Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Recent Reads | The Thursday Murder Club and Long Bright River

Posted December 8, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I’ve been meaning to read this book for years and the new movie adaptation is what finally spurred me to pick it up. I know this series is an absolute favorite of many people so unfortunately my expectations were probably too high. This was kind of exactly what I expected but I was thinking I’d like it more! People warned me it was slow and that wasn’t really an issue for me; I liked the main characters and would be curious to see what they get up to in future books. I think there were overall too many characters for me to keep track of so when reveals were happening, I was kind of lost. I generally liked the audiobook but I’ll admit that it didn’t keep my attention sometimes. I like that there is a little mystery or two around some of the characters and their backgrounds so I hope to continue to grow more connected to all of them, especially because I know the series gets emotional. With elderly main characters, I don’t love the booktubers crying in future books, because I have some guesses about what may happen… All in all, a promising start to a new series for me! Hopefully I’ll continue next year. THE GOD OF THE WOODS was one of my favorite books last year. I didn’t even realize when my friend recommended LONG BRIGHT RIVER that it was by the same author, but that’s what sold me on borrowing her copy! The premise […]

Recent Reads | Mockingbird Court and If It Makes You Happy

Posted November 27, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

As always, I enjoyed this installment! There’s nothing cozier than mystery books featuring woodland creatures as the main characters. I was wondering if and when this series would suffer from the “small town cozy mystery problem” where I start to wonder how it’s possible so many deaths occur right in this cute, picturesque small town. This book – like many do – remedied this by moving Vera into the city and having the death occur while she was there, and then the rest of the action happened in Shady Hollow. The resolution was fairly obvious but I liked the ride. The ending didn’t offer a ton of closure for a final book; I would have wanted a little more circling up of everything/everyone for a last hurrah. I’m sad that this is the final installment in this series because it seems like one that could arguably go on forever, especially with such a unique premise. I wonder what this author duo will write next. I saw this book all over all of my feeds this fall, as it seems to be a recent trend where we all want autumn-specific romances like we get with Christmas/holiday ones (thanks to The Pumpkin Spice Cafe lol). I was sold on the premise in pretty much every way: a girl temporarily heads to her parents’ new small town after her mom dies to run their B&B temporarily until her sister graduates and takes over. She quickly falls in with the hot baker and his […]

Recent Reads | The Sun Down Motel and We Are All Guilty Here

Posted October 27, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

My mystery book club picked this one out for October since it was a spooky paranormal mystery – it was a little out of my comfort zone as a result of that but I enjoyed it! I just don’t read a lot of ghost stories or paranormal mysteries. Simone St. James has been on my TBR for a long time. The book follows two timelines: there’s Viv in the early 80s and her niece Carly in 2017. Viv works the night shift at the Sun Down Motel in a time where lots of girls turn up missing or murdered in the small town of Fell, NY. Viv herself goes missing, which leads to Carly coming to town and trying to figure out what happened to her aunt. It was fairly obvious what was going on about halfway through though; there wasn’t as much suspense or twists as I tend to prefer. The ghosts were a fun aspect – I don’t want to spoil much about them but it was a welcome change from what I expected ghosts to be in a book like this, if that makes sense. The motel and small town settings were really vivid and made the book super enjoyable to read. Overall, really good for spooky season. My book club agreed this should definitely become a show or movie! We all gave it around 4 stars, with the exception of one person. My friend from book club showed up with this book, which she had just […]

Recent Reads | The Executioners Three and The Killer Question

Posted October 20, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I’ve been wanting to reread TRUTHWITCH and finally finish that series (since I own all the books…) but they’re just intimidating and large. I saw this new release from Susan Dennard and thought it’d be up my alley… a paranormal mystery set in the 90s sounded PERFECT for the fall season. The book follows Freddie, an NSYNC obsessed (same) teen embroiled in a prank war with the private school on the other side of town. When she comes across a body in the woods and doesn’t believe it was a suicide, she finds herself investigating more murders and strange happenings around town. This was really fun and ended up being perfect for fall. I’d recommend it for fans of TRULY DEVIOUS (for the mystery and odd main character sleuth) and THE DEVOURING GRAY (for the YA paranormal vibes and amazing setting). I’ve been in a reading slump and eventually this one really clicked for me, and I couldn’t put it down. Reading this book in my comfy reading chair by the window with rain coming down, the dog in my lap, and a hot coffee to drink was the perfect way to binge read it. A fun YA paranormal mystery set in the 90s with a quirky main character and lots of references to *NSYNC. What more could I ask for? I forgot how much I love Dennard’s writing style. Highly recommend for the season. This has been a not-great reading year for me – I usually finish books in […]

Recent Reads | The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold and The Other Side of Now

Posted October 8, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

This book had me wondering: am I in a reading slump because it took me forever to read this book, or did it take me forever to read this book because I’m in a reading slump? Ally Carter books are meant to be read in like two sittings so I’m disappointed in myself and possibly the book. I just want to love these adult romantic suspense (?) books of hers so bad. They’re good and generally entertaining but I didn’t find myself caring that much. The first book had a more annoying main character than this one so I think it wins there, but it was a little confusing. There were VERY quick and frequent time jumps that made it hard to follow, especially because there were the same locations as present day. I know that because this book took me a month to read, it was probably even harder to remember what was happening and follow along… again, is that my fault or the book?! I was really looking forward to this one wowing me but unfortunately it was a similar experience to the first book. Would I read a third? Absolutely. I think the premises are fun and Ally’s writing is enjoyable as usual. I hope she keeps writing adult rom-com mystery mashups because I really enjoyed the Christmas one last year. This is a perfect example of me just really knowing my reading tastes. I love books about parallel lives or alternate realities, and this one’s concept […]

