot of the book guessing what twist would happen next only to have almost none of those twisty moments actually happened. There were some fun moments - but mostly this was just a middle of the road domestic suspense for me.

The characters in this are perfect for the setting and premise.  They are all a little over the top when it comes to their actions and reactions to some of these situations.  To be fair, I've never been anywhere close to being in this world so maybe these characters are 100% accurate.  However, reading from the outside - this book felt like the definition of Rich People Problems. We have it all from the parent overly involved in their child's school to ensure they get into the best boarding schools to the bored socialite.  The character interactions were by far my favorite part of this story - especially the ones where there's a lot of subtext to the conversation happening.  These were exactly the type of interactions I was expecting based on the premise and I thought they were really well done. I would sometimes get the characters a little mixed up at the beginning of the book because the characters didn't have very distinct voices.  

I liked the way the UrbanMyth site was used in the plot, but wish it had played an even bigger role. I wanted to see all levels of secrets revealed and wanted to see how the characters react to them.  We see a lot of characters using and checking the site before it was hacked and I was expecting even more of that once the hack happened.  However, the hacking reveal was a little anti-climatic for me. From the premise, I was expecting major fall out and consequences from these secrets no longer being anonymous but I didn't feel like that was used to the biggest impact it could have been.  We do get some blackmail threats, but I didn't feel like the characters were developed enough for me to actually care about the potential fallout of the blackmail.

The ending felt a little haphazard and scattered.  I think the pieces all came together alright, but the execution didn't feel tight enough for a domestic suspense.  I really like my suspense reads to be super twisty and have all the threads be very interconnected so we get a ton of surprise reveals.  The ending to this felt like it wanted to go in that direction, but I didn't think it had nearly enough substance to work with.  I don't think we had enough characters or enough character development for there to be enough twists to reveal to the reader. 

Overall, I would categorize this as a light domestic suspense.  I thought the premise sounded great but just had different expectations that what it provided.  This felt low stakes and fun enough to be a vacation read but it just wasn't exactly what I was looking for. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the ARC

Publication date was May 9, 2023

Romance Catch-Up 2/16/23 - 5/31/23

 Cups of You - Karmen Lee

This is the first in the Coffee Shops of Love series and follows Amber and Benjamin. Amber returns to her small hometown temporarily but when she finds a lot of what she's looking for there instead of in the big city, she's tempted to stay.  While I generally liked Amber and Benjamin together, the structure of this book lost me.  The romance is a slow burn but the book is only 207 pages so there were numerous time jumps.  IT makes sense from a plot perspective why the romance took so long to gain traction. However, it felt more like reading a highlight reel of the relationship rather than the full development.  We do get a good view of who Amber and Benjamin are as separate people and there is a great cast of side characters which is always a big plus for these small town romances.  For me, I think I would have liked this better if it was closer to 300 pages and didn't skip around time so much.

Off the Map - Trish Doller 

This is the third book in the Beck Sisters series and follows honorary Beck sister Carla as she arrives in Dublin for her best friend's wedding. The plan is to meet up with the best man, Eamon, and the two will drive to the wedding destination together.  But when Carla, who has spent her life following her wanderlust, finds out that Eamon has similar interests - the two end up taking a few detours.  Along the way, they end up giving into their chemistry and both end up finding something they didn't know they were looking for.  I really enjoyed Carla and Eamon's romance from the very beginning.  Their chemistry was popping off the page from their first interaction.  And while the two did have sexual chemistry for days, they also had the type of chemistry where they really felt like they belonged together.  This is the type of feeling that I absolutely love when romance books can pull off, but it is also one where I can't put my finger on exactly what makes me feel like this.  I generally prefer my contemporary romances on the lighter side and this takes a pretty sharp turn when Carla returns home to help take care of her ailing father.  

