Intense and fast paced.  If you love a hair raising, heart in your throat, edge of your seat ride, this is it. 

 

Lena is out for revenge.  Her sister, Cambry, died three months ago.  Lena doesn’t believe the police report, and she is convinced that the police officer had something to do with her sister’s death.   Officer Raccevic agrees to meet her at the last place Cambry was alive, Hairpin Bridge, and a 300-page standoff ensues.  Car chases. Gun battles.  Pythons.  (Yep. A python.  It made me scream more than the guns.) It’s an action packed, heart stopping, cat and mouse game.  It’s gory, gruesome, and violent.    

 

Everything you’ve come to expect of an action thriller can be found in this book… especially the complete implausibility of almost everything that happens.  This book makes perfect use of each and every thriller trope. 

 

Hairpin Bridge is a fast read.  If you love a good adrenaline boost, you’ll likely love this one.  For me, it was too over the top and too violent.  But I know I’ll be in the minority.  

 

Thank you Taylor Adams, Joffe Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.

“I promise you I will not give up today.”

 

I savored every morsel of this book over an entire week (which is very uncommon for me).  I could’ve easily devoured it in one fast sitting…it certainly pulled me in and captivated me.  But as I started it, I quickly realized that this book was exactly what my (weary) heart needed at the moment.  This was a book I could savor and enjoy…putting this world aside, escaping into Saylok with Hod and Ghisla.  

 

And even after spending a week with these friends, I read the last words and was gutted that I had to say goodbye. 

 

Powerful and passionate with a side of longing. This is a story about desperate times.  It’s also a story about hope.  But mostly, it’s a story about love and overcoming.  It’s a masterfully told, engrossing saga.  

 

This tale of Hod and Ghisla is rooted in Norse mythology and set amongst a collapsing country, a caustic curse, and a corrupt ruler.  Hod has lived a solitary life among the caves and trained by Arwin, the cave keeper.  Ghisla fled the funeral pyres of her plagued region and washed up on Hod’s shore.  They had no one until they found each other.  Together she allows him to see, and he allows her to remember the magic of song.  But Arwin’s fear tears coupled with the curse over the kingdom tear them apart.  Their only hope is for the curse to be overturned. 

 

Much happens in Saylok following their separation.  All of it was important and well plotted.  It was dark and moody and dire, but my focus was forever on the longing and angst that Hod and Ghisla felt throughout their separation.  OH THE LONGING!  Their need for connection was palpable.  I was desperate alongside them.  The ache and torture they felt, I felt.  Harmon created a pure, beautiful love between Hod and Ghisla, and I was deeply invested in their story. 

 

Every nation deserves a Hero like Hod.  He is the exact kind of champion you want to cheer for.  He is astute, kind, protective, strong, and selfless.  He uses what most consider a weakness (blindness) as an incredible strength.  While others seek power, he seeks peace.  

 

Amy Harmon is a master storyteller, and this book showcases that.  The imagery she painted as she created the world of Saylok is strong and vivid.  These characters are flawed and real and complex. Every story element was adeptly executed to create this gripping tale.

 

Thank you Amy Harmon, 47 North, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.

“When people are thrown into an abyss and together find their way out of it, they are not the same people. They are bound to one another, forever linked together at the core of who they are because it was together they escaped a terrible fate.”

A compelling story of an Irish immigrant turned mail order bride with a touch of both historical fiction and suspense.   I’m not sure what one would have expected life to be like after answering an ad to marry through a newspaper in the early 1900s.  But I’d say it’s safe to assume that what happened to Sophie was completely unexpected.  

One man’s unscrupulousness upends the lives of three women.  But together, these females become the picture of perseverance, hope, and strength.  I love a good story of resiliency, and I love strong female protagonists…Meissner definitely exemplified both in this story.  

Completely irreverent.  A tad raunchy.  And a whole helping of crazy.  

This book will make you laugh.  It also will make you cringe, gag, and tire of talk of bird flu and vaginas.  

