I wanted to enjoy this book so much more than I did, which, as it turns out, is the same problem I had with The Lace Reader when I read it. Ms. Barry's writing isn't bad, it's just that there's almost too much of it? There is huge info dumps between bits of action. Lots of names and history that drag along, pulling me out of the actual story. The concept and the writing are there, but this felt as though it could have been much shorter and still just as interesting.

The only, and I mean the ONLY reason it took me 3 days to read this book is because I have kids who think they have to eat and stuff. I really need to teach them to cook.

That said, man ... I keep fearing the time I pick up a Tana French book and she's lost her touch. You know? The mystery, the suspense, just aren't happening. I don't click with the characters, whether to want to pal with them or punch them. The time when within a few pages I'm all "duh" and can move on.

Thankfully, that has yet to happen. In fact, Ms. French may just be getting better and better. Her characters are so rich, so extremely well developed, that even when you *think* you know, you don't really. They act like real people, not just doing what moves the story along, but doing what their personality dictates, even if it muddies up the waters. Which, of course, also serves the story by strengthening the mystery.

Tana French knows how to weave a mystery that has layered without being convoluted. You can kid yourself into thinking you know just what's going on, only to find out the next page that you couldn't have been more wrong. Her settings draw you in, putting you right into the scene with the characters, making her books experiences.

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a huge fan of French's Dublin Murder Squad series, but make no mistake. This book is as good as the previous. There's no falling off, no getting lazy with plot or characters. This book with be a reread for definite.

Love, Alice had the potential to be incredible, and fell only just short for me. The story of Dovie, searching for answers after her fiance's death just before their wedding, seeing Dora and finding Alice's letters ... It's a wonderfully engrossing concept. And Davis's writing is great, flowing and detailed without being too much so.

The biggest snag for me, personally, was Austin Tate. His first run-ins with Dovie left a bad taste in my mouth, as I'm sure was the intention, but it was almost too much so for me. To the point of not sure I could see him fully redeemed. Even as some of the twists are revealed, I just could not get on the Dovie and Austin train. Yes, Austin is redeemed as the story progresses, but I never did get over my initial dislike of him. And Dovie, though well intentioned, is a busy-body who sticks her nose where she really, really shouldn't.

I enjoyed Love, Alice despite the snags. It is full of emotion and twists, just enough to keep you entrenched in the story without being too far-fetched.

*I received a copy of this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

As a suspense novel, this falls kind of flat. The concept is there, but the foreshadowing is a bit heavy-handed at times, and the characters fall too flat to lend any sense of true urgency.

If you've read any Jodi Picoult before, nothing I'm about to say is news to you. Small Great Things is gut-wrenching, thorough, and just all around engrossing.

If blatant racism makes you uncomfortable, then get ready to be very uncomfortable. But that alone should not stop you from reading Small Great Things. Picoult's characters travel these rollercoasters of emotion, dragging you along for the ride, with just enough twists and turns to keep you from getting too comfortable.

There were times when it felt like Picoult did a little TOO much research, medical terms being thrown in that I eventually skimmed over because it was taking too long for me to try and pronounce them all in my head, especially when it was obvious many of them had no bearing on the outcome of the story. The courtroom scenes were just detailed enough, without dragging over that line into too long.

If you're a fan of Picoult's, then you won't be disappointed.

*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

I have been in such a reading rut lately, especially when it comes to Harlequin-esque romances. I don’t know if I go with a negative mentality to begin with, or what. But I’ve been striking out right and left lately, and to the point that I was about to just completely switch gears for a while and leave romance on the shelf. Just for a while.

That said, I decided to pick up Her Halloween Treat after reading so many positive reviews for Tiffany Reisz’s other works. And I’m trying to get myself into the fall/Halloween spirit, so why not, right?

From the get-go I was not disappointed. Reisz’s characterization and banter is witty and excellent. Over-the-top at points? Sure, but as I know from my own friends, sometimes it just gets that way when you’re on a roll. Joey’s conversations with her best friend Kira had me chuckling to myself and nodding. Same with her conversations with her brother.

As for Joey and Chris, well yeah … That’s where the over-the-topness seemed to really rear its head, but never so much that it seemed forced.

And the steam? Wow, definitely there. In fact, if I had a complaint at all, it was that maybe (and I’m guessing I’m pretty alone in this opinion) there was almost too much of the sexiness? Like, I loved the connection between Joey and Chris, and would have loved even more to see more of them outside the bedroom, ya know? Reisz’s writing of their relationship was just that good.

