Category: Mystery

Hemlock Island

by Kelley Armstrong. Pub Date 9/12/23

4.5*s. Best enjoyed when you need a delicious survival horror thriller–which should be ALWAYS!

Publisher’s Synopsis

“Laney Kilpatrick has been renting her vacation home to strangers. The invasion of privacy gives her panic attacks, but it’s the only way she can keep her beloved Hemlock Island, the only thing she owns after a pandemic-fueled divorce. But broken belongings and campfires that nearly burn down the house have escalated to bloody bones, hex circles, and now, terrified renters who’ve fled after finding blood and nail marks all over the guest room closet, as though someone tried to claw their way out…and failed.

When Laney shows up to investigate with her teenaged niece in tow, she discovers that her ex, Kit, has also been informed and is there with Jayla, his sister and her former best friend. Then Sadie, another old high school friend, charters over with her brother, who’s now a cop.

There are tensions and secrets, whispers in the woods, and before long, the discovery of a hand poking up from the earth. Then the body that goes with it… But by that time, someone has taken off with their one and only means off the island, and they’re trapped with someone—or something—that doesn’t want them leaving the island alive.”

REVIEW:

Set on an island in Lake Superior, Hemlock Island is a supernatural thriller that throws together murder mystery, greed, betrayal, revenge, and the occult into a delicious and perfectly baked hotdish perfect for anyone who loves a good horror novel. It felt very much in the same vein as Riley Sager and Grady Hendrix’s novels – big fan! Strained relationships and betrayal star alongside severed arms, hex circles, and bone windchimes, creating an atmospheric survival horror that really makes you wonder if they’re ever going to get off of that island.

Being from the Duluth area, Lake Superior has always been prominently featured in my life and memories. It made it that much easier to imagine a secluded island with a single isolated house surrounded by the cold waters of the largest of the Great Lakes, and to know exactly how cold that water can be. The smells and atmosphere are honestly unmatched, and I would love to read more stories that feature the setting.

The twists and turns in this story were great. The mystery kept me turning page after page, absorbing each gory and mysterious detail. The mystery was kept largely mysterious, the gore was properly gory, and the is-it-or-is-it-not-a-murderer was like a constant pull. It felt like I was in a macabre Edgar Allen Poe story of a girl who is slowly pulling a bucket out of a dark well, overtaken by some force with an unknowable name that has existed since time immemorial. The conclusion was also extremely satisfying, with equal parts “that checks” and “holy shit” which you don’t always get with stories like this. I’m not going to say I found it fair, but life rarely is and the perfection of horror like this is that it is tied up, even if the bow isn’t the prettiest. The satisfaction is that it’s there, fair, and was a bloody good time.

Overall, Hemlock Island is a great read and Kelley Armstrong is an author you need to have on your watch list if you don’t already. I was a fan of her YA back in the day, but I’m so ready for more adult horror!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and St. Martin’s Press for this advanced copy in exchange for this review. I really loved it and can’t wait to see what Armstrong has for us next!

Fantasy Mystery Romance Uncategorized

Belladonna

by Adalyn Grace. Pub Date August 23, 2022

5*s. Best Enjoyed when you need an eerie, well-written story of a girl and death.

Synopsis:

Ever since her mother died when she was only an infant, Signa Farrow has been passed from guardian to guardian, each progressively worse and only interested in her eventual fortune. Death has been a frequent companion in her life and somewhat of a rival. After all, what kind of cruel force would continue to eliminate her guardians and leave her alone again and again? Yet, she has her own secret and strange relationship with it as she has approached it many times but has never succumbed. Not only can Signa see spirits, but she’s broken her neck falling down the stairs, has ingested the poisonous fruits from the belladonna plant, and has had accidents she should not have come back from, but she remains alive, healing quickly each time. To Death, Signa herself is intriguing, especially when she begins to exhibit powers that only he shares.

Signa doesn’t want these strange abilities, however. Her only goal is to be the socialite her mother was with hopes for good marriage prospects that would allow her a husband she loved and a life of parties and companionship.