So why finish the book?  Because as cheeky as it is, it also honestly and openly highlights mental health issues and the need to seek help.  Jenny does not shy away from embarrassing or very real stories.  She’s fully open about the struggles she’s had and the help she’s sought.  And sometimes, in the most insane and unexpected places, she’ll throw out a tidbit of wisdom that is quite enlightening.  But don’t worry… she’ll throw out the word vagina (or such) immediately after to upend you.

Jenny paints a vivid, partly real, largely exaggerated picture of her life growing up and living in Texas…humongous metal chickens, pet bobcats, raccoons in pajamas, and dead squirrel puppets.

*Note- Jenny is an expert in the usage of foul language.  If you are sensitive to foul language usage, this book is not for you. 

Quick, immersive read.  Short chapters with a fast pace kept me drawn in, finishing this book in one day.  I’d call this an escapism thriller.  (Is that a thing?  It totally should be a thing.)

 

So many questions.  So many lies.  Paris creates the perfect ambiance for this mystery.  The community should be an beautiful, exclusive haven in the poshest area of London.  Instead this gated community seems much more like a prison.  Those big, open windows in every house dictates that someone is always watching.  Yet no one seems to sees the important things.  Inside the gates, everything feels more ominous.  

 

The neighborhood’s menacing feel is enhanced by the neighbors themselves.  The secrets and lies…the spying and manipulating…just who are they really?  Alice wants to like them. She wants to trust them.  But each one seems to have a shadiness that leads her to question whether they are friend or foe.   

 

Oh Alice.  Our main character has experienced great loss.  That allowed me to overlook her obsessive and obtuse nature at first.  Loss certainly does change people.  But eventually she wore me down. On one hand, she’s entirely too trusting.  On the other, she is suspicious of everyone and paranoid about everything.  Rather than thinking logically, she overanalyzes and talks herself into some of the most ridiculous of theories while allowing important clues all around her to go unnoticed.  Ultimately, Alice’s naivety did not make her endearing.

 

The plot flows quickly.  Before I knew it, I was closing in on the big reveal.  But after the suspense mounted, the ending fell flat to me.  It made sense.  I had suspected it even.  But it wasn’t as satisfying as I had hoped.  

 

The crazy thing about this book is that even through its flaws, it kept me entertained and engaged.  Maybe this is the “beach read” version of a thriller?  If you’re looking for a good escapism and favor mysteries, I’d say this is your next read.  

 

Thank you B.A. Paris, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.

 

Fate can be cruel.  And only history can create stories as brutal and heartbreaking as this one.  Twins, Jutta and Karin, had never been separated until suddenly and incomprehensibly they found themselves on opposite sides of the ‘antifascist protection barrier” that had been erected overnight.  Robotham cleverly blends her research of the time period of the Berlin Wall with an engaging storyline of love, loss, and resilience.  

 

Just as this time period cultivated strong feeling, emotion is deeply seeped into the fabric of this story.  Robotham’s depiction of Jutta and Karin’s situation made me feel the utter helplessness, immense despair, and life altering sadness that they encountered.  At each juncture, they faced impossible decisions.  Life was complex for the twins and often felt as if it, rather than the wall, was crashing down.  Robotham storyline gives us a glimpse into the overnight and long term impact the wall had on families on both sides of the wall.  

 

I lived in Germany for many years, so I am forever drawn back there through literature.  While I’ve read many books set throughout the history of Germany, this is the first novel I’ve come across that covers the overnight construction and longevity of the Berlin Wall.  The storyline and writing drew me back to the streets of Berlin, Checkpoint Charlie, the afternoons in coffee shops, and walking the portion of the Berlin Wall that still stands.  

 

The story is rich in history, and because of that, it had a very slow start.  But once the historic framework is set, the pace of the story gains momentum.  Short chapters partnered with changing point of view and the need to know what becomes of the twins makes the rest of the book compelling. 

 

Thank you Mandy Robotham, Avon Books UK, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.

"For all of you who lack an honest black friend in your life, consider me that friend. My arms are open wide, friends. My heart, too."  