TW/CW: death of a parent (on page), dementia, parental abandonment

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date was March 7, 2023

Mr & Mrs Witch - Gwenda Bond

This paranormal romance follows Savannah and Griffin.  The two had a whirlwind romance and are getting ready to get married.  The day is going perfectly until their secret identities are revealed - Savannah is a witch and Griffin is a witch hunter.  The two are tasked by their governing agencies to eliminate the other, but when they find an even bigger secret, they have to team up in order to survive.  I enjoyed this read but I wish I had a better sense of who Savannah and Griffin were as individuals and as a couple before the inciting incident.  We do get flashbacks of significant moments in their relationship sprinkled throughout the current plot line but it wasn't enough for me.  I think this world was really well built out and I would have enjoyed this as a duology so we could see the world even more as well as seeing Savannah and Griffin's relationship.  This story took a turn to sort of romantic suspense which I wasn't expecting but very much enjoyed.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date was March 7, 2023

Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail - Ashley Herring Blake

This is the second book in the Bright Falls series and follows Astrid a year after she broke off her engagement in the first book in the series.  In an effort to turn her interior design business around, Astrid agrees to be lead designer on the renovation of the Everwood Inn as it is filmed for a popular home improvement show.  While Astrid was expecting the pressure and cameras, she wasn't expecting Jordan Everwood - granddaughter of the Inn's ower and lead carpenter.  I absolutely loved this book from beginning to end.  It was an effortless continuation of the previous book (and while not strictly necessary, I would highly recommend reading them in order). I loved that we get to see more of Astrid's inner thoughts which make her such a more interesting character.  Jordan and Astrid's chemistry was built fantastically and I really liked how the characters both knew themselves enough to take a step back, at times, and evaluation how they're feeling and what they want.  We get a great cast of side characters in this and a ton of that small town feel that I just love.

Soul Eater - Lily Mayne

This MM fantasy romance is the first in the Monstrous series and follows Danny, a human, and Wyn, a Soul Eater. In this post-apocalyptic setting, Danny is a soldier in the military dedicated to capturing creatures like Wyn.  When the two come face to face in the field, Danny is the one soldier Wyn doesn't kill.  This starts a curious bond between the two and, once Wyn escapes his military captors and takes Danny with him, they start to travel and Danny finds out the truth of Wyn's monstrous ways. This book kept popping up in various recommendation lists and I'm so glad I finally tried it out.  Fantasy/paranormal romances aren't my go-to subgenre but I'll be reading the rest in this series for sure.  The reader is dropped right into this world without much explanation but Mayne does such a fantastic job of getting the reader the information we need at just the right time. The actual plot I did find a little repetative, especially in the middle, when it is just days of them walking, then encountering something, then more walking.  But there was enough character/relationship development along the way that I didn't mind too much.  I loved the way their relationship evolved over their time together and how each of them found what they didn't know they were looking for.  I did feel like the ending was a little too open in terms of their long term potential - but there is a novella follow-up that seems to cover that.

Knot My Type - Evie Mitchell

This is the first book in the All Access series and follows Frankie and Jay. Frankie is a sexologist and the host of the All Access Podcast.  When a viewer writes in asking for advice for accessible rope play, she connects with Jay - carpenter and rigger.  The two have an instant connection, but Jay isn't looking for a relationship and Frankie isn't looking for something casual.  But after an intense rope play demonstration and podcast recording session - the two decide to try and see if they can work out a relationship together.  This was such a fun romance and kinkier than I was expecting which is a big win.  I loved Frankie so much - she was such a well developed and fun character.  Her disability and wheelchair was seamlessly integrated into the story in big and small ways. I thought Jay had an interesting backstory that while it did come into play later in the book, I wanted more from his character in current day.  While the two did have sexual chemistry for days, I didn't get enough of the personality chemistry that would have made an actual relationship feel realistic.  These two felt like great friends with benefits but I needed like 50 more pages to build up that more personal connection.

 

Role Playing - Cathy Yardley

This romance follows Maggie and Aiden.  Forty eight year old Maggie just had her son leave for college and as part of an agreement to not be a complete hermit, she joins an online gaming guild.  She assumes she is the oldest in the group so when one of the members is under the weather, she offers to bring over some soup. But instead of a college student, she ends up at 50-year old Aiden's house.  The two are both shocked at the IRL reveal of their online gaming friend, and strike up a somewhat unlikely friendship.  As time goes on, the two grow closer and while both had written off relationships for their own reasons, they both start thinking that maybe this is too good to give up.  But while their relationship is going well, there is more friction going on in their lives.  When I initially saw the premise of this, I was instantly interested and I think the book stayed true to the premise and what I was expecting.  I loved Maggie and Aiden as their own characters and we get a really good sense of who each character is on their own.  One of my favorite things about these 40+ romances is that the characters have a good sense of who they are and what they are looking for in relationships.  I do feel like the romance was put on the back-burner for a bit in the last 1/4 of the book to deal with some of the family friction that has been brewing for the majority of the book.  I thought it was really powerful to have those conversations on-page, but it did take away from the romance aspect and it took Maggie and Aiden most of the book to actually get together so I was looking forward to seeing them together.