At the death of her latest guardian, Signa is sent to live with her wealthy relatives, the Hawthornes. When Signa arrives to Thorn Grove manor, she finds grief and chaos running rampant. Her mother’s cousin, Lillian, recently died of a mysterious illness, leaving behind a deeply grieving husband, a solemn son, and her daughter, Blythe, who is now suffering the same illness that killed her mother. However, Signa knows these symptoms and also the taste of the ‘medicine’ that is in her cousin’s tea. This is not a regular illness. Someone slowly and methodically poisoned Lillian to death and she can only assume that the same person is responsible for Blythe’s current condition.

When Death approaches her cousin, Signa begs him to spare Blythe for a time while she tries to find the killer. As she races against the clock to find who did this, Signa enlists the help of the handsome and brooding stable boy, Sylas Thorley, her cousin Percy, and even Death himself. As they race against the clock to find the person responsible, she finds herself wanting things she never knew she desired. Then again, Death has an incredible ability to change your perception on what you crave most in life, and Signa finds herself learning that lesson all too well.

Review:

Carey Mansion
https://www.discovernewport.org/blog/post/haunted-spots/

Belladonna is one of those books that has an absolutely incredible cover and you just hope the book inside is just as beautiful. Spoiler alert? It is. I loved Thorn Grove and its inhabitants, and the plot was actually two interwoven, one a mystery and the other a romance. The romance I was somewhat expecting and, if I’m honest, hoping for. The murder plot? Never. Not in the way it was presented.

The book was dark, but not as dark as I had expected at first. I also LOVE Signa. And Death. And Sylas. And Blythe’s fiery and independent spirit. I even enjoyed Elijah, the husband lost in grief. The spirits that featured were also very interesting and the concepts for life beyond were something I’d never really thought about, and I think about death a lot (I’m delightfully morbid).

There are a lot of books coming out with the same concept of death or Hades as an option for romance, but Grace’s Belladonna stands out. I am very excited for Foxglove to come out next year as the twist ending in the Epilogue left me practically salivating. Please add this to your “To Read” pile if you love historical paranormal mystery/fantasy/romance stories. This one is going to be worth the wait, and I cannot wait to fangirl with you all!

Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown books for the advanced copy in exchange for this fair and honest review!

Contemporary Fiction Horror Mystery

Two Truths and a Lie

by April Henry, Pub Date May 22, 2022

4.5 Stars. Best Enjoyed when you need a fast paced ya thriller set during a snowstorm that has a lot going on–like, a lot.

The Synopsis:

Nell and her drama club classmates are on their way to a national drama competition that they have been working very hard for. This competition could lead to awards, scholarships, and opportunities for them and they are excited and confident. What they were not prepared for was the winter storm of the century catching the California teens and their teacher to be stranded a strange, worn-out hotel far from their intended destination. As they hunker down for the night, they meet other storm-bound people who have found themselves equally stuck at the Travel Inn & Out, including another group of teens who had a competition of their own to attend.

As the storm rages on outside, the teens decide to meet in the common room to socialize in front of the fire. However, their gathering begins to take on a sinister tone as a creepy message appears in the slips of paper they are using to play a seemingly innocent game of Two Truths and a Lie. As a sense of unease settles on the group, they also find out that the hotel is the sight of a 20 year-old unsolved double murder, one that took place in room 238. They decide to do a séance and it goes about as well as one can expect a séance to go in a creepy hotel. And then the power goes out.

The next morning, Nell and a few others in their party group stumble upon the body of one of the girls they had hung out with the night before, apparently hung sometime in the night, a sign pinned to her chest saying “THIS IS THE FIRST.” Was it suicide or something more sinister? As another girl disappears and they find her room splattered in more blood than one could survive losing, with another sign scrawled in blood on the bathroom mirror reading “THIS IS THE SECOND,” all hell breaks loose. Not only are they stranded far away from home and safety without heat, phone service, and power, but they also may be stuck in a hotel in the middle of nowhere with a murderer. Is this the same killer who 20 years ago killed the couple in 238, or is this someone new who has only just begun?

