The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan

Posted on by lynndellwatson

Alternating timelines in this engrossing mystery!
15yo Sana moves into a decrepit large house in Africa with her father. The other residents say it’s haunted and this makes Sana curious. She asks the other residents questions about the house and its past and she explores everything and every place in the house. In the attic, Sana discovers a diary and she reads until the ending. What she finds, haunts her and she hopes there’s more of the story to unravel.

Likes/dislikes: The book is slow and builds the setting and characters until the second half when the mystery piqued my interest and grabbed my attention. I found it fascinating that Sana was a conjoined twin but she’s the only one who survived and now Sana sees and hears her dead sister. I loved discovering the background of the haunted home that is the setting for this story.
Mature Content: G for kissing.
Language: PG-13 for 14 swears and no f-words.
Violence: PG-13 for bloody death.
Ethnicity: Indian and African with some white.

Holly Horror by Michelle Jabes Corpora

Posted on by lynndellwatson

Ghoulish Ghosts!
16yo Evie and 10yo Stan just moved into Hobbie House in Ravenglass, Massachusetts with their divorced mother. The locals call it Horror House because of a death and disappearance happening to its residents. The story alludes to something that happened to Evie in the past and one of the reasons the family of three moved to have a better life. Evie sees a shadow, hears voices and sees creepy things that make her feel that the house is haunted. When the hauntings start taking over her life, danger comes for Evie and Stan. When Stan goes missing, Evie does everything in her power to find him.
Likes/dislikes: I enjoyed the spookiness of the story. I like how the author portrayed each family member as individuals with different personalities and issues. I like the evolution of the mystery.
Language: PG for 22 swears and no f-words.
Mature Content: PG for brief kiss.
Violence: PG for mention of death by shotgun wound, no details.
Ethnicity: Evie is white. Desmond is black. Tina is Latina and Birdie is Korean.

Lying in the Deep by Diana Urban

Posted on by lynndellwatson

A mystery that is fun to untangle!

20yo Jade is taking a cruise across eleven countries in four months with the Campus on Board college program. Her ex-best friend Lainey and ex-boyfriend Silas are joining the cruise too and they’re treating Jade like she’s a toxic, horrible person. Jade can’t figure out why or what they think she’s done to be treated that way. When a blood trail is found leading from Lainey’s room to overboard the railing of the ship, many passengers believe Jade is guilty. Jade jumps into action to find evidence that will find the killer and prove her innocence.

Likes/dislikes: The mystery was fun to untangle. Jade is kind and has true, sincere compassion for others. I enjoyed the college on board a cruise setting.
Language: R for 134 swears and no f-words.
Mature Content: PG-13 for implied sex (no details), passionate kissing, underage drinking, and drug use
Violence: PG-13 for bloody mess in room and bloody trail to ship railing, possible suicide by hanging.
Ethnicity: predominantly white, Divya and Navya, who are twins and Jade’s cabin mates, have golden brown skin.

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

Posted on by lynndellwatson

A haunting that takes the reader into the mind of a killer!

In 1982, 20yo Vivian opens the story as she arrives at work for the night shift in Fell, New York at the Sun Down Motel. Thirty five years later in 2017, Vivian’s niece, 20yo Carly, arrives in Fell to investigate her aunt’s disappearance. Vivian is one among several women that are surrounded by unknown circumstances, four others were found murdered. This begins a haunted story that will take Carly through her Aunt Vivian’s last days and into the thoughts of a killer. Excellent story, 5 stars!

Likes/dislikes: Spooky hauntings and great writing with alternating points of view between Carly and Vivian.
Language: R for 127 swears and 17 f-words.
Mature Content: PG-13 for implied sex by mentioning getting rid of virginity.
Violence: PG-13 for bloody death.
Ethnicity: predominantly white.

The Quiet and the Loud by Helena Fox

Posted on by lynndellwatson

A cathartic, healing story!

Living in Sydney, Australia, George, 19yo and white, has learned to be quiet about things that she’s dealing or struggling with. She puts herself last and everyone else first. Eventually she feels like she’s suffocating from everyone else’s problems and thoughts because they’re consuming her and not giving her a chance to take care of herself. She finally confides in her loved ones after things become too difficult and too much for George. As George adjusts to her new perspective, she’ll need her friends and family more than ever.

Likes/dislikes: This is a healing, cathartic story. The author does a wonderful job of explaining the balance between taking care of others and ourselves, if given ourselves a voice, and learning about the perspectives of others. I enjoyed the personalities of George, Calliope, Mel and Gramps.
Language: R for 212 swears and 44 f-words.
Mature Content: PG for kissing, mention of alcoholic parent.
Violence: PG-13 for angry, yelling alcoholic parent which is emotional abuse.
Ethnicity: George is white and Calliope is black.

The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes

Posted on by lynndellwatson

An unusual mystery that grabbed my attention!