TW/CW: homophobia, disowned by parent, malicious outing

Thanks to Montlake and NetGalley for the ARC.  Expected publication date is July 1, 2023.

Finally Mine - Lucy Score

This is the second book in the Benevolence series and follows Gloria and Aldo. Gloria has just gotten out of her abusive relationship and is trying to get back on her feet and find herself again.  Aldo doesn't want to get in her way of healing but he also doesn't want to risk her not knowing about his feelings for her any longer.  Only problem is that Aldo is getting ready for another deployment so he asks Gloria to save him a date for when he returns in 6 months.  She spends 6 months finding and growing in her new life but when Aldo's deployment is cut short due to an injury, the two of them have to choose to come together and support each other. Gloria and Aldo are one of those couple who just are meant to be together.  They are both such fun characters and have such great relationships with their friends and family.  They both have such major life events to adjust to but they are both focused on getting what they want out of life.  This book takes place during the same time period as the first book in the series and it did feel like some scenes were put in just as little Easter eggs to the reader but don't feel like they move the current plot forward. 

TW/CW: domestic violence (on page), injury from war, rape

Where We Left Off - Roan Parrish

This MM romance is the third book in the Middle of Somewhere series and follows Leo and Will. Leo met Will a year ago and was instantly smitten with him so when Leo moves to NYC for college, he reconnects with Will in hopes they can spark up a relationship.  But Leo is a romantic and Will isn't so these two seem as mismatched as they could be.  However, as they spend more time together, their lives blend together in ways neither of them expected so maybe there is a chance to be together after all.  I very much enjoyed this read and finally getting to see Leo and Will's story after meeting them in book 1 of the series.  We only get Leo's POV in this story but Parrish does a great job of giving us enough details of Will that he was still a very full character.  Since Leo and Will are so different, I do wish we got Will's POV as well - I always prefer to see all sides of the romances.  I loved the amount of side characters we get with Will's friends as well as some cameos from Daniel and Rex from book 1. We get a good amount of the more mundane, quiet relationship moments such as Will helping Leo study for finals.  I feel like these quiet moments are often overlooked or left out of most romances in favor of bigger moments/declarations.  But these sort of quiet moments are the ones that really hit me as special. 

The Broken Places - Blaine Daigle

 

This isolation horror follows Ryne Burdette after the deaths of his uncle and father.  His uncle left him the family cabin located in the Yukon wilderness and although he hasn't been back since he was a child, recent events in his life have drawn him back.  He brings along his two friends for a weekend trip to each recuperate from their own traumas.  But as a winter storm rolls in, the animals and people start acting strange.  Then when voices seem to be coming from the trees, the three men feel like they are being watched from the forest.  In order to figure out the truth behind what is happening, they must uncover the dark history of the Burdette family. 

On NetGalley, this was compared to The Ritual, which is actually a movie I've seen and 100% agree.  I'd say this is the same sort of folklore horror, medium gore, trauma/grief themes.  I absolutely loved both the movie and this book so if you like one, I really think you'd like the other.  Both are folk horrors with isolated forest settings and both follow a group of friends that have an undercurrent of tension.  The Broken Places does get to the gore more quickly than The Ritual, but overall I think the two are still very similar. 

The characters were fantastic and I loved how much we got to see of their friend dynamic as well as them as individuals.  Their backstories are gradually given to the reader as we go through the story and I enjoyed how each new detail we got felt like it became immediately relevant to the current plot.  I never felt like we were getting a lot of 'fluff' details.  Each of the men had gone through their own sort of trials recently and had their own fears to work through. The way these fears manifested during the story was really impactful and did a good job of developing the characters.

