This story had promise. The social media premise is timely and of course a source of fascination. We've all heard stories of the "perils" of the internet and social media.

It was a fast paced read and the end was a twist that I hadn't predicted. Why then just a 3 star rating? The book just didn't capture me like I thought it would. Like I said, it had promise but it fell a bit flat for me. I simply didn't feel for anything positive for Louise as the main character. I found her whiny and weak and at times even annoying.

The twist I didn't see coming was actually a negative for me as well. I enjoy not being able to predict what is going to happen. I welcome being wrong or stumped but I also like being able to think/look back and see subtle clues that were there all along. You know those well placed clues that you miss but at the end give you a satisfying "aha" moment. Friend Request didn't have that - the twist was more of a shock factor that came out of nowhere. I wasn't a fan of the way this one played out.

Overall Friend Request was an okay read. Just not one, I'll remember for a long time to come.

4 Gripping and Suspenseful Stars for The Night Olivia Fell

Abi Knight got the middle of the night phone call no parent wants to receive - "This is Portage Point Hospital. It's about your daughter, Olivia. I'm afraid there's been an accident."

Abi rushes to the hospital to be faced with terrible news. Olivia was found at the bottom of an embankment near ZigZag bridge. She sustained severe head trauma and permanent and irreversible brain damage. Her little girl was gone. Could there be anything worse?

Abi is shocked to learn that there is more. Olivia had secrets that she can not fathom. Her teenage daughter in all essence lay dead in a hospital bed, surrounded by bags and pumps breathing for her. Not because there was any chance of waking her up, it was solely to give the baby she was carrying a chance at survival. Faced with insurmountable grief, shock and emotion Abi reaches for her daughter's hand and notices something wrong. The silver charm bracelet Olivia always wore was gone. In it's place were finger mark like bruises.

Abi tries to make sense of the situation when things simply don't add up. In her heart she knows someone hurt Olivia. Yet the local police seem more than willing to brush it off and rule it an accident. Needing to know what really happened the night Olivia fell, she begins to unravel the secrets of her daughter's life trying to piece together what happened that night herself.

The story unfolds via two alternating point of views - that of Abi in the present and flashbacks of Olivia's past. I couldn't help but get pulled in by Abi's pain and grief and her desire to protect her child, even in death. The more Abi searches the more secrets she is faced with, including those from her own past which she has tried desperately to hide.

The mother-daughter relationship was very well developed. We get to see it from both Abi and Olivia's point of view and it definitely tugged at my heartstrings. I felt for Olivia whose life was cut short when there was so much ahead of her. Although I figured out what happened to Olivia it didn't take anything away from how I felt about the story. For me, it was a plausible and well developed scenario - not something that came out of left field. The ending left me feeling both sad and content and definitely looking forward to more from Christina McDonald.

Thank you Christina McDonald, Gallery Books and NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

3.75 thought-provoking stars for this racially charged work of satirical fiction!

Set in a satirical future south, We Cast a Shadow tells the racially fueled dystopian story of a black man desperate to pay for his biracial son's demelanization process. In this future world race is still an issue of injustice. The only way to truly level the playing field is for black Americans to undergo an expensive procedure which turns them white - on the cellular level.

Does that sound far fetched to you? The entire book takes everything past and current related to race and turns it on its head, elevating it to a whole new level. Ruffin's writing was at times devastatingly painful and uncomfortable to read but it was also undeniably thought provoking and clever.

The main characters are a father and his bi-racial son Nigel. Though a successful lawyer, the narrator (who chose to remain nameless) is plagued with the fear that he doesn't measure up because of his skin color. He desperately wants more for his son and believes the only way to achieve that would be to turn him white.

"I don't have to tell you that this is an unjust planet. A dark-skinned child can expect a life of diminished light. This is truth anywhere in the world and throughout most of history."

I have very complicated feelings about some of the plot twists in this book. The relationship between the narrator and his son was tumultuous and fraught with heartbreak due to his zealot desire to turn him white. As a parent you can understand his desire to protect his son. Yet, where does protection end and harm begin?

It was devastating to read how much racism had affected the narrator's life, destroying his self-worth and his soul. Taking that journey with him, as the story progresses was difficult and just plain sad. I couldn't help but root for Nigel through it all. I fiercely wanted things to be different for this boy.

This is a very strong debut from Maurice Carlos Ruffin. The middle lagged a bit for me but I was invested in the story and never doubted seeing it through. I'll definitely be watching out for this author in the future.

Thank you to Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Random House Publishing and NetGalley for an advance reader copy of this book to review.

The Collector is an unsettling psychological thriller.

I did not read Rattle, the first book in Fiona Cummins' Bone Collector series, but this book worked well as a standalone. I didn't feel lost as Cummins did a wonderful job filling in any necessary back story. Undoubtedly, readers who have read the first book would fare better as this storyline involved many of the same characters and referenced the events from the first book.

