The Party - Robyn Harding

A NetGalley e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Hannah Sanders is turning 16! She is about to have a sleepover party full of food, games, and unbeknownst to her parents, booze, drugs, and boys. It’s all fun and games until someone loses their eye.

Jeff and Kim can’t believe that their oldest child is 16 already. Their perfect little girl is growing up. Kim is the perfect parent and works hard to maintain her perfect reputation within the community. So when she wakes up in the middle of the night from a wine and Ambien sleep with her daughter at the end of the bed with her hands covered in blood she is just a little shocked.

As the nights event unravel the truth is exposed about the Sander’s and all those involved in that horrific night. Are the Sander’s at fault for not babysitting the party? Are the kids at fault for sneaking in the booze and drugs? Or did the train wreck start before Hannah and her friends were even born?

This book not only exposes a family’s secrets but the horror and pressure that teenagers face to fit in and be cool. How one child can be the driving force of a chaos that will lead to a lifetime of disfigurement and regrets.

I liked the basic plot of this story. The party, the accident and the follow up could happen to any family. The struggle with the teenage relationships, the trying to fit in and be cool of children and parents alike is relatable. The internal struggle that Hannah feels over wanting to be liked an popular and the horrible bullying that her one time friend faces felt natural. Yes, you wanted to punch and kick and scream at the characters. How can they not see how stupid they are. Well, humans are emotional and messy creatures. We do the best with what we know at the time we are faced with the decision. I think the author did a good job with showing that.

Hex - Thomas Olde Heuvelt

They’re the faces of Black Spring. And when they try to smile, it looks like they’re screaming.

This book… I will never sleep again.

I am easily scared and was worried that this book would be too much for me. That being said, the first 2/3 of this book was not scary at all to me. Katherine, the Black Rock Witch, is almost a joke at the beginning. I mean, every time she was mentioned I kept seeing a young mummified woman that was a gray Sally Ragdoll with a bright orange construction cone on her head… does not really inspire fear.

Slowly though, very slowly, the plot and tension thickened. By the last third of the book I was terrified. Still not scared over the witch, she did make me feel uncomfortable but she herself did not overly inspire my horror.

Great read, just not alone, or at night…

The Bravest You - Adam Kirk Smith

A NetGalley e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I think this is a great self-help book for those that think they are stuck in a rut. I pretty much have the same day Monday-Friday, with dinner being the main point of change. I am not unhappy with my life but there are definite days where I ask myself, why am I not doing more?

I like the workbook style of the authors narration. The pointed questions to get you as the reader thinking about your life in relation to what is being discussed in the current chapter. 

I did wish there were more real life examples. The author did play it safe and used very well-known public figures and not always recent ones. 

I liked the authors different take on bravery, that it can even be found in the smallest of actions. When I was pre-high school I was terrified of people. I was overboard shy and only talked and felt comfortable around people that I had known a long time. I was told to make an effort by my English teacher to just smile at one person every day. It was a huge thing for me at that time since I only stared at my feet or my book. She helped me see that being brave is more than running into battle and this book made me think of the same thing.

You - Caroline Kepnes

The story is a house with a loose mouse running around inside.

Wow...can you say twisted? Creeptastic? This book is jam packed with insane, psychotic, obsessive and manipulative scenes. Who is the most insane though?

Joe Goldberg works at a bookstore. He meets Beck and instantly becomes obsessed with her. Just like he did Chandra, who we only get snippets of history on. Joe manages to implant himself gradually into Beck's life. He saves her, he hacks her email, he watches her through her open windows.

Guinevere Beck is a writer and college student. She comes into the bookstore where Joe works and starts her manipulative games. She likes the attention she gets from wearing no bras and short skirts. She keeps her windows wide open and does not have curtains up. She displays herself to the world, and to Joe who happens to sit on the bench outside.

You Were Here - Gian Sardar

A Penguin First to Read ARC e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This book literally had everything. Murder, love, revenge, love triangle, family trouble, serial killer... but it was woven together so well. The ending still haunts me. Did I love it? Did I hate it? I just don't know yet. It left me thinking about it and all the what ifs. Seriously considering buying myself a copy and my mother in law and maybe a coworker and a friend... 

Death has been a constant fixation for Abby Walter’s from a young age. Preoccupied by thoughts of a reoccurring nightmare of being buried alive she sees death everywhere. Crossing the street, maybe that taxi won’t stop. Driving through an intersection, maybe a truck driver fell asleep at the wheel. Out of all these nightmares though, it’s the taste of dirt from being buried alive that feels the most real and when Abby has the same exact nightmare 14 years later outside of her hometown she wants to go back and figure out what it all means.

The story shifts from “then” to “now” and is wonderfully told. As the plot builds so does your excitement, and need, to finish the book. 

Then: Abby has always been fascinated with her Grandmother’s wedding ring, a ring that has been hidden away from the world due to horrors it is tied to. A seventy year old love triangle that ended in a nightmare for all those involved.

Now: Abby has reoccurring nightmares of being buried alive. As the plot thickens "then", her life is up heaved "now". A serial killer is punishing mothers by killing their daughters literally down the hall while they sleep.


I had this as my "work" read and got so caught up in it I started to bring it home. I then forgot it when I only had 70 pages left! My picture of woe: Shelf.Loving

Target Omega (Mike Garin Thriller #1) - Peter Kirsanow

A Penguin First to Read ARC e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Action packed thriller following the “innocent man on the run, will do anything to prove innocence while being a hero to the world” theme. 

I would recommend this to those that like military themed thrillers. It is action packed, violence packed and relies heavily on special force references and training to move the plot along since the average Joe would have died by chapter two and the average grunt would maybe make it to chapter three.

This is book one in the Mike Garin Thriller series. Mike Garin is special forces of a highly questionable and guarded secret team, the Omegas. The team just got back from a successful trip to Pakistan when all of them, but Garin, are killed. Garin is left as the prime suspect and the government as well as his enemies want him eliminated. 

Garin tries to avenge his teams death, keep his family safe and bring down a conspiracy that threatens the USA power as tensions in the Middle East climb.

Woman No. 17 - Edan Lepucki

A Penguin First to Read ARC e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Lady Daniels is a 40 something living in Hollywood Hill. She is recently separated from her husband and wants a nanny to come watch her toddler while she writes a book about her life with her older son Seth, a non-verbal kid with nothing physically wrong with him. In comes “S” aka Esther Shapiro aka Esther Fowler.

S has fled Berkeley after her artist boyfriend leaves her for not being enough of an artist. She decides to take on a new project, becoming her mom. She finds Lady and starts to be her nanny because that was what her mother had done.

Both these female characters are irresponsible and complex in their dealings with other characters in the story. We learn that expression is more than just what we voice. 

Lots of alcohol abuse, sex, lies and countless secrets are revealed. I did not care much for either Lady or S but the story line still kept me reading.