So thank you Her Halloween Treat for helping me bust show more out of my reading funk. I’m already looking forward to the next two books in this series, and more of Ms. Reisz’s writing. show less

I really wanted to like this, but it just didn't work for me from the start. There was a real disconnect with the characters, even Riley whose perspective it is told from. And I suppose maybe that was intentional because of what she'd been through, but it just ... it didn't work. She was taken when she was 12, and yet she acts absolutely infantile one minute, and then over the top the next. Again, to show the damage of what she's been through? I don't know.

Wilson ... I wanted to like him for all his attempts at chivalry, but again there was just a big disconnect with him.

The concept is there, and again I really wanted to enjoy this. But so much of it just didn't work for me at all.

*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher/Netgalley in exchange for my honest review

Okay, at the start this gave me a little bit of an Eleanor & Park vibe, which if you know me is high praise. That comparison didn't necessarily hold throughout The Impossible Fortress, but I still really enjoyed this book.

One time, way back when I was in school, a boy in my class snuck a Playboy to school in his backpack, and he and all of the other boys in my class took turns sneaking looks at it whenever the teacher was out of the room. And this was immediately what I thought of when Billy and his friends hatched their plan to get hold of the Playboy in The Impossible Fortress.

The computer coding part went above my head, my family didn't get our first computer until mid-90s, but it was interesting and unobtrusive in the story. It actually made me want to go out and learn computer coding (I won't).

And while the "love story" between Billy and Mary really never hit the ground running quite like I had hoped for, it was sweet. And the twist at the end actually caught me. I had an inkling earlier on, but never a full-on suspicion.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and can't wait to read more from Mr. Rekulak.

*I received a copy of this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

I just ... am I missing something by picking this up without reading the first books in the series? There was a little backstory given, which I assume is from previous books, but this just feels out of context. The prologue felt like it was trying to set up this backstory for Lucy and David, to explain why he is suddenly jumping to her rescue, but when it actually did was make it feel like David fell in insta-love with Lucy, and then suddenly we are in the future the story is heading in the direction of a second chance love.

But it doesn't actually read that like. If Cardello had done away with the prologue and started with chapter one and added a condensed backstory for Lucy and David, it may have worked better. As written, it feels very disjointed.

All that said, Lucy is very flat and many of the other characters are almost over the top in their characterization. The good ol boy southern gentleman, the evil ex, and so on. In the end, it just did not work for me at all.

*A free copy was provided by the published/Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Boy oh boy, this should have been right up my alley. A book about books? About a library/librarian? Mystery!? I mean, it seemed like something I should devour and then want to immediately reread. And I did devour it, I guess. It was a quick, easy read. About a librarian, who solves mysteries.

My issue came in the characterization. Everyone was so super over dramatic. Bit characters. The sourpuss Ms. Cole who nearly faints at the mention of a name, the British actor who claims to be head-over-heals for Lindsey and falls down with a ‘broken heart’ in the middle of the library when she rejects him, and so on. It’s very cartoony feeling. And leads to scenes that don’t really progress the mystery at all, but rather fill up space.

I loved the concept, a super overdue book belonging to a murder victim mysteriously showing back up 20 years later. But the mystery part just seemed to play second fiddler to all the personal drama of the main characters. As this is the 7th book of the series, it sparked my interest enough to check out at least the first book of the series.

*I received a copy of this book from First To Read in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

** spoiler alert ** Finding Heather had the potential to be a true favorite for me, but there were just a few things that held it back. Once Heather makes the decision to move herself and her twins back to her home in Scotland, the story began to drag. There was a whole chapter about her cleaning out the closet. That's it. No big reveal, no hidden secrets of her deceased husband's. Just cleaning out the closet and finding pictures. I kept waiting for there to be some connection to be made, some hidden truth revealed. But nothing.

I think the intention was to highlight that she loved and missed her husband, that this was a big, tough decision and that he had been a good guy. But for me, unless you give me a good reason why she wouldn't be sad about the death of her husband, I'm going to believe that he was a good guy and that she does miss him. For me the first third of the book seemed to drag with unnecessary little scenes that were setting up what I would already assume to be truth unless told otherwise.

Once they get moved and Elspeth takes her tumble down the stairs and Max disappears, the pace picks up and the story seemed to flow much better. But then once again, once Max is found and back home, things began to drag again. Setting up the relationships between Heather and Fraser, Elspeth and Davy, and lastly Murdoch and Chrissy seemed to just drag on more than necessary. All of the setting up of the relationships could have been happening during actual action.

All in show more all, Finding Heather is a sweet story of moving on, not just for Heather and her children but for many members of her family. I just feel as though there could have been more action moving the story along rather than little cut scenes.