Timely, easily accessible, vitally important.  Acho creates an engaging conversation in a warm and welcoming space.  You may have watched his viral video series with the same title.  This book is an extension of that series, continuing this necessary dialogue with topics like: cultural appropriation, use of the “N” word, defund the police, the “angry black man,” and white privilege.  Acho’s inviting presentation, use of sports metaphors, personal stories, and pertinent quotes take these tough topics and make them palatable. 

 

Maybe one of the reasons Acho can make these ideas more affable is because Acho himself has had to reassess and relearn also.  As a first generation American black man raised in predominantly white, upper class Houston, Acho himself grew up with distorted ideas about blackness.  If he could believe inaccurate depictions and ideology, how much easier is it for non-black individuals to believe?   

 

If you’re looking to learn and want to do it alongside a friend, I’d definitely suggest Acho as your guide through this book.  

 

*Also, the young reader version of this book has recently been released titled Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Boy.

OH MY GOSH. This book is MESSED UP. It’s horrifying and disturbing and chilling. You want to look away, but you absolutely *cannot* look away!!! If you love twisted, dark psychological thrillers, this should absolutely be your next book. It’s fast paced, it’ll keep you on your toes, and just when you think you’ve figured it all out, surprise! 

*Note: This book is dark and demented (the epitome of dark and demented). If you are sensitive, this may not be the book for you. 

Korelitz is the master of grimy, cringeworthy novels, and this one is especially so.  Judgment.  We are all guilty of it.  It’s easy to look in from the outside and judge what happened on the inside.  But it’s never as easy to be on the inside living in the moment. 

Grace is a therapist who seems to have it all- charmed life, perfect kid, perfect marriage.  She’s heard one too many patients complain that they just couldn’t see the truth in their mates.  Grace doesn’t believe that.  She believes the truth is always there to see, if only the women had been looking.  It was easy for her to judge those blind sighted women.  It’s easy to judge until she finds herself in the same position.

This is an interesting premise.  In general, we all have a bit of Grace in us…we all have those times where we judge a situation or think we could handle the circumstances better.  

But this book is very character driven.  And ultimately, I just didn’t find anything to like about Grace.  She is shallow, oblivious (so very oblivious),  insufferable, and lacking empathy.  I had hoped that as she came to terms with her own devastating circumstances, we would see growth in her character.  But alas, that was not.  

Unique and captivating.  Harmel has delivered a WW2 tale unlike any other I’ve read.   This is a story of survival in the most dire of situations- against both harsh elements and the harshest of enemies.  It’s a story of human resilience and fighting against the odds.  

What matters more: who you are born to be or who you become?  This question plagues our main character.  Yona, born Inge, was stolen away from affluent German parents to a meager life in the forest and taught to survive on what the forest alone provides.  

Seeking any possibility of survival, a group of Polish Jews flee into the dense forest hoping to evade their oppressors and defy the odds.  After living a solitary life, Yona stumbles upon this group and realizes fate has brought them together.  

Yona is a character you root for.  She is distinct and strong.  She could kill a man with her bare hands, delicately care for a child lost from her parents, and feed starving strangers with fish she caught from the nearest stream.  But her outer strengths are met with an inner struggle to determine who she is.  As she teaches these Jews how to survive in the elements, they teach her to listen to her own heart and forge her own destiny.  

Harmel’s depth of research, both of the history and forest, is obvious.  While the characters in the story are completely fictitious, they are based upon the Belieski Camp in the Naliboki Forest.  From the food they foraged to the necessary preparations for winter to the attacks they waged on German soldiers, the meticulous research of historic fact is evident.  

However, at times this book felt a bit like a mix of historic fiction and fantasy.  There are some quirky, mystical elements to the story, especially early on.   And the way Yona approaches certain scenarios often requires the reader to suspend plausibility.  In my opinion, with a historic basis as unique and dynamic as this plot is, no supernatural elements were needed and may have in fact detracted from the overall spectacular nature of this history.  

Thank you Kristin Harmel, Gallery Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.