When All the Girls Have Gone

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“Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.”

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read and review When All the Girls Have Gone by Jayne Ann Krentz!

The story opens with the murder of Gordon Greenslade, which of course would pull any mystery fan into the book! Charlotte and her innocuous life are introduced and she meets Max Cutler, an investigator, who takes on Louise Flint’s homicide case. Louise supposedly overdosed and her laptop and cellphone are completely missing. Suspiciously, Trey Greenslade has her missing items and is searching for a hidden package. Twists and turns kept me reading and the book has a good story line and plot, but it was too drawn out for my taste. 3.5 stars!

Saving My Assassin

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Thanks to Tyndale House Publishers for the book of Saving My Assassin by Virginia Prodan. This memoir introduces Virginia Prodan in immediate danger in 1984, when her life was threatened. Chapter one takes us back to 1961, during Virginia’s childhood. Virginia grew up with abuse from her mother and taunting from her siblings. She is a real life Cinderella. Her upbringing was not to be the end of her struggles, though. With tremendous strength, Virginia shows us what she went through for her individual freedom and what she is willing to do for other’s freedom also. Learning about different cultures and symbolism is always interesting to me, even if I don’t agree or completely understand them. Communism feels confining, nerve-wracking and demoralizing. I appreciate the notes at the end of the book that clarify several questions that arose while I was reading Saving My Assassin. Courageous and inspiring – 4 stars!

All These Perfect Strangers

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Thanks to NetGalley and Alibi for the arc of All These Perfect Strangers by Aoife Clifford! This adult mystery thriller begins with Penelope, Pen, visiting her therapist to receive a written report of how he feels she is doing after a tragedy has surrounded her. Part of the deal is, before Frank will write the report, Pen has to write down the truth and discuss it with him during future visits. Pen recounts her University days, as well as her days as a young girl in a different tragedy involving her best friend. The story unfolds spinning several more people into the problems on campus including drugs, deceit and murder. Suspenseful and heartbreaking, making All These Perfect Strangers a great read!

The Flame and the Arrow

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Thank you to Emigh Cannaday for the opportunity to read and review her book, The Flame and the Arrow! This new adult book begins with Annika, a musician who has recently broken up with her fiance and she is talking to her best friend, James, about the events in her life. Annika travels to her Uncle Vince’s home in Bulgaria for a well-deserved respite and to recover from the breakup. She goes for a hike in the wilderness and loses her way back to Uncle Vince’s home. She eventually sees a person and that person is someone she met in town earlier. Annika follows her and they end up in a cave with two other women. Things become strange as they are transported to a different world through a portal, which then closes. The three women reveal that they are wood nymphs and inform Annika that she is one too. She resides with an elven family after the portal has closed and everyone suspects that she belongs in their world. Finn and his father, Ambrose, show Annika the family tree and she discovers that she is part of their world through her mother’s ancestors. Annika begins to have a tumultuous relationship with Talvi, Finn’s brother. The family puts together a group that will be battle ready to find and rescue a member of the family that has been kidnapped, another interesting part of this story. Annika falls in love, learns a lot about herself and becomes somewhat transformed. The writing flows, character development is strong and the story and worlds are elaborate and interesting. The Flame and the Arrow is the beginning of a new adult series about Annika and her life entangled in mystery, intrigue, complicated relationships and romance!

All is Not Forgotten

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Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc of All is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker! Jenny Kramer attends a high school party where she is raped and left on the grass afterwards. A treatment to erase horrible memories from your mind has been created and is used on Jenny to erase the trauma. The treatment erases the memories from your mind, but they live on in the soul and body. Jenny can’t remember the rape because of the treatment, so she can’t point out the rapist, but she remembers useless information that she can’t place, such as a strong odor, a song, and why she was outside in the first place. I like how the story is told by the psychiatrist and, through his point of view, shows the emotional upheaval of everyone involved and the precarious nature of being a therapist. The whole controversy surrounding the memory treatment brings up a barrage of questions and what-ifs.

Another person, Sean Logan, has been given the memory treatment also, after he lost his SEAL comrades and his right arm while he was activated. The treatment has made healing difficult for Sean also.

The parental advice hits the nail on the head: “We need our parents to love us without condition, without logic, and beyond reason.” This is true for a person to be able to grow up with a strong self-esteem and would be ideal for all of us. The hypocritical statement made by the therapist about his own children soon after telling Jenny’s father to let his anger go, feels very selfish and one-sided. “If we can’t protect our own children, we are wretched.” Sad to say, the world is a big place and we can’t be with our children 24/7 and that is very hard on parents who want to be there for their children.

A lot of food for thought and the tables keep turning in this psychological thriller!

All of Us Were Sophie

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Thanks to Resa Nelson for the opportunity to read and review her book, All of Us Were Sophie! The first chapter describes Sophie worrying that someone is trying to kill her and what she is doing about it. Her husband has invented a duplication machine that destroys the original, but will make several copies at once. Sophie duplicates herself in order to discover who is trying to do her in. The mystery of who is trying to do Sophie in just keeps getting deeper. Every time I thought I had the villain pegged, I found out I was mistaken. Alternating points of view build up the mystery and make it very unpredictable. All of Us Were Sophie is for anyone looking for a clean read mystery!

Watching Edie

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Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the arc of Watching Edie by Camilla Way! The first chapter shows Edie as a middle aged woman who suddenly has an unexpected visitor that she doesn’t want to see, Heather. Then the story moves between past and present, showing the relationship of Edie and Heather from the time they were teenagers, when they first met, until the present time. I do not want to give anything away, but this book has been compared to Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and that is a good comparison. Thrilling and suspenseful, as well as heartbreaking, Watching Edie is a read that will leave you with a sunken feeling in the pit of your stomach.

The Broken Ones

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The Broken Ones by Sarah A. Denzil is another great thriller full of suspense by the author of Saving April! A mystery dealing with a middle-aged woman living with her mother who has early onset Alzheimer’s. There is such a great twist in this book and I did not see it coming, especially to that extent. Sophie discovers a horrible secret, an act that her mother set forth. I can’t say more than that because I do not want to spoil anything for the potential reader. Sarah A. Denzil knows how to spin a tale of mystery, suspense and danger with creativity and intelligence. I look forward to reading more of her books!

A Totally Awkward Love Story

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Thanks to First In Line for selecting me as a winner and giving me a free copy of A Totally Awkward Love Story by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison! The title is perfect for this story as the awkwardness continues throughout the entire book and throughout the relationship between Hannah and Sam. Young adult British humor made me laugh a ton! I enjoyed the humorous honesty and complete openness about everything, and I mean everything! Fun and fast read by clever authors.

 

Gena/Finn

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Thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the arc of Gena/Finn by Hannah Moskowitz! This story is set up in snippets of text, dialogue from letters, online conversations and journal format, which made it difficult to get into. I think that was because I received the arc on a download for my laptop. I think the actual physical book would be easier to become involved in. I struggled with reading it because of the text inconsistency breaking my concentration also. Once I got passed these issues, I found a good story underneath it all. My favorite character is Charlie; I think he’s wonderful. The book is about a complicated relationship that began online and becomes something more and my rating is actually 3.5 stars.