*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher/Netgalley in exchange for a review. show less

I mean, it's Rainbow Rowell. What else can I say?

It is … some time in the future and the Earth has been taken over (I guess) by these humanoid alien people. Rachel Pryne lives with her daughter Pearl, castoffs from the small community, Suffer. In pretty typical dystopian fashion, the community is under the charge of “Elders”, one in particular Cyrus who just … ugh.

Anyway, one night one of the Ohnenrai shows up at her door injured, and Rachel decides to nurse him back to health. She slowly falls for him while continuing to be treated like dirt by most of the community in which she serves as a healer. There’s a big to-do about the Elders taking her daughter away from her, and Rachel and Pearl run away with Ehtishem, the Ohnenrai soldier, and that’s where the story kind of lost me.

I feel like this book really lost its way about a third of the way through. While still at home in Suffer, Rachel seemed strong but beaten down, but once she ends up separated from her daughter she seems to lose her fire. I realize even the strongest people can only take so much, but she almost immediately seems a different person. Back and forth with her emotions. Does she love Ehtishem, hate him, or even trust him? It’s like running in circles trying to keep up with. And Ehtishem, ugh. While on Earth he’s got the strong, silent type going on, but once back on the Ohnenrai ship and taking his rightful place as leader (or second or third in command, I dunno, it got kind of complicated) the strong, silent thing goes by way of show more irritating.

That said, sci-fi isn’t my usual cup of tea, but the concept grabbed my attention, as did the story itself when I first started reading. I just really felt like the second half of the book did not seem to flow as well as the first half. This is listed as book one in a series, and should the series continue I would be interested in reading more.

*A free copy was provided by Netgalley/the publisher in exchange for my honest review. show less

Oh man, did I want to enjoy this book. And before I get into it, the writing is fine and perfectly readable. It's the characters that present the biggest problem for me. Sam got 'out' early to get away from a less than stellar homelife, leaving behind a twin sister and Trevor, her ... admirer? Some 13 odd years later she returns home one night to find the daughter of her twin sister, the daughter that Sam knew nothing about, waiting for her. Grace thinks Sam is her mother. And Trevor, the past love interest?, is her father.

Sounds interesting enough. Except Sam and Trevor do not act like 30-something adults. A little banter is fun, a lot of childish bickering and name calling is not. I just could not want these two to get together.

I'd be interested in giving Michelle Major's writing another shot, but this book just did not work for me.

*A free copy of this book was provided by netgalley/the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Sam and Haley are perfect for each other. Perfect in that neither of them knows what the heck they want and they both turned so totally neurotic halfway through the book.

The concept is cute: Haley's mother tries to set her up with Sam, the handiest handyman in town, after her fiance leaves her just weeks before their wedding. Haley finds out about the setup and decides to turn things around in an effort to get her mother to back off. In the process, Haley and Sam fall for each other.

But oh my dear gracious. Does he, does she, will she, won't he, and so on. I get hesitance, but the back and forth between wanting to jump each other and being afraid of this "relationship" is just ... well, it gets old.

Overall, cute concept, not crazy about the main characters. And sidenote, my mom would do anything for me but I don't think she'd ever set me up with a potential one-night stand.

*A free copy of this book was provided by netgalley/the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

This book should have been right up my alley, but for the life of me I could not get into it. The flashback was, to me, unrealistic for a 6 year-old, and then 24 year-old Ellie just irritated the heck out of me. Her reactions were unbelievable, way too calm when she finds a dead body and no one believes her. It just did not work for me.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher/netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 Stars

I'm not sure how to go about reviewing Faithful. Is it coming of age? Is it a redemption story? I mean, I guess in the end it is both. Shelby, who was driving the night she and her friend, Helene, are in a horrible accident, both comes of age and slowly redeems herself over the years following.

The story feels very real, and yet farfetched at times. Shelby's actions, fueled both by guilt and depression, range from self-destructive to selfless.

Mostly I couldn't help thinking that Shelby needed help. Yes she spent time in a psychiatric hospital, but obviously she still needed yet. I'm sure the idea of the story is that she helped herself by helping others, or some such, but she really and truly needed help.

Alice Hoffman does have a way with emotions, sucking you into the character's world. This was my first Alice Hoffman novel, though I'd heard a great deal about some of her past books. I am tempted to pick up another to give it a try.

*A free copy was provided by the publisher/netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Not for the faint of heart.

Roanoke is a house with a dark, dark secret, and the Roanoke girls have a way of getting out, whether by leaving or dying.

I gotta say, I went into this expecting, as some point, a feel good (ish) story of a girl coming back home. And of course, being from Kansas I was excited to think I would be able to relate, at least in some small part, to the characters.