The pacing for the first 75% was perfect.  We get into the spooky parts pretty early on and the eerie dread just increases over time.  We also see the physical threats increase as the characters spend more time in this wilderness and try to escape.  There's a nice balance of backstory with all 3 characters and we get to see how these details impact the current plot. The last 25%, however, seemed to stagnate for me.  The plot was technically moving forward, but it didn't feel like the stakes were being raised any longer.  I loved the way the horror was ramping up throughout the story and I wanted that ramp up to keep happening.  

TW/CW: animal death, miscarriage, domestic violence, animal mutilation, suicide, death of a parent

Thanks to NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing for the ARC. Publication date was March 24, 2023

Panther Gap - James A. McLaughlin

 

This story follows siblings Bowman and Summer.  Both raised by their father and two uncles on a remote ranch in Colorado, the two have gone their separate ways and haven't seen each other in years.  But now, both in their 30s, they receive information that their grandfather left them a secret inheritance.  One that, unbeknownst to them at the time, would bring new danger to their family ranch that they spent so long keeping safe.  

I think the most stand-out element of this book for me was the prose.  This is my first read from McLaughlin, but after skimming through some reviews of his other works, it seems like this writing style is one of his signatures.  It had a more literary quality than I normally prefer in my thriller plots, but he found a good balance of when to really lean into that and when to leave it out.  A lot of the more literary (dare I say even flowery) sections were surrounding a particular character who really leans into the more mystical or magical way of the natural world.  It doesn't go far enough for this to feel like a fantasy but rather stays more grounded in reality and explores the ways humans can be more connected and attuned to nature.  I think it is a good thing that this book is being marketed as a general fiction with a thriller plot because these more literary sections do drag down the pacing of that thriller plot but I think overall they really make this story stand out from similar works.

The pacing was also fantastic and really built up well over the course of the book.  I loved the way we are just dropped into this isolated setting without any real introduction and the book just goes from there.  We don't get into the thriller-y elements until around the 40% mark but once that plot kicks in, we are pretty much full throttle until the end.  McLaughlin does a great job at increasing the tension bit by bit so that it is a gradual tightening as you read.  The pacing in the last 25% was really fast and I wish it would have been brought down just a bit.  I ended up having to re-read passages with the reveals because the connections and explanations were just coming a little too fast for my brain to process them.  We do get a few wrap-up chapters after all the action to tie up any ends and flesh out a little bit of the fall out of the events.

There is a dual timeline element and while I normally love a dual timeline, in this case I felt like it was maybe used too much.  I think if the past timeline chapters were shorter or overall we spent less time in that timeline, I don't think it would have detracted from the story.  We get a good amount of a character mentioning a certain event off-hand in the present time and then seeing that event play out in the past but there often was such a long delay between that by the time we see the event in the past I wasn't really intrigued anymore. Most of the past timeline also focused on the interpersonal details and character development that, while interesting and well written, didn't quite hold my interest as well as the more thriller-y plot that was happening in the present. This is really going to come down to reader preference, because I can see readers who do enjoy more literary fiction to not be as bothered by these past timeline chapters.

The character dynamics are really great and it is interesting how relatively little backstory we get throughout the story.  It feels like we don't have a lot of concrete details about these characters but their interpersonal dynamics really speak volumes.  The POV in the story bounces around a fair bit so we get some inner thoughts of some of the characters which helped me not feel too disconnected given the minimal information. I do wish we could have seen more of these characters interacting with other people because of their unconventional upbringing and education. I found a good amount of this story focused on the relationship between Summer and Bowman and while I don't have a brother, I did feel like their sibling dynamic was authentic.  I think McLaughlin finds that perfect balance of siblings being infuriated at each other one minute but then best friends the next.

Overall, this was a really fun read.  The prose was more literary than I was expecting, but I loved the way that contrasted with a very action movie-esque plot.  The characters were interesting and their relationships were dynamic.  I enjoyed the dual timeline element but wished it was used just a tad less overall.

Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the ARC

Expected publication date is April 4, 2023

Romance Wrap-Up 1/16/23-2/15/23

 Love & Other Disasters - Anita Kelly

This romance follows Dahlia and London as they meet on a TV cooking competition.  Dahlia is recently divorced and looking for a way to reinvent herself.  London announced their pronouns on television and is determined to prove the trolls wrong.  Neither expected to find a friend, much less love, during the hectic filming schedule. As they grow closer and the contestants on the show dwindle, they'll have to figure out if they're going to be together after going back to their regular lives.  This was such a fun read and Dahlia and London were so fun to follow!  I've seen a few episodes of TV cooking competitions, but I don't watch them regularly.  Kelly does a great job of building a world in this TV studio that the reader doesn't need to be super familiar with these types of shows to understand completely what is going on outside the romance plot.  I loved Dahlia and London's relationship and how it grew over time.  Their chemistry was impeccable and it was so well developed.  It felt very much like a typical slow burn where they go from strangers to friends to more but the pacing is a little faster because of the TV show.  We get a good cast of side characters - both on the show as well as friends from back home and I really liked the different sides we got to see of the MCs interacting with all these other characters.  I enjoyed the way London's non-binary identity was handled and it felt like a good balance of it being addressed when necessary but it wasn't their only personality characteristic.  As a note, there is some transphobia from some of the side characters, but it is loudly and concretely pushed back against by many of the other characters (including Dahlia). 

Not Your Ex's Hexes - April Asher

This is the second book in the Supernatural Singles series and follows Rose and Damian.  After spending her whole life training to become the next Prima on the Supernatural Council only to step down recently, Rose finds herself looking for a new purpose in life.  Since he was hexed by an ex-girlfriend that if he ever found love, he'd lose his humanity entirely, Damian is content with his quiet life of being a half-demon veterinarian.  But when Rose is sentenced to community service at Damian's clinic/animal sanctuary, the two have a hard time denying the attraction that brought them together for a one night stand a few months prior. Each have their own reasons for not wanting a relationship, but a little friends with benefits arrangement never hurt anyone. This was a great paranormal romance but I was a little lost at the beginning since I didn't read the first book in the series.  Asher does a good job of trying to give the reader some quick summary information early on in the book that acts more as a reminder than a deep dive.  Rose and Damian are both really interesting characters and I enjoyed how they each had a very different journey to go on in this book.  I loved Rose's journey to find her passion in life and that we got to see some starts and stops along that journey.  The grumpy/sunshine dynamic between the two of them is perfection and their slide from snippy comments to full on "uh oh I caught feelings" is so fun!  We get a ton of side characters and a little touch of romantic suspense as well which I'm always on board for. 

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date was Feburary 7, 2023.

Come as You Are - Jess K Hardy

This romance follows Ashley and Madigan.  Ashley will do just about anything to save her family's ski hill and avoid having to sell it to her ex-husband's ski conglomerate.  However, when her mom has the idea of hiring men from the local sober living house to staff the mountain for the winter, Ashley thinks that is a step too far.  Madigan is a recovering addict and ex-rockstar in charge of the sober living house. When the two have a meeting to discuss the potential employment opportunity, both feel an attraction, and when Ashley hire's Madigan's men, the two try to draw a clear line of friendship only.  But as the two grow closer, they both will have to overcome their pasts and choose to come together to create a more beautiful future.  I absolutely loved this romance!  I'd heard great things about it over social media and I was not disappointed.  We get such a great cast of loveable characters who are all easily distinguished from each other.  I thought the addict/sobriety themes were handled well and we got to see a wide variety of characters at various places on that spectrum.  I loved the growth of Ashley and Madigan's relationship as they grow closer as friends and then grow to more.  We get a little bit of the miscommunication trope, but it is quickly addressed and talked through.  These characters are both 40+ and they read as realistic 40+ year old people who have a good amount of past history that they work through to be together.  This had such great cozy winter vibes, it made for a perfect winter read - highly recommend!

Take the Lead - Alexis Daria

This is the first book in the Dance Off series and follows pro-dancer Gina and wilderness reality TV show member Stone as they are paired up for the next TV dance competition.  Gina is determined to win, but doesn't want to jeopardize her reputation in the industry or her family by giving into the producer's attempts at a showmance with Stone.  At the beginning, Stone is more focused with keeping his family's secret safe and winning this competition to help pay off his mom's medical bills. The audience, judges, and producers can all pick up on the chemistry between the two but they are just friends ... until they both can't take the tension and give into their attraction.  But when the tabloids pick up on the romance and the show producers take full advantage of it, Gina and Stone need to figure out if they can work this out or if they are just too different. This was impeccable!  I've seen a few episodes of these TV dance competitions, but they were never my go-to.  However, by the time I was done with this book I absolutely wanted to go binge-watch a whole bunch of them.  Daria handles this TV show set up with fantastic attention to detail and manages to seamlessly add in enough explanation that I think even a reader who has never seen this type of TV would be able to easily follow.  The chemistry between Gina and Stone is ~sizzling~ off the page and there's a delicious tension built up as they do their best to keep their relationship professional but also have to spend all day touching each other as they practice these dances.  Gina and Stone are pretty opposite in their background and future goals and there was a good chunk of the book where I was starting to panic that they wouldn't find a way to be together (despite knowing there would be a HEA because it is a romance book).  I do think the resolution was well developed and felt realistic to their individual characters. 