An unusual mystery that grabbed my attention!
I read The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes as part of Reese’s Book Club January Pick. I’m so glad I read this book! It’s completely different than I thought it would be. I jumped right into reading without looking at the synopsis, so I didn’t know what to expect. The murders occurred in a way that I would have never imagined before. Prepared to be engaged in the author’s writing and held in perplexity in trying to figure out the mystery. It’s mellower than I expected but riveting and interesting all the same.
Maya struggles with sleeping because of an incident that happened seven years prior. Her friend died right in front of her and she suspects Frank of murder but she can’t prove or figure out how he killed her friend. She has taken Klonopin to help her sleep ever since her friend died but she has to go cold turkey because she lost her access to the medication. While dealing with withdrawal symptoms, she sees an online video of Frank with a woman dying right in front of him, all caught on a security camera. Maya immediately assumes Frank caused this woman’s death but it just looks like she fell over without him touching her at all. This video causes Maya to want to get to the bottom of her friend’s death and stop Frank from ever doing this again. Maya goes down a rabbit hole of past memories and current weirdness. She can’t trust her instincts, memories or what she has seen and she needs all the help she can get to stop Frank.

I enjoyed the author’s writing and mystery building skills!

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

Posted on by lynndellwatson
A perfect mystery thriller!

Emma remembers summer camp fifteen years ago when her three cabin mates disappeared. She’s now an artist and the three missing girls disappearing into the forest are the subject of most of her paintings. At her art show, the camp owner shows up, purchases one of her paintings and asks her to lunch. At lunch the next day, Emma is asked to be an art teacher to camp residents when it reopens. When she arrives she’s told the counselors are to pick a cabin to stay in with the campers, so Emma requests Dogwood, her old cabin. She’ll be the only adult in the cabin with three teens, Miranda, Krystal and Sasha. Emma is anxious about being back at the camp and every sight, sound and scent reminds her of fifteen years ago. When Miranda, Krystal and Sasha go missing, chaos erupts throughout the camp, accusations fly and the danger has just begun. A perfect mystery thriller, 5 stars!

Final Girls by Riley Sager

Posted on by lynndellwatson
I was glued to the pages of this book!

Quincy is the lone survivor of a serial killing spree, therefore she’s a final girl. She knows two other final girls from completely different murder scenes, Lisa and Samantha. Lisa wrote a book about her experience and went on to become a psychologist to help others cope and overcome trauma. When Quincy hears that Lisa committed suicide, she has a hard time understanding or believing it. Samantha has disappeared or at least kept herself hidden from the public until she arrives to visit Quincy with concerns of her own. The lives of the three final girls become intertwined and complicated beyond what should be a logical possibility. Final Girls kept me glued to the pages and it didn’t disappoint! A mystery thriller worth every moment spent reading it, 5 stars!

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

Posted on by lynndellwatson
Blows my mind with the twists!

Blows my mind with the twists!
Casey finds a person drowning in the lake. It turns out to be her new neighbor, Katherine Joyce. Casey saves Katherine and they quickly become friends. Katherine says she hasn’t been feeling herself lately. Casey finds her deceased husband’s binoculars and while she’s doing her daily routine of drinking liquor, she spies on Katherine and her husband Tom. She notices arguing and suspicious behavior between them. Then the next day, Katherine is no where to be found. Casey immediately suspects Tom. The twists kept me guessing and I couldn’t read the book fast enough! I can’t say much more about the characters or storyline without spoilers. Highly recommended for readers that like suspense and twists, 5 stars!

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Posted on by lynndellwatson
Tremendously honest, heartbreaking and soul healing!

Kya lives in the marshlands of North Carolina with her poverty stricken family. Her father is abusive and, one by one, her siblings leave and, eventually, so does her mother. Her father stays and he seems better for a time, even kind. Then he falls back into his old ways again and ends up leaving too. Kya tries school for a day but after being bullied, she doesn’t return. She makes it completely on her own and digs mussels to sell to the local store to bring in money for food. Tate, a boy a few years older than Kya, loves to explore the marsh. They become friends and he teaches her to read. With reading, she discovers and teaches herself to be literate and all about the marshlands and its nature. She illustrates and collects samples of everything she finds in her marsh area. Tate leaves to attend college and becomes a biologist and works in the marsh. He submits Kya’s illustrations and notes to a publisher and she becomes a published author several times over. She adds comforts to her house and lives well by her own wealth. She lives simply but she gets electricity and running water and other basic comforts that she’s never had. When Tate went away to college, he realized that his life would be difficult for Kya. So, he doesn’t visit her for years. While he’s away, the local and popular Chase moves in on Kya. He tricks her into thinking he’s going to marry her, all the while dating other women. Kya eventually sees his engagement article in the local newspaper and ends it with him. Later, he attacks her, trying to rape her and he beats her up. She fights back and escapes. His body is found later and it looks like he fell from the fire tower in the marsh. Since he was a local celebrity, the police are pushed to investigate for foul play. Kya is arrested and faced with a murder trial. The whole time I’m reading the part after Chase attacks Kya, I’m hoping she killed him but I also don’t want her to be found guilty. The suspense builds to intensity and I couldn’t put the book down! Tremendously honest, heartbreaking and soul healing! 5 stars!