Brian Howley (The Bone Collector) a.k.a Mr. Silver is definitely a twisted, deranged killer. After having his collection taken from him when he caught and subsequently making his escape from the police Mr. Silver is now on the run and looking to start a new collection. Yet for all his morbid plans I spent much of this book waiting for him to actually behave like a deranged killer. He spent much of the book formulating plans and making preparation for the "grooming" of an heir to his collection. Unfortunately, I found this a bit lackluster and at times even boring.

Enter Saul, an intelligent teenage boy with a horrible home life and some secrets of his own. He looks like the perfect target for Mr. Silver. I have to say I truly enjoyed Saul's complex character. He has his own demons to face daily and Cummins did an amazing job of showing us his inner turmoil. He was well developed and by far my favorite character. His push and pull with Mr. Silver was a driving force of the plot and definitely what kept me reading to the end. I wanted to know what he would do. I had to find out what would become of Saul.

This wasn't a bad read by any means. I think I personally just anticipated something a bit more bone chillingly thrilling and sinister so it was a bit of a let down in that sense. I am happy to have been introduced to Saul's character and was left harboring hope that we might see him in future books.

Thank you to Fiona Cummins, Kensington Books, Pinnacle and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an arc of this book.

If you're reading this, you're probably wondering who you are...
You are me, Samantha Agatha McCoy, in the not-so-distant future. I'm writing his for you. They say my memory will never be the same, that I'll start forgetting things. At first just a little, and then a lot. So I'm writing to remember.

Niemann-Pick C (NPC), a rare genetic disorder that can affect cognition, motor function, memory and metabolism is at the heart of The Memory Book but it is Sammie's personal journey that will capture you and remain with you long after you have turned the last page of this book.

When we first meet Samantha (Sammie) she has BIG plans. Plans to win her debate Nationals. Plans to give an amazing Valedictorian speech, and most importantly - plans to move to NYC and attend NYU. But her NPC condition takes a turn for the worse (sooner than she expected) and we begin to see her deteriorate with each page. The story is told through us reading her "memory book"entries. Sammie began her memory book as a means to hold onto her life. When she has a memory episode, she reads back recent entries for a clue as to where she was, what she was doing, etc. This format gives us a unique peek into her feelings, memories and day to day life. What really resonated with me was the fact that she was so young, so full of hopes & dreams and optimism. Lara Avery did an amazing job capturing her journey and how NPC changed her both at her core and outwardly via her symptoms.

There were entries in the Memory Book that made me so sad. They made Sammie's "episodes" feel so real to me as the reader. I could feel her confusion, anxiety and loss. You can clearly see how the entries change from the ones written by the confident Sammie we met in the beginning of the book to the Sammie towards the end.

There were also some wonderful secondary characters in this book. Sammie's entire family (her siblings were so vivid & unique), Stuart (her longtime crush) and Cooper (her childhood BFF & neighbor). Oh how I adored Cooper!

There was a bit of a (minor) love triangle. In my opinion, it really made sense within the story and fit in with the overall development of some of the major characters. Due to Sammie's illness, feelings & the expression of feelings were definitely more pronounced/overt with the very real sense of "running out of time".

Overall, this was a fairly quick, emotional & worth your time read.

"Sometimes life can pull a lot out of you... Just squeeze you dry. And if you don't have a way to get back whatever's good and precious to you, it's like losing your soul."

An emotional, touching and heartfelt debut from Anissa Gray. The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls put us right in the middle of family strife and dysfunction - ensnaring our hearts, breaking them and eventually leaving us with a spark of hope for the future.

When we meet Althea and Joe Proctor they are in jail, for embezzelment of charity funds. Heartless scoundrels like these are not the kind of people you would have any pity for. Yet, as with most things in life we come to see that it's not all so black & white, right and wrong - there are shades of gray here. It is in these shades of gray that Gray tells the real story of this family. How did these people get here, to this point where everything has come tumbling down?

This is not a happy story. It is filled with familial dysfunction, secrets, loss, guilt, depression, eating disorders, crime, abuse, infidelity, and attempted suicide. It was definitely hard to read at times but it was also honest and hauntingly written. I found myself rooting for these people. Willing them to find a way to get it together, to allow love into their hearts and finally find some happiness. For just like the characters in this book, isn't that what we are all ravenously hungry for - love, acceptance and happiness?

This is a story that will move you. The characters are complex and the story has many layers. Anissa Gray does an amazing job of peeling back the layers and letting us peek into the very core of her characters so that we understand who they are and how they ended up where they are. She takes the old adage of becoming your parents and turns it on its head, leaving us with hope that negative cycles can be broken.