The Review:

I definitely finished this one quickly. The plot throughout is fast-paced and it had everything in it. Suspicious hotel guests, possible supernatural phenomena, unsolved murders, and teenage hormones run rampant. The setting was well described and plays a huge roll throughout the entire book. It’s like the setting is another character entirely, moaning and creaking around its inhabitants.

The storm also adds a ton to the overall atmosphere of the book and if you have ever experienced a blizzard, you know exactly the feelings they have. The isolation, the disorientation when you find yourself in a world that has turned the outside into a black and white alien landscape where the white and fluffy snow becomes an icy desert of drifts and plains, some which may even hide other dangerous creatures. It creates a stark and unforgiving backdrop for a story of people desperately clawing their way to the truth.

There is a cadre of red herrings and strange happenings that make you question the evidence and what might be true verses what might be coincidental. Many of the characters show their true colors throughout the book, which makes them seem all the more real. It’s also always fun to read about people who are tied intrinsically to technology go through an experience where they don’t have any available and have to find ways to survive varying circumstances, like how to unmask a killer while trying to stay warm and fed in a place not meant to be run without electricity. It’s one reason I absolutely love fictional survival stories set far in the wilderness, especially ones where dumb mistakes are made that the protagonist has to survive. Although there aren’t many of those in Two Truths and a Lie, there is still plenty of unpreparedness to keep a reader feeling like this book is both a survival story and a mystery-thriller.

If you’re in the mood for a quick and thrilling read, I would advise picking up a copy of Two Truths and a Lie.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown books for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Horror Mystery

The Fear

By Natasha Preston. Pub Date March 1, 2022

3.5*s. Best enjoyed when you want a teen-oriented slasher thriller.

The Synopsis:

Movie Poster for *Halloween Party*, 2020

There’s a new viral trend going around in a small fishing town that asks participants to repost with what they think is the worst way to die. Everyone thinks it’s just a dumb meme. Until it’s no longer just a meme.

Izzy finds the first body of a classmate lying in the snow in the middle of the street, a girl that she and her friends had just seen at a party less than an hour before. Shortly after calling the police, first responders find another body of another one of their classmates in the river near the other body. People throw around that it is probably a murder-suicide or suicide pact, but Izzy feels it’s something different. Both of her classmates died of the very things they had claimed would be the scariest way to die.

Izzy starts to suspect that what everyone thought was just a meme was really a way for a killer to gain insight into how to scare his victims the most as he killed them. Izzy is glad she didn’t repost the meme, but when she realizes that those closest to her have, it spurs her into protective detective mode. Is it her crush, Justin, who was friends with the victims? Is it her classmate, Axel, the mysterious troublemaker with whom she is developing an unlikely friendship? Or is it someone else who is lurking in the shadows, watching her? Will Izzy be able to uncover the killer before it’s too late?

The Review:

The premise of this story reminded me of a cross between Scream and the movie Halloween Party. Halloween Party was the first to come to mind when reading the original synopsis of the book as it’s very similar when it comes to asking about your biggest fear, but as I read the book, it felt a lot more like Scream if it were set in the winter. Sometimes you just really want to get involved in the slasher-thriller vibe and this definitely fed that part of my brain.

I honestly really loved the ride. It was a constant question as to which person could be the one who was terrorizing the town by killing off young people in the most horrific of ways. It was a bloody and surprising ride filled to the brim with suspense. The ending was also totally unsuspected, with a super startling twist. I think the only actual problem I had was not having all the answers at the end to my copious questions, but I also like things that are wrapped up in a bow and I just don’t think this was meant to be. It kind of leaves a sense of suspense in the air as you close it. Sometimes we just don’t get all of the answers and in a way, the unknown is the truly scary part.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced copy in exchange for this fair and honest review.

Mystery

The Night Shift

by Alex Finlay. Pub date 03/01/2022

4 stars. Best enjoyed when you want something twisty, turning, and ultimately satisfying.

New Year’s Eve, 1999. A mass murder at the local Blockbuster rocks the nation as four teens are killed. Only one teen, Ella, survives the attack. The main suspect, Vince Whittaker, is released from custody only to disappear hours after he is freed.