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date was February 14, 2023.

First published October 3, 2017 

What Have We Done - Alex Finlay

 

This mystery/thriller follows Jenna, Donnie, and Nico.  Twenty-five years ago the three were all residents of Savior House - an abusive group home for teens.  When the home shut down, the three split up and grew up to live successful and troubled lives.  Now, when each of them survives an attempt on their life, they reunite to find out who is trying to kill them and if it has any connection to a dark event in their past. 

This was a really fun, fast paced, over-the-top mystery read and I really enjoyed it.  I think there is often a focus on super twisty mysteries or really dark thrillers but I really loved this sub-genre of mystery also.  The opening chapters immediately immerse the reader in this world and our first introduction to these characters are them being almost killed.  We don't really know them very well at this point, so we have absolutely no guesses as to who is behind these crimes. However, when the book starts out so punchy and the characters are just as over-the-top as the plot, you know you're in for a good ride.

The multi POV was done really well and I loved how the chapters are so short that it really kept the pace of the book moving.  I did find the characters to be a little more like caricatures at first - the suburban mom with a secret past, the washed up rockstar, and the sleazy TV producer.  However, the choice to rapidly flip through POVs and follow each of these characters on their own really allowed the reader to quickly become grounded.  I love multi-POV mysteries and thrillers, but do find that if there is too much time between POV switches that it does drag down the pacing and takes me out of the story having to re-orient myself to the new POV.  We do also get the occasional chapter from some of the other characters in the book which I did like.  This book does use one plot device I don't love and that is conveniently having one of the POV characters not mention or think about a certain plot point while in their POV and that plot point comes up in the reveal.  This just always feel overly contrived and convenient for me.  

I loved the way the shared past of our 3 characters was sprinkled in throughout the book.  We get little flashbacks of their time at Savior House and these flashbacks happen more and more frequently as the book progresses.  I really enjoyed this method of delivering the characters' histories instead of having full chapters devoted to this past timeline. Instead, we have the characters flashing back on their own memories in a way that feels very true to the characters.  This was a really great way to flesh out the 'secrets from the past' trope in a way that didn't feel heavy handed.  I loved the way the mystery reveal was a mix of secrets from the past as well as more recent events.  I think sometimes when a reveal is solely based on a secret from the past, it ends up feeling a little bit like it comes out of left field because the main event was so long ago.  In this case, the addition of more recent events gives the overall danger aspect of the plot more weight and feels more realistic. 

I enjoyed the "who's trying to kill us" central mystery part to this story, but I think it could have been better navigated from the investigation point.  Our three main characters don't group together until the last 1/3 of the book and even then, they don't stay grouped together.  Due to their different life paths since leaving Savior House, one character is much more adept in their investigation skills than the other two.  The other two characters don't seem to be particularly interested in figuring out who it was who tried to kill them, they are content with letting the authorities handle the investigation.  Sure, they have some side plots going on in their stories that become important to the overall plot, but until the point where those reveals are shown to the reader, it really feels like it is the one character pushing the plot along.  I wish the friend group gathered together sooner in the story and maybe they don't fully trust each other due to their long time without contact, but I think if all 3 were actively investigating what happened to them it would have made for a more engaging read.  Once all 3 do get together and start really digging into their shared past, I absolutely loved the story and the way it ended up connecting all these different threads.

Overall, this was a very fun read.  Like a summer blockbuster, we had a lot of action, some over-the-top plot points, and a really snappy pace. I loved the way the secrets of the past and the character's flashbacks were utilized, but I wish the group got together sooner so we could have more of the group investigation instead of the 3 very separate plot threads for so long. 