Thank you Anissa Gray, Penguin Publishing and Edelweiss for an arc of this book.

4 I Didn't See That Coming Stars

Ellery and her twin brother arrive at their mother's hometown of Echo Ridge in a hail storm to discover a body on the road - a local high school teacher victim of a hit and run. That welcome was merely the beginning. The twins quickly find their new home is seeped in secrets, disappearing girls and murder. It all began with the disappearance of their mother's twin sister on Homecoming Night. Her disappearance may have remained unsolved but its effects ran deep both within their family and the community at large.

Fast forward 5 years and another Homecoming Queen, Lacey goes missing and ends up dead. Now, the twins find themselves in the middle of yet another mystery when the town in besieged with bloody messages, broken dolls and other ominous threats to members of the current Homecoming Court. Are all these events related? What evil lurks in Echo Ridge?

I was a huge fan of McManus' first book, One of Us is Lying so I had high expectations for her second novel. While I found this one engaging I definitely wasn't as blown away as I was with the first book. Still, it was a fun read. Echo Ridge and its inhabitants were interesting, creepy and felt like a guilty pleasure to read about. It seems like everyone had some skeletons hidden in their closet which added to the whodunnit aspect. I kept going round and round, changing my mind on who the "bad guy" was and speculating on their motive. I was a bit underwhelmed by the reveal but I think I just wanted/expected a bit more after One of Us is Lying. My mind had certainly come up with a few outlandish theories that I was hoping would be correct!

All in all, a strong sophomore effort by Karen McManus. I look forward to seeing what else she comes up with. Keep it BIG Karen - you know how to do that well!

"Your body is not your own. Your mind is not your own. Your life is not your own."

You know that satisfied, giddy feeling you get when you enjoy an unexpected treat and it was even better than you anticipated it would be? That's how I'm feeling about this post-apocalyptic YA novel with both grit and heart. It's quite simply put - a gem of a book.

I found myself swept up in Kristoff's imaginative future world where robots and poverty are abound. It felt gloomy, desperate and strange. Yet, this wasteland was the perfect setting for his tale. You catch glimpses of the USA you know mentioned in passing and you can picture the long forgotten streets lined with scrap and trash. The people now living like scavengers - mice inhabiting a now forbidding land.

How then can I dare say the book was full of heart? The characters brought to life by Kristoff were the absolute strength of the book for me. He created a mismatched "family" - the kind that find themselves formed from circumstance and ultimately by choice, not blood - of robots and people that was funny, heartwarming and tragic.

Seventeen year old Eve is on a journey to save the only family she has left - her grandfather Silas. This journey is action packed, full of twists & turns, secrets, betrayal and plenty of emotion. Oh, how I came to love this band of misfits! Their chemistry was perfection for this reader - witty banter, genuine affection, courage and acceptance. The friendship between Eve and Lemon Fresh was one of my favorite dynamics. They were adorable. I'd join their BFF group in a heartbeat!.

The twists - there are plenty here to feast on. Some you will see coming and some you might have to stop reading and take a breathe to digest. Well, I certainly had to anyway. As for the cliffhanger ending - Oh Jay, you got me! All I can say is, I'm in this for the long haul.

4 You Have No Idea What's REALLY Going On Behind Closed Doors Stars!

Welcome to Melville Heights - an idyllic, family based, wealthy neighborhood that is the kind of place everyone wishes they could live. Except for the fact that nothing is as it seems. Behind the picturesque closed doors of these painted beauty houses lies dark, ugly and sinister secrets. The kind of secrets that inevitably make it to the light of day through MURDER!

The book opens with a murder scene. We know someone was killed - now we have to figure out who and why. Jewell is skilled at diverting our attention and making us question everyone. As we begin to meet the inhabitants of this community we realize the killer could literally be anyone. There is so much going on here and nothing is quite what it seems from the outside looking in.

Each home and family has so much going on beyond it's surface. There were many themes touched on within this book - obsession, attraction, abuse, trust, infidelity, marriage and parenting. Jewell is certainly a master craftsman at spinning her tale into an intricately layered web. While there were some things that I was able to figure out, there were others that left me absolutely gobsmacked!

I loved how perspective played such a huge part in the storyline. Everyone seemed to be watching everyone else for one reason or another. Characters see things from their own vantage points, take things out of context and make assumptions based on their own beliefs. At times these collide with another character's view and sometimes things seem to perfectly align - causing us as reader's to form and reform our own beliefs as we read. I changed my mind so many times while reading, it felt like reader whiplash!

This is only my second Lisa Jewell book and each one has been an amazing reading experience. I can say with certainty that I will be reading more from her and I look forward to seeing what else she comes up with in the future.

Thank you Lisa Jewell, Atria Books & NetGalley for the opportunity to review an arc of this book