Recent Reads | She Didn’t See It Coming and The Sandy Page Bookshop

Posted September 25, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I went into this thinking that Shari Lapena was the author of another book I read and strongly disliked, so I was hoping to be proven wrong and enjoy more of her books. Turns out I was thinking of Mary Kubica. I have a ton of Lapena’s books on my TBR but this was the first I’ve read – not sure I’ll run to her backlist. Bryden, a wife and mother living in a high-rise in Albany, goes missing one day without a trace. Her husband Sam and a bunch of other characters are suspects and/or trying to figure out what happened to her. There were a decent amount of POVs here that I thought added to the story, but there were so many characters included as red herrings with no logical connections to the overall plot, and it ended up being kind of stupid by the end. Loose ends galore. Again, I know the point of a red herring, but I thought there’d be at least some loose connection where it would make sense to include the person. This was super underwhelming and an incredibly stereotypical domestic thriller. I generally didn’t mind the ride but the ending took a lot of wind out of the story. I predicted quite a bit of what happened. This was exactly what I expected it would be and fit the bill for an end-of-summer predicable beach read. I was really craving a Cape Cod setting and this delivered; the element of the MC […]

Recent Reads | Not Quite Dead Yet and Mean Moms

Posted August 22, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I’m a huge fan of Holly Jackson and have loved all of her books (I still haven’t read one of them though), so I was really looking forward to her adult debut mystery. The concept sounded so interesting: the main character is attacked in an attempted murder and the aneurysm in her brain will trigger within the week, so she has less than seven days to try to solve her own murder before she dies. I loved the idea that she’s really “not quite dead yet” and by the time she does die, it will be literally her solving her own murder. I started this book via audio when I was setting up our new house and unpacking, so I managed to read the first third of it in one sitting. However, the audiobook narrator was utterly terrible. I thought her normal voice and Jet’s narration were perfectly fine but the voices she used for other characters were SO bad. She was basically using weird accents and caricatures of how normal people talk. Her mom, sister-in-law, and friend all had horrific voices and I couldn’t bring myself to listen to any more of it. I read the rest of the book physically. Jet goes out on the case with her childhood best friend, Billy, and they get really close during this time period. It makes her inevitable fate even sadder honestly. I’ll say my biggest issue with this book is that I really did not like Jet – she was […]

Recent Reads | The Berry Pickers and Night Watcher

Posted July 14, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I bought this book on a whim (because of all the positive reviews and hype) at a book event a couple of years ago and it sat on my shelf. I was never sure literary mysteries – especially historical fiction – would be for me. I had a few major success stories with them this year and then my book club picked this for our July meeting, so it was finally time to try it… and it’s really not a mystery honestly. The book follows a Native American family as they come down to Maine from Nova Scotia to pick berries each summer. Their youngest daughter, Ruthie, goes missing one summer and they are never the same. Meanwhile, there’s another POV following Norma – a young girl growing up in Maine. It kind of sounds like a mystery of trying to find this missing girl but it’s painfully obvious what’s happening the entire book. There’s really no actual mystery – it’s more a story of how Norma and Joe (Ruthie’s brother) survive and go through struggles over the years. I really have no idea how the rest of book club will feel about this one. It has such a high rating on Goodreads but honestly I was completely underwhelmed. Yes, some of it is because I was expecting a historical literary mystery – I absolutely loved THE GOD OF THE WOODS and ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK. I was hoping for something similar. Even once I realized the book […]

Recent Reads | Dead of Summer and No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding

Posted July 7, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I fell in love with Maxwell’s debut THE GOLDEN SPOON. Her sophomore novel was similar – kind of a quiet thriller and a little on the cozy side but not really? She has a very distinct style that was further solidified with this novel. We follow a few characters on Hadley Island – Orla (whose best friend went missing years ago, presumed dead), Henry (the man accused of killing her friend Alice), and Faith (joining her rich boyfriend David for the summer at their mansion). Their POVs alternate to give us a full picture of what’s happening on the island, where Orla is returning for the first time since she moved to NYC. This sets a bunch of things in motion and will eventually tie everyone together and solve the mystery of what happened to Alice. I’m a sucker for a coastal New England kind of book and this had it in spades. It was super atmospheric with the small island setting, everyone-knows-everyone. There’s a lot of build up and scene/character-setting through more than half of the book. Nothing really spooky or edge-of-your seat kind of happens until after 60%. I’m okay with this since I’ve come to expect it from Maxwell’s books. Overall this book was pretty good, albeit predictable. I figured out a few things along the way. I was generally interested the entire time while reading but I don’t think it’s an unputdownable thriller, much like her others! I really enjoyed the first installment in this series […]

Five-Star Recent Reads | All the Colors of the Dark and Atmosphere

Posted June 26, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

It’s taken me a really long time to write this review because there’s SO much within this book that could be discussed. I got it a year ago with BOTM and put it off because of the length. I wasn’t sure how another historical literary mystery would go for me. I loved THE GOD OF THE WOODS but surely this isn’t a genre for me, right?! Very wrong. I loved this book! We picked it for my local mystery/thriller book club and there was no shortage of topics to discuss. Everyone gave it 5 stars with a few 4.5 stars sprinkled in. We love the fact that he tackled so many topics without ever feeling like too much, or feeling like the book was too long for a mystery. It’s very much a character study, a story of the time period, and a mystery all rolled into one. The reviewers who didn’t like this book thought the writing was trying too hard or thought it was boring, and I definitely disagree. I read this 600+ page book in two days and literally could not stop reading it. The short chapters coupled with the way he created suspense even within paragraphs because of the writing style made this impossible to put down for me. I will say, my only complaint is that some passages were confusing because of how he wrote them. Sometimes I had to read things more than once. The author was so careful with his language though because […]