Almost 20 years later, the same thing happens at an ice cream parlor. Only one survivor remains. Ella, now a therapist, gets a call from her former teacher asking her to help the lone teenager, Jesse Duvall, come to terms with what has happened. However, what Jesse tells her shocks her. It seems that the two incidents may not have been a coincidence. Could the killer be back?

Told from varying point of views between Ella, FBI detective Sarah Keller, and attorney Chris Martin, formerly Whittaker, this suspense thriller whodunnit will leave you questioning until the shocking conclusion.

If you enjoy police procedurals and dark dramas, this book is a perfect addition to your shelf. I really did enjoy it, even though at times I was kind of feeling that the plot was dragging, which is why it lost a star for me. There are a lot of situations that add up to more questions, but this is definitely not the kind of book that leaves you unsatisfied at the end. That is something that I truly appreciate when it comes to complex mystery stories. Alex Finlay did an excellent job tying up the loose ends to some very surprising twists.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an advanced copy of Night Shift in exchange for this fair and honest review.

Horror Mystery

Survive the Night

By Riley Sager

5*****. Best enjoyed on a summer evening when you need a good thriller to chill your bones.

It’s 1991 and Charlie may be in the car with the person who killed her best friend. She really doesn’t know. She suspects, but sometimes things go a little differently in her head, like the night Maddy was killed. She sometimes sees movies, something she’s been doing since the death of her parents, where everything becomes stylized and a screen drops in front of her vision, creating a scene straight out of a film noir or classic Hitchcock picture. She has no idea what the identity of the man in the alley or if he was even real. Charlie still blames herself. She never should have left Maddy alone that night, regardless of their fight. Now Maddy is dead, stabbed to death with her tooth removed.

Everyone knows that the Campus Killer murdered her best friend, but no one knows who it is. All Charlie knew was that she needed to get away from Olyphant University, even if it meant leaving her boyfriend Robbie behind. She can’t live with the memories and the movies of Maddy coming back. Plus, how does she not know if she’s next? What if the killer knew she saw him?

Now, after accepting a ride share from Josh, the man in the driver’s seat of the Grand Am and the person she is slowly beginning to believe could be the guy who killed her best friend, Charlie needs to figure out if there’s a way out and if she even wants one. She suspects that she won’t make it back to Ohio in one piece if she can’t figure it out.

I love almost everything Riley Sager writes. In Survive the Night, he keeps you guessing until the very end as to what the real and true danger is. Charlie’s movie episodes are also a huge help in keeping the plotline moving through. The majority of the book you are wondering what is real and what isn’t. Is he really in the car of a killer? Is it all just a movie?

I truly loved it. I was able to finish it in only a few days. Highly recommend!

Fantasy Horror Mystery

DOWN COMES THE NIGHT

BY ALLISON SAFT. PUB DATE 3/2/21

3 STARS. Best Enjoyed when you’re stuck in a dark mansion where something seems wrong but you’re still in the mood for an enemies to lovers romance.

Wren Southerland’s healing abilities and empathetic heart may have finally ruined her life. After healing a young boy who appears to be an enemy spy connected to the disappearances of her fellow soldiers, allowing him to escape, she is dismissed from her place on the guard where she serves under her best friend and first love. Isabel, the Queen of Danu–as well as Wren’s emotionally withholding and dismissive aunt–plans to send Wren far from her comfort and into the mines, a hell on earth for any healer. As she awaits her fate at the abbey where she honed her skills, a mysterious letter appears from a nobleman from the nearby neutral country of Cisneros. In the letter, Lord Lowry promises to aid Danu in the centuries-old war against their enemy, Vesria, in exchange for her help healing his favored servant, Henry. Wren sees this as a chance at peace. Though the Queen disagrees and forbids her from going, Wren still manages to find her way alone.

However, when Wren arrives at the old estate across the border, she finds that nothing is as it should be. Not only does the ancient mansion seem to be hiding dark secrets, but “Henry” turns out to be Hal Cavendish, the Reaper of Vesria and the most wanted man in Danu. After her initial shock, Wren sees this as an opportunity to reclaim her place and begins to formulate a plan. Unfortunately, there are machinations larger than both Wren and Hal at play, and they realize that must learn to work together–as well as fight the growing feelings they have for one another–in order to save not only themselves, but the countries they love.

