Author: Ashley Winstead

ARC Review: This Book Will Bury Me

Posted March 20, 2025 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments
ARC Review: This Book Will Bury Me

We’ve all been chasing the high of IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE since it was published, but Winstead’s mystery/thriller books since then have been a bit different. I’ve honestly skipped both of them for various reasons. This book, however, called to me – it felt closer to what I was looking for from her. While I don’t think you should come into it hoping for another IMDIHAK, I was definitely not disappointed. The story does read like a true crime book and breaks the third wall. Our narrator, Jane, is writing a memoir of her time working with online amateur sleuths to help solve a triple homicide on a college campus. (Winstead’s authors note does mention that she took inspiration from a lot of real cases including the Idaho murders – it’s incredibly similar to that case.) She’s “setting the record straight” with her own book, as others close to the case have written tell-all books that, according to her, are not accurate portrayls of the case and her involvement. We follow Jane in the wake of her father’s unexpected death. She finds solace in an online community (think Web Sleuths) and quickly falls in with a group of them: Mistress, Goku, Lightly, and Citizen. The group helps solve a case local to Jane and soonafter, the Idaho murders take place on a college campus. They mobilize in more ways than one and become intwined in the case in ways absolutely no one expected. (…except for me, as […]

Blog Tour: The Boyfriend Candidate

Posted May 15, 2023 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments
Blog Tour: The Boyfriend Candidate

Review I had only read IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE before starting this book and really loved it, so naturally I’ve added all of Ashley Winstead’s books to my TBR regardless of genre. I love when authors are able to write both excellent romances and excellent thrillers… not much more I could ask for! 😉 Needless to say, I was excited for the opportunity to read THE BOYFRIEND CANDIDATE! The story centers around school librarian Alexis and her quest to ditch her boring girl persona for one night… and how she ends up in scandalous paparazzi photos with a young hot-shot Texas gubernatorial candidate Logan. His campaign quickly pivots to let everyone know that that the two are actually together and my beloved fake dating trope begins – just long enough to get Logan through the election. It was really interesting to get a peek behind the curtain of how politicians have to work on their image, determine their platform, and deal with other politicians, union leaders, and the public. It didn’t go into a ton of detail but just enough to make the book feel realistic. Alexis quickly impacted his campaign to integrate not just stopping the education budget cuts, but increasing the budget throughout the state. Logan and Alexis had a lot of chemistry and the typical “oh no, they couldn’t possibly be actually into me” vibes were strong. I loved watching them integrate into each other’s lives in a natural way where you could actually see […]