TW/CW: alcohol abuse, drug abuse, parental death, drug addiction, gambling addiction, child abuse, pedophilia, sexual assault

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Expected publication date is March 7, 2023

Don't Fear the Reaper - Stephen Graham Jones

 

This is the second book in The Lake Witch Trilogy and picks up 4 years after the events of the first book, My Heart is a Chainsaw.  Jade Daniels returns to rural Proofrock at the same time as a blizzard and convicted serial killer Dark Mill South.  Thirty six hours later, twenty people would be dead. 

I loved the first book in the trilogy and was both excited but nervous to be back in Proofrock because I enjoyed the first book so much.  However, this second book in the series really hits it out of the park.  It is different enough from the first one to not just feel like a copy but similar enough in the themes and structure that it still feels very much connected to the first.  It was fun to see the way some of the elements from the first book - such as the academic papers - were tweaked in order to fit seamlessly into this second book.  I do wish I had re-read the first one before reading this as we don't get a whole lot of re-introduction into the town and these characters - we more so get plopped into the story and start running from there.

The tone and writing style of this I found a little less literary than the first one and feels like this one would have a more wide commercial appeal.  I remember seeing a lot of folks reading My Heart is a Chainsaw when it first came out and some of them were expecting it to be much more of a slasher on-page and ended up a little disappointed.  That first book starts off more slowly but really picks up by the end.  In Don't Fear the Reaper, however, it read much more like a typical slasher story where we get bodies dropping early and often.  There still is Jones's distinctive writing style but the story overall has more action and characters making active choices than the first one did.  And if you thought there were a lot of horror movie references in the first one, just you wait.  Again, it feels just different enough of a reading experience for this to feel new and exciting, but still similar enough that it feels we're in the same world as the first book.

The horror elements were spectacular and really squicked me out in the absolute best way.  Jones goes 100% in on Dark Mill South's murder history and spares no details.  For fans of Criminal Minds (like myself) South could 1000% be a character in that show and would probably have a whole season dedicated to catching him.  I'd say this book leans 75% into the gore and physical horror while the other 25% is the supernatural side of things.  I loved how Jones was able to keep the horror grounded as we get consistent reminders of the massacre from the first book as well as the aftermath and real impact on these characters.  While a lot of the horror in this book initially feels very big and flashy, it is also specifically shown to be realistic in a particularly haunting way.  

I thought Dark Mill South's trial and backstory were really well developed throughout the story.  As a result, those sections felt very much like a true crime episode all the way down to multiple fan theories and lore about Dark Mill South being built up over time.  We also get a few scenes from South's perspective which were one of my favorite parts.  Jones does a fantastic job of really dialing in the creep factor to these scenes by giving the reader access to the pretty fucked up things South is thinking about.  Dark Mill South is Native American and a lot of the lore around Dark Mill South centers on Native Americans being dangerous, bordering on supernaturally powerful.  I loved the different theories that are presented in the academic paper portions in regards to where Dark Mill came from and what his motives could be.  We do find out the most probable answer at the end and I really think that reveal tied together a lot of common threads that showed up in the theories presented. 

Just like in the first, we get a ton of horror movie references, but this time we had more recent ones mixed in.  Most of them were horror movies that I think were talked about so widely that most people would be at least vaguely familiar with them.  And if not, Jones does a good job explaining the connection the characters are making to the current situation.  Also, we get a good range of types of horror, not necessarily only slashers.  We also have other characters besides Jade who are making these connections/comments so we get some fantastic horror movie trivia laden conversations that are just ping-ponging references back and forth.  It also felt like there was more of a focus on the actors in these movies, not just the characters on screen.  I think this mirrors the sort of blurring of the lines between fiction and reality that Jade and the other characters had to grapple with in the aftermath of the massacre from the first book.  I love how Jones, in both books, doesn't just use these horror references to show off how knowledgeable he is in the genre, but how these conversations reflect the character development going on throughout the book.

Overall, this was a fantastic second book in the trilogy.  Just like the first one, it isn't quite clear where the story will go from here but I'm very much looking forward to the next installment.  This gave me everything I loved from the first one with more action and bodies falling consistently throughout the book.  

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC

Expected publication date is February 7, 2023