There are so many things going on with this story. There’s the family drama, the political intrigue, the gothic mystery, a sort of love triangle, an interesting power structure, and an enemies to lovers romance arc. All of the plots were carried through, some far more successfully than others. For instance, the gothic mystery was a little painful as the MC really appeared to be oblivious and I found myself mentally screaming at her at times because very obvious mentions were made to vital parts of the story that seemed to be completely ignored. Usually, that wouldn’t slide with me, but the other plot points kept me invested. There was also the issue I had with figuring out the time period it was supposed to mimic. It felt like a mix between the late 1800s and WW1 Europe. It wasn’t enough to put me off, but at times I was really confused and I believe a little extra world building would have been helpful.

On the other side of this coin, I also enjoyed the setting and the depth of the characters themselves as well as the political and technological differences between countries that have and don’t have magic. I really enjoyed that part of the story because it was believable that a country without magic would have made the nonmagical advances that Cisneros would need to have in order to continue to improve themselves as they could not use magic the way their neighbors could. The enemies to lovers romance was also really great. I enjoyed that part of the story a lot. Although I knew where it was all leading, I wasn’t sure how or why it was going in that direction. It’s possible there may have been too many plot lines active at once. Regardless, it was still a good read.

Saft probably needs more work on her mystery writing, but I think the potential is definitely there and if she also improves her ability to write romance. I think her next book could be a killer. Overall, this book is worth a read!

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday books for and advance copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Fantasy Horror Mystery

City of Villains

by Estelle Laure. Pub Date Jan 21, 2021

Four and a Half Stars **** Best enjoyed when you’re feeling like you need a little magic. Legacies can sympathize.

Mary Heart is a Legacy, a member of a community of people who used to have the ability to wield magic until a disaster caused all of the magic in her world to disappear, along with the friends and the relatives of many of the Legacies who worked at the tower in the center of their corner of the city. Now, the only thing remaining is a lake made of black water that is highly toxic where the building used to be. Now, Mary, her friends Ursula, James, and other Legacy peers, are stuck sans-magic while the wealthy members of the surrounding communities have moved into their previously magic neighborhood, now called the Scar, to take advantage of the anomalously perfect weather that is the only remaining indication that magic used to be the driving force there, slowly gentrifying the now broken-down Legacy community. In order to protect those she loves, Mary has turned to the regular way of dealing out justice: as an intern to the city police, with hopes of becoming like her hero, the current police captain who helped solve the murder of her parents when she was a young girl. When her classmate and fellow Legacy Mally Saint disappears one evening from the Wonderland club where all of the Legacy kids hang out, she knows she has to be part of the investigation and find her. The further into the investigation she and her partner, Bella, get, the more she realizes that something is wrong in the Scar, and someone close to her may be in danger as well.

This is the second book by Estelle Laure that I read back in 2020, and it was absolutely amazing. She’s a very talented author and she’s quickly made her way to my must read authors list where Sarah J Maas, Holly Black, Margaret Rogerson, and Riley Sager reside along with a few others I love. However, it wasn’t until after I read City of Villains that she solidified her place.

City of Villains turns the Disney franchise on its head and brings it into a modern and urban setting. I usually don’t like that kind of treatment. I’ve always been a fan of fairy tales in all their glory, and have loved the redemption stories, especially in the vein of Gregory McGuire’s The Other Stepsister and Jennifer Donnelly’s Stepsister, but my favorite part has always been that they stuck to the time period. Even though Laure does not do this, she takes the most prolific of the Disney villains, turns them human, and adds in a healthy heap of police procedural, vigilante justice, and scientific experimentation along with catastrophic disaster and creates something entirely new that is still just as enticing, even to a staunch traditionalist like me. It is something all its own and I have a deep appreciation for it and I’m excited to see where this goes!

Thank you to Netgalley and Disney-Hyperion for the chance to read an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review!