And really, there were things about life in Osage Falls that I picked out and thought, “Yep, I can see that.” But thank goodness there was very little else I could relate to. The Roanoke’s dark family secret was darker than I expected, producing a family of broken girls with dark secrets. Secrets many of them died to get away from.

If I had known ahead of time just exactly how brutal this book would turn out to be, I might have shied away. But in the end I’m glad I didn’t. It was completely unpleasant and cringe worthy for the most part, with only hints of redeeming shining through in rare places. But still, the story sucked me in and kept me reading through to the end. The scenery and characters were vivid, if unlikable to downright despicable.

*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher/netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Imagine going up this ridiculous incline for a roller coaster. All that anticipation and build up. You know the top is there, but it's so far away. And as you get closer and closer to the top, you just know the ride down is going to be awesome, right? With how long it has taken you to get there, all the promise of a wild ride.

And then ... A short little bloop and you're done.

That's how this book read for me. The jumping of timelines and perspectives, the hinting, foreshadowing. Playing coy with the end game. And then a very anticlimactic ending. For all the build up, I really expected some earth shattering reveal. Alas, it fell pretty short.

Maybe it would have felt bigger if I had cared about any of the characters enough to be invested in what happened to them. But I just didn't like them that much. Cindy was probably the most interesting character, followed by Heather. Julie and John and their little ... Fling? Meh.

I really wanted to like this more, and it did keep reading until the end, but I feel a little lead on.

*A free copy of this book was provided by the publisher/netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

So, I heard SO MANY GOOD THINGS about this book. So many. 5-Stars all around!

From the start I wondered if I had even downloaded the right book. The whole tick tick tock thing ... yeah, way over used. We get it already.

And then, AND THEN ... ugh. How is this a love story? I'm sorry but there is nothing between these two characters but A.) wanting something you can't have B.) lust. Neither of them are likable, to the point that I wanted to turn them in just for it all to be over. They were definitely made for each other in their unlikableness.

It really pains me to feel this way, because the whole older guy/younger girl thing had my intrigued. And like I said, I heard so so so many good things. But yeah, this one just wasn't working for me, and sadly turned me off from wanting to read any more of Frank's works.

Ryan DeMarco and Thomas Huston had formed a sort of friendship while Huston was doing research for a novel, and now suddenly Huston is a suspect in the murders of his entire family.

The shifting perspectives for most of the book is something I'm not usually a fan of, but it worked here. It was far heavier in DeMarco's perspective, I supposed as to keep the 'whodunnit' alive. I understand why Silvis didn't just stick with the single perspective the whole book, but he probably could have made it work.

Silvis' banter between his characters was witty and believable, and pleasant to read.

The mystery of the story was well done. I really enjoy books that have me thinking I know what happened/who did it, but keep me second guessing myself at the same time, and Silvis accomplished that here. Did Thomas Huston murder his wife and kids? Did one of his fellow professors fly into a jealous rage and kill his family for revenge?

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Two Days Gone, though reading about young children dying is always hard for me to do. 3.5 stars. I would definitely read more by Silvis.

*Received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for a review.

Kennedy needs a new start, and what better new start than relocating across the country and buying a pie shop. Luke is trying to get his hard apple cider business out into the big world. They both need lots of apples. Kennedy signed a somewhat sketchy contract when purchasing her pie shop, and Luke just happens to be the son of one of the former owners, who also owned the orchard their famous apples come from. See where this is going?

It's not insta-love, which is great. But halfway through I never wanted to hear/read the word swagger again, and Kennedy's poor me, never good enough thought process was just too much. But overall the writing was competent (a few missing words/typos, and a few clunky sentences I had to reread to fully grasp). Luke and Kennedy weren't completely rounded, but not super flat.

I do have to say, there is such a thing as the "hero" waiting a little too late to redeem himself, and this was almost a case of that. The big blow coming so late in the story, worse yet when he had tried to cover it up after having a chance to come clean earlier on. I'm a big fan of honesty, and so this did irk me some.

All in all a nice, quick read, and it made me look into Adair's other books.

I saw this title on Netgalley and thought it was right up my alley (get it? Tornado alley? *sigh* anyway) … Midwest, tornadoes, second chance love, female lead an authority … it all sounded like something I would love.

And I did really enjoy the concept. In general.

But I did not at all enjoy Avery or Jake. For being a woman of authority, Avery is jumpy and flighty. Jake walks into a 10 miles radius and she’s utterly distracted. Not someone I want handling an emergency. And she has no self-respect whatsoever. She pretty much goes along doing whatever Jake wants because he’s so “perfect”, and she can’t think when he’s around.

