mrsalwaysreading's Reviews (624)

Fifty Fifty 

By Steve Cavanagh

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pub Date: June 2, 2025

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. 

This is my second Steve Cavanagh ARC, and my third book by him. 

I enjoyed this book. The back-and-forth was so well done and the twist was expertly executed. 

I’m so glad Atria is publishing this paperback installment of Eddie Flynn.  

Read if: you want a good legal thriller with a GREAT twist. 

Love, Mom

By Iliana Xander

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What WAS that?! 

I was immediately hooked. 

The drama! The mystery! The ENDING! 

This psychological thriller hit all the high notes and had me staying up way too late to finish it. 

Read if: you enjoy a fast-paced thriller that reels you in and leaves you breathless. 

The Bachelorette Party

By Camilla Sten

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pub Date: June 10, 2025

Thank you NerGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for the advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. 

First of all, this book had a lot of moving parts. There was the story unfolding in the present, a 10-year old mystery, and the backstory of the protagonist. 

It was all compelling and it all worked together well, but I wasn’t shocked with the Villian. I knew it from the time the character was introduced. I feel like there could have been a little more surprise there. 

Overall this was a great thriller. 

Read if: you’re a thriller fan alá Mary Kubica or B.A. Paris. 

Three Mothers

By Hannah Beckerman

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Part psychologial thriller, part contemporary fiction, this book is the stuff every mother’s nightmares are made of. 

It was heartbreaking. 

The twist was fairly transparent, HOWEVER all the details were shocking. 

The 3 POVs and multiple timelines were a little confusing until I got to the halfway mark. Then it was easier to follow - or maybe I was just more invested in the story. 

Read if: umm. Maybe if you want to rage against the world on behalf of your daughters? Or you enjoy thrillers with a side of sadness. 

Parents Weekend

By Alex Finlay

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fast-paced, multi-POV psychological thriller centered around 5 families at the college tradition of parents weekend. 

The setting is Santa Clara University in Northern California, which is only about an hour away from where I live. 

I’m sure if this book will haunt me for a long time because I am the parent of a college student and an almost-college student (why does high school go by so fast?!) The ‘activities’ on campus are real fears of mine. 

All that said, this was a good book. The premise was unique and Alex Finlay’s shocking twist was executed expertly.  

At times it was hard to keep track of all the characters but that might just be a me problem. 

Incidents Around The House

By Josh Malerman

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I don’t know how to rate this book. 

It was well written - it scared the ever lovin pants off me. 

Honestly. 

It freakin creeped me out. 

I don’t like ghost stories. I don’t know why I do the is to myself, forever never reading the blurb. 

And I absolutely HATED the parents. Mostly the mom. She was a tool. 

I don’t know who recommended this one or how it got to be on my radar but I could have gone my whole life without ever reading it. Because I HATE ghost stories. 

Like Mother, Like Daughter

By Kimberly McCreight

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

SO GOOD. 

This book started off fast and despite jumping timelines and POVs, the pace didn’t relent. 

I thought that I had it figured out more than once but it wasn’t until the final couple chapters that the twist revealed the bad-guy. 

I did not see that coming. WOW. 

The only thing that bothered me was the daughter. She was insufferable. I haven’t actively disliked a college-student character that much in a long time. Spoiled brat. 

That’s Not My Name

Megan Lally

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Woah. I did not see that coming. 

The ending twist was SO good as far as twists go. But as a mom of teenagers, the ending tore my heart out. 

This was Megan Lally’s debut and my first Megan Lally read. Her second book, No Place Left To Hide is also on my shelf - it will be moving up the TBR list after this! 

Though it was marketed as “YA thriller” it reads older due to language. (That doesn’t bother me and feels authentic). 

Read if: you enjoy thrillers and a good twist at the end. 

All The Other Mothers Hate Me

By Sarah Harman

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Oh, Florence. 

What an absolute hot mess you are. What an annoying, terrible, unreliable hot dumpster fire of a mess.  

Even Jenny calls her a “chaos muppet”. 

Florence pissed me off so deeply that at one point I didn’t want to finish the book. 

This book started off interesting but got muddled in the middle. The ending was a train wreck.  

Taking the vast array of characters and the questionable timeline into account, the redeeming factor was short chapters. 

Medusa

By Jessie Burton

⭐️⭐️⭐️

After reading Stone Blind, this Medusa retelling fell short. 

The premise was different so I didn’t think that I would compare the books as much as I did. 

The final 30% was good. 

The first 70% was a lot of words and I felt like it wasn’t going to go anywhere, ya know what I mean?