Fantasy Mystery Romance

Cinderella is DEAD

By Kalynn Bayron. Pub Date: July 7, 2020.

5 Stars. I practically read it in one sitting, so the best time is when you can make time.

Cinderella is dead, but for two hundred years her story has been acted out by countless girls living under the thumb of King Manford of Mersailles in the city of Lille. Rather than being a magical event as is depicted in the story, girls are required to attend, their families going broke in order to provide the best dresses and to stand out in the crowd so their child can be chosen and married to any man who wishes to make a claim on them. They follow these rules or risk that same child being forfeit to the the king where they are never seen nor heard from again.

These are the rules that have been set down for the last 200 years. In Mersailles, women have very few choices and no independence. They are fully at the mercy of their husbands or fathers, but to survive is to give oneself over to it.

However, Sophia does not want to relent. She does not want to be wed unless she can choose her partner, and the only love she has ever known is the love she has for her best friend, Erin. Such a love is absolutely forbidden and is a forfeitable offense in Lille, if not executable. When the day of the ball comes, something horrible happens that forces Sophia to flee. As she runs from the palace, she comes across the abandoned–but not forgotten–tomb of the original Cinderella. Inside, her last remaining relative, Constance, has the answers that Sophia has been seeking. Together they plan to find a way to reveal the dark and horrifying secrets of the king and his rule and bring him to his knees.

I have a thing for retellings, and this checked so many of my boxes. Sophia, although a little reckless and selfish in the beginning, is a strong character with a drive to make things right for all of the oppressed people in the kingdom she grew up in. Women and LGBTQ oppression is a huge problem in Lille and Mersailles, and both affect Sophia and her friends. Spousal abuse runs rampant throughout the book and is another factor driving the story forward. A lot of what the story covers is all too real in our world, and I love that they acknowledge that it’s a long fight and won’t just be over by killing the king. It is a long battle the involves changing hearts and minds, especially with a 200 year long tyrannical patriarchy to disband.

The supporting characters were also described in such an amazing way and the places and people are fleshed out nicely. I could see every phase of the scenes with Amina, the horrible beauty of the palace, and feel the undercurrent of fear and instability of the town. Bayron did an AMAZING job and I can’t wait to see what she has for us next!

Thanks to Bloomsbury YA and NetGalley for an advanced galley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions in the above review are mine.

Fantasy Mystery Romance

MAYHEM

By Estelle Laure, Pub Date 7/14/2020

Five Stars*****, Best Enjoyed during the summer twilit hours and into the night.

It’s 1987 and Mayhem Brayburn and her mother, Roxy, are living in small town Taylor, Texas, and things aren’t good. Life in general for Mayhem isn’t great. She doesn’t have friends, and her home life is a horror show. One night, Mayhem’s stepfather, Luke, takes things too far. As Mayhem and Roxy flee the abusive home, Roxy head toward the last place she wants to be. Santa Maria, California. Home.

The second they pull up to the Brayburn farm, Mayhem feels an almost immediate connection to the family homestead, even as her mother seems hesitant. As she gets to know her aunt’s adopted kids, she begins to uncover things about her family, things her mother has tried to hide from her throughout her life. As the petals of her inheritance begin to unfurl, Mayhem begins to understand what it truly means to be a Brayburn. She also begins to fall in love with the town where her family’s legacy has been firmly rooted, and when she finds out about the Sand Snatcher, someone who has been stalking the beaches at night and kidnapping young teen girls, she feels compelled to do something about it. True power and impowerment is found, Loyalties are tested, the true meaning of “home” is explored, and the balance between good and evil is rocked in this epic beach read.

I absolutely LOVED this book! It’s the perfect summer read and reminds me so much of the books I enjoyed as a teen when chilling on the beach with my friends. Dark and empowering, “Mayhem” is a triumph in contemporary YA fantasy. It is a spiraling staircase of emotion, power, and learning who you truly are as a person during a pivotal time in your life. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to get totally lost in an awesome read. I will absolutely be picking up more from Laure in the future!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of this book given in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions in this review are mine.