And Jake. Jake. Well, Jake crossed the line from confident, bordering on cocky, straight into egotistical jerk and never looked back. He drags Avery around, threatens to out their fling if she doesn’t act lovey-dovey to him, etc.

I really wanted to love this. I did. I live in the middle of tornado alley in a small town. I wanted to connect with the characters and just love this book. And I just absolutely did NOT.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher/netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I've always been a big Major League fan. Probably since before it was age appropriate. And so reading about how the movie came together from the very beginning was thoroughly fascinating to me. Highly recommended to fellow fans of the movie!

I've been torn with how to review this book. It is well written, and Beryl's store, though fictionalized for the sake the book, is very interesting. But something about the book just didn't keep me fully engrossed.

Having read the Stage Dive series, Kylie Scott's writing is like a familiar old friend. That said, maybe a little too familiar. Dirty, the first book of the Dive Bar series, feels almost recycled from the Stage Dive series.

Lydia finds herself on the run from a disastrous would-be wedding, over a fence and right through Vaughan's window into his bathtub. Where she finds herself face to crotch with the man himself, who has just returned home after the breakup of his band.

Both down on their luck they strike up a friendship, I guess, and things progress from there. Quickly. As the whole book takes place over the course of a week. No moving slow, taking your time here. Moving in, ups and down, and of course sex, it feels like the book should take place over months, not days. But days it is, and when the week is up they are supposed to go on their own separate ways.

I don't know, I mean I liked it. Scott's writing is smooth and mostly easy to follow. But it felt pretty predictable at this point.

**spoiler alert** This ... I ... *sigh*

The story started with a bang, so much so that I immediately put my Kindle down and author-stalked Penny Reid because I just KNEW she was going to be my new favorite author.

Jessica James sees Beau Winston coming her way, they end up hot and heavy backstage, and surprise, it's actually Beau's twin brother Duane. There's also some stuff about Sexy Gandolf, Catastrophic Engine Failure, and the like that had me convinced I was going to love this book.

And then the repetition started. Jessica wants to get hot and heavy, Duane wants to court her all nice and slow. Should be romantic right? Alas, it became super tedious. It also made me wonder just how made for each other the two really were. They continually want different things. Jessica wants to travel, Duane wants to settle in.

I don't know. By the end, even with the anti-climatic biker bar scene, I found myself struggling not to skim. In the end I wasn't a fan of Jessica's, and the writing that had started off with a bang fizzled out.

3 stars because of potential and because despite the flaws, it didn't make me rage!delete the book from my Kindle. And I'm totally willing to give Reid's writing another chance.

This read quite a bit like a Lifetime movie. Not that this is a bad thing, but that from the beginning it was pretty predictable.

Christina runs a health clinic, and Dylan is back in Apple Creek on leave from the FBI. An Amish girl is drugged and left on Christina's doorstep, and a whole slew of things happen from there. The fact that the girl is Amish really has little bearing on the story itself. Instead the focus turns more to Christina's past and being attacked while she was in college.

So many of the characters seemed to do and say exactly what they needed to move the story along, and not necessarily realistically. I mean, if I were to walk into a local school and accuse one of their coaches of something horrible, no way would they explain to me exactly what was going to be done to handle the situation just like that. There were be investigating, confidentiality, and so on.

And if I thought someone was trying to kill me, obligation or not I would not be going into his home alone to check on his ailing wife. Especially if with one call I could have a sheriff deputy/brother there with me.

Everything just worked out so neat and tidy with a bow. It was a quick, easy little read, but not without its flaws.

**spoiler alert** So, let's see. Aimee's fiance, James, goes missing a couple of months before their wedding, and she ends up burying him on the day they were supposed to be married. At the funeral she's approached by a mysterious woman, who tells her James is still alive.

And it's all downhill from here, folks. A completely convoluted mess. A few thoughts:

Aimee and James had been together for years, super in love, she didn't throw away anything take off her ring after he was buried, etc. And yet, she waits months and months to look into whether he actually still is alive or not. Months.

And then there's the instalove with Ian, who Aimee strings along through the whole book. Because Aimee is SUPER self-centered. Everyone loves her, everything is about her. I just ...

I just probably should have waited until the anger wore off before writing this review is what I just, because I can't even get this all out coherently I'm so ... ugh.

There's a sequel coming, I guess. I will not be reading it.

Overall, interesting idea in theory. Poor execution.

Not my favorite story line of Klasky's Diamond Brides series. The whole blackmail thing really turned me off of the characters.